Tracey MacLeod reviews

Saturday, January 21, 2012 - 'He knows his market so well, this is perfect for where it is and who it serves,' was Russell's verdict. For me, 34 lacked the theatrical buzziness of rival opening, The Delaunay. But it will doubtless become a favourite of the Mayfair set, who can watch their steaks sizzling on the grill, all trace of smoke whisked away by a top-of-the-range air conditioning system. And that sums the place up. It may have the steaks, but it just doesn't have the sizzle.

Saturday, December 17, 2011 - Cod cheek popcorn, a heap of crunchy battered morsels garlanded with loops of chilli, offers a sassy update of the fried fish tradition; everyone around us seemed to be ordering it. Latkes, fried cakes of grated potato, are here rarefied to the point of delicacy, a filigree of oil-less crunch. Partnered with smoked eel, apple sauce and sour cream, they were a high point of the meal...The salt beef sandwich was less successful, thanks to nose-clearing amounts of Colman's mustard which made every mouthful a battle.

Monday, December 05, 2011 - Our salt marsh leg of lamb arrived pre-carved into a fan of thin, pink-centred slices - we're ladies, we can't cut our own meat! - and drizzled with salmoriglio, this season's gremolata. We partnered it with a gratin dauphinoise, which for an extra 20 quid can be pimped up with white truffle, shaved tableside. We caught a fleeting aroma of truffle, but the flavour never really fought its way out over all that cheese...A meal that was characterised by careful good taste, rather than exuberant explosions of flavour - pleasing, rather than fabulous - ended with an autumnal dessert of mascarpone cheesecake, served with slices of spiced quince.

Saturday, November 05, 2011 - A single breadcrumbed mussel and a shot-glass of foamed pumpkin soup arrived almost as soon as we sat down, followed, at a slightly erratic pace, by some pretty decent modern Italian dishes. Spaghetti, with a blowsy, oily sauce of porcini and diced calamari, delivered a big slap of Mediterranean flavours, as did grilled octopus, smoky and tender, served with a subtle aioli. Both mains featured shimmeringly fresh fish and pitch-perfect confidence with saucing; John Dory came anchored by a bisque-ish pumpkin and crab sauce, while sea bass was partnered with the crispest of battered prawns and a lemon sauce to underscore the Asian influence.

Saturday, October 22, 2011 - My main course was a sensational reboot of a classic Tournedos Rossini, with braised ox cheek standing in for steak, and sauteed duck liver for foie gras. With Puy lentils and pommes puree, it was a memorably satisfying, grown-up plateful...I've never reviewed a restaurant on my own before, or indeed reviewed one on opening night. But The Asquith survived both tests triumphantly. It may not be Birmingham's most beautiful restaurant, but the quality of the food offers a ringing endorsement of the city's claim as a foodie capital. Now all it needs is customers.

Saturday, October 08, 2011 - In fact, nearly everything we ate was good, from super-crisp potato croquettes filled with braised pig's cheek, to a nicely-balanced crab linguine, warmed by a breath of chilli. Steaks and burgers are the new gold standard of London dining, and BSK's burger is a worthy contender, made with ground short rib, for a notably juicy bite and topped with melted Bermondsey Flier cheese...But they don't have a clue how to look after their customers. And unless they bring a little uptown courtesy to their new downtown operation, I won't be dropping in again to say hello anytime soon.

Saturday, September 24, 2011 - The duck rillettes tasted freshly prepared and authentic. As did a twice-baked cheese souffle. Not so the steak frites. Billed as 'succulent, prime sirloin steak', the meat was tough and ragged, and seemed to grow in the mouth the longer you chewed it. The meat was also the weak link in one of the new dishes, poulet jaune grille, whose juxtaposition of dry, exhausted chicken and pert baby tomatoes brought to mind Hugh Hefner's recent engagement photos. Bouillabaisse was better, built on a decent stock with a saffronish warmth to it, and clearly made from scratch.

