Lucy Self checks out The Mandeville Hotel’s Marylebone restaurant and questions whether too much comparison is a good thing. 

I think Rextail is a winner for Mr Novikov, who has hit the button this time. It’s out of my personal price range for repeat dining but the food is much better than expected; enjoyable and straightforward and the room works.

Brigade, the London Bridge restaurant where good causes and good food meet and actually get on.

A restaurant in a tower in Liverpool – that’s enough to get me in the door.

 A friendly, neighbourhood bar full of 20-50-year-olds, families, couples – but now with a much more eclectic décor; think 1970s Greek taverna bricking, pianos on the walls, tan Chesterfields, Toby Jugs and curios in every corner. 

Keith Lewis visits newly opened City hotspot Core for a cocktail or two.

Good vibes and good burgers, what more could you want?

It’s seven in the evening on a dark and cold Tuesday, and I find myself in an odd situation. I’m in a decidedly Oriental environment, surrounded by bamboo and rope-wrapped pillars. The music, however, consists of track after track from the videogame Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

Without drink we’ve done about £70, which for the room and the food I’m happy about. Service was on point and the Indian dishes really well above average, with the European ones sound and satisfying, if not exactly exciting. If I were in charge I’d push the Indian side more.

I’m sitting in a comfortable neo-Milanese room, looking out at the torrential rain currently turning Islington from bright and sunny to soaking wet. The decor is smart and modern, with dashes of lime green breaking up the otherwise clean, white interior. A waitress places a starter of butterfly king prawns on Italian bread before me; it looks strangely familiar.