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December 11th, 2012  @ The Delauney Category: Bistro (££) 
It took me a long time to finally make it to The Delaunay. Despite the glowing reviews I was a bit reluctant to try it, as I was suspicious of its label as ’Grand European café”. Having lived in Vienna for 5 years, I think I know everything about Central/Middle Grand European cafés and I couldn’t deal with a fake version. How wrong I was! The Delaunay indeed has the elegant flair of a traditional Viennese coffee house, just less faded and with friendlier staff (Viennese waiters are infamous for their grumpiness). The Delaunay has managed to recreate the effortless grandeur of Viennese in fin de siècle places, and you find the white table clothes, the brass, the marble, the mirrors, the high ceilings and the waiters in suit. Read more... (759 words, 8 images, estimated 3:02 mins reading time)
January 24th, 2012  Menu @Mishkin Category: Bistro (££)
I absolutely love Spuntino, have enjoyed Da Polpo, feel rather indifferent towards Polpo and haven’t yet been to Polpetto. This, in one sentence, summarises my experience with the restaurants owned by Russell Norman and Richard Beatty, undoubtedly the most interesting and most influential restaurateurs to have appeared in the London gastronomic scene over the past few years. Read more... (715 words, 7 images, estimated 2:52 mins reading time)
September 17th, 2011 Category: Bistro
I will try to hold back and not spend 500 words telling you HOW bad the service was at the new Covent Garden Thai restaurants Suda Rice Bar (I went there in the soft opening period about a month ago after I had read the Skinny Bib’s review). I am terribly delayed with my restaurant posts, so the HORRIBLE service I experienced might have improved by now. I hope it has really, otherwise Suda Rice Bar won’t be around for much longer, let me tell you that much.
Suda Rice Bar is one of these mixed restaurant/bar places which sometimes work but very often don’t…The interior is all about dark wood and little wood donkeys on the tables grazing on grass (see below). I spent the whole evening staring at them and wondering what the interior designer wanted to express. I still don’t know if I like them or not. They are certainly… ahmmm different?
 grazing donkeys @Suda From the name I expected the menu to be very rice oriented , but in the end there were only 6 rice dishes on the menu, comparable to any other Thai restaurants. The menu does sound very interestingly though and there is certainly some divergence from the standard Thai fare on offer. This is hardly surprising considering that the masterminds behind Suda are the same people that are also involved with the high-end Thai restaurant chain Patara.
Jumping on the small plate bandwagon, Suda Rice Bar also has a “small plate” section on the menu (they used to be called starters, right?). You will search in vain for greasy prawn toast or other fried monstrosities, but find light and creative fusion style dishes. The Crabmeat rolls (5.95) which were served drizzled with a sweet and tangy tamarind sauce were rather lovely. Less convincing was the pomelo salad (5.50). While the kaffir lime based sauce was gorgeous, I found it rather lazy to just dump some pieces of pomelo and some prawns on a plate without any additional ingredients. What about herbs? Chilli? Peanuts? Anything?? Read more... (871 words, 8 images, estimated 3:29 mins reading time)
June 23rd, 2011 Category: Cafe (but an expensive one £££)
On a sunny and warm afternoon in the middle of Covent Garden it is usually very difficult to get a table somewhere. Surprisingly not at Laduree, which might have to do with their rather astronomical prices for cakes, ice cream and of course its famous macaroons. Laduree is a French luxury tea room chain which has two more subsidiaries in London, the most famous being at Harrods.
 Read more... (403 words, 6 images, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)
June 16th, 2011 Category: Bistro+ (££-£££) 
Opera Tavern is the second Spanish/ Tapas restaurant I have been to in a very short period of time. I have to admit that Tapas are not my favourite thing in the world, but even I got finally infected by the Tapas virus taking London by storm. While Tapas Brindisa in Soho was clearly nothing to write home about, I did enjoy almost everything about Opera Tavern in the heart of Convent Garden. It bodes well that team behind Opera Tavern is also behind the popular and highly regarded Salt Yard and Dehesa.
You can eat informally or even more informally at Opera Tavern. The bar area downstairs in straight view of the new Shrek musical (enough to drive me to drink) was buzzing and crowded on a Friday evening. We booked a table upstairs in the restaurant part which is more sedate but at the same time you might be able to enjoy your food without someone knocking it over or having an elbow in your side and also conversation might be possible.
Most of the food I really liked, in fact there were a couple of ‘to die for’ dishes which made me forgive some of the rather mediocre ones. I was told by a local that one ‘needs to know what to order’ at the Opera Tavern to avoid disappointment. I apparently knew what to order, as I was overall very happy, but mind, you I did ask my friend and Twitter for recommendations. Read more... (793 words, 9 images, estimated 3:10 mins reading time)
June 7th, 2011 Category: Bistro
Da Polpo in Covent Garden is the newest addition to the Polpo, Polpetto and Spuntino family of small/sharing plate eateries founded by the restaurateur Russell Norman. The concept is ingenious and has taken London by storm. No booking, bustling atmosphere, well prized small dishes to share and a different theme to each of the restaurants. While Spuntino serves fun and delicious American food, Polpo and Polpetto specialize on Venetian dishes. While there is overlap between the menus, Da Polpo has a clear focus on meatballs. I mean a restaurant for meatballs? How cool is this?
While I enjoyed the food, it was not a culinary epiphany. What makes da Polpo special and certainly will make me return, is the atmosphere. You wouldn’t go there for a romantic date but I don’t think there is a better place to catch up with your girlfriends while sisterly sharing the plates as they arrive one after the other and getting comfortably tipsy on aperol spritz, cocktails or the cheap but very decent house wine.
 Read more... (708 words, 11 images, estimated 2:50 mins reading time)
November 21st, 2010 Category: Bistro (££)
The good thing about food blogging I find is not only that fact that I can eat out all the time and call it research, but also that I have met lovely and interesting people through it. So I caught up with my favourite blogging friends LoveLeluu and The Happiness Project London at Dishoom. All three of us wanted to try this so called ‘Bombay cafe’ which opened earlier this year in Covent Garden as we were possibly the only people left in London who had never been there before. Read more... (688 words, 11 images, estimated 2:45 mins reading time)
November 3rd, 2010 Category: Haute Cuisine (££££)
I love pre-theatre menus. How else would one be able to regularly dine at Michelin starred restaurants in London without for instance being a stock broker (before the credit crunch) or a professional footballer? One of these restaurants is L’Atelier de Joel Robouchon in the middle of the theatre district in Covent Garden just next to The Ivy which offers a 2 course set menu for 22 pounds, 3 courses for 27 pounds. The French chef Joel Robouchon who has achieved more Michelin stars than any other chef (25 if Wikipedia is to be believed) has restaurants all over the globe. Two of these stars are held by the London joint of L’Atelier Joel Robouchon. So believe me – my expectations were higher than high and I was looking forward to a stunning meal. Read more... (601 words, 7 images, estimated 2:24 mins reading time)
September 26th, 2010 Catgory: Bistro (££)
Clos Maggiore, a French restaurant in Covent Garden, does not only offer an incredibly well-priced set-menu (19.50 for 3 courses or 24.50 for 2 courses and a half-bottle of wine) but is also supposed to be the most romantic dining spot in London. So I dragged my better half along for a Sunday lunch. Read more... (607 words, 7 images, estimated 2:26 mins reading time)
May 18th, 2010 Category: Bistro
What a fun place! And the food is good too.
I took my mum there who came to visit me from the culinary wastelands of Austria and I had the intention to provide her with some unique and special food experiences. What better place to choose than Abeno Too? Read more... (462 words, 3 images, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)
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