‘Bloated, besmirched, and oh so happy’ As the sun swooped through the gigantic windows of The Star By Hackney Downs, my pal and I settled in for a flamed-tongued feast in a fairground-themed pub. As you do. Midweek in London is never dull, and your local boozer might be hiding a top hat and sparkly vest behind its Victorian grandeur. ...
‘Flavour fiesta’ Starting a review with an adage might be pretentious, but here we go: the age-old “too many cooks spoil the broth” is a worry for any pop-up. Tasca at Câv, a fledgling of only a month, could easily fall into this over-engineered soup, but thankfully sidesteps it with enviable grace. In a vaulting industrial semi-circle under the clomping ...
‘Like Italy and New York have made sweet love’ I believe it was Aristotle who once said: “A day with pizza is a better day.” I concur wholeheartedly. However, how does one differentiate between the many pop-ups now hawking Italy’s finest export around London? Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with food-nerd jargon about heritage grains, leopard spotting (the burnt ...
‘A temple of festivity.’ There are Irish pubs, there are very Irish pubs, and then there’s Skehan’s. The family-run joint doesn’t have a monopoly on the Irish blend of comedy, revelry, and hospitality (known as craic), but it certainly wears the crown. Perched on Telegraph Hill, overlooking all of London’s splendour, sits this temple of festivity. Publican and Limerick man ...
‘The British night out has never been more dynamic’ The Marquis of Landsdowne is utterly transformed. Teal surrounds us, from the matching ’70s tables and banquets to tiles (a nod to Victoriana) walls and backsplashes. Part club, part pub, the crowd is spirited, the drinks are strong and the music is loud, coursing through your epidermis as you try to ...
‘Accomplished pizza!’ World firsts are rare in our jaded and desensitised metropolitan food scene. So, when an email tumbled into my inbox about a restaurant, Unlock, that blends of two of my favourites (pizza and tacos), I had to tootle along and try it with my very own mouth hole. Fitting for this culinary fusion, the site of the reaction ...
‘Reinventing the idea of British cuisine’ There is a saying, recently imported like other Chappell Roan-ims, that states you shouldn’t waste a Friday night on a date. This need not apply to long-term couples, over 30s, or those of us who don’t own a glittery one-piece. Sometimes all you want is dancing candles, white tented tablecloths, goo goo eyes, and ...
‘Much more than quite good’ How do you make Zone 2 of London, less than 15 minutes’ walk from the cacophony that is Dalston Junction, feel like a village? As a restaurant owner, you cannot simply transplant a duck pond, beaming locals or rolling hills. What you can do is craft a cafe seemingly built of pure sunlight and balanced ...
‘An utterly smashing time’ ‘Smashing’ is the new hot food term, the casual dining obsession. But how does something originating in the truck stops of the Great Lakes region settle into our hyper-polished metropolis? Growing up vegetarian, and in the depths of rural Devon, McDonald’s and Burger King were a forbidden world of meaty, smoky sin – only glimpsed on ...
‘It’s the little touches that count’ This is a tale of food, fire and flood. Let me explain. My predecessor reviewed TA-KO in 2018 when it was already doing a roaring trade in literary-themed cocktails and a fiery combination of Asian-Mexican influences, focused around the little cylindrical taco (did you just get the name?). But now for the flood. Nine ...