Restaurants
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…
Smart even for Chelsea: Josephine Bouchon reviewed
Josephine is a Lyonnaise bistro on the Fulham Road from Claude Bosi. It is named for Bosi’s grandmother and is…
Would you steal from a restaurant?
‘You wouldn’t steal a car…’ began the early noughties anti-piracy video. ‘You wouldn’t steal a television… You wouldn’t steal a…
A creche for nepo babies: the River Cafe Cafe reviewed
The River Cafe has grown a thrifty annexe, and this passes for democratisation. All restaurants are tribal: if dukes have…
A great-day-out cafe that’s good value: Kenwood House reviewed
The immaculate bourgeois socialists of north London – that is not code for Jews – like to eat and drink…
The tiramisu is one of the loveliest things I’ve eaten anywhere: La Môme London reviewed
La Môme is the new ‘Mediterranean’ restaurant at the Berkeley, Knightsbridge’s monumental grand hotel. It has changed, as all London’s…
Have I been blacklisted by the binmen?
Monday, and Camden council have yet again failed to empty my food waste bin. They never miss my rubbish or…
How to get a table at Audley Public House
The Audley Public House is on the corner of North Audley Street and Mount Street in Mayfair, opposite the Purdey…
