Restaurant Reviews - t
Tamarind
Tucked away in the money-laden back streets of Mayfair, Tamarind restaurant is by no means the new kid on the block. Established over 15 years ago, despite losing their Michelin star earlier this year, they still remain the original culinary big-hitter of Anglo-Indian cuisine.
Tapas at The Gore
‘The whole area was an orchard before 1892,’ says co-owner Edward Bracken, thoughtfully spearing a warm garlicky olive, part of a large spread of tapas he’s had set out in front of us. ‘It once served as the Turkish Embassy, but otherwise was a hotel almost from the start almost a hundred years ago. As a hotel it was originally run by two descendants of Captain Cook!’ Such links to the past seem to come naturally to this unique place.
Tate St. Ives Cafe
Many art galleries have their cafes tucked down in a basement but the architects of the Tate building, which was opened to great acclaim in 1993, have given over their most prestigious level, the top floor, to the all-important purpose of visitor sustenance with The Café priding itself on sourcing its ingredients from Cornish growers and suppliers.
The Arbiter
Situated in Fulham’s busy North End Road, The Arbiter is one of a growing community of Gastro Pubs that seem to be springing up across the country.
The Avalon
A short walk from Balham station, and very close to Clapham common, the Avalon is a little away from the main shopping drag, but in our view is all the better for it. A popular destination, serving great food, it is well worth a visit.
The Big Chill House
The names of some bars and eateries give little away as to the mood to expect inside. The Big Chill House, on the other hand, tells it like it is. Depending on which way you interpret the name grammatically, this is both a place where you can chill – big time – as well as a big house in which you can chill. Either way, you get the picture: chilling is the name of the game here.
The Britannia
This imposing Victorian pub is cavernous and it is not until you walk through the entrance that you get a feel for the scale of the place. With good quality, well cooked dishes at reasonable prices, The Britannia is certainly worth visiting.
The Chef’s Table
Situated above a grocery store/delicatessen of the same name, you enter the restaurant through the shop. The restaurant itself is a small informal space with some five tables and a counter at which we sat, where you look onto the chefs at work - it almost feels like you are in the kitchen itself. This is certainly a destination restaurant if you are in the Cotswolds.
The Company Shed
If Kirsty Young invited me to name my desert island dish rather than disc, I would probably say “shellfish”, which seems apt. A recent craving for crustaceans took me to Essex, but not as you know it. Colchester’s Mersea Island is just five miles by two of tidal salt marsh
The Covent Garden Market Place, Grocer, Deli, Cafe
The Covent Garden Market Place, Grocer, Deli, Cafe is so new I can still smell wood shavings from the fit out and polenta is definitely for sale, along with a whole host of foody things you lust after, while not always entirely sure what they are or what they do
The Criterion
The menu states that the seafood has been driven from Looe in Cornwall that very day and I imagine a bleary-eyed Cornishman belting his Vauxhall Astra up the M4 at dawn with a glum-faced turbot sat in the back. Is this good for the Criterion’s carbon footprint? Is it good for the turbot?
The Double Club by Fondazione Prada
I ventured to ‘The Double Club’ on a double date. The west meets the Congo (and vice versa) in this temporary venture, produced by Prada. Down a dark cobbled alley behind Angel tube, it was an unlikely find. A Victorian warehouse is awning to three spaces woven by artists and graced by fashionistas. The mind behind is Carsten Höller, a German gripped by Congo-mania..
The Drawing Room
Down at the far Western end of Portobello Road things haven’t changed much since I used to do my shopping in the All Saints Road in the late 1970’s. The shopping was a bit furtive and didn’t actually involve any shops though, if you catch my drift maaan. Here is a nice neighbourhood restuarant, The Drawing Room.
The Ebury
Part of the First Restaurant Group chain, The Ebury has an imposing presence, occupying a prime location at the fork of Pimlico Road and Ranelagh Grove, very near to Ebury Bridge. Recently awarded two AA rosettes, for the fourth year running, this is a good destination to head for.
The Exhibition Rooms
Cross the rubicon of Clapham, regarded by some people as a part of North London that got accidentally cut off by the Thames, and you’re in the deep Sarf proper. Crystal Palace is as south as it gets really and yet only a few stops by mainline from London Bridge or Victoria, as any resident will tell you. It was this closeness and airy height above sea level that led to the great Exhibition Rooms of 1851 being moved here from Hyde Park. The Crystal Palace was a major attraction until the whole lot burnt to the ground in 1936, cheered on by my father who was allowed to stay up late in his winceyette pyjamas. Read more
The Glass House
The restaurant achieved some fame, or infamy, through its having been featured on the Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares programme some while back. Whilst we imagine that The Glass House is not quite the ‘nightmare’ that it was, it’s not all sweet dreams!
