For updates follow me on Facebook or Twitter.City Lemon Featured Food Blogger | 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) January 16th,2012  Tinello Category: Bistro –Brasserie (££-£££) 
It is a hard job to be an amateur restaurant critic. Always rushing off to the newest openings,which means,thanks to the new non-booking trend,queuing for hours in the cold,eating mediocre food in places hyped for inapprehensible reasons and then there is the constant fight against personal bankruptcy,alcoholism and obesity. Read more... (855 words,11 images,estimated 3:25 mins reading time) December 4th,2011  Baked Pumpkin,Raschera Cheese,Mushrooms and Chard (13) @Elliot's Category: Bistro Elliot’s conveniently located South of Borough Market is exactly what had been missing from this part of London. Launched in summer 2011 it has steadily increased in popularity,and this rightly so. Elliot’s is a typical London 2011 restaurant:easy going,no reservations,small plates to share,inventive seasonal food,friendly young personnel,and very affordable. (for other restaurants with similar concepts that opened in 2011 look no further than for example Spuntino,Da Polpo,Duck Soup Soho,Riding House Cafe,…). Read more... (514 words,5 images,estimated 2:03 mins reading time) October 27th,2011  The Bee Menu Read more... (720 words,7 images,estimated 2:53 mins reading time) “Well,”said Pooh,“what I like best —”and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do,there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were,but he didn’t know what it was called.
–Winnie the Pooh,The House at Pooh CornerOctober 13th,2011 Category: Bistro (££)  Hammersmith in West London is completely out of my culinary comfort zone. Apart from the budget-breaking River Cafe I am not aware of any decent restaurants in this area and River Cafe is certainly too posh for a quick pre-theatre bite. When researching for a restaurant close to the Lyric Hammersmith,I stumbled upon this review of The Gate on Time Out. A vegetarian restaurant that gets 5 out of 5 stars? Intriguing. Even though I am certainly NOT a vegetarian,I do very much enjoy pure vegetable dishes if they are well done. Our attempts to visit The Gate were hindered by the fact we couldn’t find it. Even though we had the exact address we kept running up and down Queen Caroline Street which almost ended up in a relationship crisis. Maybe The Gate would consider putting a sign up,that people can actually see? I am sure this would help in getting customers. Anyway,we did find it in the end and I was glad that we did not give up,or break up for that matter. As far as non-Asian vegetarian restaurants go,The Gate is as good as it gets. You will certainly be disappointed if you expect oddly dressed hippies wearing birkenstocks,you will search in vain for the obligatory falafel on the menu and no,the waitresses don’t have dreadlocks. There is a tree painted onto the wall though. I loved the bright room with the high ceiling and large windows. It could however do with a little refurbishment. Overall the place looks a bit run down,which was apparent when we arrived and it was still light,and less obvious during the course of the evening. And have I mentioned that a big sign in front would be a really good idea?  - Tree hugger @The Gate
I loved both of our the starters. October 6th,2011 Category: Bistro (£ £- £££) Oliveto is another example of a substandard,overpriced Italian restaurant in London. I don’t know why you can find so many of them in London,I think I have eaten more bad Italian food than any other cuisine. Read more... (562 words,6 images,estimated 2:15 mins reading time) September 28th,2011 Category: Bistro (££-£££) I think I was one of the first blogger (or even the very first?) to write about Zucca just a couple of weeks after it had opened and it was at the same time one of my first posts. I have to admit that this was by chance rather than culinary instinct. I used to live just around the corner and walked past this new Italian restaurant every day on my way to work and thought it looked nice. There we go. Read more... (645 words,11 images,estimated 2:35 mins reading time) September 25th,2011 Category: Bistro The Riding House Cafe, North of Oxford Circus,is one of the most enchanting places I have been to in a long time. As an all day restaurant it comprises of a more formal restaurant corner,large shared tables perfect for brunch and comfy sofas for the afternoon coffee or pre-dinner cocktail. The overall decor and the attention to detail is remarkable. The generous room shows a number of different textures such as stone,steel,wood and tiles and is filled with antique mismatched furniture interspersed with modern pieces. Wherever you look you can find charming accessories –a grandmother lamp,a weird statue or some other knickknack. Particularly thoughtful I found that they disguised the Dixon hand-dryer at the Ladies’with a fake-antique metal cover.  Riding House Cafe So nothing but praise for the interior of The Riding House Cafe. I just wish they had put as much emphasis on the food as they had on their design. This seems to be a common problem also of the other 2 places by the same owner,namely The Garrison and Village East (both at Bermondsey Street). All three restaurants are pushing the boundaries regarding their design and concept,while staying on the too safe side with their food. The Riding House Cafe has just like everybody else at the moment embraced the small plate concept,serving 5 or 6 dishes each for 3,4 or 5 pounds. Instead of entirely focusing on perfecting its ‘tapas’,it also offers a conventional menu with burgers,steak and fish and chips. We decided to stick with the small plates. The quality of the bread served is very often an omen for things to come and this proved true also for this occasion. Competitively priced for £1.5,the bread was unfortunately bland and starchy. The artichoke puree it came with was ok,but I have no urge to ever eat it again.  Bread selection,artichoke purée £1.5 @Riding House Cafe Our clear favourite was the most low-profile dish we had ordered,namely the roasted butternut squash with sage and chili (3.5). Read more... (977 words,11 images,estimated 3:54 mins reading time) September 22nd,2011 Category: Bistro+ (££-£££) I cannot believe that it took me so long to finally eat at Sushi of Shiori! This Japanese eatery has been on my to do list for the better part of 2 years and when I think of all the amazing sushi that I have missed by not trying it earlier… Sushi of Shiori serves among the best,if not the best,sushi I have ever had in London,particularly considering the value for money equation. Here everything is about quality of the food without the fuss:nothing of the sedate indulgence of Umu, Zuma‘s upscale party atmosphere or Nobu‘s elitism and patronizing staff. The place really doesn’t look like much from the outside and no one would expect a sophisticated sushi bar behind this facade in a little side street somewhere around Euston Station. Stepping through the door,you enter a tiny room with 2 tables,each with 2 seats (you might be able to fit another chair if you are slim) and 3 more seat at the sushi counter where you can watch the master in action. The head chef and owner has worked for the Michelin starred Umu before setting up his own little family venture with his lovely wife taking good care of the patrons.  The Master at Work @Sushi of Shiori I will not go too much into detail about each of the single nigiri that I have tried,most of which were of extraordinary quality. A very good option for Sushi of Shiori newbies is the Shiori Platter which for £19.50 for 8 pieces of nigiri and 3 hosomaki is incredible value for money. The sushi master probably got sick of observing people drowning his little works of art with the rice side in salty soy sauce thereby masking the subtle taste of the different toppings. So we are explained to use the little brush to brush only little soy sauce on the fish side of the nigiri.  Sushi Platter @Sushi of Shiori 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) | Inspiring London Food BlogsFood Blogs around the WorldDesign,Fashion and Art Blogs |
What you say