Scarface’s lair with nibbles: Louie reviewed
A French creole restaurant rises in the sullen ruins of London. It is called Louie, for French king or trumpeter,…
‘Lifeless and necrotic’: Native at Browns is an ode to joylessness
Browns is a famous fashion boutique in deepest Mayfair. It occupies a curved cream townhouse on Brook Street, which seems…
High on the hog: The Pig at Bridge Place reviewed
The Pig at Bridge Place is not a pig in possession of a country house, but I would be for…
A Damascene moment in London: Imad’s Syrian Kitchen reviewed
Imad’s Syrian Kitchen is an eyrie off Carnaby Street, a once-famous road which seems to exist nowadays to sell trainers…
The politics of eating lobster
Lobsters like to live in gullies on the sea floor, or under sand, and I understand how they feel. But…
An utterly convincing dreamworld: The Ritz reviewed
The Ritz is still here, and still gaudy. No grand hotel in London feels quite so complete, if pink; as…
Harry Potter meets Ikea: Backlot Cafe reviewed
Harry Potter is a fictional orphan locked in a cupboard by his aunt and uncle, after which he discovers a…
A careful parody: Noble Rot Soho reviewed
Noble Rot sits in Greek Street, Soho, on the site of the old Gay Hussar, which squatted here from 1953…
Bird-brained: Brood, by Jackie Polzin, reviewed
This is not a novel about four chickens of various character — Gloria, Miss Hennepin County, Gam Gam and Darkness…
Bad food is back: The Roof Garden at Pantechnicon reviewed
The Roof Garden is a pale, Nordic-style restaurant at the top of the glorious Pantechnicon in Belgravia — formerly a…
My road trip notebook: castles, Charles Darwin and Churchill’s cuddly toys
Before pandemic I thought I might drive across America, or even France. Now — what about Kent, the garden of…
Pretty food with a side order of pollution: 28-50 reviewed
You cannot have cars and dining tables in the same dreamscape: it doesn’t work, unless you think carbon monoxide is…
Pleasing perversity: St Pancras Brasserie and Champagne Bar by Searcys reviewed
The St Pancras Brasserie and Champagne Bar by Searcys is as expansive as its name, but ghostly. It is an…
Back to the future: Bentley’s Oyster Bar & Grill reviewed
The west end of London is still pale and necrotic, but there are points of light. Hatchards the bookseller is…
Anti-Semitism and the far left
The comic David Baddiel has written a book which explains that much of the far left hates Jews. There are…
Spring lamb and the bread of affliction: our Zoom seder
This week my son came home from school and asked me if it was true that the Jews killed Jesus.…
The finest humous in England: Arabica food boxes reviewed
Restaurant-goers who cannot let go of restaurants — for professional or other reasons — are floating on a sea of…
In defence of Meghan, the demonised duchess
The unfair demonisation of a duchess
Prince Harry’s brave revelation
Monarchy is madness, a national delusion in which adults behave as children and project onto the objects of their desire.…
Cornwall, but not as the locals know it: Stein’s at Home reviewed
The Stein’s at Home steak menu box (£65) says ‘Love from Cornwall’: it is not for people who live in…
Feasting on memories of Venice
Dining in catastrophe used to be more interesting: but we must be fair. It was a smaller (and wetter) catastrophe:…
Dull food for dull times: the Morrisons family food box reviewed
The Compass Group boast of serving 5.5 billion meals a year, so you might think they would be good at…
Piccadilly Circus, delivered: the Wolseley’s home dining reviewed
The Corbin & King dining and home entertaining box includes dishes from the Delaunay, the Wolseley and Brasserie Zédel ‘delivered…
Sub-ready-meals of salt and tears: Simply Cook reviewed
Welcome to the sunlit uplands which, for me, contain small plastic tubs of stock, which is just the opening to…
Food to absorb alcohol: Christmas hampers reviewed
There is straw inside the Fortnum & Mason Christmas Treat Hamper (£100). As the straw drifts through the house, it…
