INSIDERS Restaurant
DEAR JACKIE
With lavish and glamorous interiors courtesy of Martin Brudnizki, the 57-room Broadwick Soho is no wallflower, and that maximalist design philosophy is proudly on show in the hotel’s signature restaurant Dear Jackie. It’s got red silk walls adorned with decorative plates, Mediterranean-inspired tiles on the tabletops, chintzy fabric on the banquettes, Murano lighting and vintage-style table lamps, which are as much function as form as the lighting, though flattering for the face, is so low you won’t be able to read the menu without them. The restaurant self-describes as part la dolce vita, part disco, we see it more like the older, moneyed aunt of Big Mamma’s Gloria on holiday at a White Lotus resort. Head Chef Harry Faddy (ex-Aquavit and The River Cafe) is aiming for sophistication with his menu, peppering it with luxe ingredients and both classic Italian and Mediterranean flavours. The menu includes dishes like scallops in champagne sauce with trout roe and finger lime, pumpkin tortelloni with nduja butter and amaretti, pork collar with salsa verde with treviso, fennel parmigiana, and tiramisu. We’re not totally sold on the substance of Dear Jackie but the place has style in abundance, so if vibes are high on your requirements when choosing a dinner venue, you’ll be happy here.
JUNO
Juno, hidden above Japanese-Mexican fusion restaurant Los Mochis in Notting Hill, is the smallest omakase experience in London and also the first one in the world to be gluten and nut free. Run by Los Mochis Executive Chef Leonard Tanyag (ex-OKKU and Zuma) and Head Sushi Chef Han (ex-Nobu and Roka), Juno mirrors the downstairs restaurant by incorporating Mexican flavours, particularly through inventive seasonings made in-house. As omakase means ‘I leave it up to you’, the chefs base the 15 courses around the freshest fish they have available to them at the time. The first burst of dishes is where you can really see and taste the Mexican influences, like madai (red bream) on a lime aioli and finished with a Oaxacan-inspired chicatana (that’s flying ant) and arbol chilli seasonin, and kinmedai (snapper) and cucumber as aguachile with grasshopper seasoning. Then it’s onto the nigiri section, which includes the likes of sweet Hokkaido scallop with yuzu salt; super creamy botan ebi (prawn) with green perilla salt; and an A5 wagyu nigiri, seasoned with a salt made from agave worm and seared using molten bone marrow. If you’re looking for a blowout meal, and you wanna try an omakase unlike any other in town, it’s well worth nabbing one of the seats at Juno.
MORCHELLA
Perilla has been a fave of ours since it opened on Newington Green in 2016, so any follow-up restaurant from the team was always going to be big news (and come with big expectations). Happily Morchella, open on the site of an old bank just off Exmouth Market more than meets them. If Perilla’s interiors are stripped back – literally to the plaster – then Morchella’s are pared back, with soft tones, parquet floors and beautiful burnt orange chandeliers creating a familial bond between the two restaurants. There is one identical feature, the menu and cutlery are sequestered in drawers inside the table, which has become something of a signature over in Stokey. The two restaurants diverge more clearly on the menus, with Morchella having much more of a Mediterranean slant than the pan-European offering at Perilla, with dishes like cigars of spanakopita; salt cod churros with chunky romesco; scallop and wafer thin slices of cauliflower mushroom; hake covered in a luscious sobrasada sauce; and white monkfish atop cuttlefish, finely chopped to mimic the texture of grains and swirled into its own ink, creating an arroz negro minus the arroz.
BOUCHON RACINE
In Bouchon Racine in Farringdon, Henry Harris has created a gem of a place, along with co-owner and GM Dave Strauss. The menu is loosely based on Henry’s legendary Knightsbridge restaurant, Racine, which closed back in 2014 and that basically means classic, rich French dishes delivered with absolute aplomb. There’s a big chalkboard menu includes the likes of egg mayonnaise and salty Cantabrian anchovies; fatty middle white pork belly rillons served on a bed of simple salad with vinaigrette; roast rabbit dish with mustard sauce and bacon; confit lamb with wild mushrooms on a bed of mogette beans; and some big sharing steaks and chops if you’re feeling hungry. Do not miss out on the excellent chips and the insanely-good creamed spinach spiked with foie gras either. And for dessert, there’s a must-order creme caramel that’s out of this world.
