These days London is acknowledged to be a hot contender for food capital of the world, thanks to its diversity and the creativity of its concepts. And although we blasé Londoners may think that the bubbling cauldron has reached saturation point, foreign investors re still looking to join the party. The rate of enquiries in …
Music
Restaurant Sound
An architect designs an empty restaurant, that’s for sure. There are no people getting in the way, no piles of messy food and no wine glasses to knock over. There is also no sound. Lunchtime, it is acknowledged, is for talking, perhaps business or gossip. But functionality prevails. In the evening it’s all about the …
Babaji Istanbul Pide Salonu
Since Wagamama, Hakkasan and Yauatcha, Alan Yau seems to be making it increasingly tricky to pronounce the names of his enterprises. The last one, a Bangkok cafe called NaamYaa, maybe even suffered from this, although most seem now to have got their tongues round the Thai chain Busaba Eathai. Until we have the opening of …
Euphorium and Harris & Hoole at Tesco
Many people have a love-hate attitude towards supermarkets. They can be seen as a massive convenience to which we have succumbed, reducing the tedious process of daily food shopping to a bearable once a week exercise. We have better things to do with our time, we say to ourselves. We promise to trek to the …
Bonnie Gull
Pop ups are a good idea. For the novelty and ephemerality element obviously, but also from a practical point of view. You can try out an idea first before committing to a long lease. Alex Hunter and Danny Clancy had been wholesale seafood suppliers before teaming up with another wholesaler, this time of game, to …
Brasserie Zedel
It takes guts to open a restaurant in a basement these days, but this is no ordinary basement. The master practitioners of the art of hospitality, Jeremy King and Chris Corbin, have got well into their stride now in London opening a series of restaurants with lavish interiors. The premises of the erstwhile Atlantic Bar …
Princi Pizzeria
Princi in Wardour Street has been evolving nicely over 4 years. It never needs to shout about itself in the press, as the hordes of switched on Italian tourists and media folk create buzz aplenty, against the continuous gentle chaos, day and night. The partnership of Alan Yau and the boutique Milanese baker Rocco Princi …
The 10 Cases
A recession throws up all sorts of hubris, and for some reason, in spite of the well documented riskiness, a plethora of restaurant start ups. In London, there have been so many new openings in the last 3 years, it is indigestion-inducing just to keep up visiting them all. Why should this be? And is …
Brunswick House Cafe
The idea of eating surrounded by antiques is not new. In the eighties an eccentric couple ran a restaurant called the Gasworks in Fulham. The food was dubious (lots of slightly rancid aerosol whipped cream as I remember), but the atmosphere generated by the copious Victorian artefacts lining the walls, the taxidermy and elaborate chandeliers, …
