Fay Maschler reviews

Wednesday, May 01, 2013 - A large open kitchen, flames leaping in a clay oven in another prep area, dangling hams and salume, piles of bread, prosecco on tap and homemade barrel-aged negroni contribute a sense of warmth and magnanimity...Baccalà mantecato, a creamy mix that should be made from dried as opposed to salt cod, served with squares of grilled polenta made with organic Polenta bramata almost conjured up ghostly voices of gondoliers. The rotund scallop in its shell with gratin of garlic-shot toasted breadcrumbs was better than any I can remember eating in Venice.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - Scallops with cucumber spheres coated in dill “ash� streaking a bright green sauce, with their blackness was an accomplished and also beautiful assembly, but the flaccid texture of the barely warmed-through shellfish gave me the creeps. Much better, and the highlight for me, was beef cheek cooked in stout with cauliflower burnished the way Redzepi does it...Whether or not there is too static a quality to this no-choice menu is currently irrelevant, as tables are apparently fully booked until June, but for all its charms - and there are many - Story seems a restaurant to tick off on a list rather than make a regular haunt.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - Last Friday my sister Beth and I sat at the right of the dining room, also by the window where, after a spiteful downpour, sunshine suddenly slanted in through the floor-to-ceiling windows illuminating the room - the most beautiful in Europe, it is often said - beyond its chandeliers and looped golden garlands...Our first courses of crab roll with avocado and Charentais melon and slender white asparagus with langoustine and peas were feminine and well dressed, like some of the customers among the fascinating mix of age, gender and type that has always distinguished this singular restaurant.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013 - A blackboard hung high — hard to see and never referred to by the staff — listing daily specials provides our main courses of Highland wing rib of beef to share served with duck fat chips and, what is designed as a first course, grilled quail with smoked aïoli. The beef is startlingly handsome, precisely cooked to a rosy rare interior and served in slices fanned around the bone, but neither texture nor flavour makes you sad to see the last slice go. The chips, however, are masterful.

Wednesday, April 03, 2013 - Up the stairs, past the confident calls of shrieking Sloanes, is the sort of timeless dining room with knockabout furniture that has housed Chelsea bistros for many a decade — but wait, here are filament light bulbs looped from the ceiling, a kitchen on view and a short menu that stops ordering in its tracks because you just want everything on it...The company does service the bar food at Amuse Bouche. “Banging Eats with a Conscience� is their slogan. I didn’t think I liked it — but it’s growing on me.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 - Try this for size as an Athertonian first course: watermelon, radish, tomato and crab salad, miso tomato dressing, marinated beetroot. The elements mix and match effortlessly, a great look and taste only arguably upstaged by another choice of cauliflower and crayfish risotto, where the femininity of the two main ingredients is challenged by potent juices from roasted meat. Slow-cooked egg, mushrooms and croutons are covered in a cashmere pouring of Parmesan and squash soup — extraordinarily cosseting.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013 - Deep-fried soft-shell crab was light, crunchy and completely bland, a factor remedied to some extent by the accompanying aïoli. Chilly crab mayonnaise with avocado and chicken liver parfait with prune and fig chutney were both competently assembled but even factoring in hunger as the best sauce failed to make much impact. At this point, unbidden, we were served steak tartare, which was judiciously seasoned, beautifully balanced in creaminess and combativeness and quite the best dish of the evening.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013 - The premises are pleasingly plain, the just-visible kitchen compact and the bar area of a size that makes practical sense of the idea of a glass of wine or three...Hachis Parmentier with green salad and duck confit with puy lentils were both cooked in a manner where you realised that the chef had considerable expertise up his sleeve. The recommended bottle of Pinot Noir Roncier Rouge Louis Tramier & Fils at £19 was good company.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013 - The chef puts together canny combinations such as a salad of blood orange, avocado, mint and dandelion; smoky grilled cuttlefish with barley risotto steeped in its ink plus a whoosh of green gremolada...Profiteroles with hazelnut ice cream and chocolate sauce were indulgent but I wish I had chosen prune, quince and almond tart, another instance where the chef knew who to introduce to whom at the party. Random wallpapers, mis-matched furniture, chandeliers, local drinkers and fairy lights add to the jollity.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013 - If you have been to Balthazar New York the décor delivers a profound sense of déjà-vu. Brass-studded red leather banquettes, huge mirrors that have seen a few reflections in their time, intricate mosaic floor...Highlights of the hors d’oeuvres tried were escargots, where in the garlicky, buttery juices a piece of bread gently bathed; salt cod brandade with brittle croutons; lobster and black truffle risotto which was New York Italian in format and the truffle a slightly fugitive flavour but luscious for all that.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013 - Sashimi almost miniaturised, each element thoughtfully garnished, was served on a glazed ceramic dish where part of the decoration looked like brushstrokes and a few spilt spots of soya sauce. The chef grates his wasabi freshly and brews his own soya sauce...The serenity, sure-footedness and dedication of the Tagakis is something marvellous in a world where others like to bish-bash-bosh or strive to be 'dirty'. It all has its place, of course, but I know where I would rather be.

Wednesday, February 06, 2013 - Carpaccio of lamb with goat’s curd and dates was carpaccio in the sense of very thin slices, here of cooked rolled lamb (maybe breast) streaked with fat arranged in a circular fashion on the plate, dotted with dabs of cheese, a jammy trickle of date and an unheralded daisy chain of bean sprouts. A more heart-warming, homely assembly was of mussel and ginger broth with winter vegetables. It was delicious, timely and a new role for the saline, squidgy contribution of mussels...The Malt House will be a useful neighbour to the always oversubscribed Harwood Arms, but when Marcus McGuinness kicks up his heels, lets his hair down and discovers his own groove, it could be a different story.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - We very much liked peanuts in black vinegar, pickled cucumber, sweet and sour rib (just the one at £1.50) and 100-year-old egg with slices of tofu –— impossible to grasp with chopsticks — in a sweet chilli-soya sauce...The full Dim Sum menu is only available at lunchtime and Dishes, priced from £4 for one diver-caught XL scallop to £8 for Hangzhou “West Lakeâ€� poached lemon sole in black vinegar emulsion or crab and seafood braised in leaves by way of temptations like five-spice and chilli-smoked cod cheeks and Sichuan aubergine, are served evenings only. It is reason to go more than once to A. Wong.

Wednesday, January 02, 2013 - Various breads baked in-house make their own contribution and render special a first course of eggs Benedict. Juicy breast of Creedy Carver chicken partnered with Imam Bayildi, Greek yoghurt and warm flat bread is a plateful of rewarding intricacy...Service and lighting may still need a bit of work but Primrose Hill has acquired what it lacked, pace Lemonia — a really intelligent restaurant.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012 - The single/double burger for £10/£13 (add bacon £2, French fries £4) was a good burger, blushingly grateful not to be served in the dumb Borough of Westminster, but I am ill equipped to say whether it is the best in Britain. Brioche bun sandwiching homemade finely ground bologna (aka baloney, polony and similar to mortadella) laboured under a cheese whizzy sort of topping. Three of us picked at it. One person would have been felled...Flat-iron chicken with preserved lemon had nice sprightly gravy and the crispness of potato hash held its own against the über-savouriness of duck heart gravy.

Wednesday, December 05, 2012 - A “rice set� comprises stir-fries of various kinds accompanied by rice and an egg dropped into boiling oil to give it a crisp golden frill, plus a bowl of soothing green melon soup where the predominant flavour is spring onion. Minced beef and chilli was fiercely spiced. Next time I will try the more subtle Hainan chicken. These would be ideal one-dish meals if eating alone, as is grilled Isaan chicken marinated with lemongrass to good effect and served with sticky rice, green papaya salad and more of that melon soup, the stock on which the kitchen runs.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012 - Ceviche of sea bream with Amarillo chilli, crispy corn and coriander and a punchy tiraditos of yellowtail with green chilli, coriander and lime were thoughtfully assembled and pretty as pictures...In items such as ox heart skewer and baby back ribs from the charcoal grill, the spices came across as insufficiently cooked out, lacking the aura of faded elegance and ennui that the surroundings — if it weren’t so cold — might invoke. Much better were brisk burnished octopus tentacles with olives and potatoes.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012 - Clearly thoughtfulness and imaginative leaps had gone into the various compositions. “It must be great fun thinking these things up,� said Reg without much conviction. “Chicken on a brick�, where you are invited to lick the solid caramel coating that supports a smear of chicken liver parfait with sweet corn kernels, lingonberries and crisp skin, has already passed into online lore...His energy and commitment is wholly admirable, but were I present I might venture that long waits accruing as the meal wears on militate against customer enjoyment. My favourite things? Hot scallop, kiwi and culatello sandwich with truffle and cider butter eaten with the fingers — and the solemnity of the sommelier.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012 - Chorizo with tomatoes and polenta sported a subtle sausage, not the usual harsh brick-red variety. The beef, served with celeriac purée, had been left to rest, which meant it had let down plenty of wonderful juices that cried out for the bread assortment — some of it fried in a heavenly way — to be dragged through, picking up the garlic, herbs and spices of the sauce en route. Flavour was more macho than the tenderness of the meat would have anyone suppose. And since we shared it, there wasn’t time or opportunity for steak boredom to set in.

Wednesday, November 07, 2012 - I like tongue but prefer it salted both for appearance and flavour and rather wished I had disobediently chosen guinea fowl with braised chicory and prunes. Reg, oblivious to the dietary advice I am constantly giving him, chose sautéed veal kidneys with potatoes and grain mustard strewn with sliced chicory and said he was perfectly content. Desserts are engagingly froufrou — especially the Eton Mess — and there is the thoughtful touch of sweeties like quince caramels, sugared citrus zests and chocolate truffles priced per piece in only pence.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - Pheasant has been in season since October 1 but this was my first restaurant pheasant this year — slices of tender breast laid on a mix of lentils, turnips and parsnips enriched and sweetened with rosehip sauce. Marinated lamb with sweet red-and-white ringed Chioggia beets, Nutbourne tomatoes and chard was despatched before I had a chance to dip in — obviously much liked....Fresh-faced wholesomeness and exuberance has its place in catering. And that place is The Shed.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012 - The word 'cod' on the menu turns out to refer to taramasalata served as a dip for pork crackling — a combo I had encountered two days previously at St John Hotel, only there the salted, soaked and dried puffed-up skin wasn't dusted with powdered dried seaweed. Following this was 'chicken' — fried chicken skin spread with mascarpone, dotted with bacon jam...Sitting in the high chair I began to have disturbing flashbacks to being a baby, the helpless recipient of remorseless feeding.

Monday, October 15, 2012 - Over-salting and a decision — or default position — to serve everything tepid is common to our chosen main courses. The roasted cod fillet seems to have been brined, which can add backbone but here the outcome is just saltiness and opacity. If presented hot, as promised, the salty mix of shellfish served on seaweed would have come across as something more than a gathering at low tide. Chargrilled monkfish and duck with Outlaw's barbecue sauce is apparently a signature dish. The pieces of fish being chewier than the strips of meat delivers an arguably interesting dissonance but they are not natural bedfellows and the sauce lacks sassiness.

