The Hawksmoor that’s not a Hawksmoor Foxlow is the latest restaurant from the guys behind the Hawksmoor mini-chain of steakhouses, but it tries to be different by concentrating on meats other than steak. I say ‘tries’ quite deliberately, as you can still order various cuts of steak at Foxlow. Even if this wasn’t the case, Foxlow’s … Continue reading
Hotel food with a twist Hotel restaurants are very different from restaurants in hotels. This may seem like a minor semantic difference, but there’s actually a yawning gulf between the two. Hotel restaurants are identikit eateries serving up a large menu of lowest common denominator dishes designed for weary travellers too tired to care and … Continue reading
Bar barbecue face-off During my recent round up of American-style barbecue places, an unsurprisingly large number of the best places to eat were market stalls and residencies inside bars. One of the winners of that round-up, Texas Joe’s, has since set up shop inside Brewdog Shoreditch. This gave me the perfect excuse to see how … Continue reading
The best meal of the year and inexcusably overlooked by the Michelin Guide I encountered a fellow travelling Brit with some interesting views on food during my recent jaunt around Jordan. Although he had a broad palate, this didn’t extend to Modernist cuisine, especially multi-course tasting menus. ‘Artsy fartsy’ ‘nouvelle cuisine’ wasn’t ‘proper food’ he contended. Like … Continue reading
Dean Street’s upmarket curry house Update 14/10/18 – this restaurant has now closed There are more than a few upmarket Indian restaurants in London, although what your extra money usually gets you compared to a bog standard curry house is better service and more polished, comfortable surroundings. The Red Fort on Soho’s Dean Street certainly … Continue reading
Soho’s cheeky upstart pizza parlour Soho isn’t short of pizza restaurants, but Pizza Pilgrims has a leg up on its competition. Having started out as a street market van that’s still touring London’s street food markets, Pizza Pilgrims has already built up a legion of fans. Even more importantly it has a traditional hand-built pizza oven. The … Continue reading
Fitzrovia Chinese reaches new highs and lows Restaurants in London’s Chinatown are renowned for their brusque, hurried service, but this culture of surly indifference has no geographical boundaries. Oriental Dragon on Cleveland Street in Fitzrovia is a classic example. Although the service wasn’t completely charmless, overall it was hilariously unhelpful and it reached the apex … Continue reading
Dinner time baguettes, ciabattas and buns Having a sandwich for dinner sounds like something only a slummy student might do, but having a steak sandwich from Mamita Que Chorizo is no second-best option. This small Shoreditch restaurant is only open in the evenings from Thursday to Saturday (perfect for chucking out time) and serves up … Continue reading
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire? When I surveyed the state of American-style barbecue in London, one of the most common queries was ‘what about Smokehouse?’. However, despite its name Smokehouse isn’t devoted purely to barbecue. This joint venture between Neil Rankin, former head chef at Pitt Cue, and the people behind the nearby Pig and … Continue reading
Hirata buns or gua bao – by any other name they would be as sweet Updated 8/11/13 – removed incorrect information about the term ‘hirata buns’, added new background Updated 11/3/14 – fixed broken Table of Contents When a new dish or cuisine is introduced to the UK, it’s inevitably given an analogous description that’s … Continue reading
The Picky Glutton 
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