Croque Gascon official site The Balcony at Westfield W12 7GE £10 to £15 per head As much as I like window shopping (in the traditional high street sense), I also love hanging out in oversized shopping malls. There’s an Apple store, there’s a huge Jessops, M&S Food and a massive food hall. So I was in the mood for something quick cheap and greasy. The duck burger beckons

L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon Official Site 13-15 West Street WC2H 9NE 0207 010 8600 Set Lunch £25 for three courses; Ala carte £expensive. Photography is an addiction. The kit lens that comes packaged with a standard digital SLR is never enough, all it does is make you lust after the very best lenses either Nikon or Canon have in their arsenal. I am £400 poorer but oddly enough, feeling good about it. What better way to celebrate this than to lunch at the two Michelin starred, internationally hyped sensation that is L’atelier de Joel Robuchon

Beetroot meringue, with a little bit of goats cheese. I’m running late. The Hammersmith and city line suddenly decided to pull a district, I’m starving and I should have worn something warmer. So when I got off at Westbourne Grove station, I ran. I ran like my tummy depended on it and when I got there, I was warmly received by the front of house and greeted with canapes. An airy and puffy sweet beetroot meringue sandwiched an intense goats cheese. That cheesy flavour is so familiar though… why yes of course. It’s a posh cheesy wotsit

Kang’s Note: Im in grey italics and on the sidelines for the next couple of weeks on holiday and I have turned the virtual podium to eight guest bloggers. The first of which is Gen.u.ine.ness’s feasting at 1 michelin spot Ambassade. I shall say no more, there are 26 pictures and it’s very delish, enjoy folks! I’ve been asked to write a guest review by Londoneater and by coincidence I happen to have a 2nd visit to Ambassade de L’ile which I had lying around. Rather than publishing another review on my blog. I thought it would be ideal guest columnist write-up. For does who do not know me yet, I am a medical student who happens to be fortunate enough to dine out more often than the average student. I suppose, it is a reflection of the number of years I have spent training to be a doctor that my writing is more concise and to the point than most other food writers. I do tend not to indulge in descriptive prose (not very helpful when a patient is very ill and needs immediate help), although I sometimes can’t help making a medical reference or two. My main focus is on food and food alone. If you want to read about how beautiful the hand dryers are in the restaurant’s toilet I am the wrong writer for you. However, given

Cafe Rouge official site £15 pp 120 High Street St Johns Wood NW8 7SG 02077 228366 For some of us, 2009 will be a year to forget. Page after page, day after day, sometimes I do wonder if the frontpage of the Times will ever smile again. As for the eternal optimist in me, 2009 will be the year my eating out bill shrunk in half. No ‘in line with year on year’ inflation price hikes , but the year on year expanding waist will be greater than usual. It is a crisp and sunny Sunday at time of writing, 8th of Feb, 11am (well, we’ll say 12pm) and I’ve found myself an offer to eat breakfast at Café Rouge for £5. I’ve ended up in St John’s Wood for this and before I head over to replicate my favourite John at Abbey road ( it’s just a standard issue London zebra crossing peeps) , I’m going to have some good old Anglo French oeufs

I’m excited, I guest blogged for the very first time! I gave away my very first restaurant review to Gourmet Chick today. It is a visit to Rowley Leigh’s plate lickingly good Anglo-French eatery in Bayswater: Le Cafe Anglais. This darling of the critics did not dissapoint on my visit and the visit was further boosted with a FT lunch offer discount.   I channelled the food photo gods and the spirit of Douglas Blyde to produce this piece and I shall bore you no long, follow this link to Gourmet chick’s excellent London food blog and read the rest of the review there

Tartine restaurant and bar, official website 114 Draycott Avenue, SW3 3AE | 020 7589 4981 £10.00 per tartine , £ 3.50 skinny chips £2.50 coffees A tartine is a slice of bread. The Tartine, on the other hand, is a French eating concept. The concept is simple and Italian loving Londoners familiar with the bruschetta will be comfortable with the Tartine, which are giant slices of Poilane, a type of sourdough topped with a variety of delicatables. Lightly toasted, doused with a sprinkle of olive oil and accompanied by a fresh house salad to round off a very balanced French meal. The livelihood of most tasty restaurants rests on the skill of the point man in the kitchen, making it a trend, rather than an institution ( are the top 10 places to eat today the same as it was 35 years ago? ) . But if you build an establishment around a concept, ah, now we’re on to something, a concept can be propagated and passed to the No.2 or even No.3 without much dip in quality ( dare I say it? – think McDs and KFC ). Borrowing a line from Chris Nolan’s reason for a Bat minister of Gotham: “ A man can be killed, destroyed but a symbol .…is incorruptible” ( What does this have to do with Tartine, Kang? ) Concept? Symbol? Incorruptible? Too subtle

The Square official website 6-10 Bruton Street, Mayfair W1J 6PU 44 (0) 20 7495 7100 £ 35.00 set menu , £ 75.00 a la carte three courses There is cause for abit of celebration because this is my 100th post. With that, it is only appropriate that I mark this momentous occasion with a write-up on one of London’s pre-eminent restaurants; Philip Howard’s The Square. A two Michelin star establishment, I duly avoided the set menu and blew my load on the a la menu. The Square is not quite in the world top 50 (yet) – but in London, it’s quite highly revered. The man in the hot seat -a certain Mr Howard- was once a former apprentice of the mighty Roux Empire and he also served under the temperamental genius of Marco Pierre White. As of 2009, Philip has achieved dizzy heights in culinary terms – an artist seasoning his works with shades of French sophistication, everything about Philip and The Square screams glamour. Including the location of the restaurant in Bruton Street, tucked away in Berkerley ( ‘Bar’-ker-ly) Street which is home to luminaries such as Nobu B. and Benares. Folks, I’m expecting fireworks from this one, you better pull up a chair

Hibiscus is the highly regarded michelin starred joint maintained by Claude and Claire Bosi. The french couple arrived on the shores of england some 11 years ago and have sinced established a name for themselves here in London. Located in the posh bit between marylebone and oxford street, hibiscus has garnered an exceptional reputation and to date, I don’t think I’ve read a bad review of this place. On this occasion, I popped in for a late lunch on a very wet november afternoon. Care to join me for a yet another photographic food odyssey

This is course number three. Seared foie gras, baby artichokes with a delicate pineapple sorbet and a salad of wild leaves. Notice the glassy looking sheet sitting on the sorbet, that’s peppered sugar. Oh yes, peppered sugar. Are you ready for this