INSIDERS Restaurant
SALTINE
Having become a local fave with Fink’s, Mat Appleton and Jess Blackstone have expanded beyond their cafes (but remained in North London) with new restaurant Saltine. It’s a beautiful space, with a back dining room flooded with light from the huge glass roof and textured walls and exposed brick and plaster contrasting with 1970s dining chairs and fun artwork by London artist Paul Kindersley. Phil Wood (ex-Spring and St. JOHN Marylebone) heads up the kitchen at Saltine and he’s knocking out some very smart seasonal dishes. The menu changes often but you can expect dishes like crispy lamb with aioli, fresh crab with fennel and pomelo, persimmon and stracciatella with rye crumb, fish stew, and some exceptional chips. The standout dish though has to be the sticky toffee apple cake, so make sure you save room for pud. Saltine is superb neighbourhood spot and with the promise of new dishes on the regs, it’s one to keep coming back to.
SOLIS
Named after Juan Díaz de Solis, a 16th-century explorer believed to be the first European to land in Uruguay, Solis is an Iberian-South American grill restaurant from Ana Gonçalves and Zijun Meng at Arcade Food Hall Battersea. It’s a homage to the traditional parrillas of Montevideo, with hardwood furniture, blue & white checked tablecloths and antiques filling the space, and South American music coming out of the speakers. The team has tried hard to establish an aesthetic and create a vibe in what is a large unit inside an even larger shopping centre. If you avoid looking at the entrance, and the retailers beyond it, you can start to buy into the idea, and once things start arriving at the table, like a potent Tinto de Verano sangria, succulent spatchcock chicken with aji-aji oil, well-cooked steak, aggressively seasoned fries and a spectacular torta de queso, you start to believe it. Solis is designed to do food at volume but it’s proving that it can also be exciting too.
BISTRO FREDDIE
We were very sad to see Oklava shut up shop in Shoreditch but the space’s new resident, Bisto Freddie, from the Crispin team, is a worthy replacement. The space has been cosied up, with dark wood panelling around the open kitchen, white tablecloths and pillar candles on the tables. It’s romantic, it’s warm and it would be just as at home on a Parisian street as it does on its little East London corner. There’s a comforting, classical menu from head chef Anna Søgaard (ex-Erst) that nods to French bistro staples but with a definite British stamp on it. The house sausage with homemade brown sauce, the dressed crab, the snail flatbread, the bavette with peppercorn sauce and the fried plaice with curry sauce are all excellent – as are the chips – and if there’s a group of you, you have to get the pie. With a sharp, defined and unpretentious bistro menu; a great French wine list from Alexandra Price, who also oversees the wine selection at Crispin and Bar Crispin; and generous, old school hospitality, Bistro Freddie knows precisely what it is and what it’s trying to do, and it nails it.
JACKSON BOXER AT THE CORNER
Rather than parachute in big name international chefs and brands a la Harrods and its refurbed food hall, Selfridges has looked a little closer to home, showcasing London’s own Jackson Boxer amongst the rails of high fashion. Jackson Boxer at The Corner is tucked away on the second floor, in a bright corner room overlooking Oxford Street or Orchard Street, depending on which side you’re sat on. The star of the menu is the fried chicken sandwich but the smoked eel, beetroot and pickled shiitake mushroom skewer; the potato cake with whipped cod’s roe and kosho; the peppers, egg, and anchovies; and the XL diver scallop, with Jerusalem artichoke and autumn truffle, are not to be missed either.
KOLAE
Seven years after Mark Dobbie and Andy Oliver duo opened som saa in Spitalfields, they’ve opened their newest spot, Kolae, in a three floor site (including a courtyard) in Borough Market. The focus is on grilled dishes and kolae (also known as Golae, Galae and Gaw Lae), a cooking technique found in the south of Thailand where ingredients are soaked in a curry-like coconut marinade before hitting the grill. Highlights from the menu include fried prawn heads with turmeric & garlic; kolae mussel skewer with calamansi lime; kolae chicken bamboo skewer; sour mango salad with dried shrimp & roasted coconut; southern gati curry of seasonal whole fish; and pandan sticky rice, young coconut sorbet & jackfruit. As for drinks, there’s concise menu of imaginative cocktails made using Thai ingredients – hello pickled green mango dirty martini – around 15-20 wines from Modal and a handful of beers and ciders.
