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Restaurants that don't get much publicity but


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I admit it: Incognico isn't my favourite London restaurant, but it is probably my most frequently visited in the ~£100+ (meal for 2) price range. Why? Location has a lot to do with it of course -- it's at the epicentre of where I do business in town and easy to find for guests.

But there's also the simple fact that while the service can be wildly variable the food has never disappointed.

My most recent visit: Salt cod with aioli (£9.50) was a comforting treat after a frankly lousy journey into town (a "passenger incident" cancelled all trains on the Central line) and Roast sea bass (£15.50) was an elegant main. Dessert of chocolate mouse was unusually presented in a soup-bowl and a bit too much powdered sugar was sprinkled on for me but they redemed themselves with absolutely excellent margherita's.

Overall a very reliable and rewarding evening out, but if I was pointing a newcomer to town to places they should try I doubt I'd mention it...

So my question is: what other places are there that don't get talked up much but which you favour nonetheless?

Edited by dharold (log)

Read about what I've been eating at http://theeatingwell.blogspot.com/

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I find you always tend to look more favourably upon restaurants that are easy for you to get to. For example I loved my recent meal at Chez Bruce (just a short bus ride away from my house in Battersea) whereas friends who had struggled halfway across london from Islington found themselves too wound up to appreciate it all I think!

Therefore my two favourite restaurants are at either end of my road - the Fox and Hounds gastropub on Latchmere Road, which serves market fresh mediterranean cooking with unfailing efficiency, and the Food Room, a French semi-fine-dining place on Queenstown Road which has a bargainous £21 three-course menu and is always a delight. Neither of which you will read about in the press!

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  • 2 weeks later...
I find you always tend to look more favourably upon restaurants that are easy for you to get to. For example I loved my recent meal at Chez Bruce (just a short bus ride away from my house in Battersea) whereas friends who had struggled halfway across london from Islington found themselves too wound up to appreciate it all I think!

Therefore my two favourite restaurants are at either end of my road - the Fox and Hounds gastropub on Latchmere Road, which serves market fresh mediterranean cooking with unfailing efficiency, and the Food Room, a French semi-fine-dining place on Queenstown Road which has a bargainous £21 three-course menu and is always a delight. Neither of which you will read about in the press!

A fair point as a north londoner Chez Bruce is a bridge too far perhaps. Don't get me wrong its good food but has tendency to be oversalted in my view

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It's at the epicentre of where I do business ... They redemed themselves with absolutely excellent margherita's.

I like the way you do business.

Roast. It's within walking distance of the City but isn't too City-ish, in a location that's both easy to find and atmospheric for out-of-towners. You can usually pitch up without booking, the room's rarely too empty or too full, the menu's not too pricey without being cheapo, and the food rarely goes below a B+. I guess its rocky opening knocked it off the radar of most foodies.

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The Greenhouse is the obvious choice in this category. If you want centrally located top-notch neo-classical haute, slick front of house and a killer wine list without having to book seventeen years in advance and sign your life away, its definitely the place to go.

Incognico is an interesting one. It was great when it first opened (esp the 12.50 pre-theatre), then has apparently gone downhill the last few years. As I recall it was the first bistro deluxe years and years before the regelade, galvins, arbutus and their ilk started muscling in on the scene. I'd like to revisit it at some point to see how its done - almost did it the other weekend but got chucked out when the kitchen closed at three and my date still hadn't turned up. The menu does look very uninspiring though, although keeping the foie gras and orange on as a special is a nice nod to the past.

J

More Cookbooks than Sense - my new Cookbook blog!
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