Wednesday, October 03, 2012 - Although some assemblies were aesthetically appealing — grilled quail from Landes lacquered with tamari soy and sake on thin slices of apple and “Scotland meets Kyoto� a nabe (hot pot), the seething chicken stew “volcano� and the scattering of tastes and textures around crab meat paté (more like cocktail sauce) topped with a layer of Tosazu (vinegary) jelly — the overall impression was not so much futuristic fusion as opportunistic mismatch. Each of the half-dozen sashimi served in little coloured glass bowls was gussied up with garnish so as to lose the pristine aura of raw fish.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012 - Roasted belly of baby pig with a millefeuille of potatoes looked as if one of the waiters, tiring of squashing between our table and the neighbouring banquette, had sat down on it for a rest. Meat and vegetable were flattened and neither one improved by the process. Mercifully at Banca there is no instruction to share dishes - as at La Petite Maison and Aurelia (another in the group). But I have never heard before “Enjoy your meal' uttered quite so convincingly as a threat.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012 - The beef at Tommi's is from the estimable butcher HG Walter in Barons Court and cooked medium it has a freshness and liveliness rarely found minced and between two halves of a bun. Steak burger is a mixture of rump, rib-eye and fillet, and I recommend it ordered as a cheeseburger with bearnaise served separately. The pliable bun holds the show together right to the end. Pretty slender girls were in Tommi's the evening we visited, Nina Simone and Bob Dylan were on the soundtrack and the amiable burger flippers were all from Iceland (the country).

Wednesday, August 22, 2012 - He chose The Yolk — an 8oz burger with flat fried egg and glazed Hollandaise, and I took The Smoke, where the add-ons were smoked chipotle mayo, house-smoked cheddar and house-cured bacon. We both thought that half-a-pound of meat was too much and that the burger Benedict concept wasn't really a gift to a new burger nation. I wolfed down The Smoke but afterwards had to go home and have a lie-down. Staff were charming and the beer list is impressive.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012 - We were shown to a little, low bar table and although most of the restaurant tables were still empty when we left — as I had assumed they would be — we did love the Lucky Chip sliders, particularly the Club Burger: two aged beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onion, in a shiny sesame seed bun. The juiciness, the riff of unabashed flavours, the loose morals; it is probably exactly what is meant by the phrase 'dirty burger'. Presented on a metal tray as if in a hospital dedicated to making you get worse, I loved the addition of a cup of iced lemon cream soda as a 'palate cleanser'.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012 - Roasted cod with broccoli, bacon and beurre blanc and lamb cutlets (two) with sauce Paloise (Hollandaise flavoured with mint) were fine if rather crisply priced at 18.50 and 18.90 respectively. Calves liver with sauce Soubise (béchamel with onion pure) garnished with fried sage leaves was remarkably well cooked. The chips placed in the centre of the table also deserve special praise...Should you want to - or have to - go to Earl's Court Exhibition Centre, Garnier will be a godsend.

Wednesday, August 08, 2012 - As an accompaniment to the drinks when they finally arrived, green bean tempura with black truffle aioli were faultlessly deep-fried but the presence of truffle in the dip was, how shall we say, fugitive. Tuna tataki and yellowtail tiradito exhibited no intrinsic flavour and the mouth feel of the raw fish was flaccid and sulky...The two Samba Rolls we tried — Ezo comprising salmon, asparagus, onion, chive, sesame, tempura crunch, soy paper and wasabi mayonnaise and Wagyu Te Amo fashioned from beef, quail egg, garlic chip, sweet potato, scallion and pear soy — were the best of the assemblies chosen. They were complex in a good way and the rice element absolutely correct in texture and temperature.

Wednesday, August 01, 2012 - From Talk of the Town (which the building was once called), lobster fish fingers didn't really work since with such a thick carapace of fried crumbs any white fish would have been okay. And so bready were the fingers that the accompanying triple-cooked chips were an overload. Veal Holstein was also pummelled into submission by its coating and the use of silvery marinated anchovies was a solecism. Away from the breadcrumbs, Classic Burger was a handsome, well-assembled beast. Rib eye on the bone at 28 for 350g was more expensive than at Hawksmoor and not as good. What I did appreciate was the gracious service, professionally made cocktails, and a high degree of thoughtfulness extending to side orders .

Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - A brilliant combination I discovered was sips of margarita with bites of fish taco made with grilled whiting on a homemade tortilla topped with a crunchy, punchy intricate salad and salsa. I can recommend starting with soy and ginger wings, hot to handle, lacquered to a deep shine and served with pickled root vegetables and pickled watermelon in little paper cups. Patty Melt is grilled minced chuck steak with melted cheese and onion jam on top, sandwiched — and here is the stroke of brilliance — between slices of toasted rye bread with caraway seeds made soft and rich with bone marrow butter. It leaves a burger at the starting blocks. Elote grilled corn on the cob is scribbled with mayonnaise sprinkled with grated cheese and spritzed with lime juice — just like they do it in Mexico.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012 - One of the arresting qualities of dishes at Lima is their beauty - due to a vivid use of natural colours. When I saw ceviche of artichoke, white onion, Amazon tree tomato (aka cocona) and pink peppercorns, which I think is the translation of molle, I thought I would like a dress in exactly those colours...Octopus with white quinoa, red shiso and botija olives (allegedly the most flavourful olive in the world) is a wholly satisfying assembly and an argument for wider restaurant use of octopus. Lamb shoulder was rendered too long and glazed too commonly but the black quinoa, coriander, white grape and pisco cinnamon accompaniment compensated.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012 - The standout dish at dinner, feta tempura with lemon marmalade and caper meringue from the section Hot Plates, read absurdly but was beautifully crafted and deep-fried by a master. Prawn 'saganaki', not presented in the eponymous ceramic casserole, did celebrate the unlikely success of pairing shellfish and smoked cheese (Metsovone). Signature dishes were less alluring. Ingredients presented as trios joined up with smears of purée seem even more old hat than jars and slates.

Wednesday, July 04, 2012 - Perhaps even more thrilling is the fact that the Prix Fixe, at £11.25, delivered almost the best meal of the seven - taking my various companions into account - tried. A well-dressed csrottes rapees was followed by fiercely grilled steak hache with a kind rosy heart, a nostalgic sauce poivre and greaseproof paper-wrapped pommes allumettes in a silver cup. To follow was coffee served with chocolate friandises; perfectly judged...You will eat better here than in comparable establishments in Paris and there is much else to enjoy such as the details of the Art Deco design in posters, murals and carpet, drinking in the Bar Américain, the possibility of cabaret at The Crazy Coqs and a croissant in the ground floor ZL Cafe.

Wednesday, May 09, 2012 - The curvaceous wood-panelled, presumably listed, restaurant interior brings to life the phrase 'corridors of power' but provides an awkwardly narrow layout, with windows onto the London Eye but only a glimpse of the river...Rib-eye (260g) and D-rump (300g were outshone by veal cutlet with chanterelle and sorrell [sic] cream from The Others. It was an assembly a good deal more soigne than the steaks, particularly the extremely muscular D-rump. Gillray's steak burger seemed fashioned from offcuts and had none of the cushiony quality that a burger should possess.

Thursday, May 03, 2012 - Braised Dongpo pork hock (named after the Song Dynasty poet Su Dongpo - honest) was a huge knuckle with undulating treacly dark skin and deeply savoury flesh. The impact was such that I would recommend limiting a brown sauce assembly to one per meal. Having said that, braised aubergine in brown sauce was one of the best aubergine dishes I have ever come across. The sauce had been used sparingly with chunks of the peeled vegetable, which magically had a slightly sweet crisp edge to them...Oriental Dragon is close to where I live. But I would travel a long way to eat there even it wasn't.

Thursday, April 26, 2012 - A risotto with peas and broad beans from the a la carte was irresistible. Lemony with shredded rind, it didn't really need the folds of prosciutto di Parma that came on top. In retrospect, I think I should have bypassed the rites of spring and chosen spiced rabbit with chorizo, parsnip skordalia (brilliant idea) and grumolo verde (chicory). Weighing up duck bisteeya against roasted spring lamb, I was again swayed by seasonality. Large pieces of knife-resistant pink meat had the excellent accompaniments of freekeh (roasted green wheat) 'bahara' spices, which include the five Cs - coriander, cinnamon, cloves, cumin and cardamom - tiny carrots pulled untimely from the soil and a bowl of labneh gilded with the amazing olive oil.

Thursday, April 19, 2012 - A grilled pork chop was enhanced by the side order of cime di rapa (here translated as turnip tops) wilted with garlic and chilli. In keeping with this welcome habit of not profiting on the swings - or it could be the roundabouts - of items like vegetable dishes and simple desserts, an assembly of fresh fruits beautifully cut was served for 2.50 and that unbeatable combination of cold vanilla ice cream and hot espresso - affogato - was priced at 3 pounds. Arguably even more interesting to know about is the comprehensive Italian wine list marked up with admirable restraint from a glass of prosecco to a bottle of Sassicaia.

Thursday, April 12, 2012 - After quite a few farewell tours, beef Stroganoff made something of a successful comeback at The Delaunay late last year. Here it is made with wild mushrooms in the soured cream sauce and served with buckwheat kasha with a nattily nutty texture. Chicken Kiev was a disappointment. Cylinders coated in the fine sandy crumbs favoured by companies like Findus failed amusingly to spurt garlic butter all over the recipient's jumper and were just dull rolls of breaded chicken served with unwanted cranberry sauce. Smoked salmon steak with dill-dusted boiled potatoes did its duty as a sturdy, sensible main course.

Thursday, April 05, 2012 - Potatoes mole negro ordered as a side dish sported a sauce discourteously compared by one of its recipients to mud. Chicken paillard was described on the menu as cooked on a wood-burning grill. Its blanket of pumpkin seed mole obliterated the fact but it was a rather delicious and unusual assembly with gratifyingly juicy chicken....The cafe operation is a space attractively decorated with music posters and, of course, staffed by diplomats, but a foray into main dishes such as chilaquiles and huevos rancheros makes me reiterate my advice of sticking to cocktails with tacos and their cousins.

Thursday, March 22, 2012 - In the Meat section - and rather stretching a point - was scrambled eggs stirred with hazelnuts and Gorgonzola fondue served in three eggshells nesting on a heap of salt. It was only quite nice, not a patch on Michel Guurard's scrambled eggs with caviar. Baccala mantecato alla Veneziana was written as Venetian-style quenelles of creamed cod, onions and basil. The slightly turgid description was reflected in the pasty consistency seemingly pointing to potato filler...There is generally something rather old-fashioned about this enterprise despite apparent effort with importing ingredients and ideas. But there is a place for old-fashioned. It just shouldn't cost so much.

Thursday, February 23, 2012 - Southern-fried quail with celeriac slaw is the sort of dish description I defy anyone to pass up. The little bird, partly de-boned and served on the daring side of pink, was Colonel Sanders's debutante niece. The crunchy coating involved an alluring mix of spices that I am sure owed nothing to E numbers. The creamy slaw didn't cut through the richness, just encouraged it like a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader...At lunchtime the following day we did better in the soup stakes, with Manhattan clam chowder (the style that includes tomatoes in the broth) and a greasy but delicious open sandwich of Finnish bread with horseradish and topped with smoked eel.

Thursday, February 09, 2012 - At the first meal I was keen to try the outcome of Mark's travels. Shoreditch - where his great friend Hieu Trung Bui runs Cay Tre and Viet Grill - is not that far from where Hix lives and could be the inspiration for Vietnamese chicken broth. Both this and crispy baby squid with chilli, garlic and almonds - needing a field trip no further than a local gastropub - lacked piquancy, vivacity and even salt. At 7.75 and 10.50 respectively, they just made you want the real thing cheaper. Pici (hand-rolled pasta) with duck ragu was a triumph. Its recipient thought she detected both duck liver and finely chopped roasted skin incorporated into the sonorous sauce coating the soft noodles.