The Goring Restaurant
With afternoon teas and a menu that also includes Welsh Rarebit, vegetables foraged for chef from the Kent countryside, classics like potted shrimps, a beautifully British cheeseboard and even schoolboy scarer prunes, the Goring is a great big Dreadnought of British imperial dining power steaming its own unique track through a sea of mediocre, me too, ‘Modern European’ restaurants. We stand up salute it.
The Grape Street Wine Bar
I seem to have an aversion to dining at restaurants around major museums. It cannot be that hard to devise a lucrative ‘special 2 course meal’ for the tourist in search of a ‘good’ (cheap, low quality) deal. I would like to think that true foodies such as us could never be blinded by such flagrant attempts to entrap.
The Greenhouse, London
Antonin Bonnet has held a Michelin star at The Greenhouse for the four years he has been working there, and it is thought by many that he should have been given a second this year. It certainly fits the French two star mould – silently swooping waiting staff who pull out your chair before you have a chance to reach for it yourself; a seriously priced tasting menu (£80 per person) and a bulging wine list that includes such treasures as a double magnum of Château Lafite‐Rothschild 1er Grand Cru Classé from 1959, which will set you back a tidy £15,500. Certainly one for a special occasion.
The Griffin- Fletching
They apparently used to make arrows in Fletching – the fletch being the bit with the ‘wings’ on. Arrows used by the English at Agincourt were made here and anyone who has seen Olivier’s Henry V will recall that those arrows pretty much saved the day. Is a meal here going to save my day though?
The Hat and Tun
Bang off Clerkenwell’s Hatton Gardens at the Hat and Tun (Hatton Tun – punny, no?) is Ed and Tom Martin’s latest addition to their empire, a funny cross between Victorian East End boozer and English country pub.
So we have the ubiquitous dark, wood-panelled walls hosting haphazard stuffed pheasant, wild boar and badger heads. Then – on the counter – a jar of pickled eggs, a tureen of cauliflower soup, mushy peas in a vat.
The Living Room W1
A side road off Regent Street, Heddon Street is a quiet haven amid the bustle of central London. It is home to several restaurants, and The Living Room W1, nestles in a corner of this U shaped street. The double frontage, although substantial, belies the size of this flagship restaurant of the Living Room chain.
The Living Room, Islington
Situated in Essex Road, just a minute’s walk from Upper Street, Islington’s main drag, The Living Room boasts a huge uncluttered space, which belies its double fronted exterior. The large U shaped bar is its central feature with comfortable seating to two sides and the restaurant seating area to its remaining aspect. We went there to sample the new spring menu,that we understand has been rolled out across The Living Room chain.
The Loft
Sitting between Clapham Common and Clapham North Underground Stations, The Loft is a substantial Bar and Restaurant, which, as you might imagine, is on the upper floor of a building containing other businesses and produces some seriously good food up there.
The Narrow
The Narrow is amazingly well situated, set as it is, next to the lock that leads into Limehouse Basin, it has excellent views from the bend in the river, towards central London to the west and Docklands to the East. The Narrow are serving some very good food at reasonable prices, its excellent riverside views it is a great place for lunch or an evening meal.
The Oak
Whilst sitting on the train, on my way over to Teddington to review this restaurant, I wondered how busy it would be. What with the credit crunch clamping us by the jugular and consistent job losses, I was intrigued by how the suburbs were coping. On arrival, at 1 o’clock, it was plain to see. We were the only people there, and for the two hours we were there, three others came in for lunch and two locals enjoyed a pint, on separate tables.
The Old Crown restaurant
The Old Crown in New Oxford Street is one of the older buildings. It probably wasn’t designed to be a pub, perhaps originally a shop, and it is in estate-agent parlance ‘bijou’. That means small. In the summer, though it has floor to ceiling windows that open wide, a corner location and tables outside that look like they were made from old railway sleepers or similar. Chunky chic.
The Old Thatch, Adstock, Buckinghamshire
The Old Thatch in Adstock, Buckinghamshire ,is a bit of a celebrity in its patch - as one local told me, " it’s one of a small handful of places worth going to round here.” So what’s made this seriously tucked-away village pub survive where others have been converted into super-homes?
The Parlour
The Parlour is one of four new restaurants that are brought together in a new complex at Canada Square in Canary Wharf. It could best be described as a bar/restaurant, and has a stark, almost industrial feel about it. Delivering really good quality food at very reasonable prices, it is excellent value for money.
