Café Monico review – vaguely French brasserie is less grand and more...
Corbin and King have nothing to worry about What’s old is new again. This phrase comes to mind when witnessing the resurgence in appreciation of the grand French/continental-style brasseries that now...
View ArticleBBQ Whisky Beer at the Grey Horse Kingston review – barbecue pub residency...
But not necessarily for the better The amusingly named BBQ Whisky Beer was one of the best barbecue eateries in my original barbecue group test and it continued to impress on subsequent visits. After...
View ArticlePoke in London review: Tombo vs Black Roe vs the rest
The Hawaiian raw fish salad that isn’t sushi Every now and again newspapers and blogs alike fall over themselves to breathlessly pant over and extoll the latest food trend imported from the US....
View ArticleKiller Tomato review – attack of the imitation Shepherd’s Bush burritos and...
And I mean that in the nicest possible way Stuff any old combination of meat, veg and sauce into a tortilla and someone, somewhere will call it ‘Mexican’ even if the result only has a tangential...
View ArticleCha Chaan Teng review – the weird Hong Kong homage that breaks all the rules
I ate here four times so you don’t have to I try not to read other reviewer’s opinions of a restaurant until after I’ve finished writing my own review, so as to not skew my own views. I couldn’t resist...
View ArticlePide Oven review – Turkish pizzas in Fitzrovia for lunch and take away
No kebabs here, sorry late night drunks Kebabs are usually the first things that come to mind when someone mentions take away Turkish fast food, but other dishes from that storied culinary tradition...
View ArticleCattle and Co review – King’s Cross meat bandwagon rattles along
Botched burgers and bungled barbecue Conflating burgers and barbecue into the same menu is a common mistake. It’s easy to see why – alongside mac and cheese, they are the emblematic dishes of American...
View ArticleA. Wong review – Victoria Dim Sum and Peking duck
Plus the most mumbling tasting menu ever The overall trend in London restaurant menus, for the past few years, has been brevity. A few dishes, done well. Avoiding the false benefit of ‘choice’ and...
View ArticleKiln review – Smoking Goat sequel dazzles Soho in a different way
Less of a sibling and more of a cousin Second acts are hard, whether you’re switching careers, releasing a second album or opening a follow-up restaurant. With the latter, the easiest ways forward is...
View ArticleCalcutta Street review – Indian supper club settles down in Fitzrovia
Curry that makes you feel at home. Sort of. I’ve never understood the compulsion for restaurants to describe dishes as ‘home made’. When eating out, I want professionally made dishes – culinary...
View ArticleSmokestak review – barbecue street food settles down in Shoreditch
Smoke is the new black. It’s easy to rant and rail against hipsters and their rapidly gentrifying east London hub. For many, such as my dining companion Vicious Alabaster, they’re all little more than...
View ArticleTemper review – Soho meat palace serves exquisite beef, lamb and goat
Chicken? Where we’re going, we don’t need chicken. I try not to pay too much attention to a restaurant’s PR push before I eat there, as the nauseating buzzwords, jargon and marketing waffle can colour...
View ArticleBlue’s Smokehouse Twickenham review – dire suburban barbecue fit only for...
The meal so bad, I had to apologise to my dining companion The cliché about the suburbs, especially those south of the river, is that there’s nowhere good to eat. That’s not quite true anymore, if it...
View ArticleLuca review – the Clove Club’s Italian spin-off is odd but lovely
Farringdon Britalian is a mash-up in more ways than one Although there are Italian restaurants of every shape and variety in London for all budgets, it’s the expensive ones that I’ve always found most...
View ArticleBirdland review – Michelin-starred Ginza yakitori-ya takes flight
This review of a Tokyo restaurant is a break from The Picky Glutton’s usual London-based coverage A lot of words have been written about the glamourisation of ‘dirty food’ in London. Dishes such as...
View ArticleEating my way around Japan, part 1 – Tokyo and Kyoto
This Japan-focussed article is a break from The Picky Glutton’s usual London-based coverage For a country on the far side of the world with a reputation for being expensive and inscrutable, Japan holds...
View ArticleBreddos Tacos review – StreetFeast Dinerama street food settles down in...
The Schrodinger’s cat of Mexican food in London Street food has been a significant force for change in the way Londoners eat out. Street food market stalls lack the comfort and convenience of a fully...
View ArticleEl Pastor review – the Barrafina of tacos? Not quite.
Borough Market tacos has its ups and downs Restaurant decor has fallen into a bit of a rut in recent years. From exposed brick walls and concrete floors to reclaimed furniture and brass fittings, it’s...
View ArticleThe 2016 food writing jealousy list
Words I wish I had written This website is all about restaurant reviews, but I’ve been a writer (in various ways) long before I started this site. I know of two prime ways (just two) of becoming a...
View ArticleThe best dishes of 2016 – London restaurants you need to visit right now
2016: I love you and I hate you 2016 may have a stomach churning, gut punching year in the realm of politics and celebrity deaths, but at least it’s also been a rip-roaring thrill ride for Londoners...
View Article