The London Restaurant Review

New London Restaurant Reviews added

I've added three new restaurant reviews today:
Latium Restaurant on Berners St
Floridita Restaurant, one of the Conran restaurants
Morel, in Clapham, on the site of the famous Thyme Restaurant

I quite liked Latium - if you're into fine Italian dining and want somewhere to impress your friend's, or colleagues on a pre or post Sanderson Bar night, then this could be the place for you.  You can read the full review of Latium here.

Floridita Restaurant in the heart of Soho is big and Cuban and Bar Tastic.  The food is pretty good too and most of the waitresses look divine.  Read the full review here, whilst sucking on a big fat cigar.

Morel Restaurant in Clapham has a good reputation as a cosy neighbourhood destination but the wife and I were slightly disappointed when we visited on Saturday night.  There was nothing majorly wrong as such, but the food just did not quite live up to the aspirations.  Read the full review here.

God Save The Queens

Top London Pubs Honour Their Country

The acclaimed Queens in Crouch End, finalist of Best Gastropub at the Time Out Eating and Drinking Awards 2006, with her sister pubs The Roebuck in Chiswick, The Prince Regent in Kensington and Lots Road Pub and Dining Room in Chelsea will celebrate the very best of Blighty with their Great British Food and Drink Festival.
From 5th February – 11th February, diners and drinkers alike will be able to enjoy the finest food, wine and beer, sourced locally, not globally, exclusively from the British Isles so you can taste of the best of the rest of the country without leaving the capital.

Each pub will have its own distinctively British menu, but starters might include potted trout and shrimp butter, Loch Fyne oysters with shallot dressing or cock-a-leekie soup with winter warmer mains such us Lancashire hot pot with English greens, braised faggots with onion gravy and smoked haddock with Welsh rarebit for main course.  Examples of desserts on offer are rhubarb parkin, a traditional sherry trifle, treacle tart or sticky toffee pudding with toffee sauce.
The menu is accompanied by a small selection of hidden gems from Old Blighty’s burgeoning wine yards, think Chapel Down, Downland White 2004, as well as five country-wide cask ales, each served in free standing barrels, including Bishops Finger, a nut brown ale from Faversham in Kent and the sublime Heart Warmer, a dark beer brewed with roasted malt and malted wheat from Burton on Trent.

The Great British Food and Drink Festival – a unique gourmet experience from the green, green grass of home.

Available at:

The Queens, 26 Broadway Parade, Crouch End, London N8 9DE T: 020 8340 2031
The Roebuck, 122 Chiswick High Rd, London W4 1PU T: 020 8995 4392    
Lots Rd Pub & Dining Room, 114 Lots Rd, London SW10 0RJ T: 020 7352 6645    
The Prince Regent, 25 Gloucester Rd, London SW7 4PL  T: 020 7589 0905    

For more information contact Peter Myers at Food and Fuel on T: 07771 862702

Aroma Lakeview Restaurant

SPECIAL VALENTINE’S MENU FOR AROMA LAKEVIEW RESTAURANT

Basildon restaurant also announces Qixi ‘’Night of Sevens’ festival of lovers

Aroma Lakeview restaurant in Basildon, one of Essex’s leading oriental dining venues, has announced a special set Valentine’s menu.  The fixed-price £20 per person Valentine’s menu will be served in its mezzanine level restaurant.

The special Valentine’s menu, available on Wednesday 14th February comprises starters of Crispy Seaweed, Spare Ribs in Irish Baileys Sauce, Satay Chicken, Deep Fried Chinese Croissants and Spring Roll. The second course is crispy Aromatic Duck.  This is followed by main course of Stir Fried King Prawn in Spinach Sauce, Beef in Sarcha sauce, Honey Chicken, Asparagus coated with Crispy Batter and egg Fried Rice.  There is coffee and chocolate mint to finish.

The menu will be reprised on 19th August, for Qixi or ‘Night of Sevens’, the Chinese festival for lovers.

Aroma Manager Raymond Cheng said, “The Chinese equivalent to Valentine's, the ‘Night of Sevens’ is so called because it falls on the 7th day of the 7th month of the Chinese calendar.”