THE PRINCE ARTHUR
The Prince Arthur really is a brilliant neighbourhood pub. A lovely corner site on a quiet residential road just north of London Fields, it’s got all the old charm of proper boozer with the big curved wooden bar, rickety old tables, green banquettes, fireplaces, and regular live music. The pub has had a great run of kitchen residencies, from Hot 4 U in the early post-lockdown period, followed by chef Vivienne Westwood, and now Joe Couldridge from Stokey’s The Clarence Tavern has taken over the kitchen.The menu switches up fairly regularly, with a short selection of small plates, three larger dishes, and a few specials always on offer, but if you see the crispy polenta fries; veal sweetbreads; pickled beetroot, pesto, caramelised Roscoff onion and watercress tart; and fresh-from-the-oven madeleines served with lemon curd, order them.
YIQI
Given the trend for regional Chinese and Thai restaurants in London in recent years, its ben a while since a new place describing itself as Pan-Asian came along. But that’s what we have with YiQi, a smart new spot on Lisle Street in Chinatown, from business partners Kevin Cheong and Keng Yew, together with Stanley Lum, who was previously at Hakkasan. The menu features his take on favourite handpicked dishes from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and mainland China, and although you might think it’s hard to pull all that off, everything is done very well indeed. Favourites include the Singaporean-style oyster omelette; stir fried clams with tangy kam heong sauce; and winged bean minced chicken fried with Thai basil. As you can imagine, it’s a pretty big menu and there’s loads on there worth a go, including house speciality seafood like skate with yuzu chilli spicy sauce, and bamboo tube rice with seafood curry. Then there’s the intriguing ‘Wagyu Mousse’ for dessert. All in all, YiQi is a great new spot for Chinatown and well worth checking out.
THE TAMIL CROWN
The Tamil Prince opened in Islington last year when an ex-Roti King duo, chef Prince Durairaj and Glen Leeson, took over and reinvented a Barnsbury pub. It was – and is – a total hit, so it’s no surprise that the team were quick to expand. The Tamil Crown is the name of the second site and like the original, it’s doing food from the Tamil Nadu region of India, it’s inside a pub and it’s in Islington, this time the other side of Upper Street, close to Angel. The menu at The Tamil Crown, once you’ve been able to read it (the lighting in the upstairs dining room is incredibly low), is similar to the one that’s turned the OG into such a favourite, with the addition of some exclusive dishes, like the moreish lime leaf-roasted chicken and pineapple chutney; rich beef masala on a spongy, crispy-bottomed uttapam with a punchy coconut chutney; and mango sambar. The regulars shouldn’t be overlooked though, especially the gloriously craggy onion bhajis, and the Chettinad lamb and Thanjavur chicken curries, both laced with curry leaves and whole chillies. And a word on the roti, it’s superlative, maybe the best in London, which is appropriate considering the founders’ Roti King backgrounds. Order one each, and then order another because you won’t want to leave a drop of sauce unmopped.
INÉ
Mayfair to Hampstead might not be the most obvious route for a restaurant group’s expansion (you’d expect it to be the other way around) – but that’s what the team behind Taku Mayfair has done with INÉ. The restaurant opened in Hampstead at the end of last year, bringing Japanese fine dining to the North London neighbourhood. Looks-wise, it’s very Japanese inside – extremely minimalist with lots of natural wood and booth seating behind an eight-seater omakase counter. Omakase is served at particular times throughout the day and is £100 for 15 courses, otherwise, there’s an a la carte and an INÉ special menu to choose from. Whichever route you go down, you’re getting a blend of the Edomae style showcased at the Michelin-starred Taku and more contemporary influences. The sushi here is top quality, particularly the sashimi selection, the botan ebi nigiri and the tuna nigiri set, and the octopus karaage, hamachi carpaccio and wagyu katsu sando shouldn’t be missed.
BIG NIGHT
At Big Night in Hackney, the Stanley Tucci- and Japanese yakitori izakaya–inspired, late-night restaurant, chefs Joshua Ralphs and Jack O’ Connor, where they put British-ish produce on sticks and grill them over charcoal. The skewers, including inner chicken thigh and spring onion; pork with spicy Thai mustard; lamb heart and kidney with XO sauce; beetroot, daikon and shallot; squash and black bean; and Chinese tahini-topped fermented sprouts, are at the heart of the Big Night experience but the pickled mussels and smoked greens are not to be missed either. Don’t leave without digging into the very wobbly and very lovely crème tea caramel. With a killer soundtrack, a sprinkle of madness and a few vodka shots, Big Night delivers big vibes.