Saturday, August 13, 2011 - To get the full experience, we ordered the roast shellfish platter to share, although I was secretly feeling I couldn't get too excited about another plate of shellfish. And then it arrived, a fabulous selection, garlanded with samphire, chilli and sea purslane. Local lobster, crab and langoustines, grilled with butter and wild garlic, whose warm buzz set the tastebuds singing. Razor clams, cockles and mussels, cooked mariniere style, in white wine. Loch Fyne oysters supplying a blast of iodine freshness. This was a feast, and by the time we'd worked our way messily through it, I'd fallen in love with shellfish all over again.

Saturday, July 30, 2011 - The combinations offered by Rogan and head chef Ben Spalding aren't just unlikely - they're downright odd. Roasted brill comes garnished with 'chicken salt': chicken skin rubbed with sea salt and thyme, like savoury popping candy. 'Vintage' potatoes are dusted with the ashes of dehydrated onions. The saltiness of seawater-cured mackerel is punctuated by droplets of warm elderflower honey...Pretentious as all this may sound, Roganic doesn't feel over-cerebral. Even after three hours and 10-plus courses (plus, gulp, an optional selection of British cheeses), we felt stimulated, rather than overloaded.

Saturday, June 18, 2011 - Some, but not all, of the dishes we tried reflected the dazzle of the menu. A main-course salad which married burrata with pomegranate, tomatoes and chunks of bread was a winner, ditto a brace of spice-coated lamb cutlets, which disappeared in two bites. But I was mystified by my main course...Chatting to Silvena Rowe, she seemed determined to build the restaurant's reputation on food alone, rather than through association with the celebs who frequent the hotel. But for us, the food wasn't quite the draw we hoped it would be. 'It's basically tricked-out Turkish-ish,' concluded my friend.

Saturday, June 04, 2011 - Terrific though the grilled meats were, it was the slow-cooked dishes which won our hearts. Barbary duck leg, cooked in a glossy stew of ground walnuts and pomegranate juice, and finished with lime juice and pomegranate seeds, was as good as it sounds. The sour-sweet notes of tamarind and pomegranate also gave an unexpected blast of flavour to a fillet of pan-fried cod, in an adapted version of the traditional cod stew from Southern Iran...The young front of house team seems to be struggling to keep up, but they are sweet and eager to please.

Saturday, May 21, 2011 - The Gilbert Scott may be a brasserie, but the starter portions struck us as rather dainty. Not so the altogether heartier mains. Suffolk stew combined mutton meatballs with lentils, pearl barley and the occasional, surprising fishy gust of anchovy, into something that owed more to Scandinavia than to Suffolk. Dorset jugged steak - slow-braised featherblade which yielded to the fork like the filling of some celestial pie - came with sprightly pork dumplings and a sticky port reduction...The nostalgic glamour of the Gilbert Scott left us feeling as though we'd been a very long way away, back to a more elegant age. Only let's face it, the food back then would never have been this good.

Saturday, April 16, 2011 - As fans of the house style know, behind St John's unpromisingly terse menu descriptions are dishes that not only taste good, but are also in perfect good taste. A starter of sliced veal tongue and waxy new potatoes was lifted by a perfectly pitched mustard-sharp dressing. Crumbed skate cheeks, crisp, scampi-like nuggets, came with tartare sauce for dipping...The pricing might seem a bit steep in places but this is a prime slab of real estate. And neither location or pricing seemed to deter the Modern British crowd who were still pouring in at 11pm.

Saturday, April 02, 2011 - We gave both sides of the menu a work-out, and found the pub-style dishes more satisfying than the cheffier ones. Best of our starters was a slice of pork pie, traditionally made but with a subtle apple flavour to the jelly. 'Classic prawn cocktail' was almost that, but the substitution of flabby and textureless crayfish tails for prawns meant it fell short of its billing...Mains were all good, particularly the fish and chips - or at least the fish part, foamily fresh hake in a brown-ale batter which had a dry, tempura-like, crunch. Had the chips really been chips, rather than fried wedges of skin-on potato, it would have been great.