Demand for seats in the mezzanine restaurant, which caters for 30 couples is expected to be high. But the spacious ground floor caters for over 200 people will be offering Aroma’s famous ‘all-you-can-eat’ buffet offering culinary delights from the Far East with a choice of 30 lunchtime and 60 dinner dishes.  Aroma’s fantastic Tepanyaki menu allows you to select your own ingredients and enjoy watching them being cooked to your liking before your eyes.  Choose from slices of sirloin steak, chicken, king prawns, squid, mussels and shrimps and a wide selection of vegetables and noodles.

Aroma Lakeview, Festival Leisure Park, Festival Way, Basildon,

Essex SS14 3WB     T: 01268 527880    W: www.thearoma.co.uk

Michelin Starred London Restaurants

If you were wondering which London restaurants have Michelin stars going into 2007, here is the list (along with links to reviews on my website):

Bromley - Chapter One
Bloomsbury - Hakkasan
City of London - 1 Lombard Street
City of London - Club Gascon
City of London - Rhodes Twenty Four
Hammersmith - River Café
Chelsea - Aubergine
Chelsea - Rasoi Vineet Bhatia
Chelsea - Tom Aikens
North Kensington - The Ledbury
Kew - The Glasshouse
Wandsworth - Chez Bruce
Bayswater - Assaggi
Belgravia - Amaya
Belgravia - Nahm (at The Halkin Hotel)
Belgravia - Pétrus
Belgravia - Zafferano
Hyde Park - Foliage (at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park H.)
Mayfair - Angela Hartnett at the Connaught
Mayfair - Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s
Mayfair - The Greenhouse
Mayfair - Maze
Mayfair - Mirabelle
Mayfair - Nobu (at The Metropolitan Hotel)
Mayfair - Nobu Berkeley
Mayfair - Sketch (The Lecture Room)
Mayfair - Tamarind
Mayfair - Umu
Regent’s Park - Locanda Locatelli
Regent’s Park - Orrery
Soho - L’Escargot
Soho - Richard Corrigan at Lindsay House
Soho - Yauatcha
Covent Garden - The Savoy Grill
Victoria - Roussillon

Valentines Day at The Terrace

I've been to The Terrace a few times, since it is round the corner from where I work. You can read the review on the main site here.

Below is the latest press release from The Terrace:

Spice Up Your Valentine’s Day…
… with the Caribbean Passion Menu
at The Terrace In The Fields Restaurant.

The Terrace is set in a beautiful illuminated glade in the heart of Lincoln’s Inn Fields, a minute from Holborn station and five minutes from Theatreland. Opened last year, it is the perfect romantic venue,one of London’s hidden gems. And to enhance your mood, the restaurant will be specially lit for the occasion, with a live band playing.

Rising young chef Patrick Williams’ cooking combines a passion for classic dishes with Caribbean
flair. For Valentine’s day he has produced a special 6-course tasting menu that showcases the
aromatic delights of the Indies. The result is a series of sumptuous dishes that surprises the taste
buds without overwhelming them.

On arrival guests will be presented with a kir royale, and gentlemen will be offered a flower to
present to their lady, before sitting down to a lover’s feast.

Kir Royale
Aromatic Chicken Broth
Fricassee of Crayfish Tails – delicately spiced and interleaved with ethereal dumpling wafers
Peach and Champagne Sorbet
Curried Goat – individually baked with scented rice in its own duchy
Crispy Pimento-spiced Duck Breast – with mixed fruit salsa
Double Chocolate Surprise – one dessert, two spoons!

The Caribbean Passion menu is only available on 14 February and costs £60 per person,
£80 per person including matching wines.

Tables can be booked on 020 7430 1234

The Terrace In The Fields, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LJ. www.theterrace.info
For more information on The Terrace In The Fields, its Valentine’s celebration, or chef Patrick Williams please contact:
Fiona Jerome or Penny Dash @ Deeper Media Ltd
020 7386 2695 • fiona@deepermedia.co.uk • penny@deepermedia.co.uk