FORZA WINE AT THE NATIONAL THEATRE
Forza Wine has branched out from SE15 to SE1, taking up a spot on the northwest terrace (including al fresco space) at the National Theatre as part of its shake up of its food and drink programme. Like the Peckham original, this Forza Wine’s menu changes often and is also centred around ‘sort of Italian’ snacks, with dishes like cauliflower fritti & aioli, sprouting broccoli with brown shrimp butter, burrata with beetroot & hazelnut pangrattato; and of course, the two signatures, soft serve and custardos. Forza Wine is a perfect pre-theatre option – the drinks list is interesting (lots of natural wines and cocktails like cherry negronis and frozen picantes) the food is easy and comforting, and you can eat well in a rush if you’ve got seats to take – but it’s very much worth being the sole focus of your evening. If you’re in a four there’s an option on the menu to have the lot and we think that’s a fine way to spend a night on the Southbank.
KORAT THAI CAFE
Korat Thai Cafe in Newington Green is s one of the best Thai spots we’ve discovered in London. It’s got a big menu but we wade through the more crowd-pleasing dishes to find some gems like the Yam Khao Tod, a crispy rice salad with fresh herbs and leaves, peanuts, chillies and kaffir lime; the Larb Gai, a minced chicken salad with herbs, rice powder, chillies, and fish sauce; the Som Tum, a classic papaya salad (though this could have been a bit spicier); the Sai Krok Isan, the fermented sausage from northern Thailand, made with glass noodles, chillies and pork; and Khao Soi (curry chicken noodle soup), which might just be the best one we’ve had outside Thailand. We’re very impressed with Korat, it’s proper Thai cooking the likes of which you don’t find all too often in London and the £2 corkage just seals the deal. A friendly team too, so we highly recommend it on every level.
BAMBI
James Dye, the co-owner of Frank’s Café in Peckham and The Camberwell Arms, has opened new music-led wine bar and restaurant Bambi on the former site of Bright. Named after his great grandma and not the Disney deer, Bambi features a high-spec vintage sound system, a DJ booth and a custom-built wall of records, with both the collection and programme (DJs will spin until 1am on the weekends) curated by DJ, musician, poet and Run Dem Crew founder Charlie Dark MBE. Henry Freestone, who won a Bib Gourmand at Peckham Cellars, is heading up the kitchen at Bambi, serving coffee and deli-style sarnies like chicken caesar focaccia and corned beef with mustard & pickles during the day, and an evening menu featuring dishes like cauliflower cheese arancini; braised butter beans with kale & goat’s curd; and chicken parm ciabatta with vodka marinara, pickles & aioli. As for wine, the list centres around natural and low-intervention wines from around the world, with a strong by-the-glass selection and bottles available to buy to take home.
THE GRILL BY TOM BOOTON
Chef Tom Booton famously became Head Chef at The Dorchester Grill back in 2019 at the age of just 26 – making him the youngest head chef in the restaurant’s history. The restaurant has been a huge success and Tom has won many plaudits for his cooking, so it’s perhaps not surprising to see that the restaurant has had a slight rebrand, complete with Tom’s name above the door. The Grill by Tom Booton is all about classic cooking and big flavours but there’s a creative flair and element of fun in Tom’s cooking that elevates it well above a by-the-numbers grill restaurant. His menu includes crispy semolina stuffed with gouda and topped with salami; fried shimeji mushrooms complete with KFC-inspired spice mix; squid Bolognese “a la Koffmann”; the ‘All-In’ chicken – a stuffed and roasted chicken crown, glazed wings, and mini shortcrust pies; Cornish plaice with anchovies and warm tartar sauce; and lamb ‘shepherd’s pie’. And don’t miss the chips with salad cream either – they take two days to make and they have one chef whose only job is to nail these crispy, golden, layered beauties. There’s no doubt that the new Grill by Tom Booton is a brilliant restaurant and that Tom himself is one of the country’s best chefs.