Saturday, March 19, 2011 - Dishes come to table, tapas-style, as they're ready. Best of those we tried were both meaty. Braised lamb belly with wild mushrooms and sumac had a smoky depth of flavour, the meat soft as butter. Twice-cooked baby chicken - first poached in stock, then blasted under the grill - was vividly spicy, and further revved up by a sweet chilli sauce...Good though most of our dishes were, we both found something disorientating about the Nopi experience, with its unfamiliar ingredients, unpredictable meal structure and unclassifiable decor. That disorientation intensified after a visit to the loos, a nightclub-style hall of mirrors.

Saturday, February 26, 2011 - The menu is strong on pasta dishes, and both we tried were good: paccheri with scorpion fish and purple sprouting broccoli in a fresh, chilli-spiked tomato sauce, and a lamb ragout folded through chestnut pappardelle with Testun cheese. Head chef Davide Degiovanni has worked in Ristorante Semplice and Locanda Locatelli and his food here often achieves similar heights. Both mains showed an openness to non-canonical ingredients: slow-cooked leg of rabbit cacciatora came in the traditional mushroom sauce, but was deboned, and stuffed with spinach, feta and black olive, while ashed monkfish, pan-roasted in Lardo di Colonnato, came with a Jerusalem artichoke and anchovy puree. And yet, despite the generally high standard, there were glitches which were, as the football commentators say, unacceptable at this level.

Saturday, February 12, 2011 - My starter, the savage-sounding 'rice and flesh', turned out to be a fashion-plate of a dish, in which glossy mouthfuls of braised calf tail posed on a luscious, vividly yellow risotto, stippled with saffron and pleasingly acidulous. Heston's historical tour has revisited some of his own history, too. A main course of duck leg, deboned and cooked sous-vide, then glazed in honey and spices, wasn't that far from the hammed duck legs he perfected in the early days of the Fat Duck. Spiced pigeon was a perfectly-pitched plateful, the sweet, pink meat partnered with wonderfully smoky artichokes in a heavily-reduced ale sauce.

Saturday, January 29, 2011 - The smart but not overly formal dining room reflects Van Zeller's 'fine food without the fuss' philosophy, the standard-issue black leather chairs, cream walls, white tablecloths and hotel artwork offset by a pleasingly scruffy black wooden floor...A starter of roast mallard breast, from the nearby Ripley Castle estate, impressed not just for the big, deep flavour of the ruby-red meat, but for the range of flavours that surrounded it; a dusting of powdered cep underpinning the dish with a subtle note of umami, while celeriac remoulade and quince jelly did interesting things in the foreground.

Saturday, January 15, 2011 - Surrounded by esoteric food-stuffs, we worked our way through a pretty average meal. Fried calamari rings, under-seasoned and served with a garlic dip that put the 'meh' into mayo. A mulch of chorizo and tomato on chargrilled bread which called to mind pasta sauce on toast. A prawn curry that was no more than curry sauce on rice, topped with a few chargrilled prawns; chicken paillard with spring onion mash, and a burger distinguished only by its glossy brioche bun. All perfectly OK, and not unreasonably priced, with starters around 5 quid, and mains 8-11.50, but nothing special.

Saturday, January 08, 2011 - Kopapa may not be beautiful, and it may not be particularly on-trend, but there's something informal and youthful about the place which sets it apart from all the tasteful new arrivals. And it's heartening to see Peter Gordon opting to stay small and interesting rather than going corporate. If he can smooth out the clunky service, and make the room feel as inviting as the food, Kopapa should make it on to a few best-of-the-year lists in 12 months' time.

Saturday, December 11, 2010 - Both main courses showcased top-quality British meat. Beef from Dedham Vale got a generous, two-way treatment, partnering meltingly tender shoulder, slow-braised in red wine, with a hunk of pinkly roasted fillet, and a sauce of creamed wild mushrooms. Oliver's venison chop came with game chips and half a head of caramelised roasted garlic, and was served rare, at his request. Succulent and sweet, with a smoky char, it was knock-out...This was an impressive performance, and already the room has the excitable hum of a successful restaurant.

