Dining in London 2009?

[christm]

Hi

OK - We're getting there. Latium is now booked for Saturday dinner.

The Bincho was the Japanese restaurant in Soho.

Grazing just seemed to get great reviews for breakfast. If anyone can suggest good places closer to Grosvenor Sq, I'd be happy to try them!

Thanks

Martin

[PhilD]

Grazing just seemed to get great reviews for breakfast.  If anyone can suggest good places closer to Grosvenor Sq, I'd be happy to try them!

Thanks

Martin

←

I like "Lantarna" (Charlotte Place?) which is good walk down Oxford Street but worth it as it does great Australian breakfasts - great fresh ingredients and interesting dishes that owe a lot to the chef Bill Grainger. Flat White (Berwick Street) in Soho is another good option, although their food choice is limited.

The coffee in both places is really, really good, which is key for me.

Obviously if you want to stay English you could drop down to Piccadilly and head to the Wolseley - although given the rest of the itinary this could be overkill.

[christm]

Hi

Just back from London, so thanks for the recommendations. My review is below – please understand that I’m not a food writer or blogger and this is the first review I’ve ever done like this, so I apologise in advance!

Maze

We arrived on Saturday morning early and we decided to check in to our hotel in Grosvenor Square first. Having unloaded bags (room wasn’t ready yet), the fact that we were starving and Maze was right across the road influenced our decision and we decided to go there for breakfast. We both had the full works which was £22 each – this consisted of helping yourself to the cold buffet and any choice of the hot dishes on offer plus orange juice and tea or coffee. We both plumped for the Full English. The cold buffet was nice with a selection of cereals, yoghurts, cold meats, cheese, smoked salmon etc. I found the meats a bit hit and miss – some was lovely and flavoursome and some seemed to have been sitting out too long. The smoked salmon however was divine and plentiful. The Full English arrived (while we were still eating from the cold buffet – this could have been timed better) and it was fantastic. 2 big plump sausages, some lovely crispy bacon, 2 eggs, mushrooms, baked beans and a fried tomato. Everything on the plate was cooked to perfection (albeit it’s a fry up, not 3* food). The Full English on it’s own is £11 and I think that’s excellent value as it’s very filling and my local Little Chef charge about £8 for the same thing. We would definitely go back – only criticism was that I felt the service was just ok (and I was expecting more at a place like Maze – having eaten there before for dinner and the service was excellent). It was nothing major and maybe I’m being picky but – as mentioned before, the hot breakfast was served before we finished the cold one, when the hot breakfast arrived we were asked if we wanted toast (which was a bit late in the day to ask anyway), we said yes but had to remind them half way through our hot breakfast about it and only received the toast as we were finishing, our tea came with no teaspoon, getting someone’s attention to refill the tea was very difficult. The actual breakfast though was very good and as I said, the Full English on its own is decent value.

Bar Italia

Still my favourite haunt in London for a coffee and a quick bite. Had a very good Macchiato and a cannoli and a nice bit of banter with the staff.

