Preston C. wrote: > Will be in London at the end of June and need some rec. for > good eating in the Mayfair and Central London area. Any > suggestions? The following is a list of my London restaurant recommendations merged with those of Paul Henderson ([email removed]), who runs Gidleigh Park at Chagford in Devon (which, if you're in the area, is very highly rated in the Good Food Guide and elsewhere). I've also added edited highlights of a longer review by [email removed] I'll add in others which are either emailed to me or posted here but I reserve the right to exercise a degree of editorial control. If you have a Web browser, Time Out (the London-based listings mag) have put a portion of their guide to eating out in London on: http://www.timeout.co.uk *********************** EXPENSIVE RESTUARANTS *********************** Al San Vincenzo (Italian) 30 Connaught St W2 (Marble Arch tube), tel: 0171 262 9623. Very simple decor and service (but nice service), very good cooking. Orichetti with fresh tomatoes June 93 was magical, a serious contender with the scallops and black truffles at Bibendum, at a fraction of the price. Vincenzo and Elaine Borgonzolo (he's Neapolitan, she's English) are very nice. [email removed] --- Alastair Little (Modern British) Frith Street (Tottenham Court Road Tube) tel: 0171 734 5183 Eclectic menu changed daily by the eponymous ex-Oxbridge chef. Unfussy food, suprisingly informal surroundings given the price, and the quality. Signature dishes include Tournedos on Polenta with Salsa Verde and Salt Grilled Sea Bass with Parsley Salad. There is a downstairs bar with a few tables where you can drink and eat without feeling obliged to order a three course meal. I once arrived late and not completely starving and had a magnificent starter of bouillabaise directly followed by a tiramisu. I think its wonderful, the Good Food Guide complains that he has stood still while other restaurants have caught up, and reproaches him for spending the summer running cookery courses in Umbria. [email removed] --- Aubergine (French) Palk Walk, off the Fulham Road (Bus or walk from South Ken) tel: 0171 352 3449 Gordon Ramsay, an ex-Glasgow Rangers footballer, has just earned his first Michelin star and is booked up for weeks in advance. The restaurant has all the faults of high class French restaurants (right down to the pink colour scheme) and the food is excellent. The waiters (all French) will give you a lengthy discourse on the menu ("an' zen, Madame, 'e addz joost a leetle soupcon de vanille ..."), which concentrates on fish with extremely fine saucing: such as Sea Bass on a bed of salsify with a light sauce savoured with the aforementioned vanille. [email removed] --- Bibendum (Modern British) Michelin Building, Fulham Road (South Ken tube) tel: 0171 581 5817. All things considered, this is my favourite restaurant in London. Chef and part owner Simon Hopkinson is a great chef, who understands after travelling very widely that the best things to eat are often the simplest. His book _Roast Chicken and Other Stories_ ISBN 0-09-177034-3 (csd) was published April 94, and I think that it is the most intelligent and interesting food book I have read in the last few years. The restaurant is very beautiful and stylish (designed by Terence Conran who is also a part owner), and the service is very good. The best single dish that I ate in 1993 was sauteed scallops with black truffles, very generous with the truffles as it should have been at UKL22 for a first course. The wine list is very extensive, probably close to 1000 wines listed, but pricey - this is my only complaint about Bibendum. The restaurant manager Graham Williams is a pal and you can use my name with him if you find it hard to get a table (most people do). I expect the bill to be L140-150 for dinner for two. [email removed] N.B. Simon Hopkinson is no longer cooking at Bibendum but is still a part owner and still supervises the kitchen and menus. Matthew Harris has taken over as head chef. ([email removed]) --- Chez Max (French) 168 Ifield Road (Earls Court tube Take the west Warwick Road exit) tel: 0171 836 0874 The first thing we were asked is did we bring our own wine. This is strongly encouraged even though corkage is £5 a bottle (£10 a magnum). They do have a short but excellent if not bargain priced all French wine list if you arrive empty handed, but I think the point is that regular customers would soon exhaust it's few options. The main dishes were very fine. I had roast Bresse Pigeon with perfectly cooked shredded Savoy cabbage with lardons and a pastry that was a cross between brioche and puff pastry shaped like the dome of a mosque and filled with sublime