Saturday, November 27, 2010 - Charlie's sirloin, a hefty, bone-in slab, lived up to that billing. The Josper charcoal grill gives a deep, smoky char, but inside the flesh is rosily pink and full of flavour. Chips are given due care and attention; we preferred the triple-cooked frites to the chunkier ones fried in beef dripping. And as for that kimchi burger? It was pop-art in a roll, a collision of colourful, brash flavours that shouldn't have worked together but absolutely did. The patty itself, exuding the heady whiff of beef marrow, held its own against the zingily hot kimchi, which fizzes through a range of flavours leaving a smile on your face.

Saturday, October 30, 2010 - The downstairs dining room has a distinctly masculine vibe, with its mosaic marbled floors, dark woodwork, and handsome stained-glass skylight...Pan-fried plaice was lifted by a stuffing of shrimp and kaffir lime leaves, and partnered with salsify and trompette de la mort so sophisticated they threatened to overshadow the main event. Also sophisticated, almost to a fault, was Caroline's saddle of rabbit, in which the meat had been stuffed with a forcemeat and rolled into caul-wrapped parcels.

Saturday, October 23, 2010 - Despite the evident excellence of the food, our dinner at Loves amounted to less than the sum of its parts. This style of cooking, with its Morse code of dots and dashes on each plate, sends out a message of special-occasion indulgence, and the prices push in that direction, too, we paid 60 a head before service. But this bland, flat-pack setting just isn't a special-occasion venue. Quite why the Loves ever thought it could be, is a mystery. If ever there was a case of right chef, wrong restaurant, this is it.

Saturday, October 09, 2010 - To have secured a table is clearly cause enough for jubilation. But to eat the dishes produced in Trullo's tiny kitchen is very heaven. Mussels and slices of Amalfi lemon, crisp-fried in the lightest polenta crumb; grilled quail, the meat pink and sweet under smokily charred skin, with a silky roast pepper aioli; chilli-hot rump of lamb, grilled over charcoal and lapped by creamy, rosemary-scented white beans; a glistening, chargrilled mackerel, lightly pink at the bone, with Castelluccio lentils. We could have been eating in that perfect, elusive little Tuscan trattoria Islingtonians dream of finding on holiday...

Saturday, September 18, 2010 - From the braai grill, fillet of Red Poll beef, from the Sandringham estate, was tender but tasteless, showing no sign of having been cooked over charcoal, and cost a mighty 32 pounds (though the menu listed it at 28)...For the echt bushtucker trial experience, we applied ourselves to shaved biltong, jaw-achingly chewy strips of dried meat evoking the contents of a chiropodist's Hoover bag. Truly a dish only an expat could love. As was a dessert called Koeksisters, plaited doughnuts, shellacked in sugar syrup, which should have been served with their own power tool.

Saturday, August 21, 2010 - My pork chop didn't quite have enough char from its time under the grill, but the oozy blast of Mediterranean flavours supplied by a blanket of morcilla, raisins and pine nuts more than compensated. Pete's pan-fried grey mullet was so delicate as to be almost overwhelmed by its accompanying fennel...With its wine dinners and tasting events, Flinty Red is trying hard to make a connection between the worlds of food and wine, which all too often operate at arm's length. The result may be cramped, noisy and hot. But it's also adventurous and eager to please.

Saturday, July 24, 2010 - The sheer size of our starters, each vast bowl packed with redundant chopped lettuce and other bulking agents, confirmed that this wasn't going to be an exquisite fine dining experience. Quesadillas stuffed with gooey Oaxaca cheese, mushrooms and caramelised onions offered a flavour experience straight out of Pizza Express. Cilantro chicken salad, made with several kilos of grilled chicken, black beans and avocado, also failed to deliver any of the expected jolts of flavour.

Saturday, July 10, 2010 - A single sardine, chargrilled so that the soft, smoky flesh was exposed beneath the heat-blistered skin, came with rocket smartly dressed with peppery olive oil. Only a smoked trout salad combining fridge-cold fish with equally chilly Jersey Royals and underpowered horseradish cream fell short...Our only non-fishy dish was exactly the sort of food you want to eat in a heatwave - a Middle Eastern-inspired partnership of spatchcocked chicken, zippy harissa-flavoured yoghurt dressing and a veg-packed couscous which, unusually, not only tasted of something, but tasted actively fantastic.

