The London Restaurant Review

Lamberts Restaurant, Balham, London

We had another excellent lunch here at Lamberts mid April. You can't beat the value - two courses are only £17 and three courses £20. For the quality of the ingredients, the size of the portions and the top notch service, Lamberts is a head above many of the better known quality London restaurants. Starters ranged from Isle of White Crab Bisque to Glamorgan Sausages. I went for the in season Asparagus from Secrett's Farm with a soft boiled duck's egg - it was delicious. Main's ranged from Pollack, Chips and Pea Puree to Galloway Beef and Onion Pie and Cumbrian Mutton Shank, which fell of the bone and was rich and flavoursome. Three puddings were on offer - try the Sticky Toffee Pudding and Vanilla Ice Cream if it is on - you won't find a better one south of the river. With a decent range of value wines, from glasses to carafes to bottles, there is somethingfor everyone on the vino front and combined with the informative, efficient and friendly staff, Lamberts is always a real treat. Lamberts Restaurant

2 Station Parade Balham SW12 9AZ Cuisine: British Tel: 020 8675 2233 Fax: Email: bookings@lambertsrestaurant.com Website: http://www.lambertsrestaurant.com Nearest Station: Balham Tube

The French House Restaurant, Soho, London

The French House
49 Dean Street
W1D 5BG

Cuisine: French
Tel: 020 7437 2477
Nearest Station: Leicester Square Tube

It's tiny, above a pub, but very sweet. You are squashed into a table in a restaurant that must seat about 25 covers max. The mirror at the back of the restaurant on the wall gives the illusion of more space but prepare to be cramped.

The menu is simple and certainly not French fancy. More French rustic. And it is a bit like going back to 80's dining. My prawn cocktail starter was very good and came with a huge juicy meaty king prawn on the side. It was good value at £7. My colleague's Ham Hock was equally good and priced at £7.50p.
I chose fillet steak with chips for mains and my colleague had roast chicken and chips. Both were good sized portions and tasty. Both were priced around £17.

No puddings, one glass of red wine and one pint of cider, with one bottle of water and 12.5% service charge and the final bill came to £71.55 which was good value for central London.

My only gripe, and it is a big one...they seem the practice the tactic of trying to get the customer to enter a tip twice. I hate that. So I paid by card and was asked to enter my PIN on the machine following by the question 'would you like to enter a tip?' I asked my waiter whether service was included (I knew it was from looking at the bill but wanted to see what he would say). He replied 'a small service charge is included yes.' I didn't add extra on the machine, needless to say.

French House, if you're reading this, please change your policy or at least the PIN entry machine asap because this is a despicable practice that ruined an otherwise good experience.

Acorn House Restaurant Review, London

Acorn House
69 Swinton St
WC1X 9NT

Cuisine: British
Tel: 020 7 812 1842
Fax:
Email:
Website: www.acornhouserestaurant.com
Nearest Station: Kings Cross Tube

Acorn House Restaurant has had many good write ups over the last 12 months so I thought I'd go along and find out what all the fuss was about.
Situated about 5 mins from Kings Cross and 10 mins from Holborn, the entrance is unassuming but the greeting is warm. Our coats were taken and we were shown to a middle table in a long thin restaurant, with the bar at the entrance end and the kitchen at the other end.
It's not a big place and the neighbours are sitting close by, mainly in tables of two but the atmosphere is buzzy, almost bistro like so you don't feel like whispering.
The menu is simple and everyone should find something they like. It isn't fancy and it doesn't wow. Prices are around £9 for starters and £16 for main courses. I had a smoked mackerel starter with baby leeks which was tasty and a big portion and followed it with the lamb chop with anchovy and rosemary sauce. Both dishes were very good and very filling.
There is a good value wine selection by the glass and the bill with tip and wine should not need to be more than £50 a head.
Only gripe was the inattentive Eastern European waitress that we had, who starred blankly at us when we asked for bread and who kept forgetting things like the water. Other than that, a great experience and a restaurant that I would return to.

Dehesa Restaurant Review, London

Dehesa
25 Ganton St
W1F 9BP

Cuisine: Spanish
Tel: 0207 494 4170
Fax:
Email: info@dehesa.co.uk
Website: www.dehesa.co.uk
Nearest Station: Oxford Circus Tube

You can't book at Dehesa so be sure to pitch up early for either lunch or dinner because this is a popular place.
Focusing on tapas, without being too Spanishy, this restaurant has a range of not over priced dishes to share and share alike. You can sit at high long tables or at the bar and dig in to a classic jamon inberico dish, with a nice glass of red wine and some bread for under £15.
It has a buzzy atmosphere and friendly and efficient serving staff. The food seemed to come out without any thought as to correct order (our lamb dish came before the fish dish for example) and some of the dihes were cooler then we might have liked on a cold winter's day, but these are minor gripes in what was overall a good experience.