GRASSO
Founded by Seanie Grasso, whose mum’s family went from Syracuse in Sicily to NYC to London, Grasso in Soho is a proper, family-run Italian-American joint. Little Italy faves dominate the menu, including the signature dish of mom’s spaghetti and meatballs (made to the original family recipe), shrimp cocktail, mozzarella sticks with nduja and wild honey, penne alla vodka, tagliatelle alfredo, lobster linguine, and chicken parm. Grasso also slings pizzas, made with an in-house two-day dough technique, with toppings like vodka sauce, meatballs, fennel sausage and eggplant parm. Add on a couple of Brooklyn’s G&Ts or Cherry Coke Long Island Iced Teas and you’ve got yourself a good time.
BÉBÉ BOB
There’s lots of places to get chicken in London but none are as glamorous as Bébé Bob, the rotisserie chicken-focused spin-off restaurant from Bob Bob Ricard. The Golden Square spot is filled with Art Deco detailing, geometric patterned carpets, a circular bar with a gold granite top, and a red and blue colour scheme. You can’t visit a Bob Bob joint without a glass of champagne (there are no ‘press for champagne’ buttons here though, so you have to ask for it the old fashioned way), which is the perfect accompaniment to classic starters like caviar, egg mayonnaise with anchovy and prawn cocktail. Chicken is at the heart of the menu, with Vendée or Landes birds from France being the main choice you have to make, and it’s served tableside along with the most gorgeous chicken jus – not that you need it because this chicken is seriously juicy and tender. If you’re doing Sunday lunch, you can order up chicken fat roast potatoes, roast carrots and parsnips, sautéed kale, and an indulgent truffle cauliflower cheese on the side, and you won’t wanna miss out on the honey cake for pudding either.
GAIA
Gaia London is located in Mayfair, just opposite the Ritz, in the building that once housed The Mayfair Club. Inside is very similar to its Dubai sister: a big, beautiful whitewashed dining room with an open kitchen and huge raw bar. The food menu is very similar too, featuring familiar Greek classics with a modern twist and, of course, 95% of them are chopped and served for you at the table – did we mention this was founded in Dubai? The standouts are the stuffed vine leaves, a spinach pie, the moussaka, the truffle potatoes and the very good sea bass steamed in a salt crust with sage and orange zest. Desserts are in the same vein, OTT and decadent, and also served tableside. As cynical as we (and most other people are about Dubai) there’s no denying Gaia is a good restaurant. We’d definitely go back and it’s much better than any other UAE imports that have come before.
AKARA
Akara is the new, more casual sister restaurants to Akoko, the West African fine dining spot in Fitzrovia which we were very impressed by when we visited back in 2021. For Akara, owner Aji Akokomi has taken the same modern approach to West African cuisine that made Akoko so popular and distilled into a more everyday, approachable package with a short a la carte menu of snacks and larger plates rather than an intricate tasting menu set up. Though it’s more casual in its look and menu, Akara is still aiming for a certain level of refined experience – call it causal plus. You have to start with the eponymous akaras, crispy black-eye bean fritters that are almost like little doughnuts, cut down the middle and stuffed with fish, meat or vegetables but the rice pancakes served with a black eye bean hummus, spicy BBQ maitake mushroom, grilled fillet of pollock with yassa caramelised onion and lemon sauce, efik rice with slithers of BBQ mackerel, and tamarind date cake dressed in a boozy rum and pineapple sauce and a dollop of tonka bean cream are not to be missed either. With a prime location in Borough Market, punchy flavour-packed dishes, and that lovely minimalist dining room, this is becoming one of our go-to Borough spots.
CAFE KITTY
Annual arts festival Underbelly has opened the doors to its very own permanent theatre, Underbelly Boulevard, in Soho and it’s got itself a lovely in-house restaurant and cocktail bar in the shape of Cafe Kitty. It comes from the team behind Kitty Fisher’s and Cora Pearl and it has that same glamorous feel, with green velvet banquettes, soft pink walls and vintage glassware. It also has the same approach to food, offering a modern British-European menu filled with simple, comforting dishes. You could dip into the small plates section, which features crowdpleasers like cheese croquettes, steak tartare, Welsh rarebit and Caesar salad, if you just wanted a few bites before catching a show but there are larger dishes if you have time to linger. If it’s on, the chicken, bacon and leek pie is a winner, and the famous crispy potatoes from Cora Pearl are not to be missed.