Thursday, February 02, 2012 - It is unusual, maybe unknown, for a salad to knock your socks off but the assembly of fennel, lemon balm and pickled rose petals would have done had I been wearing socks. It hummed with a sort of friskiness, sweetness and light not associated with restaurant kitchens...Star of the middle section was, in my view, braised halibut with coastal herbs. I see that I have scribbled on the menu 'best thing I've eaten in a long time'. The fish was ethereal, the sauce white satin, the herbs more subtle than their mainland friends. A slice of roasted goose breast, sweet clover kuzu, quince poached in wine and honey was as good as it was ingenious.

Thursday, January 26, 2012 - A main course of Romney lamb appropriately garnished with garlic (confit) and anchovy (battered) was rendered unpredictably chewy by the process. Dishes that were considerably more successful included first courses of lobster, almost confit, with pickled cucumber in different guises and wonderful yoghurt granite and roasted langoustine with herb mayonnaise and black olive crumbs. Crumbs and powders are favoured accessories...The bill arrived in a hollowed-out book. I don't know what was worse, the sight of a desecrated hardback book or the bill. Yes I do, it was the bill.

Thursday, January 19, 2012 - That day's pie was beef served in deeply savoury gravy, in which I thought I could detect that excellent overlooked ingredient, mushroom ketchup. The crust was thin and waxy. Teal, the perfect bird for portion control, was offered at 12.50 for one, 22 for a brace. Cooked to just the right point of pinkness, bolstered with prune and bacon, just the one was champion for calorie-conscious January. A side salad of orange and fennel was a judicious accompaniment...The combination of lovely Jeremy Lee, the hard-working Hart brothers and 'Spitz' is the dream team of which my nights are made.

Thursday, January 12, 2012 - From the section entitled To Share From the Tandir, we choose Chicken Lavangi with walnut stuffing. For 27.50 this turns out be a poussin smaller than an adult's fist, where the lack of flavour for which such birds are notorious finds no compensation in bitter minced walnuts. Piti, 'a must-try Azerbaijani lamb stew', at 18.50 contains fatty meat bulked out with chickpeas. Choban salad at 8.50 is the sort of mix of chopped tomato, onion and cucumber often provided as garnish for grills in Indian restaurants and is served in roughly that quantity. To be fair, a couple of extra items were 'gifted' but since we didn't pay for them, I won't comment. The dessert of pomegranate and rose souffle was tart and very pretty.

Thursday, January 12, 2012 - As often happens, khachapuri (pillow-soft cheese-filled leavened bread) was the standout assembly in the first course followed by lobio mchadit, kidney bean stew. The vegetable purees that comprised the pkhali platter were described by one of my companions as 'going some way to explaining Stalin's later behaviour'. I thought that was a tiny bit harsh. Mixed shashlik and rib-eye steak were likeable for their relative simplicity. Pheasant in the casserole chakhokhbili had been stewed to rags.

Thursday, January 05, 2012 - Burgers and lobsters are served on a metal serving dish and both meet the description 'bountiful'. It is not just the lobster being a game of two halves that is unusual and exciting, the meat is also sweet-tasting and tender, more so if you go for steamed. Lobster roll made from butter-soaked toasted brioche and wasabi mayo was too rich to finish - but impossible not to...A taste of the burger made me believe what I had read somewhere, that Goodman uses nam pla (fish sauce) in the seasoning. It had that deep umami savouriness that we can all use lots of at this time of year.

Thursday, December 15, 2011 - It was gratifying to be asked whether I wanted the Brick Lane salt beef with fat - I did - but the sandwich was somehow uncoordinated and lacking in mustardy bite. The Brass Rail in Selfridges does them better. Beets tartar, cooked al dente and finely chopped, is a clever concept and provided a suitable bed for pieces of pickled herring, but the fish lacked verve. Tiny latkes served with smoked eel were more like Swiss rosti but none the less likeable for that. Duck hash, fried egg and liquor (aka gravy) was more like scraps of duck with sauteed potatoes. Hash implies a mashing action.

Thursday, December 08, 2011 - Dish of the day for Monday is chicken curry. Served in a silver chafing dish, with rice and lime pickle and cucumber raita on the side, it was heady with the smell of sauteed curry leaves and boldly, authentically spiced, a perfect assembly for a cold Monday. Frankfurters at 9 pounds for two - for 9.75 you can have a choice of two from Frankfurter, Kasekrainer and Berner Wurstel - are served with caramelised onions that are a brilliant riposte to the sauerkraut alongside and a new potato salad with a dressing that declares this year's fashion is grain mustard...Hungarian chocolate and cream pudding was criticised, meanly I thought, for having too much schlag (whipped cream). I loved my chocolate eclair.

Thursday, November 24, 2011 - We started with a cocktail devised by Soulshakers, as you do, and must. A New Cross Negroni made with Bombay Sapphire gin and Antica Formula Carpano vermouth served in a jam jar that looked as if it had once done service for Bonne Maman was wonderful. My friend Ed loved his St Thomas, also made with Bombay Sapphire shaken with fresh lime and fresh pink grapefruit...Burgers are the backbone of a menu that evolves (a bit) all the time. Dead Hippie is apparently a tribute to visits Papoutsis made to Burning Man events in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. To compare it to a Big Mac would be heresy. Sloppy, greasy, pungent, sharp as sarcasm, sweet as kisses, it left Ed gobsmacked. The chilli cheeseburger was another perfect synthesis.

Thursday, November 17, 2011 - While Amy's Dover sole with clams, tomato and capers was truly delectable it just didn't sit well with Tim's pork or my veal. The impact of three skilfully cooked main ingredients was diminished by muddling them up. Side orders of cavalo nero and sprouting broccoli were just too Lilliputian for their role. The presentation of a scoop of chocolate truffle cake nestling in a white paper cloth was too vivid an image for a couple - our guests - whose memories of nappy-changing are not all that far away...On looking around the room it did occur to me that this seemingly inexplicable encouragement to play with food might suit the sort of punter attracted. When the music stops you needn't consume anything much at all - and that way you stay a size six.

Thursday, November 03, 2011 - Egg (just the one) Benedict posing as a vegetarian option came coated in crisp fried breadcrumbs, with artichoke puree, some vertically sliced baby artichokes and Hollandaise sauce. It was perfectly nice if you accept that eggs and artichokes can belong together but it wasn't even remotely eggs Benedict. Roast chicken, my choice of first course, was presented as risotto with a piece of brittle baked chicken skin crying out pitifully for its mother 'Noma, Noma' and a section of chicken wing sitting arm akimbo. The oily, buttery gravy of the risotto was ridiculously rich, making it impossible to finish even half of it.

Thursday, October 27, 2011 - From the four choices of main course - cauliflower cheese, sea bass, venison or Dover sole - we chose the first two. I might have gone for the Dover sole until I saw it was described as poached, in other words probably cooked sous-vide, or boil-in-the-bag to use a less technical and not quite accurate term. Clumps of cauliflower fried in breadcrumbs were the unanticipated but quite agreeable presentation of that vegetable along with a kind of cauli hash brown, leeks and a not-pungent-enough English-mustard cheese sauce. Sea bass was nicely seared but overcooked, flabby, innocent of flavour and befriended by two purees, one of butternut squash, the other of potato.

Thursday, October 20, 2011 - Tables are bare and conversations ricochet around the room. The menu devised by chef Shaun O'Rouke is relatively ornate and ambitious, although it turns out that the cooking both in quantity and achievement sometimes falls short of the descriptions...There are carefully bought main ingredients and sometimes good cooking struggling to get out of this kitchen but they are hobbled by otiose detail and fancypants presentation particularly unsuited to the context of a pub, even one named after a lady of rank.

Thursday, October 20, 2011 - Meaning 'all about the belly', De La Panza is apparently modelled on the sort of bodegon that you might find in Buenos Aires. On its website there are two described that sound wonderful. Sadly, de La Panza doesn't fit that description. The seductive scent of meat roasting over coals was absent as the parrilla (grill) is tucked away in the kitchen. Fish soup, pisto manchego (a sort of drab ratatouille) and empanadas were only serviceable. The steaks had that quality that appeals to me of not needing to brag in a macho way about weeks of hanging, but accompaniments were a letdown.

Thursday, October 13, 2011 - My friend Caroline chooses to start with beetroot and goat's cheese salad with truffle honey and toasted walnuts. Every gastropub sanctifies the union but usually with fairly drab results. This assembly is something else; leaves glistening, the beetroot almost profound in its earthiness, the scoops of cheese crunchily deep-fried in golden crumbs. The sweetness and a note of citrus in the dressing are just right...Last Monday night the joint was, if not jumping, impressively busy. Wimbledon and its surrounds must be thrilled to have a restaurant as ambitious and well grounded as The Lawn Bistro.

Monday, September 26, 2011 - The steaks are billed as being grilled over hardwood and charcoal and then finished under a 650-degree broiler. They are then obviously dutifully rested as they arrive at the table with no scent and no sizzle. Ad agencies used to say 'you sell the sizzle not the sausage' and there was something man-in-a-pinny-fearlessly-confronting-elemental-fire lacking in these otherwise tender and reasonably flavourful slabs of meat...Cuts are a bit on our minds at the moment and these prices seem egregious even given glitzy decor, loud Seventies pop music and swarms of staff. And wait until you see the wine list.

Monday, September 05, 2011 - Aloo papri chaat delivered faithfully that mouthful of crisp/soft, sour/sweet, warm/cold that once tried is hard to resist ordering wherever you find it. Prawn jhal diye were Indian Ocean prawns wrapped in banana leaves and charred on the griddle. Just a bit more griddling would have usefully fixed the marinade. Chicken 65, pieces of the bird cooked in batter spiced with crushed black peppers and fried curry leaves, is not to be missed. A Hyderabad lamb biriyani, although not seemingly cooked by the dum method, was good, as were tarka dal, saag paneer and pindi channa, all rich with butter or ghee. Potli - spice bags akin in cooking function to muslin-wrapped bouquet garni - are part of the jolly homespun decor.

Thursday, September 01, 2011 - Our competent, friendly waitress urged us not to miss out on chicken keema kaleji served with pao - a buttered soft bun. The chicken livers involved gave it an Indian highway gutsiness and I would suggest ordering this or spiced lamb chapli kebab, also complete with a buttered bun. Or, actually, why not both? The bread selection was good, as it should be at 4.50, and maybe there was even a roti nestling in there....A stylish date would be to take your new squeeze to Roti Chai for a bun kebab and a bottle of fine fizz.

Thursday, August 25, 2011 - The beef assembly, with its snowfall of freshly grated horseradish and sweet beets, was terrific, as was the quality of the lamb in its natural gravy. Not everything was faultless. There seemed nothing very a la Grecque about the sliced tomato salad; green beans with the lamb were on the tough side but the four stars above are for vindication of the aim of raising the bar by improving, and in some cases perfecting, the everyday. Other details such as free jugs of filtered water, a coffee 'flight' in the mornings, homemade tomato ketchup for an ace breakfast bacon sandwich, the presence of London-brewed beers and all wines from the relatively short, fluid list being offered by the glass play their part. Hooray for Elliot's.