Saturday, June 26, 2010 - We start with the echt Greenwich experience - a plate of devilled whitebait, and a glass of Hospital Porter. They were pretty damned fresh, dusted in paprika and served with a caper mayonnaise. Oysters - half a dozen for 8.50 - get the full production, raised on a platter over cracked ice, with shallot vinaigrette, Tabasco and a jug of stout to pour over them...Locals seem to have taken to the Old Brewery with enthusiasm - a few months after opening, both bar and restaurant were busy on a midweek evening.

Saturday, June 12, 2010 - The delicacy of Gauthier's cooking asserted itself in our starters. David's seared scallops with lime, celery and a crustacean veloute were precisely cooked; my spring truffle risotto, creamy but still with a bit of bite, was 'properly truffle-y', and topped with a glorious blanket of shaved fresh truffle...Our bill came to 40 a head, which felt like a bargain, given the ritziness of the Gauthier offer. But the chef/patron's gifts as a cook don't compensate for the awkwardness and sterility of the experience.

Saturday, May 01, 2010 - There was a lack of pepperiness to the vivid green liquid which was poured over roasted langoustine tails, to stunning visual effect. Also beautiful, but marginally underpowered, was Frank's tartar of yellow-fin tuna, sprinkled with Oscietra caviar...We left Petrus feeling that we had experienced the special evening we'd hoped for. There may not be anything dazzling about the food, but the smoothness of the operation, and Ramsay's determination to make a success of it, make it the ideal venue for a special occasion.

Saturday, April 03, 2010 - The bar snacks were more exciting; particularly a cube of char-grilled barramundi, fragrant with coriander, lime and chilli, and sauteed calamari which delivered a chilli kick. Mains are designed to be shared. Ours ranged from the relatively traditional - an aromatic rogan josh-style dish of slow-cooked shoulder of mutton - to a vivid and precisely cooked piece of monkfish, roasted in the tandoor, and served with crab vermicelli. Side dishes included terrific smoky aubergine and light and buttery naan.

Saturday, March 06, 2010 - Crab cakes, generously stuffed with white crabmeat spiked with chilli and parsley, benefited from the simple treatment, as did seared scallops, served sizzling on the skillet with a herb-scented butter...From the daily specials, meltingly fresh plaice, breaded and fried, came with a truffle and tarragon mayonnaise, in which the truffle oil was rather too dominant. Muriel's 'wee supper' - that's a small helping of fish and chips - offered a generous piece of beer-battered cod for 5.95, though the jumbo chips, like fried segments of baked potato, didn't seem to belong on the same plate.

Saturday, February 20, 2010 - Main courses are reasonably priced and generally well put together, if unexciting. Spatchcocked poussin, grilled with lemon and thyme, was over-reliant on a heavily reduced Madeira jus to supply interest. Confit of pork belly similarly fell short on the flavour front; all the fat had been cooked off, leaving the meat bland under its carapace of crackling...If you were a resident, you'd probably be delighted to find a restaurant this good downstairs. But as a destination in its own right, it hasn't quite found its USP.

Saturday, February 06, 2010 - Main courses, for all their intense hits of flavour and textural contrasts, were again stimulating and frustrating in equal measure. Like a Generation Game contestant trying to keep up with the conveyor belt, I identified sweet potato, chorizo, hazelnuts and dried basil leaves as components in my sea bass dish. From the menu I see that only four or five other elements eluded me. Fiona's beef, pink and tender, came with Brazil nuts, and saffron-scented beads of fregola which eluded her wide-toothed fork. Some elements, such as baby sweetcorn, seemed to be included just because they looked nice.