NEST
Back in January 2018 when we first went down to review the original Nest restaurant on Morning Lane, we were blown away by the £28 set menu that punched well above its price point. We’ve followed the team’s new openings avidly ever since, from Fenn over in Fulham (which is sadly now closed) to the Michelin-starred St Barts. Now we’ve come full circle again, with Nest having flown its own nest, and relocated to a bigger site in Old Street. The set menu is now £65 and still incredible value for the quality of ingredients and level of cooking on offer. There’s also a wine pairing option for £55, so if you went all in you’d be looking at £120 for the full experience, which is just phenomenal. The menu’s focus changes according to the season, so game in autumn with dishes like game bird terrine, grouse broth tea, Yorkshire grouse breast with hay & pine, and bakewell tart with meadowsweet. The consistency these guys have shown over the years has been very impressive to see and the new Nest really does improve upon the original with its fancy new digs, whilst keeping the Nest DNA properly in place.
CLARIDGE'S RESTAURANT
After bering operated by external partners in recent years (Gordon Ramsay, Simon Rogan, Daniel Humm) the restaurant at Claridge’s is now back to being run in-house. The room has had a beautiful makeover courtesy of Bryan O’Sullivan Studio with artwork chosen from Claridge’s private collection. The menu has taken a similar timeless elegance approach, with classic dishes delivered with aplomb, from the Parker House loaf with Claridge’s butter shaped into a crest and pumpkin agnolotti with smoked delica pumpkin and crisp sage leaves to roasted chicken, stuffed with lemon and brioche and served with a sauce Diable and grilled Cornish turbot fillet with a buttery sauce Emeline. And do not miss the incredible, oozy chocolate soufflé tart with cocoa nib ice cream. It was a shame Davies & Brook didn’t work out as everyone had hoped, but in all honestly the new Claridge’s Restaurant feels like the restaurant the space was crying out for. It’s very easy to love and a great fit for the hotel – we’re sure it’ll be around for many years to come now.
KIMA
Andreas Labridis and Nikos Roussos, the co-owners of Greek restaurants OPSO, INO and Pittabun, have brought a bit of the Greek coastline to Marylebone with their fourth spot, seafood restaurant Kima, named after the Greek word for wave. You’ve heard of nose-to-tail cookery, Kima runs on the fish equivalent philosophy, fin-to-gill cookery. Using various fish butchery and dry ageing techniques ensures that not only do all parts of the fish get used, they get used in inventive and interesting ways, offering a wider variety of flavours and textures for us diners. You can select what you like the look of from the fish counter and then have various cuts of that fish prepared in different ways, or you can order from Kima’s a la carte menu, which features some of the dry-aged fish amongst the different dishes. The raw fish (we had bream on our visit) with olive oil, lemon and thyme is a stunner, and don’t miss the chargrilled octopus, yellowtail shank with a fricassee of greens and the 75 dot seaweed millefeuille, where the typical puff pastry is swapped out for caramelised nori.
CHISHURU
Just under a year after she closed her Brixton site, Adejoké Bakare’s Chishuru has finally re-opened in its shiny new Central London location. The new site, which is located on Great Titchfield Street, is bigger than the Brixton original but still not huge by any means – there’s a maximum of 55 covers, split across two floors. They’ve done a great job on the space, however, with earthy-toned walls, splashes of light green, modern artworks, and smart spotlights. On the food front, it’s all very simple: there’s a £65 set menu at dinner and a £35 menu at lunch. Within that you’ll get some starters/snacks, choose your main course from three options, and then finish with a dessert. It’s truly all fantastic with a thick fermented rice cake (Sinasir) topped with white crab meat, pumpkin and sorrel purée; fiery peppercorn broth,topped with eko, meat floss, kale, and corn tofu; Egusi, grilled hispi cabbage stuffed with caramelised shallots, utazi leaf, and a superb wild watermelon seed sauce; and Ngalakh, a rice ice-cream, with ginger cream and a dusting of baobab powder amongst the standouts.
Cult Brooklyn fave Llama Inn has landed at The Hoxton in Shoreditch, in a beautiful rooftop restaurant complete with outdoor terrace. Llama Inn London has a dedicated entrance through the yellow door on Willow Street, so you don’t have to go through the hotel – look for the llama graphic to get in the right lift. It’s a lovely space, filled with plants, terracotta tiles, mid-century furniture, and booth seating opposite the long bar, with tables and an open-air terrace at the back. Headed up by restaurateur Juan Correa and chef Erik Ramirez, the contemporary Peruvian restaurant has the same ethos of the Williamsburg original with a menu shaped by Erik’s Peruvian-American upbringing. It’s a pleasingly concise menu so you can try a fair few of the dishes – don’t miss the scallop and dragon fruit ceviche, the crispy squid with corn and yuca ceviche, the charred cabbage anticucho and the caramelised pork chop with a zingy cucumber salad and green sauce. On the Llama Inn London cocktail list, there are some familiar favourites from Llama Inn’s NYC site, including the ‘Chupetini (one shot martini)’, made with Japanese gin, dry vermouth, umami bomb & blue cheese olives, and the ‘Llama Del Rey’, made from pisco quebranta, dark rum, red wine, chicha morada, and pineapple. The food and drink offering is more than exciting enough on its own to draw you into Llama Inn but the rooftop location, and its views of the East London skyline, is the cherry on top. One of the best restaurants in Shoreditch.