Thursday, August 18, 2011 - Grouse, traditionally garnished and with the chopped giblets perched on a crouton, was tender and as sweet as you expect from a bird that had had no time to hang about. It was served in pieces but, happily, still on the bone. The bread sauce could have been better - it resembled papier-mache. Suckling pig three ways was a carnival of pigginess. I particularly liked the white pudding among its various manifestations - almost everything but the squeal. Buttered Savoy cabbage was greens for both dishes...The refreshingly forthright food, the agreeable service and the hidden treasure aspect of the location makes me want to explore less extravagant routes into The Stafford.

Thursday, August 11, 2011 - Chicken on the bone in ginger sauce was fragrant and in possession of the elusive sweetness that bones can bestow. Cold sliced pig's ear is a beautiful object, the cartilage embedded in the mahogany skin like ivory marquetry in a polished table. Served in chilli oil, it also has a most satisfactory crunch. Next time I am going to try chilli pork jelly with garlic...From Stewed Dishes, spare ribs, chicken and mixed vegetables had the beguiling - and authentic - inclusion of chunks of corn-on-the-cob. An interesting Hot Pot was lotus root, potato and duck with dry chilli and Sichuan pepper. A request for pea shoots as a vegetable was turned down but Morning Glory (aka water spinach) was a perfect substitute.

Thursday, August 04, 2011 - The meal got off to a thunderingly good start with pan-fried herring fillet accompanied by a salad of chickpeas spiced with cumin and smooched with apricots dressed in creme fraiche. The quality of the fish was perfect, as was the timing of the cooking. Wood pigeon breast roasted on a barbecue and served with black pudding, sweet tomato relish and balsamic reduction was also admired. Inverlochy cold-smoked salmon had a bit of a stand-off with its cucumber, red onion and wholegrain mustard salad. It would have made more impact on its own, perhaps with bread of a more interesting variety than that set out in blue-rimmed white enamel bowls on the table.

Thursday, July 28, 2011 - Highlights of our well-shaped, well-balanced eight-course dinner included a savoury custard topped with a puree of nori - entitled umami flan, seaweed coulis - served small and hot and packing a powerful punch. A sable (crumbly biscuit) flavoured with Berkswell cheese had preceded it but this was the official opening shot - and was duly impressive. A smooth gazpacho with a scoop of dill-flower cream was intense and slightly surprising, as if pieces of melon had crept into the blender along with the tomatoes. Translucent steamed scallops, judged in the cooking to a nanosecond, were served simply with their juices. With shellfish so fine nothing else is needed.

Thursday, July 21, 2011 - A lack of cooking precision is more easily forgiven when the meal price is 15/17 pounds for two/three courses as can be enjoyed at lunchtime at Joe's. It is the meal that accounts for the three-star rating of this review. The winner was he who started with an incredibly subtle soup of early Cornish potatoes with cavolo nero and lemon oil, followed by char-grilled glistening sardines with panzanella salad and completed with apricot fool. Thai-style squid salad with buckwheat noodles woven in preceding pasta rags (aka maltagliati) served with wide ribbons of courgettes, chilli and lemon was not quite so diverting or well balanced but nevertheless, speaking as a lady, a good lunch.

Thursday, July 14, 2011 - The menu is not divided into courses but some dishes come in two sizes. Mackerel, purple potatoes, pistachio, mint, Diamante citron was how the first course I chose was described - a sort of prose poem. It was suitably delicious but even better was octopus, fennel, kohlrabi, miso, where the fermentation of the last ingredient gave the cephalopod an unaccustomed umami kick...Galoupet serves the kind of vivacious food that I like to eat and wines I want to explore, plus there is an easygoing attitude to hours.

Thursday, July 07, 2011 - Best of the bunch, the three of us agreed, were the aforementioned mackerel served with orache (a native weed often found on waste ground), broccoli, both limp and petrified, and a dribble of Regent's Park elderflower honey; roasted brill with chicken salt (a nice tingling unctuousness), cockles, ruby chard and intense mushroom puree; and Heritage potatoes in onion ashes with lovage and wood sorrel...A shorter, speedier menu with a tighter plot, a stronger narrative and matching wines and/or Cumbrian beers might 'extend' the pop-up indefinitely.

Thursday, May 26, 2011 - We decided to leave the various meal-in-a-bowl pho (soups) for a future lunchtime and started with asparagus and crab soup - aromatic kid (baby goat) spicy soup with Vietnamese herbs not being available. It was excellent, as were betel leaf-wrapped parcels of ground pork known as cha la lot with a grown-up, faintly medicinal flavour from the leaves. Red Sea prawn summer rolls were tightly packed with vermicelli, fresh salad leaves, and herbs - such a welcome aspect of Vietnamese food - in delicate rice paper skins, but the shellfish flavour was fugitive...Not everything was faultless. Duck egg omelette was dull; salt and pepper eel a martyr to batter; ox cheek au vin lacking in character. But that is many more hits than near misses.

Thursday, May 26, 2011 - Dishes on the long list are in fact wholly appropriate to the theme but the execution of items such as 'bowl o' red' (beef chilli), almost completely devoid of its Texan spicing and based on stew-like lumps of meat inexplicably topped with slices of raw tomato, Buffalo chicken wings battered rather than floured and fried with just paprika for seasoning, macaroni and cheese with no flavour of cheese and Maryland crab cakes that tasted like tuna salad filling deep-fried, didn't impress. Best of the main courses tried was New York strip steak, which came garnished with a roasted marrowbone.

Thursday, May 26, 2011 - The restaurant was doing quite good business last Wednesday and the noise level from Chelsea not-quite pensioners was excruciating. There is a mildly fishy, deeply gastropub influence to the menu which features one or two American assemblies, of which New England seafood chowder was a good example - and would have been even better if served hot. Parfait of chicken livers and foie gras served with toasted brioche and lemony chutney was well made. Both kedgeree and salmon and smoked salmon fishcakes were stodgy and pedestrian.

Thursday, May 12, 2011 - Dorset jugged steak with very resilient pork dumplings would have been more welcome on a cold January evening. The same applied to Suffolk stew composed of mutton meatballs with a surprising lack of flavour served with lentils and barley. The Queen's Potage, Soles in Coffins or Mrs Peckham's Lobster are possibly lighter assemblies but Mrs P charges 39.50...The problem with an overarching idea more elaborate than something good to eat is that the cutesy monikers make the items all the more disappointing when they turn out ordinary. There is, nevertheless, much to enjoy in the look and the visual detail such as the brass sleeve garters on waiting staff in white shirts and braces.

Thursday, May 05, 2011 - Having had a fishy lunch that day, I selected veal stew with green peas. At 17 pounds it was the least expensive offering, turning out to be an agreeably homely dish rather than obvious restaurant fare. The mashed potato with it was seemingly innocent of butter, the meat fairly muscular, the peas a scattering. Sea bass in lemon sauce with crisp red prawns and green beans was in another league: fish smooth as satin, the shellfish amazing - and in a world where nowadays you are so often traduced by prawns.

Thursday, April 28, 2011 - My friend and neighbour Stephen, described sea trout tartare with pickled cucumber, tomato water and tobiko (flying-fish roe) as 'sublime', adding that it was 'perfectly composed' and an accurate portion: "not too big/stingy'. Foie gras, tongue and smoked duck breast terrine served with warm lentils and toasted brioche showed the result of Mercer Nairne having learned with the best - Bruce Poole. Crab raviolo with a fondue of leeks and a bisque sauce tricked out with brown shrimps and samphire had that rich stuffing straining to burst through a tight casing that brings to mind Gordon Ramsay's way with this dish.

Thursday, April 21, 2011 - Diminutive amounts, served in awkwardly large dishes, made divvying up fractious and the frequent summoning of bread a necessity. Just three Jersey Royals, salt-baked and served with cabbage pesto and cheese royale, for 8.50 left one of us with half a potato, but, it should be said, a delectable half a potato. The almost-vegetarian complained that she never got a taste of pea sorbet, peas and broad beans with wild garlic oil. I did and it was thrillingly, resonantly, intensely pea-like...There is so much that is positive about Pollen Street Social. It is brimming over with gastronomic ideas. Head sommelier Laure Patry is a saint. Tapas in the bar where you don't have to book are an affordable, pleasurable way in.

Thursday, April 14, 2011 - Mussels on toast with leeks and parsley were rapturously received -especially after the long wait that preceded the arrival of the first courses. Pig's head, rabbit and radishes comprised slices of a well-made brawn interweaving sonsily dressed leaves and pale, crunchy roots. Chicken broth and dumplings had the disconcerting inclusion of ham bones...Roasted pigeon served rare with pigeony bits mashed on toast, turnips and anchovy is the sort of dish that makes us confuse St John with St Fergus. Desserts of chocolate terrine and blood orange jelly were further evidence for canonisation.

Thursday, April 07, 2011 - Along with the bread rolls - as fine as at any Michelin-starred restaurant - Patrick's burger is the star of our show although quite a diminutive star for the price of 12.50. The meat is noble and blue cheese provides tanginess without being overpowering. Surely the French fries must be home-made but it is hard to tell. Cumberland sausage, chosen partly because I wanted something meaty but didn't want confit lamb rump with goats' cheese, or to spend 26.50 on a 300g steak, was not a sausage that made a convincing case for the PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) recently granted by the EU.

Thursday, March 31, 2011 - Braised lentils and chorizo were comforting and, later, lemon curd terrine was clever and delicious. The full menus are stuffed with irresistible ideas: Blythburgh breakfast slider, biscuit and provolone; rare roast topside, green sauce and dripping toast; Old Spot shoulder, nduja and fennel. You can see, as it were, where the kitchen is coming from. A new better-equipped kitchen is being built and should be ready in June...Outside is a little suntrap where you can sit among statuary, sip keenly priced arcane cocktails and think that London actually never fails to intrigue and reward.

Thursday, March 31, 2011 - Not for the last time in the evening someone said 'I make this better myself', referring in this instance to the Greek salad with its large hunks of feta (better crumbled apparently). The pate was fine...The volatile standard of cooking and the sound effects of crash, bang, wallop as plates fell off a shelf serving as the pass created the sort of dilettante atmosphere which you either hate or love. I rather loved it and said to myself that thing you should never need to say, 'we probably could have chosen better'.

Thursday, March 24, 2011 - The soft-boiled egg with chunky white toast batons is coated in crisp crumbs, like a Scotch Egg minus the sausage layer. The browned 'shell' being edible is curiously titillating. Salt beef slider with dill pickle and Colman's mustard brings back fond memories of the late, lamented Nosh Bar in Great Windmill Street down the road, although the beef menu credit is Brick Lane. The bun is soft, the mustard bite is fierce - it's great. I'd like to order another...Fun is on the menu at Spuntino and that is worth celebrating.

Thursday, March 17, 2011 - For reasons of price we have gone straight to the main courses. La Milanese, 'the original', is a quite boring thin veal cutlet on the bone deep-fried in sand-like crumbs. Side orders of zucchini fritti and peeled broad beans are needed to bring it to life. The popularity of pork belly with chefs has driven up the price of what was once a cheap cut, as is proved here by the 18 pound charge. It is fine, but the Chinese would have done it better. Star of the show is octopus and potatoes 'a modo nostro'. Its cuboid, anodyne, whiteout look belies a soft, supple texture and surprisingly complementary flavours. For the first time in this meal, it shows true creativity on the part of the chef.

Thursday, March 10, 2011 - Tandoor-roasted vegetables and baby leaves dressed with aged balsamic might be classified as Indian nouvelle cuisine and might have worked had the produce been seared rather than damply sauteed, and were the vinegar less overpowering. Fennel and peppered deep-fried squid rings with pickled red cabbage were only glancingly Indian but maybe that was the point...Much better is seared sea bass with curried squash and a creamy coconut sauce. Breads, a selection of three, are fine and so is kulfi (iced reduced milk) in flavours of mango and pistachio.

