Restaurants
A right royal travesty: Lilibet’s reviewed
Elizabeth II was a god and a commodity: now she is gone it is time for posthumous exploitation. Lilibet’s is…
‘The food is not the point here’: Carbone reviewed
People say that Carbone is Jay Gatsby’s restaurant – Gatsby being the metaphor for moneyed doomed youth – but it…
Ireland is looking for its own Nigel Farage
A few years ago, I watched an Irish-made drama on Netflix called Rebellion. Given that it was about the 1916…
Bagels that even New York can’t beat: Panzer’s Delicatessen reviewed
That Panzer’s Delicatessen in St John’s Wood is called Panzer’s – for the instrument of Blitzkrieg – is mad, until…
Almost too interesting for Notting Hill: Speedboat Bar reviewed
When you are old enough, you can measure your life in restaurants. I remember, for instance, when the Electric Diner…
The Chinese spy case you won’t have heard about
The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, handsomely housed in London’s Bedford Square, is responsible for trade relations between the…
So boring it’s mesmerising: The Place to Eat at John Lewis reviewed
I am, like a strain of Withnail, in the John Lewis café by mistake. I meant to review the new…
A Mayfair brasserie for people who work, or at least pretend to: 74 Duke reviewed
There is an immaculate brasserie called 74 Duke at 74 Duke Street, Mayfair: this is postcode etymology. Duke Street runs…
Hell is a wine list
Wine lists give me the fear. I can still recall the prickle of adrenaline when my father handed me the…
I doubt there’s a better ravioli in London: The Lavery reviewed
The Lavery in South Kensington is named for Sir John Lavery, official artist of the Great War and designer of…
A fictional Edwardian waif’s hungry fantasy: Fortnum & Mason’s food hall reviewed
I like a picnic weighted with history and class terror, which means Fortnum & Mason on Piccadilly, which is historical…
In defence of fat cats’ growing pay packets
News from the High Pay Centre – the revolutionary guard of left-wing thinktanks – that average FTSE100 chief executive pay…
‘Italian that just works’: Broadwick Soho reviewed
This column sometimes shrieks the death of central London, and this is unfair. (I think this because others are now…
The chef does not understand sandwiches: Raffles London at the OWO reviewed
I am mesmerised by the restaurants of Raffles London at the OWO (Old War Office) because war approaches and the…
Lunch with Thomas Straker, the chef the restaurant world loves to hate
‘It was a heavy week,’ sighs Thomas Straker, explaining why he recently ended up on a drip in New York.…
Picture perfect: Locatelli at the National Gallery reviewed
I feel for Locatelli, the new Italian restaurant inside the National Gallery, whose opening coincides with the 200th anniversary of…
‘This is as good as food gets in London’ – Town, in Drury Lane, reviewed
Town – well-named, it has vitality – is on the ragged part of Drury Lane WC2 near the Majestic Wine…
Is your restaurant halal?
Dos Mas Tacos opened recently next to Spitalfields Market, one of London’s trendiest and busiest areas. Two beef birria tacos…
A man’s restaurant: Victor Garvey at the Midland Grand reviewed
The Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras Station is George Gilbert Scott’s masterpiece: his Albert Memorial in Hyde Park (a…
‘Rushed and under-loved and lacking conviction’: Hawksmoor Canary Wharf reviewed
Hawksmoor is the finest steak chain in London, because it lacks pretension and cares about blood. Years ago, at the…
Food that’s both serious and serene: Babbo reviewed
After a week in which Israel triumphed at the Eurovision Song Contest with second place – western Europe is for…
Everything Ottolenghi should be but isn’t: Delamina Townhouse reviewed
Delamina Townhouse is on Tavistock Street in Covent Garden. It is an Israeli restaurant, and a very fine and subtle…
Northern Europe doesn’t get salads: Claro reviewed
Claro is at 12 Waterloo Place, St James’s, and, when I tried to find out what it used to be…
My Marco Pierre White obsession
Pierre White, Marco. Chef. Michelin stars: five (all handed back). Wives: three (all handed back). Restaurants owned: number unclear. Hours…
Long live the long lunch!
I keep on my bedside table, where others might place religious texts, Keith Waterhouse’s seminal The Theory and Practice of…