Matsuri Restaurant Review, Holborn, London

Matsuri
71 High Holborn
London
WC1V 6EA

Cuisine: Japanese
Tel: 020 7 430 1970
Fax: 020 7430 1971
Email: eat@matsurihighholborn.co.uk
Website: http://www.matsuri-restaurant.com
Nearest Station: Holborn Tube

A repeat visit to this restaurant up the road from my office. I took some colleagues here and we went to the Teppanyaki downstairs area. Four of us sat at one of the big tables with a young couple on the other side and got stuck into Sake, wine and beer.
The food is very good, especially the beef and lobster but be prepared to pay for it - even with the entertainment of seeing the chef cook the food in front of you, this still ends up being an expensive night out. We paid around £80 per head and still walked out feeling a little hungry. Plus the atmosphere downstairs can be a little dull.

Santini Restaurant London

29 Ebury Street, London

Tel: 020 7 730 4094

Santini is a smart Italian restaurant located on Ebury Street, not far from Victoria Station. My colleague described it as a Russian hangout and certainly the diners in there were dripping in gold and speaking something other than English.

The place is a little ostentatious but once you get over the initial bling, the place is really rather nice.
Service is swift and efficient but the food is on the expensive side. Starters are in the region of £15 and the Lamb Shank special that I had for main course was £25. It was nice but nothing special.
My colleague asked for some truffle shavings on his Pappardelle starter and the waiter brought ouot a whole truffle to show him, supposedly, we assumed, to show him from what specimen his shavings might come from. Imagine our surprise when the bill came at the end of the evening and we had been charged a whole truffle at £35!

Apart from that, which took the average spend over the £80 mark with service, it was a perfectly good meal. I just don't think I'll be back anytime soon.

Trinity Restaurant Review, Clapham, London

Trinity Restaurant
4 The Polygon
Clapham, SW4 0JG
Tel: 020 7622 1199

We celebrated our anniversary here, having booked a table at 7.30pm on a Thursday evening.
The restaurant started filling up around 8pm and once it got going there was a nice ambiance but it was too quiet before. You would not stumble upon Trinity, being on the Polygon just down the road from Clapham Common tube, but it has the potential to be a hidden gem.

Service was a little erratic but very pleasant and informal. The menu is likely to have something for everyone, British/European solid dishes with a touch of fancyness that does not always work but is probably needed to justify the relatively high prices for what is essentially local dining.

I had a Terrine of Pork to start with (£10), littered with too many Pistaccio nuts and a couple of dollops of Prune for good measure. It came with good, thin, crispy toast. The portion size was enormous and even I, with the biggest of appetites, did not want to finish it in case I left no room for what was to follow. My wife had the artichoke soup starter (£7) which was again a huge portion. Both starters were made with the freshest ingredients and tasted good but did not 'wow'.

Main course I had Breast of Duck with Beetroot and Cranberries (£19). Again, huge portion. Duck cooked nicely but cut into strips with a piece of fat on each that actually made cutting bite size amounts somewhat tricky. Overall though I had few complaints. The wife had Pollock which was over-salted and so she only ate half (and she is not a fussy eater). I had a glass of the beaufiful English 2006 Bacchus white wine (£7) before we started eating, which was as good as any white Burgundy I have ever tasted. A number of wines on the list also come in handy 500ml carafes so I went for a Italian Campania red wine to go with the duck, which was delicious and well priced at £16.

With water and service charge the bill came to £104 - at the high end for what was a good meal, but not a great one.

Crockfords Casino & Restaurant

Crockfords Casino in Mayfair, reputed to be the oldest gaming club in the world, is not the first place you might consider in London for lunch or dinner.

But I had one of the best meals in a long time at the Crockfords restaurant this week. I am talking Michelin Star quality, easily as good as and probably better than Chez Bruce, my favourite and local 'smart' restaurant.
Crockford's will not suit everyone but will pleasantly surprise many. Let me give you the guided tour... Top hatted doorman greets you at the entrance and shows you into the reception area. Pretty receptionist asks whether you are a club member (you don't need to be to eat in the restaurant) and shows you into the bar area where you can enjoy an aperitif, peruse the extensive menu (more about that soon), and consult the fine wine list and the very fine wine list (more about those soon too). The restaurant is upstairs and divided into three sections.
Opulence abounds - high ceilings, beautiful decorations, thick curtains, more chandeliers than you can poke with a stick. This is British through and through and I imagine impresses the high rollers that enjoy the gaming action at the club. It is slightly intimidating upon first impressions, but the waiting staff make you feel very comfortable and are friendly, jokey and not at all stuffy.

