The London Restaurant Review

New restaurant brings a taste of Nigeria to London - Press Release

A brand new Nigerian restaurant has opened in London with a promise of great food at reasonable prices. Biazo, in Hale Lane Edgware, has opened shop in time for Nigeria’s Independence Day on October 1 intent on filling the gap in the market for quality Nigerian restaurants.

Biazo, the brainchild of husband and wife team, Bola and Kemi Olukoya, is a contemporary-styled restaurant that serves up a rich cuisine reflecting the exoticness of Nigerian culture. The 50-seater restaurant provides the kind of traditional menu you’d expect to find traveling around Nigeria, giving people the chance to try something different from the usual Friday night takeaways. Guests who have never sampled African food before will find a true taste of Nigeria in delicacies like the flame grilled suya (a tasty serving of spicy barbequed beef/goat cooked in local herbs and spices), the popular jollof rice, a mainstay rice dish in Nigeria, Senegal and Gambia, deliciously cooked in onions, tomatoes and pepper sauces or the Edikang-Ikong, a vegetable stew made with a blend of Pumpkin leaves, and water leaves combined with traditional African spices

“People need to see Nigeria through our eyes,” says founder Kemi Olukoya. “Nigeria is a colourful country with lots of great potential but the bad publicity very often means people don’t get to see or experience the rich culture. We hope Biazo will change all that. As we prepare to celebrate Nigeria’s independence from the United Kingdom on October 1, we hope it’ll be a chance for people to come out and sample what Nigeria has to offer. They might be pleasantly surprised.”

Serving lunch and dinner at affordable prices, Biazo transforms from a vibrant atmosphere during the day to relaxed evenings, with soft lighting, music and visual delights from around Africa and African themed paintings to provide the perfect eating environment.

“There’s a real gap in the market for this,” adds Bola Olukoya. “We cannot deny that lots of Nigerian restaurants have risen up in London in recent times but we can say confidently that Nigerian cuisine isn’t presented very well a lot of times because for diners, quality and ambience is usually high on the menu. We don’t just want to provide good food; we want to provide great food and an unrivalled atmosphere along with exceptional customer service.”

Kemi Olukoya says, “The Biazo experience will be truly unique for those looking for homely atmosphere in which to dine and enjoy delicious African food in an African themed environment. Why not drop by today and judge for yourself?”

Biazo is located at 307 Hale Lane Edgware Middlesex, HA8 7AX

Mint Leaf Restaurant - Press Release

Mint Leaf Restaurant & Bar

Refined drinking and dining in London’s leading social hot spot

A recent addition to the map of London’s hippest landmarks for elegant dining and drinking, Mint Leaf Restaurant & Bar opened its doors in 2003 and has rapidly taken lead in the race for the city’s top Indian restaurant.

A 140-cover restaurant to be found in the basement of a former banking hall in London’s exclusive Haymarket district, Mint Leaf is a name that has become synonymous with both the highest calibre of modern Indian cuisine, as well as the most sumptuous signature cocktails, rendering the fashionable venue the perfect setting for world class drinking, dining, or a combination of both.

A popular hang out for London’s glitterati, and featuring a high celebrity count among its guest list that includes Halle Berry, Mickey Rourke, Kelly Osborne, Kim Cattrall and Matthew Perry, Mint Leaf translates authentic Indian cuisine to a stylish, contemporary setting, with the addition of a spectacularly long bar that provides the backdrop for a vast array of exquisite cocktails and home grown drinks such as their infamous Vanilla Vodka.

Mint Leaf’s Head Chef, Ajay Chopra, was headhunted from Mumbai’s leading 5-star hotel, the JW Marriott, where he continually entertained a plethora of international celebrities and Bollywood stars. With an immaculate attention to detail under Ajay’s supervision, the sumptuous new menu at Mint Leaf reflects food hailing from all over India. Observing Ajay’s ethos of producing healthy Indian cuisine with a contemporary twist, it features dishes inspired by the seafood of the south and meat from the north.