SAISON
Saison, just over the hallway from his eponymous restaurant, is another of Mauro Colagreco’s three spots at Raffles London at The OWO. Here the beautiful courtyard-garden style dining room combines with a crowd pleasing menu to create a restaurant that feels more comfortable in its own skin. Expect to see dishes like duck terrine with quince chutney and grilled bread; quail with smoked chestnuts and a sharp salsify clementine vinaigrette; spit roasted rack of lamb served with confit shoulder and a pumpkin gnocchi and cavolo nero gratin on the side; wild sea bass with citrus beurre blanc and artichoke mousseline; and pear panna cotta topped with bright pink hibiscus jelly and crunchy tea shortbread biscuits. While each of Mauro’s restaurant is catering to very different needs and styles, Saison is the one that felt most enjoyable overall, taking overtly quite simple dishes and adding that twenty percent magic dust and a little subtle twist here and there to keep things interesting.
MAURO COLAGRECO AT RAFFLES LONDON AT THE OWO
Mauro Colagreco at Raffles London at The OWO is just one of Mauro Colagreco’s (of the three-star Mirazur in the south of France) three restaurants at the swanky new Raffles London hotel. The interiors are very neutral and not in step with the menu, which is sharp, creative, and forward-thinking, and structured around the ‘British country garden’ showcasing seasonal fruit and veg from suppliers that he’s found around the UK. Each course on the menu highlights a key ingredient in rather opaque fashion – “carrot”, “lettuce” and so on – but this of course only tells you part of the story. The lettuce, for instance (one of our favourites) is actually grown in shipping containers in London at Crate to Plate, and comes with a beautiful vermouth sauce and chunks of smoked haddock. “Radicchio” is in fact a grilled loin of venison served with a mustard sauce and crunchy bitter leaves; and “Citrus” for dessert is a crisp ravioli shell on top of black lemon ice cream and yoghurt fontainebleau. The cooking here is excellent, with interesting dishes that challenged the norm of classical fine dining. We did leave wondering slightly what it’s intended audience was however – perhaps a bit too challenging and left-field for the regular fine dining crowd and hotel guests and, for more adventurous restaurant-fanatics maybe not quite attractive enough, especially when you consider the dining room.
THE DEVONSHIRE
The Devonshire was opened by publican Oisín Rogers, the recognisable face and name behind Mayfair’s Guinea Grill until his departure in 2022, and Flat Iron founder Charlie Carroll at the end of 2023 and became an instant hit. It’s based out of a historic inn on Denman Street that dates back to 1793, with a top-quality pub downstairs and a restaurant upstairs (headed up by Ashley Palmer-Watts of The Fat Duck and Dinner by Heston). The food’s all about the restaurant’s wood-ember grill – the menu includes beef chops and ribeyes, Iberico pork ribs, lamb hotpot, creel-caught langoustines, hand-dived scallops and prime day boat fish on offer – but there’s also a selection of bar food, like scotch eggs, bacon sarnies, sausage rolls and cheese & ham hock toasties. It’s also arguably got the best pints of Guinness in town, so it’s worth fighting for that spot at the bar.
MAMBOW
After stints at Spitalfields and Market Peckham, Abby Lee’s Malaysian concept Mambow has finally landed a proper percent spot in Clapton. And we’re very glad it has, as it’s some of the best Malaysian food you’ll find in London. It’s a fairly small one-room set up with an open kitchen and tightly packed chairs. There’s metal tables and colourful plates to give that proper street food bustle vibe, and a thumping loud soundtrack – beware if you’ve had a heavy weekend! The menu represents the broad landscape of influence and cuisine found in Singapore and Malaysia, blending Chinese with Indo-Malay ingredients, flavours and spices. Don’t miss the lor bak, crispy fried slices of pork and prawn roll served with an insanely good chilli vinegar jam; crispy otak-otak prawn toast wrapped in betel leaves; grilled banana blossom salad with sambal oelek and spicy peanuts; black pepper chicken curry, made with Sarawak black peppercorns; and Malay-style pineapple curry topped with garlic chive dumplings. To drink, there’s lots of nice natural wines, new cocktails, and soft drinks like milk tea, to stand up to that Malaysian heat.