Latium

Post theatre meal was at Latium, thanks to recommendation from here. As stated before Locanda Locatelli is our regular haunt and fancied something different. Arrived at 10:30pm after seeing Jersey Boys (an excellent show by the way). First impressions were good – excellent welcome from the staff and the place has a very inviting feel. Unfortunately sat next to the door which was regularly opened during dinner so it was quite cold but apart from that, very nice. Menus were excellent – a nice amount of choice – enough to have plenty of options but not too many that you feel the kitchen is having to do too many things. The Ravioli menu was very interesting and nice idea. I ordered the selection of Fish ravioli to start and a Taglioni pasta dish with prawns, broccoli, garlic and chilli as my main (drawing a strange look from the waitress as I guess you’re not meant to have a pasta main after a ravioli starter but what the hell, I was paying). Wife had a Ravioli starter with pumpkin and sage followed by Monkfish with lentils. Due to it being so late we didn’t fancy a full bottle of wine so went for a half bottle of Valpolicella which was reasonably priced and was lovely and light to go with the pasta. On an aside, I was impressed with the wine list – it wasn’t huge but had plenty in each price bracket to pick from. After ordering we were brought a small starter courtesy of the kitchen which comprised of a risotto ball with cheese, a tiny calzone thing with ham and cheese and a small bruchetta type thing with tomatoes – all 3 were fantastic and a nice way to start the meal. The breads then arrived and while good, not quite as good as the bread at Locanda Locatelli. Onto the meal - The ravioli’s were divine – easily the best single thing we ate in our time there. My fish ravioli came in the form of 4 different pastas (squid, saffron, spinach and tomato) each with a different kind of fish filling. It was superb, perfectly cooked. The pumpkin ravioli was also excellent although my personal preference is for the similar Pumpkin ravioli at Locanda Locatelli. My pasta main was good but not outstanding, the thin Taglioni was slightly overcooked for my liking and not quite as al dente as it might have been making it a bit mushy in the mouth. The actual sauce of chilli and garlic was lovely though and there were prawns in abundance which were perfectly cooked, not chewy at all. The Monkfish was also very good (I had to have a taste of everything). Fish perfectly cooked and the stew of lentils below very warming and homely. By now it was getting late but the desert menu looked so appetising that we couldn’t refuse. I had the Tiramisu (superior to the one at Locanda) and my wife had a Chocolate and Almond cake which was also excellent. To finish the meal I had an espresso and my wife had a Caffe Latte which were both ok – quite good probably but I’m probably a bit of a coffee snob (I have a kitchen type machine I imported from Tuscany and I import my coffee from a small supplier in Tuscany at home so I tend to feel it when coffee isn’t quite there). Only small niggle through the meal was that a female waitress was obviously upset about something and was arguing quite loudly in Italian with another waiter. I thought the bill ended up being quite reasonable given what we had and I would definitely return (especially for the ravioli menu).

Richoux

There was a Richoux right next to us so we just went there for breakfast on the Sunday. We both had waffles and they were fine but it wasn’t exactly the breakfast of a lifetime.

Maison Bertraux

Stopped mid morning at Maison Bertraux for a cup of tea and a macaroon biscuit. Biscuit was very nice and tea was excellent – it’s a really nice place to just chill out for 20 minutes and take a break. Would go back but (maybe it’s just me) the tea poured SO slowly out the teapot, it took minutes to fill a cup!

Tamarind

Lunch was at Tamarind due to another recommendation from here about their 2 for 1 offer. On arrival the place looked very nice and the staff were excellent and very welcoming. We both went for the tasting menu as it was the 2 for 1 offer. The starters comprised of some chicken tikka, a vegetable samosa type thing and a chickpea starter with yoghurt – all very nice and delicately spiced, nothing too hot. Mains were swordfish in a dry marinade, chicken in a spinach sauce, Bombay potatoes, pilau rice, naan and lentils. Again all were very nice and tasty but nothing really stood out as being fantastic. The chicken was probably the best dish out the mains as it was succulent and the sauce was very nicely spiced to give a kick but not so much that it took the flavour out the dish. Desert was cottage cheese in a sweetend milk which wasn’t to my taste. Overall I enjoyed the meal but it would have been expensive for what we had, were it not for the 2 for 1 offer. I’m glad I went and tried it but I wouldn’t have been happy paying the full price as I don’t think it was worth it.

Bar Italia

Time for one last trip to Bar Italia for a cannoli and a macchiato before we had to leave.

Thanks so much for those who contributed and also to all who use this forum. I only just found it after reading Jay’s book and it has been fantastic reading for me catching up on old threads and getting ideas of where to eat.

Martin

[nikkib]

next time you are in london you should really check out milk bar on bateman street less than a minute away from bar italia - its coffee really is second to none