Working Lunch review: Big Easy, Canary Wharf January 6, 2016 Big Easy, Crossrail Place, E14 WHAT? The third – and largest – Big Easy serving “low and slow” meat and seafood cooked in pit rooms that house two tonne US smokers. The sheer size of this venue – to give you an idea, it employs 170 staff – means it also accommodates an American breakfast [...]
Lessons in wine: Use Dry January to brush up on your wine critics and make a tidy profit January 6, 2016 The most important thing to remember is that a wine is subjective. Wine lovers should be guided by the critics, but at the end of the day the only thing that really matters is each individual drinker’s own enjoyment. With the arrival of the internet, it’s never been so easy to learn about and voice [...]
Oldroyd in Islington review: the ultimate local restaurant December 22, 2015 344 Upper Street, N1, www.oldroydlondon.com FOOD ★★★★☆ | VALUE ★★★★★ | ATMOSPHERE ★★★★☆ Cost for two with booze: £85 Oldroyd may have been open a little while now, but what nicer way to end a nice year filled with nice meals than a trip to one of London’s very nicest restaurants. Not best, necessarily, but [...]
Piquet restaurant in Fitzrovia is a former car-park that now serves snails to die for December 15, 2015 92-94 Newman Street, W1, piquet-restaurant.co.uk FOOD ★★★★☆ | VALUE ★★★★ | ATMOSPHERE ★★★☆☆ Cost for two with booze: £140 The part of Fitzrovia surrounding Piquet isn’t what you’d call atmospheric. At least not in a good way. To the north block after block of faceless office buildings recede into the distance; to the south lies the grubbier [...]
Sexy Fish: Ivy tycoon Richard Caring transforms Mayfair bank into aquatic restaurant – with installations by Damien Hirst and a 13ft crocodile December 4, 2015 Restaurant tycoon Richard Caring, owner of Caprice Holdings, has launched a new aquatic-themed restaurant in Mayfair's Berkeley Square. Sexy Fish will – as the name implies – serve fish and seafood and sits on the site of an old NatWest banking hall. The restaurant will join Caprice Holding's growing list of London restaurants, which include The Ivy, Le Caprice and 34. [...]
Lessons in wine: Why Argentina is far more than just Messi and Malbec December 1, 2015 Argentinian wine is synonymous with Malbec, the country that turned the fortunes of this grape variety around. So, while Argentinian winemakers have cultivated the white grape Torrontes with great success, it is the full bodied, rich and concentrated Malbec that steals the show. Malbec is better known in South Western France as Cot and was [...]
German Gymnasium restaurant review: This menu has the best sausage in town December 1, 2015 1 Kings Blvd, N1C 4BU, germangymnasium.com FOOD ★★★★★ | VALUE ★★★☆☆ | ATMOSPHERE ★★★★☆ Cost for two with booze: £120 The name German Gymnasium evokes images of preening, glistening men flexing their biceps; of grunts of exertion and the repetitive fwap of fists against leather; of the distant scent of Lynx. Restaurant giant D&D’s new venture is so-called [...]
The Bermondsey Yard Cafe review: Is this SE1 restaurant keeping up with its trendy neighbours? November 17, 2015 The times they are a changin’ down on Bermondsey Street. One of the finest Italian kitchens in London and a long-time standard bearer of transpontine dining, is set to close before Christmas. Rising rent prices have reportedly forced the closure. The arrival of Fulham Shore-owned Franco Manca further points to an area of London commanding increasingly [...]
Mix it up: Sip cocktails with an older, wiser crowd at The Goring Hotel November 17, 2015 It must be a sign of age but I'm increasingly uneasy hanging around youngsters on a night out. It's probably because I've been there, done that and made the same "mistakes" already. They were awful the first time so I’d would rather not relive them (not even vicariously). Perhaps that’s why I found myself propped [...]
Lessons in wine: Tis the season to get tipsy on our top Christmas picks November 17, 2015 Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat and it is time to start planning Christmas lunch. While the true meaning of Christmas is peace and goodwill to all, a delicious lunch and good wine comes in a strong second. Sometimes the only way to get through TV re-runs, that protracted and competitive game of [...]