Thursday, March 10, 2011 - Sspicy soft- shell crab marinated in green peppercorn lemon sauce, fried in semolina batter and served with a spiced fig and prune sauce, was notable, free of that muddiness that can cling to naked crabs. Goan green chicken curry was also rewarding, the sauce lively and herby. Lamb biryani was not quite comparable with what I had eaten in Hyderabad but it was hugely generous, deeply flavoursome and served in a bowl sealed with flat bread, through which a shank bone stood proud. South Indian-style stir-fry vegetables contribute crispness and ghee-licked paratha bestows irresistibility. Definitely worth a try.

Thursday, February 17, 2011 - Bold Mayfair prices and the Michelin history created expectations that were not quite met at the two meals I tried - but it was very early days. A salad of asparagus, quail eggs and russet apple - at 11 pounds, the cheapest first course - was, well, pedestrian...Pairing lobster and chickpeas is a saucy conceit but the lobster was too simpering and the chickpea puree too smooth and diffident for it to work. Teeny-weeny carrots added their comment on the side. To make fegato a la Veneziana there should be masses of onions, at the outset more in weight than the meat. Venetian-style calves' liver here was shy with the onions and the liver had been cut too thickly.

Thursday, February 10, 2011 - Charcuterie is bought from the Basque artisan supplier Maison Meyte but the terrine de foie gras served with green bean salad and warm duck liver pate served with Comte cheese gougeres made in-house are too good to miss. Up against these dishes, priced at 9.50 and 8.50 respectively, the rather feeble red cabbage salad seems poor value at 7.50...Poulet roti farci au foie gras at 48 for two/three, cooked with a baton of rustic bread inside which gets deliciously sogged with the juices and fats, is served on a bed of fine green beans in a covered pot. Given that they list their steak supplier as Jack O'Shea it seemed odd that the kitchen hadn't obtained a more noble, muscular bird. It looked alluring but had little flavour.

Thursday, February 03, 2011 - Turkey pudding resembled a log of boudin blanc rolled in fine crumbs. Despite garnishes of girolles and cockscombs (more a texture than a taste) it was deeply dull compared to the excellent Beef Royal, a 72-hour slow-cooked short rib of Angus served with smoked anchovy and onion puree and ox tongue. Were a vegetarian to stray misguidedly into Dinner, he or she might well be disappointed by the 20 pound dish of Braised Celery (c. 1730) with Parmesan, pickled walnuts, apples and onion, which we shared. What tipped the meal into four-star territory were the desserts.

Thursday, January 27, 2011 - Both the small plates served at the bar and the menu in the restaurant offer items seemingly perversely chosen for their lack of appeal to the likely audience...The first section, seafood, which includes fruits de mer at 30 pounds, delivered a small number of sea bass slices 'cooked' in citrus juices for 9.50. I wondered what Andalusian meant in the context of fish soup. It would seem to signify served tepid with slices of potato bulking out miserly pieces of fish and shellfish in a thin broth.

Thursday, January 20, 2011 - Citrus-cured organic salmon with creme fraiche, beetroot and Aquitaine caviar featured perky, vividly hued lozenges of fish with the root vegetable rendered crisp for textural contrast. Having myself bagged the chicken assembly, it turned out to be unappealing greasy, both in the crumb coating of the egg, the sauteed 'oysters' and the triangles of fried skin...Everything about Roux at The Landau is carefully considered - they could have stopped before the truly weird decision of black napkins for the ladies, white for the men - but despite input from Silvano Giraldin on the wine list it is not, obviously, Le Gavroche.

Thursday, January 13, 2011 - From pastas - just three - on the other side of the card I chose for my main course linguine with clams, chilli and basil, which was prepared just as it should be with clams vying for supremacy over the amount of vibrant al dente noodles...Rack of lamb is served 'scottadito' style. This means 'finger-burning', suggesting the cutlets are so delectable you can't stop yourself picking them up too soon. They were good, not served as a rack but separately, jostling a half aubergine that had been baked to a creamy, pliant mattress, there to soak up the meat juices. But no one's fingers got burned.

Thursday, January 06, 2011 - Peter Gordon has said in defence of fusion food 'if it tastes good, it works'. Not enough worked at our dinner and at lunch a few days later - different tapas and one butternut squash and chickpea soup with samphire, orange labneh and caramelised peanuts to share - we struggled to find enthusiasm for anything tried. Admiring the contrast between chrain (beetroot and horseradish puree) and Parmesan and bone marrow sauce on brown toast was the best we managed.

Thursday, December 16, 2010 - Reg and I shared oysters, salami Il Grifo from Emilia Romagna, spatchcocked quail with a wonderful nubbly romesco sauce, silky red mullet with chanterelles, boudin of zander with shellfish sauce, a slice of Saint Nectaire cheese from the Auvergne, and Floating Island striped with caramel in a bowl of custard...You may have noticed that I have awarded Brawn five stars. This is because the above meal was thoughtfully sourced and in parts bewitching, was perfectly executed and served by un jeune homme serieux at exactly the right pace. Wines by the glass chosen and also suggested were revelations.

Thursday, December 16, 2010 - A note on the blackboard menu to the effect that the kitchen will send out dishes when they can be bothered meant our quite complex order arrived all at once. Items that should have been eaten hot, such as smoked haddock rarebit and the fish soup, cooled, while crustacea, in this case little Kumamoto Japanese oysters, posed the question of whether they were worth 27 pounds for nine. Mackerel served with salsa verde was as fresh as if it had just been pulled from the sea.

Thursday, December 16, 2010 - Chef Will Leigh - visible in the green-tiled open kitchen - espouses homely comfort food (pies a speciality) and the main course of roasted pork and butter beans with herb crumbs, served all of a jumble, fulfilled that definition in the best possible manner. A turmeric-coloured fragrant kedgeree topped with an oeuf mollet also delivered solace. Recommending a wine to unite those two was a challenge elegantly met by the charming waiter's suggestion of Oltrepo Pavese Pinot Nero 'Umore Nero' Castello di Luzzano at a very reasonable (in terms of mark up) 23.75.

Thursday, December 09, 2010 - Jostling for place were artichoke and ricotta ravioli (thick pasta casings with double-layer edges); monkfish 'ossobuco' (the fish, balanced on a tranche of aubergine, devoid of flavour); veal kidney with violet mustard sauce and raisins (the words veal kidney and raisins shouldn't appear in the same phrase); and roasted Landes duck breast...Redeeming features of what in my view is a disappointing launch include the wine list, the genial manager Jean-Marie Miorada, who has come from The Greenhouse, and the little mountain of straw potatoes which we saw going to another table.

Thursday, November 25, 2010 - Having eaten at Noma between meals at Fig and North Road, I can state that the influence is now strong...My lobster broth with leeks and cured lobster was a dark, very salty bouillon, a sort of Bullshot without the vodka. Dorset brill with stewed salsify and herb oil was utterly delicious and proof of what I think, which is that there is quite a lot to be said for this neutered, purse-lipped, Nordic approach once we cease to compare it to the symbolic warmth and sexiness of the much more familiar Mediterranean tradition.

Thursday, November 18, 2010 - The welcome managed to be both confused and glacial. Service flailed. Food, when it arrived, was tepid. Quantities veered between miserly for the high-end pricing and too much. Marinades were monotonous...'Whole lamb' (nothing of the sort) featured meat with a most peculiar flavour and the sliced fillet steak no flavour at all. Best of what we tried - most of the menu - was the sourdough bread with whipped butter, beer can chicken served with smoky baked beans and two of the side dishes.

Thursday, November 11, 2010 - In nasudengaku a sweetish, caramel version of miso tops deep-fried aubergine halves resulting in an almost meaty richness that contrasts well, as we discovered, with tuna tartar flavoured and textured with the crunch of flying fish roe (tobiko) and creaminess of quail egg yolk. Even better than the tartar, in my view, is tuna tataki. Thin slices are cut from the fish steak seared in a hot iron pan and then dressed with shredded daikon, sprouted seeds and ponzu jelly. Tempura moriawase (a mixture) of vegetables, prawns and white fish sported crisp dry batter that left not a trace of frying behind.

Thursday, November 04, 2010 - Among Les Entrees I would urge you try the appealing vegetable and herb purity of Soupe au Pistou; the rich braised Camargue Beef Cannelloni with a red wine Sauce Diable bolstered by bone marrow; and a fine Salade Nicoise, a dish so regularly traduced, made here with tuna confit produced in house. From Les Plats, Aioli de Cabillaud de Ligne au Sel was a delicately, tactfully salted piece of line-caught cod, served as a snowy mound in a vegetable broth sharpened with the sting of garlic from the aioli.

Thursday, October 28, 2010 - Emblematic of going the extra mile in the dishes we tried are the first courses of warm salt cod brandade with a saute of baby squid and a deep-fried breadcrumbed parsley cromesqui with a spurting heart of greenness and Herefordshire snail and bacon pie. Reg, who likes snails in hot garlic butter, didn't see 'why they had to crawl under a lid of pastry' but I thought it an excellent assembly. Warm sweet onion tart with goat's cheese and figs was suitably autumnal and, with paper-thin pastry, well balanced.

Thursday, October 21, 2010 - From Special Dishes we selected two items, figuring that here was where the chef strutted his stuff. Tonkatsu style (meaning deep-fried in panko crumbs) Iberico pork with the classic accompaniment of shredded white cabbage salad was a dish that could have a future in fast food (minus the healthy cabbage). Iron pot black cod rice was presented as constituent parts including sweet miso sauce mixed at the table. The result was light and inviting but not quite as wonderful as the kani no kama meshi at Roka in Charlotte Street where king crab and wasabi tobiko (flying fish roe) is strafed through rice.

Thursday, October 14, 2010 - The plov is described as coming with pieces of succulent lamb. For succulent read tough but the rice assembly is light and fragrant and buried in it are cloves of garlic simmered to a sweetness that would beguile a vampire. An Asian tomato salad with crescents of transparent raw red onion is served alongside and all for 11.50...Pelmeni, cousins to Ukrainian vareniki and Polish pierogi, are made distinctive by the delicacy of the dough and a shape with linguistic connection to the human ear. The Samarqand version is delicate, white as the driven snow but with a punchy flavour from the filling - delectable.

Thursday, October 07, 2010 - The new head chef recruited to Roussillon, a tender sprig of only 23, is malleable enough, it would seem, happily to emulate what went before...An unheralded course of a scallop with apple puree and slender batons of raw apple. It is nice in a squeaky-clean, appley sort of way and we are glad to have had it because both of our chosen first courses disappoint. Cock crab with celery and cucumber salad, lime puree and cucumber jelly is small and very cold. It seems like something more suited to a facepack.

Thursday, September 30, 2010 - Edamame and the dishes mentioned above all come under the heading of dim sum. Having also tried excellent tuna tartare but tepid, flaccid black pepper ribs from that section, Ian murmured rather plaintively that he thought dim sum involved dumplings. Quick as a flash I ordered king prawn and black cod siu mai and my honour - and maybe Will Ricker's - was restored. Beef and foie gras gow gee - Cantonese steamed and fried dumpling - is the only other dough-wrapped parcel on offer. Ricker knows his audience and, on the whole, they don't do carbs.

