Love: Restaurants & Bars
Prince of Wales, SW15
Take a bunch of restaurant staff who have shed blood, sweet and tears working their way up to work in some of London’s finest bars and Michelin-starred restaurants and plonk them into an unassuming pub in Putney. What do you get? No this isn’t some cruel prank, but actually the recipe for one of... »
Entrée, SW11
For the restaurant world, 2010 will probably be best known for the return of old favourites. Golden oldies such as Pierre Koffman, Bruno Loubet and Joel Antunes have all opened high profile and critically acclaimed restaurants this year. Unfortunately, this has also meant that that launches by promising young-upstarts have been largely overshadowed by... »
York & Albany, NW1
Those well aquainted with Blackadder the Third will know that The Prince Regent was not blessed with political prowess. Instead he was more of an extravagant dandy dedicated to a lavish lifestyle resulting in life-threatening obesity and a nasty laudanum habit. Fortunately for us though some pretty spectacular architecture & aesthetic follies survive from... »
Patara, Various locations
Our love affair with Thailand and their fine cuisine is clear to see, with Thai restaurants becoming almost as common as Chinese and Indian on our high streets. One of the earliest proponents of the now omnipresent Far-Eastern cuisine is Patara – a restaurant group that has championed quality Thai cuisine ever since the... »
Dishoom, WC2
So we all know that the Indian restaurant industry has successfully seen the evolution from kitsch Birmingham balti house to providing a more authentic representation of Indian food. It now seems that the scene is developing once more, with the increasing presence of traditional Indian street food. Mooli’s in Soho has already developed a... »
The Jam Tree, W14
The annoying thing about the so called Gastropub is that they so often disappoint. Too many ailing establishments slap on a lick of neutral paint, unenthusiastically overhaul the menu and buy in a job lot of mismatched furnishings. Fortunately the Jam Tree is a more imaginative conception than most. The main bar area is... »
Lonsdale Bar & Kitchen, W11
I believe there’s a line in Cocktail where someone says of Tom Cruise’s character: “Guys want to be him and the girls want to be with him”. Head on down to The Lonsdale and it’s about as close as one is ever likely to get to the ‘Cocktail’ movie experience in London. The bar... »
The Avalon, SW12
As the economy has boomed, the foodie world has largely become influenced by style over substance. We’ve all been wowed by a ‘pithivier of this’, ‘foam of that’ and ‘tasting’ plates of food which wouldn’t look out of place at The National Gallery. However, the tide has changed. If we are going to spend... »
Bistrot Bruno Loubet, EC1
A brief culinary history lesson if I may. Bruno Loubet made his name in the early 1990’s as one of the most dynamic and consistently brilliant young chefs cooking in England. Jobs at high profile restaurants such as Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons were awarded, Michelin Stars were gained and things were generally looking... »
Giant Robot, EC1
If you like your lunch Italian, your brunch American, cocktails at dinner time and dinner at bedtime, Giant Robot is the place to be. Giant Robot takes over the site of long-serving Clerkenwell favourite, Match Bar, and whilst the owners are still the same, the new venue is very different. With a name like... »