Saturday, January 09, 2010 - The food, overseen by a former head chef of Oxo Tower, is unexpectedly good, if not exactly indulgent. 'This is food for people who don't eat,' one of my friends observed, as we were presented with a chilly platter holding tiny lozenges of tuna sashimi, dots of lemongrass mayonnaise and some lotus root crisps, which disappeared between our chattering teeth in three bites. Next up, a truffled celeriac veloute served in a mini kilner jar. Fine, but the perils of eating soup while lying down are well-documented. Let's just hope all that white bedding is machine-washable.

Saturday, December 12, 2009 - Grilled fillet of sea bass and supreme of Landaise chicken, poached then pan-fried, were both well-made, if unsensational. The most exciting dish of the night was the one that strayed furthest from the traditional French repertoire, a Moroccan-inspired pairing of squab pigeon and couscous, served in a tagine, with a jug of fiery harissa...La Chapelle, like the Bistrot de Luxe, is a restaurant I know I will happily return to. It's a place to celebrate a special occasion, and a place that would make any occasion special.

Saturday, July 25, 2009 - Both fish dishes we tried scored full marks for imagination and execution. Pollock, usually encountered only as a cod substitute in fish and chips, was here roasted in a spiced cep crust, and served with blanched samphire and cucumber. Even better was seared sea trout, its skin crisp and its salty orange flesh sympathetically partnered with a pale, frugal salad of shaved fennel, shallot and yellow beans, dressed with verjuice. After a run of dessert menus featuring the same dreary options it was refreshing to encounter something a bit different here, including a "sandwich" of dense, dark gingerbread around honey ice-cream, from the owners' own hives in Regent's Park.

Monday, July 13, 2009 - The brasserie-style menu is long on choice and short on fancy cooking. There's local crab and lobster; mussels - served marinieres, Provencal or Thai-style; Dorset rock oysters at a pound a pop; chargrilled mackerel with citrus butter; and a smattering of meaty and veggie options. The word 'local' appears all over the menu...Brighton foodies have long complained that they don't have enough decent restaurants. Fishy Fishy is a decent mid-market alternative to the existing seafood restaurants, English's and Riddle and Finns. I can imagine that its snug little dining rooms will be a really attractive prospect in winter.

Saturday, June 27, 2009 - We took our new buddy's advice 'to get a little surf and turf thing going' and paired one of the fabled New York sirloin steaks, made with imported USDA prime beef, with a 2lb lobster, flown in twice-weekly, Michael assured us, 'from the ice-cold waters of Nova Scotia'...the steak was first-rate, smokily charred outside, ruby red inside. The lobster, though, was ... hmm; the claws pre-cracked, the body split and finished under the grill with parsley butter, it had a kind of vacuum-packed quality that called to mind not so much the sound of the sea as the whooshing of the 747 that brought it here.

Saturday, May 30, 2009 - Unsure of what to expect from a rock'n'roll menu, we were pleasantly surprised by the unshowy modern- British fare on offer. There's plenty for the road-crew as well as the headline act, with dishes like macaroni cheese, pork chop with scrumpy jus, and fish pie. More high-maintenance offerings include Wagyu burger with foie gras, and ''rare-breed omelette with fine herbs''… The hotel may well earn its place on the itineraries of touring bands, but the restaurant will probably attract a slightly different clientele; civilians who want a flavour of life in the VIP area.

Saturday, May 16, 2009 - There's a relaxed, continental feel to the place, which was thronged with a mix of age groups, perhaps attracted by the well-priced set menu, which offers two courses for £12.95. The waiter who distributed the prix-fixe menus looked taken aback when I asked if an à la carte menu was also being served…Chapel Down is run by people who do try really hard, and have built the wine operation up brilliantly. Sadly, on the evidence of our lunch, their restaurant, while having its sparkling moments, is distinctly non-vintage.

Saturday, May 02, 2009 - This really is a room with a view, not just of the Tate Modern and Globe Theatre, but of the passing show of river traffic, from police launches to party boats. There's a small terrace holding a few tables, and a cool, modern dining room, whose flagstoned floors and hushed atmosphere call to mind the tasting room of a well-appointed winery…But although the food is decent enough, in truth, a couple of weeks after our visit, I'm struggling to remember too much about it.