pommes dauphinoise. All of this came in a sort of large soup plate with a fine light sauce. Sue devoured roast fillet of pork with a lentil and mustard sauce that came with a savoy cabbage cake and a few carrots and potato. This was an excellent meal, especially the two main course dishes, and at £25.50 for 3 courses worth every penny. Our bill with wine, a large bottle of water and 12.5% service which they add was nearly £80, but take your own wine and pay nearer £60. One tip. In the evenings at least book early or late and you shouldn't suffer less from a lack of what you aren't paying for - space. --- Clarkes (Modern British) 124 Kensington Church St W8, (Notting Hill Gate tube) tel: 0171 221 9225 Sally Clarke is a great chef, with the confidence to run an evening menu which has no choice - at lunch you have the choice of 3 1st courses and 3 main courses. There's a very good short wine list, fairly priced, with lots of interesting wines from California. Service is very good, but unpretentious - three of our previous staff are working there now - if you want to make a booking ask for Ann Smith or Elaine Hutchings. Sally started in the restaurant business at Michael's in Santa Monica, and there is a definite Californian influence here, but more Alice Waters than Michael McCarty. Allow L100+ for dinner. [email removed] --- The Connaught (British) Carlos Place, Mayfair tel: 0171 499 7070. This to me is _the_ place to go in London for a very special occasion. I'm not sure that the food and wine are up to the prices (in fact I'm pretty sure that they are _not_) but it is a wonderful ambience and and we have always had great service there. There are 2 dining rooms; the grill is smaller and has painted walls, the restaurant larger with wooden pannelling. The best things to eat there are English dishes like roast grouse (the season starts 12 August). The wine list used to be great and reasonably priced but I found it disappointing the last time we went a couple of years ago. Allow L200. I'll still go again. [email removed] --- The French House Dining Rooms (Modern British) Dean Street (Tottenham Court Road Tube) Traditional cooking in a tiny room above a famous Soho drinking spot. Dark colours and low ceilings give the impression of an old Soho house. The menu includes, or has included: sweetbreads, duck confit with haricot beans, rabbit with mustard sauce. They haven't made a big deal of the French association. It is excellent cooking of simple food and reasonably priced. [email removed] --- Granita (Italian) Upper Street (Angel Tube) Famous as the restaurant where Gordon Brown and Tony Blair decided who should stand for the Labour Party leadership. Stark, modern interior for serious Islington people dining out. Or perhaps that should be Islington's serious dining-out people. Fashionable Cal-Ital food: bresola, sun dried tomatoes, rocket salads etc. They have an interesting selection of dessert wines by the glass. [email removed] --- Hilaire 68 Old Brompton Road, (South Kensington tube) tel: 0171 584 8993. This was very fashionable when Simon Hopkinson (see Bibendum) was there, but Brian Webb is also very good. Robust cooking and large portions, simple decor but good service. Under L100. [email removed] --- The Ivy (Modern British) 1 West St off St Martins Lane tel 0171 836 4751, Caprice Arlington St in St. James's tel: 0171 629 2239. Both of these are owned by Chris Corbin & Jeremy King, and they are exceptionally stylish - there are always famous people there if this interests you. What interests me most is that the food is always good, a lot of basic English dishes like fish cakes and mixed grill, the wine list is short but intelligent (I almost always try something new from Australia or NZ or America), and the service is outstanding. Two people can eat and drink well for L80. [email removed] --- Olivo, 21 Eccleston St. SW1, Victoria, tel: 0171 730 2505. Decor is like the inside of a California swimming pool (or a Hockney painting), blue and yellow, but food is v. good and Sardinian owner Mauro Sanna makes it hum. [email removed] --- Quaglinos (Modern British) 16 Bury St, St. James's (Green Park or Piccadilly Circus tube) tel: 0171 930 6767. Terence Conran's latest venture (he also is part-owner of Bibendum above, and owns Pont de la Tour at Butlers Wharf which is also good). This is a stunning large bustling restaurant, modelled on Paris brasseries. When it opened in 1993 it was very good, then it became so fashionable that you couldn't get a table, and even if you did the food and service were indifferent, and now it seems to be just right. Under L100. [email removed] --- River Cafe (Italian) Thames Wharf Studios, Rainville