When everyone including dear Ol’ Uncle B has visited this restaurant, that’s when you know the interwebs has taken to showering yet another crowd pleaser with its ever expanding vocabulary of praise words. “Wondrous”. “Decadent”. “Moorish”. “Decadent”. “Sinful”. “Ultimate comfort food”. Adjectives, which I too, am guilty of overusing. Cynicism aside, a restaurant that has collected as many reviews as it has since it’s April debut, must be doing something right. Somehow, I had managed to avoid the 50% discount circus, though the full asking price wasn’t too bad. To grease the wheels, we started with not one, but two plates (£1.50 each) of their excellent warm, crusty and soft sourdough (ironically, warm bread is abit of a rarity in London restaurants) served with some excellent artichoke puree, which i gather is, must be made in house. I ordered one of their fresh juices, the ‘invigorate’ of pineapple, apple, lime and strawberries. Sadly it was anything but invigorating… and note to self, never drink pineapple and strawberry juice from the same glass. Service was a little jumpy, but well intentioned, they had a tendency to take things away before we were done with them, like the wedge of pineapple, which I had initially wanted to savour when I finished my juice, for instance. Believe the hype, the decor is absolutely top class. Like the Tardis, it’s unimpressive on the outside,
I waited until the opportune moment presented itself, before making the visit to Marcus Wareing’s The Gilbert Scott. Or should I say The Renaissance Hotel’s flagship restaurant, seeing as to how Mr Wareing has rather desperately been detaching his name to the restaurant, at least so it seems. But today, I am in the right frame of mind, because I happen to be travelling from the Gateway to Europe to attend a wedding. Actually, I tell a lie, the wedding’s in Yorkshire, and the Grand Central trains leave from King’s Cross next door to St Pancras station. But let’s not take away from the romance of the rail travel. Ah yes, Macbook Pro fully charged, the latest issue of Monocle in hand, passing grazing sheep as the train zips into the countryside. The sheer cinema of travelling to truly appreciate the homage to the heritage of British life and style, to which The Gilbert Scott aspires to. As you already know, the newly restored Renaissance hotel took years of painstaking work to bring it back to life, the restaurant is named after its original architect, Sir Gilbert Scott. Problem is, rather than evoke a sense of past, the decor actually feels aged and musky. Not quite newly minted vintage. The brass seem a little muffled and requiring a new lick of polish. In fact, the dining room felt rather like
Remarkable. The standard of cooking is dastardly high, the artistry kept well in check, the flavours were – in my opinion – calibrated to run riot on your palate, that it made for a breathtaking dining experience. Service took an equally disciplined yet playful approach as the cooking, and so too was the decor; lime green and quite so basic, but refreshing and pressure-free. The only question I kept asking myself throughout the meal was “What’s the catch?”. Why is it so damn affordable. As I understand it, this modern restaurant offers their three course ala carte menu at a princely sum of £25 during lunch, and the same menu for £38 during dinner. Not that I’m complaining of course, but after a string of new openings (NOPI and Pollen St Social and even St John Hotel) that seem to indicate the return of the swinging binge-times, Medlar’s prices come as a welcomed surprise. You and I should pay attention to Medlar partly because of the pedigree behind the team. In the hotseat is one Joe Mercer Nairne, previous sous-chef at Chez Bruce and before that, The Savoy Grill. Managing front of house affairs, is the very charming David O’Connor whose CV involved running the teams at The Ledbury, The Square and also Chez Bruce (all of which are Nigel Platts-Martin restaurants) , where he and Joe first forged their
Tom Kerridge is an ingloriously talented chef. We both know this guy can cook the pants off of anybody, competition or no competition. I first savoured his brilliant ways when he joined forces with Anthony Demetre at Arbutus for the one-off 10-10-10 event for last year’s London Restaurant Festival. Look I’m a Demetre fan right, and you know I love his michelin winning pigs head terrine, but when placed side by side with Tom’s dishes; we were absolutely blown to bits by the quality of Kerridge’s cooking. His mussels in warm stout was nothing short of edible divinity. Anthony aint no slouch in the kitchen, but we thought Tom’s dishes totally outclassed Anthony’s on that day. A visit to Marlow to Tom’s pub with an overachieving, and michelin starred kitchen was inevitable, obviously, but I had forgotten about it the Marlow trip until I saw the chief on GBM last week, creating his ultimate lobster burger, which in itself, caused quite a stir on twitter. And with the last bank holiday in May, I thought it the perfect opportunity to finally eat at Tom Kerridge HQ. Deep fried whitebait to start. Crispy, warm and juicy on the inside, mmm. The low ceilings, brick walls, solid wooden beams and sturdy wooden tables, grant the pub a genuinely old world, country feel. The room is naturally cavernous, and a little musky and
