Sake no Hana, Mayfair
Although our cultures are sometimes total antitheses of each other, I think that Japan and the UK do have a lot in common.
special occasions
Dim Sum Sundays at Hakkasan are better than brunch
I am not an anxious person, but I do get a deep feeling of unknown dread every time anyone asks me for a restaurant recommendation. The fear is that someone will go somewhere I suggest, and hate it. After all, eating out in London isn’t cheap, and I’d be mortified if someone dropped their hard-earned […]
Small plates from the sea at Chicama, Chelsea
A few years ago I had my birthday brunch at Pachamama, Marylebone, where we gorged on ceviche and the (justifiably) much-hyped Pan Con Chicharrón burgers, and my housemate James got so drunk on pisco punch he accidentally broke our mate Chris’s arm.
Chinese New Year at Yauatcha
Happy Chinese New Year! So begins the Year of the Dog, which apparently is amicable and kind, cautious and prudent. I’d be quite interested to know how the Dog ended up being the emblem of caution and prudence since all the ones I know will joyfully launch themselves into a freezing bog or gorge themselves […]
More than meat at Roast, Borough Market
Big news: I am Over the West End. Sort of. At weekends, at least. Monday to Friday, I work in an office directly across from the septic shit-swamp that is Leicester Square, so I’m used to nights out – both impromptu and planned – in Soho and Covent Garden. But whereas the area is a […]
Flurries of flavour at Foley’s, Fitzrovia
A client once told me in a Paris bar that if you order an Old Fashioned, you’ll always have the respect of the barman. “Sod the barman,” I said, inwardly, because they were a client after all. “If I’m paying a tenner for a drink it’s going to be something I actually like.”
Fine dining on a shoestring: Ormer with Bookatable
I’ll eat my socks if Ormer Mayfair doesn’t win a Michelin star this year. The sister restaurant to Shaun Rankin’s highly-decorated original in Jersey launched only nine months ago, but it’s enjoyed runaway popularity with almost everyone, from professional critics to armchair foodies.
Fast, good and cheap: L’Atelier de Joel Rubuchon’s new Michelin-starred L’unch menu
The Squash. The Beef. The Tart. It read like a haiku from a Post-Modernist remake of Beauty and the Beast, but it was, in fact, my lunch.
Pie in the sky at Bokan, Canary Wharf
I’ve always thought that if Leicester Square is London’s bumhole and Victoria its armpit – albeit a recently groomed, freshly deodorised one, in light of its recent reno – then Canary Wharf is its prosthetic thumb. Grey, functional and conspicuously lacking in anything that resembles a personality, it is populated by besuited unsmiling types who, without […]
Bottomless champagne at The Balcon’s luxury brunch
After the most excruciatingly tedious and prematurely middle-aged Saturday of our lives – cleaning out the cupboard under the stairs and installing a wine rack – Mike and I popped into town with the vague notion of perhaps going paint shopping after a nice brunch at Mayfair brasserie, The Balcon, which I’d been invited to […]