Thursday, August 26, 2010 - Pigeon saltimbocca, a new entry, was a clever and rewarding notion, the sage and prosciutto doing even more for ruby-red pigeon breast than usually they do for veal escalope....Pea, mint, fennel and ricotta salad from the Vegetable & Salads section was terrific, fresh and frisky. From Breads - and every meal should have at least one - cured pork shoulder and pickled pepper on a pizzetta base was so good I made sure our new best friends, made on the night from the close neighbouring table, also ordered it.

Thursday, August 19, 2010 - The salad was lime-dressed batons of cucumber, beautiful in their crisp freshness, but the star of the starters was the pratas and the lamb sauce through which to drag them. So flaky in the nicest possible way, toothsome and biddable were the ghee-licked breads that we ordered more to mop up the last trail of vibrantly spiced gravy...Hainanese chicken rice intended as a mild counterpoint, was pleasant but not possessing the subtle tracery of ginger, garlic and master chicken stock that it can display. So enamoured were we of the char kway teow with prawns, Chinese sausage, fish cake, egg and bean sprouts that we ordered in addition the vegetarian version.

Thursday, August 12, 2010 - The menu kicks off with antipasti and also a section entitled Small Eats. From this you must not neglect to order zucchine fritte that have cunningly been rendered as a string before being deep-fried to a crisp tangle...A main course of roasted fillet of cod with celeriac and anchovy sauce was a stunner. The sauce was a fine puree, possibly pushed through a sieve more than once, and the flavour pairing was masterful without being overpowering.

Thursday, August 05, 2010 - When asked for chilled sake, the waiter brought warm. When asked for edamame beans in kimchi sauce, he brought kimchi. For ease of communication we chose 'New Wave' sushi and sashimi to share. So lacklustre the fish, so cold and claggy the rice, so etiolated and mingy the sashimi and the whole assembly so lacking in any definition of nouvelle vague, that my London restaurant critic companion suggested we pay up and go to the lovely bar at Sheekey's for a drink. So we did.

Thursday, July 29, 2010 - The authenticity of the food offering is by the by. You wouldnt actually want to bear too much reality. A couple of visits impressed with the freshness and immediacy of the cooking and the willingness of the staff...Standout dishes include tomato shorba, a soup soured with tamarind and spiced with cumin; the two paus, warm, generously buttered toasted soft white rolls topped with spiced minced meat (keema) or mashed vegetables (pau bhaji); the Ruby Murray of the day (namely lamb in yoghurt); and slow-cooked, sonorous house black dhal.

Thursday, July 29, 2010 - After picking at tiger prawn flautas - I thought that was the effect of re-fried beans - my companion said 'I'm not going to hold this against you'. When we then shared carnitas, described as braised pork shanks with chipotle wine sauce, he added, 'I can't remember a meal this bad.' Even the margaritas seemed phoney. The one star is for the sweet and smiling service from Carole.

Thursday, July 29, 2010 - Crispy squid 'with really garlicky mayo' and courgette fritti 'with the creamiest whipped chickpea, anchovy, caper and parsley dressing' were both meticulously fried in clean oil without a whisper of greasiness. A bit more salt would have galvanised the dressing. 'Beautiful' bucatini carbonara with the addition of courgette ribbons to the egg, cheese and pancetta sauce fulfilled its description except that spaghetti would have been nicer than wormy bucatini. Immaculately trimmed lamb-chop lollipops were a marvel...Jamie has demonstrated that a mid-price chain can be lovable and gratifying.

Thursday, July 22, 2010 - Poireaux vinaigrettes et anguille fumee is a lesson in geometry surrounded by a circle of dressing with the crunch of finely chopped hazelnuts and a gentle kick of chilli. Reg is drawn to cassolette d'escargots et girolles a l'ail. The snails and bosky mushrooms sit on a bed of deeply buttery mash under green foam. Surely it is not necessary to revisit the Foam Period in culinary history?...Lapin roti a la moutarde, the breast meat stuffed with giblets, is masterful, a simple dish taken to the heights although a bit more mustard frisson would have been welcome.

Thursday, July 15, 2010 - Tortelli with wild rabbit, pistachio and sage sported an imaginative combination of ingredients as well as delicate pasta coverings. Joe rather wished that the larger serving at 12.50 had been, how shall we say, larger? Grilled baby chicken served with barley and wild rocket was another unexpected and beneficial coming together of component parts and the chicken itself scored on a generous relationship of delicious charred skin to rather too innocent flesh. As 'contorni' we ordered zucchini to test the chef's frying skills and were rewarded with zucchini tempura. The two cultures really do intertwine most satisfactorily.

Thursday, July 08, 2010 - The T-bone steak, tender and with discernible flavour, was enjoyed, as was its unheralded garnish of a roasted marrowbone. Olive oil mash made a more interesting accompaniment than chips or fries...Under the heading Market Fish was seared halibut steak on the bone served with 'fennel crusted, tomato, asparagus & fresh pea salad, smoked piquillo'. The piece of fish that arrived could have been cut from polystyrene, so stiff and desiccated was the flesh. The vegetable garnish somehow managed to taste like ratatouille (not a compliment).

Thursday, May 27, 2010 - Salmon (organic) was the fish prepared confit with dressed crab rolled in a cunning crab jelly, cubes of cucumber, nasturtium leaves and samphire. It was lovely, as was langoustine butter-poached and served with Jabugo ham, pea mousse and baked white onion...In the main course, roasted best end of Launceston lamb served with Jersey Royals, infant artichokes tinged with violet and little cubes of brined tongue was much appreciated but my wild sea trout was woefully overcooked.

Thursday, May 20, 2010 - Risotto was comme il faut, and a beautiful colour to boot, and the scallops and their scallopy sauce a master class in how burnishing an innately douce ingredient can chime beautifully with acidity and the way in which celery cleaves to innocence come what may. Organic salmon rubbed with fresh ginger was timed to result in a texture that subsided, when pressed, into gentle, curvaceous, flavourful slices...Do hurry along. Gauthier Soho is sort of thrilling and not too expensive.

Thursday, May 13, 2010 - The charcuterie is fabulous. Even items that had me worried such as Tagine d'agneau - terrine of slow-cooked spiced leg of lamb with aubergine and sweet potato - were gloriously vindicated...Two main courses that stole my heart were Coq au Vin, so regularly traduced elsewhere, and The Frenchie, one of three burgers offered. Finding the perfect burger is not my holy grail but this dense patty of beef cooked medium rare served with aromatic Morbier cheese in a peppered brioche bun with crisp confit of pork belly and a tomato-onion compote came close to ultimate satisfaction.

Thursday, May 06, 2010 - The approach is not that of molecular gastronomy but there is playfulness, ingenuity, empathy with vegetables, which are addressed almost more seriously than is protein, and a delight in surprise and shock in both texture and temperature. There is repetition of the raw and the cooked, the grainy with the smooth. Asian influences are let loose and an almost childish love of crispness indulged...The pace of the meal, which includes three amuse-bouches as well as the various courses, starts at a brisk trot but slows down as the evening wears on and yet another wine is poured. Viajante is a place to try with friends.

Thursday, April 29, 2010 - Last Wednesday a delightful waitress was running the floor. We started dinner with homemade focaccia served with Gaeta olives and extra virgin olive oil plus chargrilled asparagus, presented under a heap of rocket and slices of grana Padano cheese, and also chargrilled oyster mushrooms flavoured with garlic and lemon. With no huge margins for error, the dishes were fine...I think Pasquale should slip a fillet of fish, veal escalope and chicken al mattone onto the menu. We could still appreciate and laud his cousins' vegetables. And avoid the devil's work that is seitan.

Thursday, April 22, 2010 - Pasta is so often over-supplied and over-sauced over here but this was just right. Strips of squash came wreathed in batter, which was unexpected - I was anticipating the scars of char-grilling - but the batter was impeccable and a scattering of deep-fried sage leaves gave a nod to healthiness. A veal chop is a rare sight on a menu, especially when it comes complete with a mound of sparkily seasoned spinach. The chop was not a giant but quite big enough and grilled to a point where a blush of pink was retained. Roasted pigeon was challenging to carve but, like everything else, its seasoning was spot on and enlivening.

Thursday, April 15, 2010 - Elaborately conceived main courses risk inducing taste bud exhaustion. At the end of the marathon of roast cod with sauteed squid, spicy chorizo, piperade and gremolata plus olive oil mashed potatoes, the recipient's tongue needed to be wrapped in a foil blanket. Roasted rump of lamb with sauteed sweetbreads had only vegetables dancing in attendance and a rosemary jus...In restaurants we are not nourished by food alone. Nadra should direct some of his admirable energy into softening the surroundings and bringing them into line with an easy-to-achieve spend of 55 pounds a head.

Thursday, April 08, 2010 - Most impressive among the starters tried were sauteed scallops interleaved with crisp slender slices of cauliflower in an anchovy-and-caper-studded beurre noisette, and a perfectly constructed cylinder of yellow fin tuna tartare topped with Oscietra caviar and dressed with chive cream...Scottish lobster tail with braised pork belly, baby gem and cider sauce was my choice, partly to fit in with the white wine drinkers - a stab at economising. It was beautifully prepared with the strips of meat softer and less assertive than the artfully displayed shellfish.

Thursday, April 01, 2010 - The teeny mouthfuls we did organise, which included whitebait with apple & chilli chutney, lamb brochettes, prawn puri and scallops prepared three ways, were so minuscule in quantity, so drab in flavour that we should have done without...The potential for enjoyment seems to have been spoiled by division of labour into too many menu concepts, a faintly bogus theme and demonstrably bad value.

Thursday, March 18, 2010 - Menus which change for every meal are short and to the point about seasonality and vibrancy and bolstered by a couple of dishes - one usually a main course for sharing - written on a blackboard. Two of those that we tried were an excellent Aussie-leaning steak pie with rich, dark gravy and buttery shortcrust pastry and a French textbook cassoulet where the white beans, humming a garlicky tune, were precisely the right texture. The main course for one of roast 'Cob' chicken with sauce soubise and watercress was the only time a dish faltered.

Thursday, March 11, 2010 - The long-simmered meaty, fortified broth of onion soup made dark with the caramel exuded by slow-fried onions comes in for extravagant praise, as does its Emmenthal souffle craftily floated in place of grilled bread...Black bream fillet in bouillabaisse with rouille is a bright idea marred by a huge chunk of undercooked fennel shouldering the fish out of the way. Bruno's fondness for North African flavours is evident in confit of lamb shoulder with white beans, preserved lemon and green harissa. Both M and I look askance at the presentation but the taste is completely pleasing.

Thursday, February 11, 2010 - Folk in Sichuan embraced nose-to-tail eating many many moons before Fergus Henderson was a glint in his father's eye. Ears, knuckles, kidneys, intestines, ribs and various cuts of pork are used and luncheon meat makes its sine qua non appearance in the Sichuan Special Meat Hot Pot. I appreciate the singular crunch of cartilage and much enjoyed spicy pig's ear slices where, you can be reassured, strips are so thin their provenance is obscured and also the steamed pig's joint (knuckle).

Thursday, February 04, 2010 - My guest selected glazed veal cheek with truffle mash, crisp veal tongue, red wine-glazed salsify and sauce gribiche. Other assemblies sported polenta, gnocchi, lentils and parsnips as starch. Reg ordered salt marsh lamb that came with sweetbreads, baked aubergine, fried lentil puree, braised lamb shoulder and capers. Both dishes suffered from Patrick's observation that the different parts competed for attention rather than complementing each other - never advisable in a relationship.

