London dining

Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's

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Restaurant | "Excellent meals as always from GR"

celeriac soup Photo - Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's, London, England

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We’ve tried a number of Gordon Ramsay restaurants both in London and the USA and have never been disappointed. We noticed a couple of differences about this one. First, it is in the Claridge’s hotel and the art deco setting is more old fashioned than the other GR restaurants we have tried. Second, the predominantly French staff was not there. I don’t think we noticed even one French accent – not that it is a good or bad thing, just different. However, the quality of the food was as high as we have come to expect.We sat down and were treated to the little amuse bouches served at his other restaurants. This time, I enjoyed perusing the wine list which came on an iPad. We opted for the tastin...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on October 8, 2010

Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's
Brook Street
London, England
44-207-499-0099

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L'Anima

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Restaurant | "Good food, shaky service"

L'Anima restaurant Photo - L'Anima, London, England

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This restaurant is located on the edge of the City nestled at the bottom of one of the many office towers in the area. It rather looks like a business office with dark grey brick walls, punctuated by windows into the open kitchen, and set off by white table clothes and white leather chairs. Not a very warm and homy setting. The menu prices are at the high end for an Italian restaurant. The bar area looked very trendy with lots of glass. But patrons in both areas were not confined to men in suits.Service got off to a difficult start. I wanted to start with a glass of wine and my companions wanted a single malt whisky, then later we wanted a bottle of wine with our food. We had to order drin...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on October 8, 2010

L'Anima
1 Snowden Street
London, England
020 7422 7000

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St. John Bar and Restaurant

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Restaurant | "Most fun meal of our trip"

native oysters and smoke eel at St John Photo - St. John Bar and Restaurant, London, England

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This was one of the most fun meal experiences we’ve had for some time. You enter the restaurant by going into the street level bar and bakery area which looks like it used to be the loading area for the restaurant building which is up a short set of stairs. The restaurant used to be a former smoke house. Decor is minimal, not in the interior designer sort of way, but simply non-existent. The walls are painted white and lined with pegs for coats. It was lightly misting the evening we went so lots of coats were hanging on the walls. There’s a small desk where you are greeted as you enter and a bar lines part of another wall, but otherwise, the place is one big room with a high ceiling and tall windows. ...Read More

This was one of the most fun meal experiences we’ve had for some time. You enter the restaurant by going into the street level bar and bakery area which looks like it used to be the loading area for the restaurant building which is up a short set of stairs. The restaurant used to be a former smoke house. Decor is minimal, not in the interior designer sort of way, but simply non-existent. The walls are painted white and lined with pegs for coats. It was lightly misting the evening we went so lots of coats were hanging on the walls. There’s a small desk where you are greeted as you enter and a bar lines part of another wall, but otherwise, the place is one big room with a high ceiling and tall windows. Somewhere that I didn’t notice is a private dining room. The place was noisy but in a good way, full of energy and laughter. The servers are mostly young and very engaging.

The founder of the St John restaurants, Fergus Henderson, is famous for his nose to tail cooking, which honours the tradition of not wasting any parts of the animal, particularly, the pig. The food is not necessarily traditional, but basically British, not fancy gourmet and prepared with serious care. Many restaurants change the menu daily, here, they change it hourly.

We started with roasted bone marrow and parsley salad with toast, native oysters, smoked eel and sprats, which are like sardines. For mains, we had roasted Middlewhite pork with swede, and partridge with savoy cabbage, sides of runner beans and greens. All of it was very unpretentious and very tasty. The wine list, mostly French, was well priced. Finished with an Eccles cake and Lancashire cheese, raspberry sorbet and Russian vodka, and stem ginger ice cream.

We were treated to the view of the table next to us, some 15-20 celebrating young men, who ordered the roasted suckling pig. The whole pig was presented to the table and caused quite a stir as so many at the table wanted to take a photo. It smelled pretty amazing as well.

We are definitely returning or at least, trying St John Bread & Wine in Spitalfields on our next visit to London.
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Member Rating 5 out of 5 on October 8, 2010

St. John Bar and Restaurant
26 St. John Street
London, England EC1M 4AY
0207 251 0848

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Bistrot Bruno Loubet

Restaurant | "Excellent and reasonably priced French fare"

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The restaurant is located in the Zetter Hotel which looks like a funky kind of hotel. The decor was certainly eye catching. The restaurant itself was more straightforward in its decor, rather classic bistro style with a bar, and hard back chairs. The many windows made it feel light and airy.Food was excellent. Starters were of a "revised" Lyonnaise salad which had more meat than I would have expected in a salad, beetroot ravioli, and snails, meatballs and mushrooms which sounds odd but worked well. For mains, we had quail and spinach ravioli, rabbit with root vegetables, and beef "Indochine" which was braised beef with Vietnamese elements.The wine list had a number of reasonabl...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on October 8, 2010

Bistrot Bruno Loubet
86-88 Clerkenwell Rd.
London, England
+44 0208 166 797

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Galvin Cafe a Vin

Restaurant | "Good bistro food"

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There are a number of Galvin restaurants, Windows being the most formal and luxurious, and Café a Vin, the most casual. The menu is not long and the ceilings are not high, although there is a stunning zinc bar and sleek, dark furnishings. But nothing was casual about the food. It is good French bistro style.We started our dinner with buffalo mozzarella with peppers and tomatoes, steak tartare and smoked eel. For mains, pumpkin risotto, duck breast and pork cheeks accompanied by a very reasonably priced bottle of French red wine. We were too full for any desserts.It was very good meal. Only complaint was that the servers tended to hover a bit for no reason that I could discern s...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on October 8, 2010

Galvin Cafe a Vin
35 Spital Square, Bishops Square Entrance
London, England E1 6DY
020 7299 0404

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