Remembrance Day. Hit in Brockley & Miss in Covent Garden. Critics & More.
Ellis on Angus. Jay alone at Lebanese lunch. Gavin revisits the Savoy Grill. Hayward plays with Lego and Charlotte goes to Ikea.
Today is Remembrance Day, and so I hope you will forgive a very brief digression. Or scroll swiftly by. There’s lots of the usual food and lunch content just below.
A couple of weeks ago, I was making my way to work, headed down the long escalator in London Bridge station, descending to the commuter chaos below. About halfway down, I started to hear the wondrous strains of bagpipes. I went in search, and found a group of pipers right in the middle of the station’s main concourse. The music was magnetic. Commuters gathered, many recording the scene. I decided just to listen. Maybe it’s my Scottish heritage or some past life experience, but the bagpipes always have a strong effect on me.
Of course, they were there to draw attention to the dozens of offices and ratings from the Royal Navy, working hard on the Poppy Appeal in advance of Remembrance Day.
For me, Remembrance Day is powerful and important. An opportunity to reflect on the people who fought and died in the UK Armed Forces, particularly in the two great world wars and conflicts since. And in this time of heightened uncertainty and renewed conflict, it’s a valuable reminder of the death and destruction that war inevitably brings, and the reasons we should we try never to fight one again. The people who did fight in those great wars tried to leave us a legacy intended to protect peace. It isn’t perfect, but it’s been remarkably effective, and it is worth preserving in my view, even in the face of some global leaders eager to tear it down.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled food-related content.
Helpful Advice for Americans Visiting London
Gavin Cleaver has an excellent feature at
designed to help American visitors navigate London.And I agree with every word. For me, the most crucial points are:
Don’t ever eat fish and chips in a pub or a restaurant with table service.
Don’t go for ‘American’ food while you’re abroad.
Don’t bother with afternoon tea. If you want to hang out in the Ritz or the Langham or whatever, go for cocktails.
The food of London is the food of the world. Broaden horizons and try everything.
Still, there are a few things that Gavin left out.
Lots of my American friends want to try old-school, classic British places like Rules and soon-to-reopen Simpson’s. (Here’s a fuller list of these sorts of places.) These can be great, and if you’re eager for that sort of experience, go for it, but limit yourself to one during your trip.
You’ll probably want to go to the theatre. Don’t waste a dinner by rushing through a mediocre meal in a Covent Garden tourist trap. Good restaurants can feed you well and ensure you make your curtain. J Sheekey is my top choice. You can sit at the bar if you’re really feeling under pressure. If you’re in Southbank, Forza Wine in the National Theatre is the perfect go-to. Whatever place you choose, make sure to book in advance. A 6:00 p.m. reservation will leave you plenty of time.
Similarly, if you go to the Tower of London, don’t eat in the immediate vicinity. There are loads of good restaurants a short walk away that won’t punish you for being from out of town.
Last, make a point of going to eat where Londoners actually live. London, it’s been said, is a city of villages. Go and experience the unique character of any one of them. A neighbourhood like Islington is easy to reach from the popular attractions, and there are loads of good restaurants there. Or go a little further to someplace like Chiswick or Peckham. Let me know if you want suggestions.
Considering Solo Dining in London
I love eating out solo. I often sneak off at lunch to take a break from the day, wrestle with a problem, or just force myself to get up from my desk.
And getting a good meal on your own in London has become a lot easier over the past few years. There are more places with counters, and restaurants have gotten better at giving solo diners their full attention.
Liz Hoggard had a good column in the Telegraph last week with useful advice. I particularly like her suggestion about seeking a seat with a view. People-watching makes the whole experience more interesting.
If you’re looking for your own good solo-spot, places like Padella and Bancone, with ample counter seating, are great choices. Good sushi spots are always excellent, as well. Namaiki in Soho does a great, affordable lunchtime Omakase experience.
I know this site is meant to encourage lunch as a device for spending time with other people. But giving yourself some time can be just as valuable.
Hits & Misses
Mini-reviews of places that were either (a) good, but not quite good enough to do a full review and add to the Guide, (b) had a flaw or two, or (c) that I revisited following a prior review.