Saturday, April 04, 2009 - The pasta, obviously made in-house, had a springy bite, but the dish was surprisingly bland, given that anchovies were allegedly involved. Cut to the main courses, and suddenly things went wide-screen and into Technicolor. Sea-bass braised with mussels, baby carrot and leek was brought to table in a cast-iron casserole, and served with all the solemn ceremony of a Japanese banquet, while Harry's lamb sweated under its silver cloche. Both the bass and the lamb – roasted neck of, served with puréed apple – were immaculate.

Saturday, March 07, 2009 - Big, messy and gloriously, explosively tasty, these are pizzas, Jim, but not as we know them. Their irregular shape and nubbly surface would be rejected by a supermarket buyer on sight. But boy, do they eat well. The bases are crisp and light, with a yeasty, sourdough tang. Each topping packs a huge punch: the careful sourcing of organic ingredients is rewarded by capers that erupt like briny taste-bombs, anchovies that linger like the memory of a holiday romance and a single basil leaf with a flavour so big and blousy you want to swoon.

Saturday, February 07, 2009 - As our lazy lunch extended towards tea-time, a holiday-like relaxation crept over us; there is something intrinsically stress-relieving about eating beside water. Our meal may not have been perfect, but it was perfectly enjoyable. And now that they're properly in the swim, I'm pretty confident that the folks behind Lido have got what it takes to make it a truly wonderful destination, to infinity pool and beyond.

Saturday, January 10, 2009 - What BBR does have is that quality so elusive in a new restaurant: romance. The bar downstairs, with its floor laid out like a backgammon board, is pure Orient Express. And the booth-based layout of the restaurant gives it both buzz and intimacy…It's handy to know about a place like this, though, just one minute from Piccadilly Circus and offering a refuge from the madness that engulfs Soho at night. There's something heartening about a restaurant that tries so hard to please, and does it in its own quirky way.

Saturday, October 25, 2008 - Vanilla Black is without doubt the best vegetarian restaurant I've been to in this country. It's certainly the poshest...And here's the amazing thing: not only does the stylish interior offer no hint of scrubbed pine, but the chef really knows what he's doing. The cooking is refined, adventurous and presented with an artist's eye for shape and colour. Heritage vegetables and artisan British cheeses are lovingly incorporated into dishes which – oh happy day – are hardly brown at all, and completely sludge free.

Saturday, September 27, 2008 - The long and flexible menu couldn't be more defiantly British if it painted its face blue and jumped out at you with a stick. The normal brasserie offerings – oysters, shellfish, salads and grills – are joined by a variety of potted seafood and cold meats, including ox tongue and jellied ham with piccalilli. Old cookbooks have been dusted off to find interesting dishes such as braised beef ribs with 17th-century spices and Country Captain, a fruity Anglo-Indian chicken curry, and there are simple gastropub staples, including fish pie, sausage and mash and fish and chips.

Saturday, September 13, 2008 - The Modern Pantry is a clever name; the "modern" promising freshness and originality, while the "pantry", with its whiff of stored spices and dry goods, carries the reassurance of old-fashioned values. That duality is reflected in the design; the downstairs café has good Georgian bone structure, emphasised by a trad grey paint job, candles guttering in tall windows and down-lights modelled on fluted copper moulds...

Saturday, August 02, 2008 - Of course this is a special-occasion kind of place – I can't imagine business diners tolerating this level of interference – but we left feeling that the food, although good, doesn't quite live up to all the worshipful rigmarole that surrounds it. Over-seasoned, over-attentive and over here, was my facile summary. Karen's was more tactful: "It was lovely, but I don't think we'll be coming back soon."

Saturday, December 01, 2007 - As at Pied à Terre, behind the relatively straightforward descriptions lies modern French cooking of some complexity and technical mastery. The setting here may be more informal but the food at this Pied is as manicured and polished as the original. Foams, emulsions, pures and beignets adorn the dishes, and mystery ingredients abound, inspiring mild panic in Kevin, who kept chasing unknown herbs around his plate yelping, "It's tarragon! Or is it lemon thyme?"