LULU'S
Lulu’s has taken over the small end corner building attached to Llewelyn’s, so close it could almost be an extension. Although it shares a team and location, Lulu’s is a more casual affair than its older sibling – a deli and shop by day serving some epic-looking sandwiches and salads, and a wine bar/restaurant by night. The walls are lined high with some great deli produce, like tinned fish and pickles, many of which are made by the Lulu’s team, so you’ll definitely want to pick up a few goodies to take home when you visit. If you’re stopping by though, kick off with a glass of pet nat and some gildas for that Herne Hill holiday vibe and then order up goodies like tomato and seaweed focaccia, marinated sardines with piquillo peppers and creme fraiche; roasted scallops with gooseberry & vermouth sauce, courgette flowers stuffed with oxtail and puttanesca, and the fig leaf panna cotta for dessert. Every plate a well balanced, well executed, and unfussy creation that perfectly suits the casual vibe of the place. There’s also some brilliant wines on offer – the superb Cap de Nit Vermeil light red and the Parajes del Valle orange, both from Spain. All the wines are available from the shop to take home too.
DOVETALE
Dovetale is the new restaurant from Tom Sellers, the two-Michelin-star chef behind Restaurant Story and most recently Story Cellar. Whilst there’s definitely some similarities in the menu – a killer roast chicken for example – the new restaurant sets itself apart with that beautiful dining room. But it’s not just a pretty space; the food and drinks more than match up to the looks, with a menu that features elevated spins on classic dishes, plus enough east London cool to keep the hipsters happy too. Don’t miss the English wagyu carpaccio with hot mustard, chives and beef fat chips to roll the meat around; dressed crab served with mini brown crab crumpets; Isle of Wight tomato tart with horseradish and basil; and Guinea fowl and lardo terrine served with two slabs of toasted brioche. The absolute must though has to be a knickerbocker glory from the knickerbocker glory station, which you can customise to your heart’s content for the ultimate nostalgia hit. Great cocktails, a good amount of low intervention wines and brilliant service: Dovetale really does tick all the boxes, and not just those on the Knickerbocker menu.
What was Jim’s Cafe has been transformed into Italian joint Leo’s by the team behind Juliet’s Quality Foods and chef Giuseppe Belvedere (ex-P.Franco and Bright). Jim’s was known for its classic interiors and the Leo’s crew have kept the old-school look with mid-century furniture and retro accents in the front and white tablecloths and dark wood in the back, proper trattoria vibes. You can pop in for an espresso but you’ll want to stay for the rabbit agnolotti, mussel cream & bottarga spaghetti, grilled lamb saddle and walnut ice cream.
THE GEORGE
Fitzrovia isn’t short of a few boozers but there’s not many like The George. From looks alone you can tell that The George is a cut above the average pub. The 18th century building is Grade-II listed so lots of period details, including wood panelling, plasterwork, gilded mirrors and enamel paintings have been kept, with a recent refurbishment adding a nice bit of polish. In the downstairs bar you can get a great pint of Guinness as well as Irish whiskeys and Irish coffees, and upstairs, there’s a menu designed by a two Michelin star chef. The George, part of the JKS stable, has culinary director James Knappett (of Kitchen Table) overseeing the food and publican Dom Jacobs running the show. Pub classics are very much the name of the game but with lots of little details pushing things up a gear. There’s bacon jam and jalapeño mascarpone dip for some very good, heavily seasoned buttermilk fried chicken; a tangy Worcestershire sauce ketchup to accompany molten Welsh rarebit croquettes; and red curry seasoning and sriracha & kewpie mayo dip to liven up a pot of pork scratchings. Don’t miss the fish & chips or the sticky toffee pudding either!