Road, Hammersmith (Hammersmith tube) tel 0171 381 8824. Architect Richard Rogers wife Ruth opened this several years ago in his studios overlooking the Harrods warehouse. Stunningly redesigned in 1994, outstanding Northern Italian cooking and a very good Italian wine. [email removed] --- Tante Claire (French) Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea SW3, (Sloane Square tube) tel: 0171 352 6045. This is the greatest French restaurant in London. Chef/Patron Pierre Koffman opened it the same year that we started Gidleigh Park, and I have never had a meal there that I didn't like. Beautiful art deco decor, plates with Matisse drawings, exceptional service. Koffman is from Gascony, and as you might expect foie gras is fantastic, the best in England; some years ago I thought foie gras and quince was such a good idea that we pinched it! Wines are expensive, the best values are from SW France, Jurancon, Cahors, Madiran. Almost certainly L150+ (maybe L200, I've only been for lunch in the last 2 years) for dinner, but worth every penny. [email removed] N.B. The set lunch is L25 a head and reputed to be the best deal in London. ([email removed]) --- *************************** MEDIUM PRICED RESTUARANTS *************************** Alfred's (British) Shaftesbury Avenue (Tottenham Court Road Tube) tel: 0171 240 2566 A newly decorated designer interior which feels comfortable rather than smart or fashionable. If a bit on the yellow side. The theme is British and the menu is a built around traditional British dishes, although they haven't allowed the apparent limitations of that to cramp their style: nettle soup, Glamorgan patties, wild boar sausages (the chef worked at Belgo), braised oxtail are all splendid. The wine list even includes a range of, quite drinkable, British wines, ask to taste one or two if you're not sure that you want to risk ordering a bottle. Or stick to fine British beers. [email removed] --- Anna's Place (Swedish) Mildmay Park (73 bus to Newington Green) A tiny neighbourhood restaurant with an incredibly friendly proprietress. Start the evening with a homemade vodka, or at least vodka made by Absolut but in which Anna has steeped a range of fruits and spices, one exquisite combination being ginger and lemongrass. Specialities include various kinds of marinaded fish and Biff Strindberg, a daube with a mustardy sauce. [email removed] --- Chang Mia (Thai) Frith Street (Tottenham Court Road Tube) One of the first - if not the first - and one of the best -if not the best - Thai restaurants in London. I recommend the soups and also the Thai sausages. Vatch's book is an excellent introduction to Thailand and its cooking. [email removed] --- Dell Ugo (Mediterranean) Frith Street (Tottenham Court Road Tube) One reviewer wrote that some of the dishes were just a little too inventive, as though the ingredients had only just been introduced to each other and weren't sure why they had all been invited to the same party. Very big, very noisy, and good value. I rate the Lamb Shanks (cooked very slowly seasoned with rosemary, garlic and anchovies and served with flagelot beans). Not everyone likes it and the service comes smartly dressed but is neither formal nor terribly effective. [email removed] --- The Fire Station (Eclectic British) Waterloo Road (Waterloo Tube) A huge room, which clearly used to be a fire station, now has a bar area at the front and an array of mismatched tables at the rear. Trendy and informal. A blackboard menu advertises a mix of Mediterranean cooking and fashionable adaptations of British dishes. Good value. [email removed] --- Museum Street Cafe (Eclectic British) Museum Street (Holborn) A strictly limited menu, changed every week, with an emphasis on char-grilling and Italianate food. Good value, straightforward. Not a cafe. [email removed] --- Pasha (Turkish) Upper Street (Angel Tube) Very attentive service. Beautiful food. I had something wonderful with an aubergine puree. And sat at the next table to Michael Ignattief! [email removed] --- The Underground Cafe (Italian) Camden High Street (Camden Tube) Trendy Italian cooking. Unspeakable paintings. Youthful clientele. I once saw Nick Cave in here. [email removed] --- ******************* CHEAP RESTUARANTS ******************* Belgo (Belgian) Chalk Farm Road (Camden Tube) tel: 0171 267 0718 and Belgo Centraal Neal Street (Covent Garden) tel: 0171 813 2233 Both operations have bizarrely over-designed interiors, in Belgo you enter via a drawbridge over the kitchens into a long stark room with frighteningly uncomfortable chairs, in Belgo Centraal a lift takes you down into a basement where you have a choice of beer hall or restaurant. The