Featuring A La Carte, Set and Vegetarian menus, Mint Leaf starter dishes include: Saunfiya Paneer Tikka (Paneer stuffed with mint and raisin farce, marinated in fennel and turmeric yoghurt, radicchio and crisp bean salad; Lehsuni Jhinga Sunehri (Tandoor grilled jumbo prawns marinated with cumin, roast garlic and chilli yoghurt, served with pineapple chutney); and Tandoori Bateyr  (Boneless jumbo quail steeped overnight in home ground mustard, ginger and piquant chillies, served on curly endive salad).

Gordon Ramsay to close restaurant

It was reported this week that Gordon Ramsay is to close his restaurant in the Connaught because he does not want his restaurant providing room service to the hotel.

The Michelin-starred Angela Hartnett at the Connaught has a great reputation and quite rightly he doesn't want to spoil it by sending up plates of food that are lukewarm and soggy by the time the hotel guest gets them.

I say Gordon and Angela are being very sensible!

London Evening Standard - Letter Published

I was asked by The Evening Standard to comment on the recent Zagat finding that London is the most expensive city in the world to dine out in.

The letter was published in this evening's paper (!)

Here is the transcript:

London is the most expensive city in the world for eating out? Nonsense.  Restaurant prices in the capital have gone up over the years but not significantly so.  If you are lucky enough to get a table at The Ivy for example, you'll find plenty of dishes priced under £15.  And Chez Bruce, recently voted number one restaurant in Zagat, offers a three course lunch menu for well under £30.  That is not expensive for Michelin dining.  In many US restaurants, by the time you have added the 20%-25% service charge, the bill is often more than an equivalent restaurant in London.  The poor exchange rate means our American visitors will moan about the price of everything, not just eating out.
Take the 'Trophy Restaurants' off your list and use the restaurant review websites to help you find somewhere to eat in London that is not only a great dining experience, but is also great value too.  Trust me, they are out there.  Value for money is just one of ten different attributes that we and our website visitors rate when judging a restaurant (well, loo cleanliness is important too)!  Don’t be put off visiting London because of Zagat.  There are hundreds of great value restaurants in our wonderful City – just do your own homework!

Piers Heaton-Armstrong, Owner
The London Restaurant Review
www.thelondonrestaurantreview.co.uk

Wine Tasting at The Algarve Restaurant

The Algarve Restaurant in Wandsworth, is offering a four course meal to accompany 6 different wines on September 27th 2007.

Tickets are only £25 each and if you buy 4 then you get the 5th one free - sounds like a good deal to me.

I have eaten here and it is pretty good.

Zagat Restaurant Ratings

Zagat just announced the results of their latest survey and reckon that London restaurants are the most expensive in the world.  That is rubbish and probably down to the fact that so many Americans participated in the survey and are getting stung by the poor exchange rate.

Anyway, here are the findings:

Top 10 food rankings, with last year in parentheses:

1.  Chez Bruce (9)
2.  Gordon Ramsay Royal Hospital Road (1)
3.  Hunan (-)
4.  Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons (4)
5.  The Square (8)
6.  Petrus (10)
7.  Pied a Terre (7)
8.  La Trompette (-)
9.  Le Gavroche (3)
10. River Cafe (-)

Top restaurants by cuisine:

American -- Sophie's Steak
Asian -- Eight Over Eight
British (Modern) -- Chez Bruce
British (Traditional) Ffiona's
Chinese -- Hunan
Chophouses -- Rib Room
Eclectic -- Mosimann's (club)
European (Modern) -- La Trompette
Fish 'n' Chips -- Two Brothers
French (Bistro) Galvin Bistrot
French (Classic) -- Le Gavroche
French (New) -- Gordon Ramsay Royal Hospital Road
Indian -- Rasoi Vineet Bhatia
Italian -- River Cafe
Japanese -- Nobu London
Lebanese -- Ishbilia
Mediterranean -- Moro
Pizza -- Osteria Basilico
Seafood -- J. Sheekey
Spanish -- Cambio de Tercio
Thai -- Nahm
Vegetarian -- Morgan M