Renaissance of Fine Food, London's Restaurants
Carrie Hutchinson sets out to titillate her tastebuds in London’s vibrant, innovative dining scene.
Twenty years ago, there wasn’t a lot to recommend in London’s dining scene. It was expensive and stuffy, and good produce and chefs were thin on the ground – unless, of course, you had enough disposable income to buy whatever memorable dinner your heart desired.
These days, it couldn’t be more different. The city has one of the most vibrant, innovative dining scenes of any world capital, standing proudly alongside those of New York and Paris. It still helps if your wallet’s sizeable, but excellent London dining is now accessible to just about anyone.
Take, for example, the gastro-pub, a phenomenon that emerged in the late nineties and continues to flourish. These are places that make Sunday lunch with friends an absolute pleasure – relaxed surroundings, pints of good ale and great meals. The Duke of Cambridge in Islington opened 10 years ago, sporting its organic credentials before these became a cause du jour, and is still the only pub in the UK to be certified by the Soil Association. The menu changes daily depending on what’s available, but expect dishes like smoked organic salmon and pickled fennel with buttered brown bread, or crispy pork belly with apple, watercress and mange-tout (snowpeas). Round out the meal with an SB lager, the only organic draught lager brewed in London.
Also popular is The Cow, Tom Conran’s Irish pub in Westbourne Grove. Sit downstairs in the pub proper to sup on Guinness and oysters, or check out the upstairs dining room, known for its seasonal menu.
Even celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has got in on the act, opening The Narrow in Limehouse (one of three Ramsay-branded casual eateries), which offers classic English fare – hake and chips with marrow fat peas, and Cumberland bangers, champ and onion gravy, for example – in a no-nonsense room with river views.
Another London trend that’s hard to ignore is the diversity of ethnic cuisine on offer. Try Jerk City in Soho for a taste of Caribbean: here, reggae plays over the sound system, the room bustles with life, and you can eat jerk chicken, curried mutton, yam, roti, fried plaintains and other West Indian dishes.
Bangladeshi cuisine, with its rich, spicy flavours, is another interesting ethnic cuisine tempting London diners. A walk along the southern end of Brick Lane, home to the city’s largest Bangladeshi community, takes you past a myriad of fast-food stores selling excellent curries from bain-maries. For a sit-down-and-relax experience, try Kolapata, considered the city’s “posh” Bangla restaurant despite its basic environs – here, they serve up excellent biryani, a rice dish studded with chunks of meat, and chicken bhuna, a medium-hot, heavily spiced, dryish curry, along with daily specials.
One chef who’s made a name for himself with clean, cheap, crowd-pleasing ethnic cuisine is Alan Yau, who launched the world-conquering Wagamama chain as well as Michelin-starred Hakkasan and dim sum restaurant Yauatcha. Yau’s latest culinary venture, Sake No Hana, near Green Park, is currently one of the city’s hottest dining spots. The cedar-lined space is minimalist; the food, classic Japanese fine-dining, with no Western influences in sight. Negotiating the menu is an unusual and thrilling experience, one that’s sure to satisfy purists.
Two other hot chefs helming exciting new establishments are Tom Aikens and Rowley Leigh. Aikens’ Tom’s Kitchen is a beautiful space with high ceilings, oak floors and a marble-topped bar, serving fresh, delectable dishes from breakfast through to dinner that match the venue’s simplicity. Good steaks, slow-roasted pork belly and seven-hour braised lamb are just a sampling from the main menu. Save room for lip-smacking chocolate profiteroles with vanilla ice-cream and rich chocolate sauce.
Apart from the soulless shopping-mall setting, Leigh’s Le Café Anglais is a feast for every sense. The dining room, with its curved leather banquettes, art deco ambience and massive windows, is dazzling, and the menu follows the French-influenced British bistro style now in vogue. The specialty is dishes hot off the rotisserie: try the beef rib with Portobello mushrooms and garlic butter.
It would seem a shame to travel all this way and fail to taste the latest offerings from some of the world’s biggest names in food. TV chef Gordon Ramsay has installed one of his favourite chefs, Jason Atherton, at Maze, one of a growing group of restaurants comprising Gordon’s empire. Many Maze diners turn straight to the tasting menu, where you can sample as many of Atherton’s French-Asian fusion dishes as you can fit in. The set lunch menu is also a fantastic, inexpensive option.
Equally stylish is Terence Conran’s latest, Skylon, housed in the refurbished Royal Festival Hall. Helena Puolakka’s contemporary European menu is built around seasonal ingredients: peel your eyes away from the view long enough to study it. If you’re looking for a quick bite before or after a show, there’s also a casually classy grill restaurant.
