Restaurants

‘Italian that just works’: Broadwick Soho reviewed

16 August 2025 9:00 am

This column sometimes shrieks the death of central London, and this is unfair. (I think this because others are now…

The chef does not understand sandwiches: Raffles London at the OWO reviewed

2 August 2025 9:00 am

I am mesmerised by the restaurants of Raffles London at the OWO (Old War Office) because war approaches and the…

Lunch with Thomas Straker, the chef the restaurant world loves to hate

2 August 2025 9:00 am

‘It was a heavy week,’ sighs Thomas Straker, explaining why he recently ended up on a drip in New York.…

Picture perfect: Locatelli at the National Gallery reviewed

19 July 2025 9:00 am

I feel for Locatelli, the new Italian restaurant inside the National Gallery, whose opening coincides with the 200th anniversary of…

‘This is as good as food gets in London’ – Town, in Drury Lane, reviewed

5 July 2025 9:00 am

Town – well-named, it has vitality – is on the ragged part of Drury Lane WC2 near the Majestic Wine…

Is your restaurant halal?

28 June 2025 9:00 am

Dos Mas Tacos opened recently next to Spitalfields Market, one of London’s trendiest and busiest areas. Two beef birria tacos…

A man’s restaurant: Victor Garvey at the Midland Grand reviewed

21 June 2025 9:00 am

The Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras Station is George Gilbert Scott’s masterpiece: his Albert Memorial in Hyde Park (a…

‘Rushed and under-loved and lacking conviction’: Hawksmoor Canary Wharf reviewed

7 June 2025 9:00 am

Hawksmoor is the finest steak chain in London, because it lacks pretension and cares about blood. Years ago, at the…

Food that’s both serious and serene: Babbo reviewed

24 May 2025 9:00 am

After a week in which Israel triumphed at the Eurovision Song Contest with second place – western Europe is for…

Everything Ottolenghi should be but isn’t: Delamina Townhouse reviewed

10 May 2025 9:00 am

Delamina Townhouse is on Tavistock Street in Covent Garden. It is an Israeli restaurant, and a very fine and subtle…

Northern Europe doesn’t get salads: Claro reviewed

26 April 2025 9:00 am

Claro is at 12 Waterloo Place, St James’s, and, when I tried to find out what it used to be…

My Marco Pierre White obsession

26 April 2025 9:00 am

Pierre White, Marco. Chef. Michelin stars: five (all handed back). Wives: three (all handed back). Restaurants owned: number unclear. Hours…

Long live the long lunch!

26 April 2025 9:00 am

I keep on my bedside table, where others might place religious texts, Keith Waterhouse’s seminal The Theory and Practice of…

Smart even for Chelsea: Josephine Bouchon reviewed

12 April 2025 9:00 am

Josephine is a Lyonnaise bistro on the Fulham Road from Claude Bosi. It is named for Bosi’s grandmother and is…

Would you steal from a restaurant?

12 April 2025 9:00 am

‘You wouldn’t steal a car…’ began the early noughties anti-piracy video. ‘You wouldn’t steal a television… You wouldn’t steal a…

A creche for nepo babies: the River Cafe Cafe reviewed

29 March 2025 9:00 am

The River Cafe has grown a thrifty annexe, and this passes for democratisation. All restaurants are tribal: if dukes have…

A great-day-out cafe that’s good value: Kenwood House reviewed

15 March 2025 9:00 am

The immaculate bourgeois socialists of north London – that is not code for Jews – like to eat and drink…

The tiramisu is one of the loveliest things I’ve eaten anywhere: La Môme London reviewed

1 March 2025 9:00 am

La Môme is the new ‘Mediterranean’ restaurant at the Berkeley, Knightsbridge’s monumental grand hotel. It has changed, as all London’s…

Have I been blacklisted by the binmen?

22 February 2025 9:00 am

Monday, and Camden council have yet again failed to empty my food waste bin. They never miss my rubbish or…

How to get a table at Audley Public House

15 February 2025 9:00 am

The Audley Public House is on the corner of North Audley Street and Mount Street in Mayfair, opposite the Purdey…

The best way to approach sake

8 February 2025 9:00 am

We were discussing civilisation, as one does, and its relationship with cuisine. Pasta in Italy, paella in Spain, the roast…

Is a soul the only thing unavailable in Harrods?

1 February 2025 9:00 am

The Harrods bookshop, which I browse for masochistic reasons, is mesmerising: an homage to the lure of ownership. The first…

Save our cathedrals!

1 February 2025 9:00 am

My beloved 1967 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop guitar is now locked away until December at the earliest. For the past…

Can you still afford to eat out?

1 February 2025 9:00 am

Many of us will remember, misty-eyed, how things changed around the turn of the century. How Britain ceased to be…

Dictator dining

18 January 2025 9:00 am

The Savoy Hotel is a theatre playing Mean Girls with a hotel attached to it, so you can expect it…