As the third long weekend dawned on me – the same week Kate & Wills tied the knot – I decided to get away from the reality of it, and by the time they were officially Man and Wife, I was watching it back on TV in the BnB. Ahh, Whistable, smell the sea and sand.. and I did pray for last minute cancellations at The Sportsman. Alas, that did not happen. I called a week before my trip, and begged for a table over the phone, but she didn’t shift her stance budge. “Royal Wedding mate, we’re all booked up for the next six weekends.” The first thing I did when I placed my bags in the B&B (The Pearl Fisher, run by Jan & Gary and Baby (the cat) , which was a lovely stay) was make to another phone call to The Sportsman. I pleaded again “Look babes, I took the train all the way from London, just so I could say hello to you in person, I’ll swim across the English Channel for you, please give me a narrow space on anyone’s table, tonight.” Twice she denies me. “I’m afraid it’s a no sir. I’ve already a waiting list, the length of my arm, sir. I’m so sorry.” The feeling of utter doom came over. But then my staycation had only just begun, and I of
5000. How do you even track that? Did they fill up three, four, ten books of names, numbers and dates? It is an insurmountable number, consider someone hanging by the phone to take 5000 calls in a continuous 24 hours period, which works out as 3.5 calls per minute, which translates to a pretty exhaustive day’s work. Yes that’s how many of you and I crashed the lines the day Pollen Street Social started taking reservations, and the last time it happened was… probably when Heston started picking lucky diners for his Dinner outfit at Knightsbridge. Such is anticipation of Jason Atherton’s debut solo venture. Oh it’s a golden era of restaurant openings alright, we thought 2010 was a crazy year for brilliant new players, 2011 has thus far been bigger, better and ever so highly produced. Mr Atherton’s new joint aims to bring his previously groundbreaking concepts at Maze to an unfussable, shrine of a dining room that (conceptually) wants to bring the sexy to social dining. Jason has a cult-like following, he was afterall, considered by many (me) to be Ramsay’s greatest protege. Adding fuel to the fire, PSS opened just in time to host a dinner for the visiting superchefs who were in town to find out how they ranked in the World’s 50 best ceremony (how Iggys managed to not only maintain but improve their position
At last. After months and years of hearsay and delay, Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver’s newest project in the city is finally ready for you and I to throw our cash at it. The hotel occupies enviably concise address of Number One Leicester Square, where it was once Manzi’s seafood restaurant (which incidentally also had a hotel above it) that was, and I quote, as I lift this directly from St John Hotel’s website – Like most London folk Fergus and Trevor have memories of Manzi’s through the years and if it was to have a new life it seemed right that St. John should be the ones to do it. Through the years the building had developed its own extensions, corners and idiosyncracies, the truth was that it needed to be completely rebuilt and this is what has been done. As you know, I love all the Henderson restaurants. From the bare-bones original that started it all 17 years ago in a former smokehouse, St John in Smithfield, to the just bones Bread & Wine in Liverpool Street, and of course, Margot Henderson’s delightful (and I hope soon to be rescued) Canteen based inside the creative hub in Rochelle School at Arnold Circus. Pioneers in making offal sexy to plate up, and pioneers in the zen of the minimalistic approach to dining. And now the minimalistic approach to folded
Gordon Ramsay restaurants are entering the autumn of their lifecycles. Cycle being the keyword here, with many of his proteges, who used to run his restaurants during their heady years, moving on to bigger and better things. Originally a spin-off from the next-door small plate wonder that was Jason
Camden doesn’t lack restaurants in number, it’s just most aren’t worth the detour. But things are changing. On the surface, one wouldn’t think this bar-café located at a gig venue – serving the purpose of tanking up visitors before any given performance – should suffer the unfortunate scrutiny of a blogger’s dour thoughts. However, after reading the Guy’s glowing review, which had cast the Roundhouse’s little known cafe as the most excellent over-performing underdog, I booked a table for a weekend lunch on Open Table. Off I trotted, on the route 31 toward Camden town. As I entered the semi elliptical room, that followed the contours of the Roundhouse, I couldn’t shake the feeling as if I had walked into a university café, a waiting room ambiance, a departure lounge. At first, I was puzzled with how short the menu seemed. Baked eggs, spicy tomato with yoghurt. Pancakes with blueberry, American style with maple syrup. Grilled banana and chocolate bread. Fried egg, sweet spiced chickpeas, labneh, pangrattato and coriander. Not that it didn’t sound good, but I was actually after the creative, extended small plates menu. Which was not available for lunch over weekends. Can’t say I wasn’t a little bummed. I had my eye on such beautifully described dishes such as the Jerusalem artichokes, walnut and gorgonzola agresto, slow-roasted tomatoes. Lamb, prune and walnut koftas, pearl barley tabbouleh and