Lyon-born chef Claude Bosi seems to have escaped the attention of Australia’s food press, but for lovers of culinary innovation, a visit to his Hibiscus restaurant in the West End is a must. Bold, memorable dishes such as Bosi’s savoury ice-cream of foie gras, warmed emulsion of brioche and balsamic vinegar caramel, or his suckling pig roasted with Irish sea urchin, kohlrabi and fondant sweet potato have earned him a Michelin star. This isn’t food for the faint-hearted: you’ll either love or hate it.
Jamie Oliver made an impression on chef Arthur Potts Dawson and manager Jamie Grainger Smith when they helped him set up Fifteen. Now, they’re doing their own thing at Acorn House Restaurant, training young chefs in the art of sustainable cooking and ecologically responsible restaurant management, in collaboration with two charities. The restaurant’s simple interior has cheerful splashes of apple green that help it transform from bustling, casual breakfast, brunch and lunch venue to a sophisticated modern dining space after dark. The menu depends largely on what’s available locally or can be harvested from the rooftop herb garden, and might include a tomato and mozzarella risotto with basil pangratatta one day, twice-cooked pork belly with soy, ginger and spring onion the next.
With all this culinary extravagance, funds could be getting tight. For an affordable but memorable meal, head for Canteen, with its laidback American-diner vibe. The restaurant has won a ton of awards including The Observer Food Monthly’s Best Restaurant 2007, and is open all day, serving dishes such as the must-try potted duck with piccalilli and toast or, for those fond of comfort food, sausages and mash or creamy macaroni cheese. A house specialty is the daily-changing roast, served with potatoes, gravy and greens. The original Canteen is located in Spitalfields Market, with a second outpost at the Royal Festival Hall.
No tour of London’s top tables would be complete without mentioning perennial favourites, St. John Bar & Restaurant and Petersham Nurseries Café.
Housed in a former Smithfield smokehouse, St. John opened 14 years ago under chef Fergus Henderson and restaurateur Trevor Gulliver. Henderson is well-known for his nose-to-tail eating philosophy, meaning that if you kill an animal for food, you should eat every part of it. It’s a bit back-to-the-Depression but it makes a lot of sense. If you head here for dinner, be prepared to tackle pig’s ears, ox heart and mutton, although there are options for the less adventurous. The signature dish is a bone marrow and parsley salad.
Skye Gyngell, an expat-Aussie-made-good, writes for UK Vogue and The Independent on Sunday, has hordes of celebrity followers, and runs the kitchen at one of Britain’s prettiest restaurants, Petersham Nurseries Café. Occupying a greenhouse in a unique, bohemian garden centre in Richmond are clusters of antique tables surrounded by watering cans, potted shrubs and hothouse flowers. The Café’s menu is simplicity itself, wholly dependent on what’s fresh and best at the time. Somehow, it all blends seamlessly with the glorious garden setting. Usually, there are just five starters and five mains: choose from dishes such as globe artichokes with speck, buffalo mozzarella and marjoram salmoriglio; or salmon roe with crème fraiche, radish and pea shoot salad. It’s perfect on a summer’s day, but book well in advance, particularly for weekend dining.
Travel facts
Getting there
Getting around
Where to eat
- Acorn House Restaurant, phone +44 20 7812 1842 or visit www.acornhouserestaurant.co.uk
- Canteen, phone +44 845 686 1122 (Spitalfields) or +44 845 686 1122 (Royal Festival Hall) or visit www.canteen.co.uk
- The Cow, phone +44 20 7221 0021 or visit www.thecowlondon.co.uk
- The Duke of Cambridge Organic Pub, phone +44 20 7359 3066 or visit www.dukeorganic.co.uk
- Hibiscus, phone +44 20 7629 2999 or visit www.hibiscusrestaurant.co.uk
- Jerk City, phone +44 20 7287 3121.
- Kolapata, phone +44 20 7377 1200 or visit www.kolapata.co.uk
- Le Café Anglais, phone +44 20 7221 1415 or visit www.lecafeanglais.co.uk
- Maze, phone +44 20 7107 0000 or visit www.gordonramsay.com/maze
- The Narrow, phone +44 20 7592 7950 or visit www.gordonramsay.com/thenarrow
- Petersham Nurseries Café, phone +44 20 8605 3627 or visit www.petershamnurseries.com
- Sake No Hana, phone +44 20 7925 8988.
- Skylon, Southbank Centre, phone +44 20 7654 7800 or visit www.skylonrestaurant.co.uk
- St. John Bar & Restaurant, phone +44 20 7251 0848 or visit www.stjohnrestaurant.com
- Tom’s Kitchen, phone +44 20 7349 0202 or visit www.tomskitchen.co.uk
Where to stay
The Langham, London is a short stroll from the city’s finest museums and bustling Oxford Street. For bookings, phone The Leading Hotels of the World on 1 800 222 033 or the Langham, London on +44 20 7636 1000, or visit www.lhw.com
Further information
Phone VisitBritain on 1300 858 589 or visit www.visitbritain.com.au |