Friday, January 29, 2010 - The escabeche was properly done - the fish first fried and then marinated in vinaigrette - but the flesh was a bit creaky, lacking the suppleness and maybe the Omega 3 you expect from an oily species. A homemade Scotch egg is no longer a thing of wonder. Every gastropub is knee-deep in them, so much so that we start to expect and demand soft centres. At Wallace & Co, the yolk was hard-boiled but the sausage meat coated with the deep crunch of breadcrumbs from a loaf not a packet was high quality and a whisper of warmth indicated fairly recent deep-frying.

Thursday, January 21, 2010 - The smoked chicken wings seem to have flapped through a bath of all-purpose BBQ sauce but the menu description singles out chipotle chillies and tamarind. The Trade Descriptions Act could be invoked over the 24-hour slow-roasted beef short ribs as only one rib is served. The steak and curly kale, fried shallots, thyme Bearnaise and jalapeno jelly, are liked...The success of a cabaret restaurant to some quite great extent depends on the calibre of the performers. If they can't manage better on a Tuesday, then it seems hardly worth while opening at all.

Thursday, January 14, 2010 - The chop was rosy and juicy but the chips - deep-fried vertical slices of a whole potato - came in for criticism from the recipient. I thought them rather good and testing again and again to make quite sure meant that I didn't finish the silky green herb risotto that came with a dark, moody braise of ox cheek. Game hot pot with cabbage which came in its own cast-iron mini-cocotte was the perfect icy weather combo.

Thursday, December 17, 2009 - The almost fatal flaw in the production is long waits for food as the kitchen fits around the singing and vice versa...Grilled salmon fillet was described as being infused with green tea, which was not apparent in the flavour but the texture was succulent. Pan-fried beef fillets with field mushrooms and 'homemade fries', made more expensive with the addition of peppercorn sauce at 1.75, were tender and almost certainly the better option when set against chicken stuffed with Philadelphia cheese and wrapped with bacon.

Friday, December 04, 2009 - It is said about over-salted food in a restaurant that smoking may have blunted the chef's palate. Based on jumbo prawns with ginger, Hunan lamb, potatoes with Sichuan chilli and dry sauteed green beans the chef must have a 60-a-day habit...One of our party described Sichuan pepper and chilli squid as 'assault and battery'. However, ma po tofu (bean curd with a minced meat sauce) was excellent with a silky, biddable texture in the tofu and just the right amount of chilli heat in the sauce.

Friday, November 27, 2009 - I don't know quite what I expected but it was not just a rerun of the Baker Street menu plus a few twists. Sticking to what you're good at is all very well but the dramatic surroundings demand a burst of original, maybe even stupendous, effort...Tagine was an accurate description of the serving dish but the deconstructed contents, with admittedly delicious squab, missed the point of long-simmering and melding of not much meat with a heap of grain that you find in the country of origin. Slow-cooked lamb shoulder was sticky; supreme of Landaise chicken with poached leeks was fine.

Friday, November 27, 2009 - The Cafe where, happily, the curvaceous zinc bar from Conran restaurant Aurora in the Great Eastern Hotel has landed, was full for lunch last Thursday...Maatjes herring and pommes a l'huile were succulent, with bones a distant memory. Wood-roasted sea bream with fennel and La Ratte potatoes featured over-cooked fish with no flavour but apparently the chef is not happy with the oven yet. I thought the lemon tart too cornfloury. My friend who ate most of it disagreed and she, I believe, has a PhD in lemon tarts.

Thursday, November 19, 2009 - A first course of red mullet, fresh orange, baby spinach heated just until it had knuckled under and almonds was a perfect array of flavours and textures, one of those dishes that make you sit up and think again about the potential for pleasure in dining...In the main course, thoughtfulness, innovation and dexterous matching don't let up. Roasted halibut is served with wilted lettuce, a rather peculiar but pleasing cobbling together of crab, potatoes and capers. Fillet of Scottish beef, a handsome, almost square chunk of meat, is flattered by accompaniments of celeriac and wild mushrooms.

Thursday, November 19, 2009 - Roast black cod with Szechuan sauce delivered a fish so precisely timed that the flesh fanned out like a deck of opalescent cards, with a sauce predictably punchy but not so much so that the flavour was obliterated. Five-spiced chicken was not the sort of assembly that Gerrard Street waiters try to stop the round-eyes ordering but it did have intriguing Cantonese flavour beyond the salty/sweet/hot/sour quartet...With its reasonable prices and gentle service, Made in China has been added to my short list of places to go when I am longing for Chinese food.

Thursday, November 05, 2009 - My sister's choice of grilled cotecchino sausages and 'rosticiana' pork ribs with potato appeared as thin tasteless sausages, not the chunky, fatty, rich, glistening monster from Modena that was anticipated, ribs from which it was impossible to detach the meagre strings of flesh, and dark, gloomy spinach. A green salad, over-salted in its dressing, added another 3 quid....There seems to be in Mayfair a steady supply of takers for, how shall we say, insouciantly priced Italian food.

Monday, November 02, 2009 - The Downstairs restaurant is different from the wine bar in ways that are not connected to the cooking. Meal times are imposed. Larger tables encourage and enable sharing, as do items such as plateau de fruits de mer, potted foie gras mi-cuit and a whole roast Landaise chicken, all served for two or more...I may have tasted a better fish soup tricked out with croutons and grated Gruyere but, if so, I can't place it. Langoustines cooked a la plancha displayed an innocent sweetness in their buttery flesh.

Thursday, October 22, 2009 - Giving pleasure is the underlying ethos of the Soho House group and there is little not to like about the low-lit, rugged conversion of what was originally a tea warehouse. Last Friday the 5,000 sq ft space was rammed and big tables of City boys were in full cry...Pizza Margherita, the cheapest, took the idea of restrained topping a bit far - it was little more than a smear - but Middle White porchetta with cannellini beans, kale and fennel apple sauce was generous and good - River Cafe for the masses.

Thursday, October 15, 2009 - The tart was, without doubt, the best Bakewell tart I have eaten and if a meringue wash over the filling isn't traditional then it should be. 'Incredible,' said Joe. The chocolate ice cream was good, but a damson ice, which arrived unbidden, was better...The Sri Lankan dinner was masterful - I asked for seconds of the fried sambal made with aubergine and dried sprats and the chana dal cooked with nine-spice mixture and curry leaves - and loved the cardamom milk, pepper and orange water ice served in metal beakers.

Thursday, October 08, 2009 - The menu, in its admirable embrace of seasonal, regional, small virtuous suppliers and so forth, is similar to that at the Chop House but with greater emphasis on fish...In the main course, you can lash out on grilled Orkney lobster with garlic butter and chips and Aberdeenshire beef fillet on the bone. The mutton and kidney pie, with its oyster served separately riding in its shell, was diminutive but praised for its flavour. The hanger steak, usually such a ribald cut, was a bit dull.

Thursday, October 01, 2009 - Baby squid with squid ink and a broth poured from a dinky little white porcelain jug was sweet and gentle. Roasted foie gras with mango, melon and black tea sauce would have been much more agreeable had it been served hot and crisp from its searing rather than tepid and mushy...Main courses were all meaty; 24-hour marinated and braised oxtail, roasted Iberian neck of pork with mixed peppercorn sauce and partridge Alcantara style. A sticky, dark, over-reduced sauce covering meat cooked too long was a common factor in all three dishes.

Thursday, August 20, 2009 - The whole grouse larded with bacon was presented on a sourdough crouton spread with liver pate accompanied by latticework crisps, cranberry sauce (redcurrant would have been better), the bechamel with bread and a rather hefty cheffy jus. It had been cooked to the right point and because it was only two days after the Glorious Twelfth had a delicate flavour. My andouillette was grilled to a nice crunchiness of skin and served with grain mustard sauce and mash...The wine list, if rather exuberantly priced, is nevertheless a splendid tome.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 - Pink fir apples sauteed in a spicy mixture of mustard seed and curry leaf served with wilted watercress and a poached egg was an excellent main course that capitalised on the nutty taste and waxy texture of the tuber. I am not able to give a verdict on the chips as, in a rare gesture towards calorie counting, Reg asked for beer-battered haddock and mushy peas to be served with new potatoes. A long wait between courses resulted in our request for another bottle of water being met with: 'No worries, and that will be on the house.' If only other managements realised how little gestures like that can repair gaps in service.

Thursday, August 06, 2009 - Because they eat so much beef, Argentineans are not obsessed with hanging meat for weeks on end. Exporting it vacuum-packed, as they do, means the beef does mature but in a light-hearted sort of way. That is my scientific explanation of why the 10oz prime Argentine sirloin steak and the 11oz prime Argentine rib-eye steak which took the leading roles in the Parrillada Constancia were so fresh-tasting and also tender and biddable but not in an abject way. Even the fat was sweet.

Friday, July 31, 2009 - The cooking of the Maghreb and the Eastern Mediterranean informs the long menu, with cold mezze, hot mezze, grills and slow cooking. Falafel and tabbouleh were puny examples of the genre but what they called sahanaki - tiger prawns in a feta and tomato sauce - was excellent. It would have been even better had the assortment of flat breads offered been warm instead of stone cold. Persian chicken kebab with saffron and tagine of chicken - sensibly sporting only legs and thighs - with preserved lemon and olives were carefully prepared and both delivered on flavour.

Thursday, July 30, 2009 - Yaki soba - fried noodles with squid, prawns and vegetables - was a fine backing group for the star of the meal. Everyone loves the sweetness and softness of black cod miso but I haven't had it better than at Hi Sushi Izakaya. It is one reason for the three-star rating. Another is the inspired dessert of caramel chawan mushi with raspberries and a Chinese gooseberry, and the third the group's mission to make Japanese dining comprehensible, accessible and reasonable without too much compromise.

Thursday, July 23, 2009 - What was AWT's Notting Grill is now The Clarendon...The ground floor has a bare brick wall, open kitchen and reverberating acoustics. The front of house staff seemed not to have a clue. This bunch couldn't run a bath but the chefs produced decent if fairly run-of-the-mill cooking. Mostly it is grills, with fine rib-eye steak and calf's liver, but our burger was much too salty and roast Middle White pork was unavailable at point of service - the order had nevertheless blithely been taken.

Thursday, July 23, 2009 - Early-years McClements espoused offal and homemade charcuterie. His contemporary style is lighter and in the case of Le Provence fittingly responsive to the warm South and its coastal repertoire...Bouillabaisse was served deconstructed with the selection of fish and shellfish, a jug of potently anise-flavoured broth, croutons, rouille and grated cheese brought to the table to meet and merge. Even if not quite what you might find in Marseille, it came together in a highly satisfactory way. Gutsy braised rabbit with fennel and garlic was served with silky mash and green beans glistening in butter...

Friday, July 10, 2009 - VINS Holdings Ltd has refurbished and refurnished the Grade II-listed site which is, in many ways, an extraordinary space but one that is tricky to render thrilling to the customer, who can feel a bit of a walk-on part in someone else's stateless flight of fancy...The dreaded word 'medley' popped up in what is apparently a signature dish of loin, belly, black pudding and sausage roll all made from Middle White pork. It was impressive in its remorselessly piggy way but needed something to lighten the gathering. Wild turbot with prawns and asparagus was much appreciated.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009 - The sine qua non of a Conran restaurant is all present, correct and unmistakable, from open kitchen with dangling copper pans (unused) and crustacea bar with saucy angled mirror above to the pleasingly heavy flatware, delicate glasses, comfortable chairs, spot-on lighting, robust pricing and graceful obeisance to architectural heritage...The execution of the food we ordered was competent but prosaic. It lacked elan, joie de vivre and other similarly useful French words and phrases.

