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The answer is, a hell of a lot of people. But it seems that most of them are visitors to London that have no idea that this chain of restaurants gets consistently terrible reviews on The London Restaurant Review.
I cannot remember a single positive review I have ever had on this sorry, nasty looking, steak and SH8t chain.
You can read the latest dismal review here.
My advice - avoid like the plague. These are not nice restaurants!
German wines tend to be very under-rated in the UK - a throwback from the 80's when Hock, Piesporter and Liebfraumilch were the tipples of the masses.
I've been getting more into German wines over the last year or two and last week I was given a fantastic wine by a German colleague, who hails from Heidelberg.
It's from his local vineyard and is delicious:
2005 Clauer Heidelberger Dormenacker Grauburgunder (Kabinett Trocken)
Yes it is a mouthful to pronounce and is a mouthful to taste. It is incredibly fresh, light (masking a blustery 12.5% alochol and smooth. Think French Sauvignon Blanc but much more rounded, crisp wthout being citrusy and a finish that is delightful.
9/10 rating. Delicious.
My London Restaurant Review website is almost 100% reviews of restaurants in and around London. But there are heaps of fantastic gastropubs in London that any visitor wanting a bit of good ole London life should take advantage of. It is often the spit and sawdust, rough looking joints that serve up the best wholesome, tasty grub.
Our London pubs do fantastic Sunday roasts, with all the trimmings and if you head down the East End, you'll soon come across that classic British dish, Jellied Eels.
The best website I have found for reviews of pubs in London is FancyaPint.com - a very similar philosophy to The London Restaurant Review, it offers down to earth reviews of thousands of London boozers.
Rumour has it that they will also be publishing a printed guide to accompany their fantastic website.
I love going to Boisdale, the Scottish restaurant near Victoria Station. It has a real supper clubby feel about it and has remained one of my favourites for more than 10 years.
You can read my latest review here. And here is a pic:
The band playing last Thursday evening was not the house band, but a well-known group called TJ Johnson Band. You can check all all you want to know about TJ at his website.
They started around 10pm, we had the best table in the house and were entertained for a couple of hours with a mixture of top notch jazz and swing. The young guitarist/trombone player and the young saxophonist were exceptional - god only knows how they managed to swig beer and smoke fags every second and still play to such a high standard.
Here's my friend Nick enjoying a good cigar, post meal:
And here's one of the band in action:
All in all a fantastic night!
You can check out the Boisdale website here.
