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Restaurant guide

from Cathy (cathyvpreece@aol.com)

Restaurant guide

'The art of dining well is no slight art, the pleasure no slight pleasure,' said the essayist Montaigne. Jay Rayner picks post-exhibition lunch venues Sunday April 20, 2003

The Observer

All prices are for three courses at dinner including wine and service.

The Cinnamon Club

The Old Westminster Library, Great Smith Street, London SW1. Tel 020 7222 2555. Meal for two: £100.

You don't have to spend £160 a head, as the boss of the Fire Brigade Union famously did here earlier this year, but don't come looking for bargains. The Cinnamon Club is smart upmarket Indian food in smart upmarket surroundings, and that costs. But you do get what you pay for: fresh spice mixes, new takes on old familiars and some innovative ¤avour pairings. The walk over Westminster Bridge to this lump of converted Victoriana back from the Commons will help you work up an appetite.

Tas

33 The Cut, London SE1. Tel 020 7928 2111 (and 72 Borough High Street). Meal for two: around £40.

Of the two branches of this new-ish Turkish outlet, the original, on the Cut, is the closest but both are eminently walkable. The food, served in funky and colourful surroundings, is simple and straightforward: lots of great grilled meats, cooked in the open kitchen, fine fresh breads and various more dense, herby stews and posh dishes. Olives are particularly good, as they should be. The Borough branch also has a cheaper takeaway cafe attached, but neither of them will make holes in your wallet.

Petit Robert

3 Park Street, London SE1. Tel 020 7357 7003. Meal for two: £70.

Borough, with its weekend produce market, has become the sweaty focus of London's gastro-porn movement, endlessly patrolled by fat-walleted foodies willing to pay £30 for a slice of wild beef or a crumb of artisan parmigiano. Petit Robert, tucked away down a side street opposite Neal's Yard Dairy, has been one of the area's gems for many years. Sadly its run comes to an end on June 14 when Network Rail shoves a new train line bang through the kitchen, so get there quick. The food, while it lasts, is robustly provincial French, as is the atmosphere. The wine list, on which everything is marked up by a straight £5, offers some serious bargains and there is the best list of Armagnacs in London, starting at a glass of an 1830 at a weirdly reasonable £165. More recent vintages are around a tenner.

Meson Don Felipe

53 The Cut, London SE1. Tel 020 7928 3237. Meal for two: £40.

This corner of south London close to the river has a particularly fine concentration of good tapas bars and restaurants, but there is something about the clatter and bash of Meson Don Felipe which puts it ahead of the others. The curious design with the bar in the middle can make it a bit of a crush - and it does get crowded - but once you've found a spot you'll be hard pushed to leave. There's a good list of ballsy Spanish reds, and the tapas dishes are mostly very reliable, from the light tortilla to the Serrano ham and everything else in between.

The Lobster Pot

3 Kennington Lane, London SE11. Tel 020 7582 5556. Meal for two: £90.

Some people regard this place as the only reason to go near the planning disaster which is Elephant and Castle, and I would have to agree. This small but perfectly formed Bretagne fish restaurant has a lovely line in eccentricities, such as the tape of seagulls as you enter, the tiny, wood-lined dining room and its portholes with fish swimming behind them. The waiters even dress in blue and white stripy tops. Despite all the fun, the food is really very good: great straight-up fruits de mer, fish soup and bouillabaisse, as well as more complex dishes. There are also non-fish dishes but, like, why would you even want to? Occasionally they run live opera evenings. Well, of course they do.

And Five others Nearby

Four Regions

County Hall, Riverside Building, Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1. Tel 020 7928 0988.

Solid Chinese and a great view, within County Hall itself.

Laughing Gravy

154 Blackfriars Road, London SE1. Tel 020 7721 7055.

Intriguing modern European-fusion food in a converted pub setting. They also offer a cheaper bar menu.

Baltic

74 Blackfriars Road, London SE1. Tel 020 7928 111.

Punchy Polish food in glamorous surroundings. Be sure to sample at least one of the varieties of vodka.

Pizzeria Castello

20 Walworth Road, London SE1. Tel 020 7703 2556.

Great, good value pizzas, overlooking the less than great Elephant and Castle.

Gordon's

47 Villiers Street, London WC2. Tel 020 7930 1408.

A short walk across Hungerford Bridge to one of London's oldest wine cellars, dating from the fourteenth century, with an OK salad bar attached.

(posted 7648 days ago)

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