waiters are dressed as monks and make a sincere effort to sound Belgian. The option of a huge chamber pot full of garlicky mussels, a side order of chips and a succession of increasingly potent Belgian beers is so obvious and so appealing that the rest of the menu may seem superfluous. You should however consider the lunch for a fiver of wild boar sausages and mash with a glass of beer. [email removed] --- Cafe D'Aquise (Polish) Thurloe Street (South Kensington Tube) I recommend the Borscht. As for the rest, it's good wholesome food but more wholesome than good. I've been told that the chips actually came from the chippy next door. Frying, it seems, isn't rated as a technique here. Or at least not as highly rated as boiling. There is some association with the Profumo scandal. [email removed] --- The India Club (Indian) Strand (Embankment Tube) Unexceptional but not unpleasant Indian food served in a room resembling the canteen of a Midlands technical college circa 1948. Unpretentious. An institution, mainly noted for the incredibly low prices and policy of allowing you to bring your own drink. [email removed] --- The Great Nepalese (Nepalese) Eversholt Street (Euston Tube) A really good, very friendly place. The food is very similar to Indian and includes a lot of mutton. One of the mutton starters is wonderful but I can never remember its name. [email removed] --- Luba's Place (Russian) Essex Road (Get a bus) Last time I went there we drank two bottles of vodka between six of us and I only got home with difficulty. I certainly can't remember what I ate. It seemed to be popular with doleful looking Russians. [email removed] --- Pizza Express various locations including: Wardour Street (Leicester Square Tube) Upper Street (Angel Tube) Bow Street (Covent Garden Tube) Coptic Street (Holborn Tube) The best of the Pizza chains. Cheap, reliable, convenient. [email removed] --- Pollo (Italian) 20 Old Compton Street (Leicester Square tube) tel: 0171 734 5917 An institution. A fast moving queue of student types shuffling into a tiny restaurant serving pasta standards at rock bottom prices. [email removed] --- Hamine (Japanese noodles) 84 Brewer Street (Picadilly Circus tube) tel: 0171 439 0785 Stark interior, not as stylish as Wagamamma and a fraction of the size, it serves tasty bowls of noodles in generous portions without attracting any of the hype or the queues. Not much vegetarian food. [email removed] --- Wagamamma( Japanese noodles) Streatham Place (Holborn Tube) tel: 0171 323 9223 An incredible success. A queue (which moves suprisingly quickly) takes you into a room where a hundred or so people sit at long benches wolfing down huge bowls of noodle dishes. A strong emphasis on healthy eating and lots of vegetarian dishes combines with a taste for spicy flavourings. [email removed] ********* PUBS ********* The Eagle Farringdon Road (Farringdon Tube) tel: 0171 837 1353 --- The Crown and Goose Delancey Street (Camden Tube) tel: 0171 485 2342 --- The Lansdowne Gloucester Avenue (Chalk Farm Tube) tel: 0171 483 0409 --- The Peasant St John Street (Angel Tube) tel: 0171 336 7726 --- are all well known for their food and have enough in common to represent a fashion or a 'new wave' of pub-restaurants. The atmosphere is busy but not boisterous, the clientele youngish, the food is more expensive than normal pub food but cheap by restaurant prices and very good value. The cooking is simple, but not too simple and trendy rather than traditional. The Peasant is the smartest and the most expensive, the Lansdowne following. The Crown and Goose is more popular with drinkers than eaters. I very strongly recommend these to tourists who want an ambience which is distinctively British, food which is a pleasure to eat and yet not hideously expensive. [email removed] ******* CAFES ******* --- F.H.Cooke & Sons (Pie Shop) Kingsland High Street (Dalston Kingsland British Rail) One of the few places where the past persists because no one has changed it rather than because someone has preserved it. An East End tradition, serving jellied eels (don't feel you have to try them, you know you won't be able to eat them) and meat pies with mashed potatoes and a curious green liquid known as 'liqour' which clearly involves parsley. Very cheap and worth visiting for the Victorian interior alone. [email removed] --- Coffee Gallery Museum Street (Holborn Tube) An bright and cheerful Italian cafe, serving really good food and wonderful coffee and cakes amidst crockery and pictures, offered for sale. Popular with academics and publishing types. If you have to wait for a table it might be a long wait. [email removed]
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