The Pembroke
The Pembroke belongs to that ever-growing category of eatery - the Gastropub – providing a welcome culinary alternative to the (in) famous pub grub. Recently re-opened under a new name, you will find the Pembroke sitting majestically on the corner of the Old Brompton Road.
The Princess of Shoreditch
The service here was careful, polished and exacting, we couldn’t find fault with that. And the food – with a few exceptions – was pretty much the same. As long as the mighty Princess of Shoreditch keeps an eye on the salt and other demons, we’re sure the punters will keep coming.
The Queen Adelaide
If only all pubs were welcoming drinking taverns that also managed to knock out robust and hearty British nosh. Unfortunately, far too many ‘gastro pubs’ have forgotten that they were once pubs at all, while the rest of the capital’s locals now seem to now serving Thai food.
The Real Greek
Set in the heart of Hoxton, The Real Greek is serving up traditional Greek food with a calorie-counted menu and new Cretan-inspired dishes that promise to make dining out and balancing a healthy lifestyle easy.
The Stag
The Stag is the second culinary venture from the Peritt brothers - Andrew and Jonathan - who have already won the hearts of Kensal Green locals with laid-back gastropub, The Regent. The new project follows the same formula but with the added bonus of an impressive outdoor space - open all year round, thanks to cosy heaters and covered cabanas. On a breezy October day, we resisted the temptation to sit outside but the leafy garden will undoubtedly be a big hit with Hampstead's youth and neighbouring hospital staff once the weather improves. Read more
The Terrace, at Grace
This huge venue opened at the beginning of October this year and boasts three separate bars, as well as the Terrace restaurant. The Terrace menu is currently priced at £25 for three courses, which is excellent value.
The Victoria Pub Hotel Restaurant
Approach The Victoria from one direction and you wonder what a nice little pub like this is doing it what appears to be a residential area, albeit one that is rather pricey. Approach from the other direction though and you realise that it’s actually just a stone’s throw from Richmond Park and ideal for walkers, cyclists and anyone to aim for.
The Waffle House
Catching jasmine scents beside a stream, I sipped a thick malty milkshake from a narrow straw, which thoughtfully slowed the flow. Organic flour is ground upstream between French Burr stones. These contain quartz crystals meaning sharp grinding edges which won’t chip into the flour. With every tinkle of the service bell, hungry anticipation grew.
The Warrington
Following our visit to The Warrington, to sample their bar food, back in December, we decided to go along to eat in the main restaurant of this characterful west London pub, which is part of Gordon Ramsay’s empire.
Tibits
I don’t know about you, but when I raid the salad section at the local sandwich shop the name of the game is to force the biggest amount possible into the smallest box available. This is then squeezed shut so that all the way to the checkout it is humming with tension like an over wound spring ready to leap open at the last minute flicking sweet corn in all directions. It’s a situation that Tibits, the gourmet vegetarian restaurant, has found a solution to.
Tike
Ask the average person their experience of Turkish food and they will probably say ‘kebab’, that tasty post-cocktail treat that falls apart when you bite into it, leaving your salad on the pavement and both ears full of chili sauce. The Kebab house, with its elephant’s leg slowly spinning on a spit, rules the suburban multi-cultural high street.
Toby Carvery restaurant
We sample a Toby Carvery and report back that surprise surprise it's really not bad at all, especially when you have a hungry family to feed
Trishna
Trishna is a new breed ‘Indian’ with stylish little copper lampshades that hang intimately over each table, bare brick walls painted a fashionable grey and even some of the original wood panelling left to add a bit of tone. So it’s somewhere to fine dine, not a spot to indulge in a post-pub frenzy. That the food hasn’t the coarse kick associated with more traditional British-Indian restaurants is to be applauded; it’s time for the food to come out from under the spice.
Tsuru
Tsuru is a clean bright place with tables outside and inside a kitchen turning out bento boxes, sushi, salads and even Katsu curries all at reasonable prices. Blackboards and signs scream sustainability telling you that the yellow fin tuna is line caught and that the salmon is fresh from the Shetland Isles. Chicken is free range and the packaging is as biodegradable as can be.
Twotwentytwo
In the gorgeous Landmark Hotel in London whilst the menu upstairs in The Winter Garden is all fine dining, downstairs the menu at the intimate and rather chic Twotwentytwo has all bases covered. Steaks for Mr Business Traveller? Check. Burgers for the timid eater and the sullen teen? Check. Caesar Salad for the American arriving in his time machine from 1970? Check.
