Hôp Namô is run by husband and wife Colin and Linh Vu as a deliberate and very successful attempt to bring modern Vietnamese food to an increasingly appreciative audience. ‘Vietnamese with a modern twist’ is their slogan, although they are keen to emphasise that they fully acknowledge the traditions of their country’s cuisine.

All the staff we met had a smile and a friendly air about them and it didn’t seem forced. They were quick to refresh our crockery in the face of my messy eating and swift to top up the tea. And that’s about all I want. I certainly don’t want the American ‘Hi my name is Greg and I’ll just perch my resting actor’s buttocks on the table next to you and simper’ style of serving.

Does Sherlock Bar and Grill overcook its food as much as Cumberpatch overdoes his acting? Marcus Sedghi finds that in fact the food at Sherlock’s is well balanced, restrained and easy to get down.

You could pop into Caparossa and have a glass of wine and plate of pasta and feel yourself well fed. Go for all four courses and you could feel yourself a bit fat. This modern Neapolitan eatery has a lot of charm, some very good cooking and not an oversized pepper mill in sight.

Lashed by storms, hunted by ‘entertainers’ and frightened by a frog, intrepid explorer David finds the Rainforest can’t be endangered enough for his liking. Bring on the bulldozers.

Carrom is a game I used to play when a little girl. The board had intricate patternings and holes into which you’d flick counters. It may sound delicate but the competition was sharp. Slit eyes and hexes were rife. I was expecting to see a little more carrom thematic going on at D&D’s new Carom restaurant in Soho before I realised I’d confused it with carom – that’s one “r” – the spice.

Roganic is picky, both in terms of where the plated ingredients are sourced and how they choose to construct them. Each course is like a well rehearsed act, requiring you to gawp, question and discuss. It’s superb stuff, but I want to eat not talk. Over a five-hour seating and 15 courses, there is time for both. But it’s not cheap

Mexican doesn’t have to mean burritos and tacos like everywhere else – sometimes it can be pretty good. We tried out one of the flourishing Tortilla restaurants springing up across London quicker than Speedy Gonzales. Ariba!

The absolute star of Potli’s show is the starter Chicken 65, tender poultry in a pungent ginger and pepper batter, like an excellent and healthy KFC. We couldn’t get enough. We also had tawa machi – tilapia fish steaks marinated in ginger, garlic and mustard which were good but we’d have liked more mustard.

In a passer-by-free part of London – down the western side of Hyde Park Corner – Mango Tree is unlikely to be on your regular route unless you work locally. If you are well ahead with your Christmas wrapping and have time for a late, long lunch, or are taking a day off to Christmas-shop and need to recover from the throng by warming your wintry bones and spicing up your flagging enthusiasm, the Christmas banquet is extremely generous and excellent value for money.