This new establishment has a menu offering choices of authentic Turkish and Italian cuisines, not some kind of fusion idea, the dishes are distinct and separately listed on the menu. Nar certainly is offering something a little different, delivering great food, it is well worth the trip to Vauxhall to sample it.
It’s one of those uninspired, grey London evenings buffeted by chilly pre-Spring winds, when your sluggish, gravy-soaked system simply cries out for a jolt – fierce, piquant flavours, hearty portions of meat and carbs, unfussy, substantial food. We decided to head out West – specifically, to Korean restaurant Nara in the West End.
It would be a shame to let the hotel atmosphere downstairs put you off ascending to Nipa because the combination of warm welcome, authentic carefully considered cooking and really rather reasonable prices mark this place out as well worth a visit.
Past 3D cameras and an increasingly famous commissionaire, ‘No. 20’ is the restaurant at Soho’s ‘Sanctum’ Hotel. This is London’s answer to Paris’ boutique ‘den of opulence’, the Hôtel Costes. Chic and shiny, dining room details include crocodile-skin chairs (not crocodilette), taut, bronzed banquettes, glass sheathed pillars and positive photo panels by the MOD’s official artist, Xavier Pick.
The Italians know what food is for – it’s for lunch - a meal that can often stretch on until it becomes dinner. The best Italian food is found, unsurprisingly in Italy, but in about the same time it takes for a budget airline to deposit you, cantankerous and queasy from your in-flight ‘snack’, at Pisa airport you could be at Nonna’s in Sheffield.
The clergy and food, what is it eh? Across the world priests of all denominations have been traditionally depicted as being as well fed and corpulent as a restaurant critic. It shows in the names of dishes like the Middle Eastern Imam Bayaldi, ‘the priest fainted’; either at the deliciousness or at the thought of how much olive oil went into it. And here on Santino Busciglio's excellent menu at Number Twelve are strozzapreti, or ‘Priest Stranglers’.