Three of us were shown to a large round table in the corner and settled in for dinner. Crisp white napkins and table-cloths, beautiful crockery, heavy cutlery, silver salt and pepper pots and at least 4 waiters primed to get the show on the road. At this point I was wondering whether the food would match the surroundings. I had nothing to worry about...
We started with an amuse-bouche of Lobster Bisque with white truffle, served in tight small white teacups. The bisque was a flavour explosion, very rich, very creamy and very moresome. I have over-salted versions in the past but this was spot on. My starter was a fresh crab and avocado salad, beautifully presented and equally delicious. The avocado was a point and the crab was as fresh as I have ever tasted (and not a single piece of shell to be found). My colleagues dishes of Dim Sum and Spinach Souffle were equally well presented with the Souffle scoring top marks but the Dim Sum described as a little disappointing.
Let me tell you a little more about the menu - the choice is enormous and initially caused concern. How can a kitchen manage to produce hundreds of different dishes with different cuisines without compromising quality? The answer is at Crockfords they have separate specialist chefs for each cuisine. In addition to some excellent traditional British choices, there is a huge selection of Italian, Thai, Indian and Middle Eastern dishes on offer. Crockfords can literally cater to every taste.

Dishes are reasonably priced considering the location and surroundings (you are effectively in a private members club), with starters around £14 and mains between £20 and £40. Puddings are around £10. Certainly high, but well worth it when you see the quality of the dishes produced. I have listed some examples below to give you a better understanding of prices: Mushroom Soup, £7
Fois Gras & Duck terrine, £17
Avocado, Tomato & Fresh Crab Salad, £14.50
Steak & Kidney Pie, £21
Dover Sole, £24.50
Fillet of Turbot, £25.50
For main course I had a whole roasted poulet with a simple gravy and a side of dinky new potatoes, simple but tasty. One colleague went East and tried a king prawn dish with a side of Pad Thai, both of which were filling portions and excellent. My other colleague had a medium rare steak, cooked to perfection that just melted in the mouth. Top ingredients are used throughout, portion sizes are very good and presentation is spot on.
We initially chose a bottle of Chateau Cantenac, a St Emillion Grand Cru 2001, which is a good solid bet and reasonably priced at £45, but they were out of the 2001 and instead of 2005, offered us a 2001 alternative, priced the same that was smooth and very gluggable. It was decanted well before we sat down and had opened up nicely thirty minutes later. The fine wine list has an excellent selection of wines from the £25 to the £325 price range. The very fine wine list has some pricier options.
Knowing that one of the specials that night was a home-made Panna Cotta by the Italian chef that I was not about to turn down, I had sensibly saved a little room for dessert. The pudding trolley that was wheeled around to our table was packed with treats and clearly the pastry chef had gone to town. Everything literally looked too good to eat. I stuck with the Cotta, which wobbled delightful on the middle of my glass plate, drizzled with a light raspberry dressing.
A tray of tempting chocolates was proffered with coffee but by that point we were all too full to manage anything else.
The service throughout the meal was excellent and I genuinely could not find fault with food or service; it is truly a slick operation.
The only slight disappointment was the fact that aside from our table there was one other party dining, which meant that the atmosphere was a little lacking, but it depends on the night and the timing, with the restaurant open round the clock to cater to local and international gamers needs, it will always show an ebb and flow.
In summary, Crockfords deserves to be known for more than its casino; this is a restaurant that they are proud of and that would make an excellent venue for business lunches and dinners or for special occasions. You are treated like royalty from start to finish and get to experience the lavish surroundings of one of the most famous private members clubs in the world.
With the more relaxed gaming rules now in place in UK clubs, it is now possible to become a member on the night and join the Crockfords high rollers on the gaming floor if you are that way inclined and I am sure that you would be equally well looked after.
Knowing now that the restaurant experience is such a safe bet, maybe I will try my luck on the Roulette and Blackjack tables next time I visit!

Thomas Cubitt Restaurant London

I recently returned to The Thomas Cubitt restaurant near Victoria for dinner.  The upstairs dining room truly is delightful and would make a perfect birthday venue if you wanted to hire a room for dinner.

You can read the full review on The London Restaurant Review.

I also notice that they are currently doing a 'dining rooms' special - 2 courses for £19.50 and 3 courses for £24.50.  This applies to lunch only and is valid from Monday to Friday.

Call them on +44 207 730 6060 for reservations.

The Algarve Restaurant Wandsworth

A recently opened neighbourhood restaurant (that means you can only go there if you live in the neighbourhood and are best mates with the owner), Algarve takes you back to the sunny holidays of your youth, where you get family friendly service and a Menorquina frozen dessert if you've sat quietly through your meal and eaten all your shellfish.

Seriously though, this place is worth a visit.  the decor is similar to Lamberts and they have not scrimped on the refurb. The food is excellent and the service friendly.  Oh, and it's good value for money.

So go and patronise Vitor and his family - you will be pleasantly surprised.

Read the full review here.