The most hotly anticipated London restaurant opening to date has finally opened for business. A quick trawl through the interwebs returns dozens of reviews, blog posts, photographs and genial hype. Expectedly, there is just no shortage of media (virtually and in print) coverage centred around Heston Blumenthal’s first foray into the queasy world of London fine dining. Blumenwho you say? Only one of (if not) the most highly regarded chefs in the universe, famous for his three michelin starred restaurant – The Fat Duck – in Bray, for his obsessively scientific approach in constructing recipes, for the TV show that plotted the reinvention of a road-side diner and for another TV show that had him recreate medieval feasts from myth, legend and history books. Even in post-meal, I have only read one complete review about Dinner (Gill’s), so as to keep my expectations as undiluted as possible. Besides, it was always either gonna win rave reviews or suffer major criticism; In this case, it is the former, a general feeling utter awe. We are barely into 2011, and there are already whispers that this is not only the best new restaurant opening in London this year, but potentially the greatest London restaurant ever created. I was extremely excited to visit this restaurant. Something uniquely in its own league. We are all Heston fans after all. There are four Heston Blumenthal
If somehow you missed it the first time round in ’10, make sure you don’t miss it now. The patty is grounded Scotch chuck and is supplied and prepared fresh by Darragh O’Shea in his Knightsbridge shop. His Irish Angus steaks are – as you know – amongst my favourite choices for steak, and his Big D patty (which can also be bought at his shop for home-a-flamin’) is well regarded. It is big, like 8oz big, 30% larger than the standard Bryon patty, and is simply awetastic. You must have it medium rare, and you must have it with cheese. Better bloody and juicy than dry and overdone. It does become overcooked very easily, and at that state, it is not better than the standard Byron patty. If you fear bloody centred minced beef, well this would be the perfect opportunity to conquer it. It’s a high quality mince – not quite hand chopped tartare – but O’Shea’s dry aged stock are about as good as it gets in terms of British Isles beef. So you shouldn’t need to worry about an upset tummy, unless of course you’re one of these people who cannot physically handle slightly undercooked food. My dad is one such person. I forgot to get cheese with mine during this visit, which means I need to go again on the weekend. My goto Byron cheese
The long time resident oyster bar at Borough market opened their 2nd London outlet in late 2010, in the very heart of central London. It takes up an entire wing that oversees the courtyard in Kingly Court, with a view of nearby Cha Cha Moon. Alan Yau’s woefully modern noodlebar, which I dread, and which is a place I would only return to, if prices revert to the introductory £3.50-for-every-plate. Fortunately, I may never need to, now that the new Wright Brothers is so conveniently located, staying open all day from lunch through to midnight, I find myself compelled to go shopping, just as an excuse to pop in for a mid afternoon oyster slurping session. Wright Brothers are in fact oystermen themselves, who own the Duchy oyster farm in Cornwall, cultivating over 5 million natives and pacifics every year along the Helford River. I have obviously never visited, but it seems like an interesting weekend trip to conduct one of these days. This positions WBs as one of the most productive oyster farms in GB. Previous to WB Soho, my go-to oyster bars were Bentley’s (damn their oysters are fine) and then to J Sheekeys. If you are an oyster lover like me, you can only appreciate yet another oyster specialist opening in town. The media has thus far graced it with a rather luke-warm reception, though it largely
Remember back in 2008, there was a little known wine bar, in Charing Cross called Terroirs? You know the one I’m talking about. It garnered gushing reviews from all four corners, everybody showed up to the party, and everybody thought it was pretty amazing. Well, get ready for the second coming, because they’re back! The people behind Terroirs recently extended their operations, this time into East London. Opened – by my best guesstimations – in Nov/Dec 2010, it has already been lauded by our capital’s favourite critics and blogs (scroll down for the usual links); Needless to say, the reports are largely positive, but perhaps it is a resolution of sorts for the food media, as it appears the hype machine has been spinning a much more reserved message about Brawn (the “good but not great” line); As opposed to an emotive, balls out love fest. I, au contraire, am more than happy to hype it up. I loved my visit. It was fabulous, it is fabulous, it definitely shares DNA with the older sibling, Terroirs, a good thing of course, and I think I prefer the younger and sleeker Brawn. Firstly, its location is set deep within the (apparently) historically rich part of East London, in Columbia road, that morphs into a famous flower market on Sundays. Which I’ve never been to, as I (must admit) do not endear