Thursday, May 21, 2009 - We were not given a bill so I won’t describe the evening meal. A return visit at lunchtime confirmed first impressions that a great deal of work was still needed on the cooking, the service and the ergonomics of the place. Some of what we ate, such as grilled tuna, was unidentifiable as anything designed for human consumption, some, like red cabbage coleslaw, seemed on the verge of fermentation. Courgette and feta croquettes was the only decent item tried. There was no discount for soft opening. It took benugo a while to get it right at the BFI, so here’s hoping.

Thursday, May 21, 2009 - From main courses cooked on the “charcoil [sic] grille”, tagliata (sliced grilled Scottish entrecote served with rocket and Parmesan shavings) and polletto al mattone (char-grilled baby chicken flattened under a brick) were good and agreeably unsurprising. More novel was Italian sausage made on the premises slit down its length and stuffed with smoked provola cheese. Well, I’ve made my feelings on melted cheese clear already. A sea bass brought in from the boat on the terrace and simply grilled was described as “just what was wanted”.

Thursday, May 21, 2009 - Paintings and sculptures, a cheeky one in neon, beckon you towards a seating area beside glazed walls inside brick arches with views onto the green. Behind a half-height wall is another dining room where on the first visit we sat across from a seven-foot high black laced-up shoe. My first course was avocado and fennel salad with beetroot, organic seeds (majoring on pine kernels), pink grapefruit and honey dressing. It was judiciously balanced, extremely good. Cumberland sausage with slow-cooked Puy lentils was, I thought, a bit too feisty.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009 - When I ate dinner last week, a day or two after Swan & Edgar opened, the pub was functioning only from 4pm onwards but those hours are due to be extended. The 20-seater dining space was full and overspill customers were taking drinks and food to the tables on the pavement of what is a quiet residential street. The menu is short, priced for recessionary times and homely, with some dishes available to share reinforcing the notion that it is a short step between your kitchen and theirs.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009 - Head chef of Whitechapel Gallery Dining Room is Maria Elia, who previously cooked to general satisfaction at Delfina Studio Café in Bermondsey, also surrounded by art. Her menu is short, seasonal and something of a vegetable patch for those who eschew meat…In terms of absolutely admirable effort expended, a dish of lamb, which incorporated char-grilled prime cut, braised shoulder and a delectable filo pastry parcel containing preserved lemon, dates and mint plus some fingers of what looked like polenta but turned out to be ground chickpeas, seemed the greater achievement.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009 - The menu does not flesh out the word bistro except in its pleasingly moderate pricing. It is a serious, fundamentally old-fashioned list, keen on things wrapped in pastry and heavy on potato — but with a few modern accessories… It is early days at Chelsea Bar Bistro and the chef may well learn to temper his ambition and instead give free rein to his heart-warming enthusiasm.

Wednesday, April 01, 2009 - We wanted to start by sharing a Singaporean chilli crab offered at the notably reasonable price of £11.80 and found it impossible to resist fried wantons and roti canai, a flatbread served with curry sauce…The crab was great if characteristically difficult to grapple with, and the Hainanese chicken rice as elegant a balance of flavours and textures as it should be. Beef rendang was not in the same league. There are no frills in the décor and service can be brusque but what Rasa Sayang does, it does very well.

Wednesday, April 01, 2009 - One room is decorated with theatrical silhouette puppets, another with strings of plastic vegetables to suggest the marketplace, but it is done with restraint…The wide range of dishes includes salads, Sichuan flatbread sandwiches (jia mo), steamed lotus-leaf buns, wontons (chaoshou), dumplings, Xi'an pot stickers (guotie), noodles in soup, dry noodles, fried rice and vegetable assemblies. On the first visit I asked one of the staff to make choices for four of us. The second time we plotted our own route.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009 - The Salisbury, owned by Savoy-trained Jamie Sherriff, whose other pub is The Spencer Arms on Putney Common, is fortunate in its abundance of space. The entrance area has room for table football and the dining part at the back allows plenty of room between generously proportioned tables… Mussels with saffron, garlic and a bowl of chips were pale plump creatures with that virginal quality that lasts only for minutes after having been steamed open. They were obviously cooked to order and timed precisely…. The Salisbury is tricky to find if you don’t know Fulham like the back of your hand, but worth doing so. It has a menu (and a drinks list) for our times.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009 - There is neither space enough nor time to go into detail of each item and assembly. Highlights included Jerusalem artichoke velouté served in a gold cup; rabbit in pastry resembling a Moroccan p’stilla; herb-crusted turbot with lemon and ginger sauce; and chicken “bonbons” under which there was delectable thick soup… The munificence of A Taste of McClements is admirable but perhaps the five-tastes lunch menu with two glasses of wine is the way to go.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009 - Operations director of The Commander, Canadian Michael Parker, has observed that gastropubs grew out of the last recession. We are left to infer that an establishment complete with flower shop, organic butcher and fishmonger and a function room upstairs that can be used as a crèche or ballet school is a natural riposte to this current downturn…A unique selling point of the venture is one of the three menus, which gives market prices for various fish and meats and then adds a preparation price of £11.50 across the board.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009 - I remember the charming, enthusiastic manager Tomasa from the previous regime and the wood-fired oven still sits in the rather featureless — apparently soon to be improved — basement dining room…Spaghetti con astice (with lobster) at £15 was in fact an improvement on the same dish tried at Zafferano not long ago. Sauté of clams and mussels was much enjoyed; lamb cutlets flavoured with garlic and rosemary grilled over charcoal, ditto.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009 - The menu has stayed true to the notion of being expense-account expensive but a first course of “traditional” tortellini in brodo featured such ethereal stock, such delicate, yielding, finely filled pasta parcels that the £18 price — about the average for first courses — didn’t seem impossibly difficult to swallow…Wild pigeon with Marsala-braised shallots was served from a copper pan, which was left on the table. The meat, already carved into rosy pink slices, was a triumphant bosky result for a bird that is tricky to get right. We felt almost transported to the slopes of Mount Dolada.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008 - Housed in an old warehouse behind Angel Tube station — apparently previously used for paintballing, which will surely soon be identified as art — the double-identity bar is a lofty open space with chic cocktail bar and high stools standing back-to-back with a ramshackle wooden counter under a corrugated tin roof and advertisement-plastered plastic garden furniture dotted around. Arcs of neon, Congolese beer bottle logos, a wall decorated with Portuguese tiles depicting the utopian apartment blocks of 1920s Russian architect Georgi Krutikov and an oil drum barbecue are other elements in the “experience”.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008 - What had become a rather staid restaurant has found youthful vigour, clean lines, an appealing straightforward menu and a wine list where you can’t quite believe the prices… Live jazz piano floated up from the basement dining area. It added to the feeling of happy renaissance of the restaurant I remember my parents liking about 40 years ago when it was called The Brompton Grill.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008 - Cinnamon Kitchen, in the Devonshire Square development near Liverpool Street Station that was once East India Company warehouses, is the sibling of Cinnamon Club in Westminster. Executive chef Vivek Singh has moved over to the City for at least the next few months…Singh is a gifted cook and we found the dishes here more striking and exciting. Spiced sweetcorn soup accompanied by a kebab fashioned from chargrilled smoky corn kernels had vehement spicing which balanced the natural sweetness in an inspired way.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008 - Chef and partner in the business is Ed Wilson who spent some formative years with Chris Galvin. His menu is divided into sections of bar snacks, charcuterie and cheese — champion for wine browsing — plus small plates and plats du jour. Either start very hungry or eat with friends to maximise the pleasure of sharing as much as possible… Terroirs, with the sort of pictures, posters and chansons that spring to mind when the phrase French bistro is uttered, is a loud, joyful place where the enjoyment of wine is considered utterly natural.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008 - To provide competition for yourself on your front door is perhaps dopey but the owners of one of my favourite Italian restaurants in London, Ristorante Semplice, couldn’t resist the emptiness of the pub around the corner. Their trattoria and bar, dominated by a huge photograph of hills near Siena, is devoted to specialist regional salume and cheeses and the sort of dishes like spaghetti con pomodori that started our love affair with Italian food.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - Rural sensibility and an appreciation of simplicity shines through in the dishes at Corrigan’s. Late autumn is a grand time for the launch. The game season is in full flow and the potential of wild birds is seen not just in their roasted glory but also as game broth with chopped and seasoned game livers spread on accompanying toasts, as the basis for a terrine and in a salad of various birds with Catalan romesco sauce. A little canny housekeeping is also in evidence.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008 - The bar and restaurant follow the curve of the building where it meets the Regent's Canal and Battlebridge Basin. The walls are glazed and in fine weather the windows will open on to the terrace but last Tuesday sleet and snow were suddenly flying past, almost horizontally, covering barges moored alongside with a white cloth of icy lace. It made dishes such as cottage pie served in a cast-iron casserole and braised neck and shoulder of lamb with hot-pot potatoes seem the obvious and, as it turned out, good choice.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - When GRH bought Foxtrot Oscar with the aim of rolling out bistros in that name, the publicity was keen to mention that the head chef was Gemma Tuley…After all that and still only a tender 25, Gemma has suddenly popped up in Waterloo at a restaurant and bar called Arch One opposite the main entrance to the station. It looks and feels like a place for after-work drinking. When I rang to book a table — to the seeming amazement of the chap on the other end of the phone — he said I would probably want to be on the mezzanine level.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008 - The front of the menu says: “Tsunami is about sharing and when you share you are giving.” Yadda yadda yadda. The mood at the moment is not about sharing. It is about getting your paws around what you can and hugging it closely to yourself. And in a Japanese restaurant there never seems to be that much of anything anyway. Furthermore, there is the resonance of this restaurant’s name. Monster waves smashing everything in their path seem not a precise evocation of generosity.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 - It was the first day of service. “Gordon’s been on the phone but he’s not coming. He’s in LA,” said Angela Hartnett with a faint look of relief. Hartnett is the chef who joined Gordon Ramsay’s brigade at Aubergine 14 years ago when he worked in one kitchen full-time, 24 hours a day probably. It was pre-history: before he became a TV celebrity and started swanning around the world. The lady is a loyal survivor and possesses, as fellow chef Marcus Wareing has observed, true grit.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008 - This food is so delicious!" I exclaimed, sitting in the ground-f loor café of the newly opened Modern Pantry. "Well, she's had four years to prepare it," said a good friend of chef Anna Hansen, rather mordantly. When I went to dinner last week it was, in fact, almost seven years to the day since I visited the Marylebone restaurant Providores, where Hansen was one of a quartet of owners who included the New Zealand chef Peter Gordon.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 - The 400-seater Quaglino’s cost £2.5 million to build, a pretty penny 15 years ago and still a sum to conjure with. Conran had always admired the huge brasseries of Paris, establishments such as La Coupole, Lipp and Bofinger, and wanted to install in London the same air of matter-of-factness and lack of class consciousness these dining engines display.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007 - Poor Marcus Eaves was trotted out by David Moore not just to talk to me but also the restaurant critic for Bloomberg.com who was sitting nearby. My lunching companion said to the young chef: "I thought this was going to be more of a bistro." Marcus looked horrified. "I couldn't do that," he said, "it is not what I was taught." Quite so.