On paper, this two month old wine bar in Fulham road reads like a winner. A laid back, well decked out bistro atmosphere, a dedicated and extensive wine list and a grazing Anglo-French menu, with fancy charcuterie made in-house and otherwise sourced from artisans in Beaujolais. The Henry Root, like Brawn, are derivatives of the hugely popular Terroirs wine bar in Charing Cross, all three openings have been choreographed by the same group of people. [Update: Nope this statement is not true. The Henry Root is not associated with Terroirs or Brawn at all. My bad, folks. People at Terroirs contacted me to let me know.] At the start of 2011, it looks as if the sharing plates cum wine bar revolution is coming back into vogue. With a bang. Brawn is still high on my list, but I had decided to visit The Henry Root first because it’s much closer to me than the former. Food is prepared by Sang Nguyen who packs premier league experience stinting previously at Orrery, Maze and Le Gav. I googled but failed to turn up on Finn the win guy’s background. But I’m sure it is on equal footing to Sang’s. I really like the decor. It is completely open plan, from the receiving bar, that stretches deeply all the way into the kitchen, visible to diners and skylit. All very clean, comfortable,
The sheer volume of blogposts on Bob Bob Ricard throughout 2010 made the interwebs quite a homogeneous place to read about new things. For a moment in time, BBR was perhaps the trendiest all day, all-booth, Anglo diner in London, complete with
You might think that something as modest as a cafe on the side of a towpath, used by neighbouring residents as a jogging and cycling route, would always remain hidden and truly a gem. That can no longer the case in the internet age. This sort of concept
I had a lovely lunch when I visited the then pop-up version of Dock Kitchen in October last year. It was part of Stevie (and kitchen buddy Joe Trivelli)’s mobile restaurant project titled “The Moveable Kitchen” which began at the height of the underground
Are you still stuck on plans for the festive break? I almost forgot that I had filed away this experience till I rummaged through my archives. While we were still sweltering in July, I – very enthusiastically – accepted an invitation to preview the Christmas menu
As part of our entertainment plans for out of town friends who had drifted into the Smoke for a weekend break. We sold them the idea that London was a treasure trove of brilliant adventures, whether it’d be food, theatre, the arts or history. The rest of the other criteria were suitable met with walks along the river, taking in The Lion King, and a hugely productive trip to Primark. They brought us fantastic Polish sausages, and in an effort not to be outdone, I thought I’d pick a sure-fire British gastro-brand to match their gratitude. This was a chance for me to knock multiple birds with the same stone, take them to a pub, that served Brit food, plus a blog post (this one) for me. So off we went to The Warrington in Maida Vale (which is also home to a fantastic wine merchant called The Winery, mainly for German Spätburgunders and Rieslings), one of Gordon Ramsay’s pubs with a dining room. I especially took to the intricate interior, witchery and goth, exaggerated details that were apparently borrowed from 19th seafaring ships. This building was at one time, a plush brothel in the late 1800′s. Apparently, the use of ‘Randy’ to describe libertine behaviour came about from the antics occuring at the Warrington during that time; it was situation just off randy Randolph Crescent. The staircase was epic
Hawksmoor has great PR, one of the early champions of blogs, it has since gone on to utilise and charm the medium with great success. Generally speaking, you guys – ie, people who read online food ramblings – love Hawksmoor. And I suppose, as a viable business
LifeDonk says: I didn't mind it, but I do read most of your stuff. I would be interested to read more about why you...
Kang L. says: Bunface - damn, that bad huh? Haha, whats wrong with the nose?? Gotta smell that stuff man! You're p...
bunface says: it feels a little like you're trying to be one of those guys who knows abou wine without the experti...
“..surrounded by the greatest wines of the world..” The dining room is relatively small...
A Prologue The first of a new series of posts I intend to write on a weekly basis. Not reviews per...
This is my 3rd visit to the fabulous Admiral Codrington in as many months. By now, you’ll have...
No doubt you’ve already heard about Ceviche, the first of a trio of Peruvian restaurants to...
Ah Norway. Good times. I spent some time in Haugesund a couple of years ago, for work, and I will...
I have asserted in the past that Bryn Williams is the most underrated chef in Britain, and that...
Rob & David’s eponymous restaurant has only just toasted its ten year anniversary. A...
Ah …Easter weekend. We drove all the way to the Sidmouth coast, to marvel at the bronze...