Hit: Mauby
Mauby is a Caribbean place that opened in Brockley, about 2 minutes from the station, back in July. Jimi Famurewa gave it four stars in one of his final Standard reviews, and Jay Rayner was full of superlatives in a review just last week.
Which is annoying, because it’s a 5 minute walk from my house, and it’s a perfect locals’ place. And thanks to Jay’s review, you now can’t get a booking for months.
The forces behind Mauby are Daniel and Heleena Maynard, who live nearby and used to run Jerk Off barbecue in Dulwich.
They took over a pretty abject fish and chip shop, knocked through the wall into a storage area, and raised the shutters for the first time in three decades. Some paint, new tables, plus vital electrical improvements, and the vibe in Mauby is perfect.
The kind of place you’ll be happy having a cocktail and digging into something delicious.
Both Rayner and Famurewa made it in time for the first seasonal menu. When we visited last week, we got the new “autumnal” edition.
It features stew pork, roasted pumpkin, crispy okra, sprats, butter beans, cassava, and plantains. That’s it. Done. All served in sharing portions. And all wonderful.
The highlight was the crispy okra. Absolutely the best take on okra I’ve ever tasted. Good enough to force me to rethink okra, about which I have bad childhood memories of limp, horrible stuff that routinely made me gag.
The stew pork was next level. Perfectly spiced, rich, and thick. The pork tender and luscious. The pumpkin was similarly outstanding, sauce made from tamarind read more like molasses, without being too sweet.
With a bottle of wine, the whole dinner for two people amounted to £65. An incredible bargain in London. And even if Daniel and Heleena put their prices up following Rayner’s review, it will still be cheap.
Heleena told me that they will probably bring in the next seasonal menu in December. So if you want the pork and okra, move yourself.
Sadly, it isn’t open for lunch just yet. Maybe someday. For now, you should go for dinner. Enjoy a rum cocktail and their incredible food. I’ll see you there. Or not, as I probably now can’t get a booking.
Miss: Fumo
I screwed up. I was meeting a friend for lunch, and suggested Bancone. But we were slow to agree the timing, and I didn’t book. We couldn’t get a table on the day, so wound up around the corner at Fumo.
It’s part of a larger chain, and to give some credit, the food was perfectly fine. They offer everything in sharing portions — which they refer to as Cicchetti, but that’s silly, because we’re not in a bar in Venice.
And the food definitely isn’t Venetian. It’s a flimsy, over-cheesed, touristy take on Italian, adapted for current fashions.
To be fair, the service was excellent. Far better than anyone should expect from a Covent Garden tourist trap.
But don’t go. Be organised and plan ahead a little. Book Bancone or Giovanni’s. Both are far better, and quite nearby.
Critics Wrap-Up
✍🏻 indicates a review that you should read for the writing.
🍽️ indicates a place that sounds excellent and is probably worth a try.
David Ellis (Standard) lamely tries to tap into the Reddit thing where Londoners were trying to steer tourists to Angus Steakhouse. SHOCK. HORROR. His review of London’s most prolific, awful restaurant predictably awards a measly one star. I won’t quote it, and think this sort of thing really ought to be beneath a professional critic.
✍🏻 Giles Coren (Times) compares the Blue Stoops in South Kensington with the Mason’s Arms in Oxfordshire. “Can you tell an urban pub in the country from a country pub in the city?”
Jay Rayner (Observer) loves Joseph’s Brasserie, a new Lebanese place in Kensington. “We are alone in the dining room this lunchtime which, as ever, seems completely wrong.”
🍽️ Nick Lander (jancisrobinson.com) spotlights the Yellow Bittern, a cosy Irish spot in King’s Cross. “The menu may be simple but our lunch for two was first class.”
Gavin Hanly (Hot Dinners) checks out the Savoy Grill, a London classic celebrating 135 years. “If you want to be properly looked after and love a bit of table theatre, and perhaps don't want to go as full-on as The Ritz, this is well worth a look.”
Andy Hayler (independent critic) heads to La Trompette in Chiswick, which I reviewed a couple weeks ago. “La Trompette continues to serve consistently good food in an appealing environment.”
Andy also checks out Mignonette in Richmond, a new, mostly French place. “There is some genuine talent in the kitchen and this is already shaping up very well indeed.”
✍🏻 Hester van Hensbergen (Vittles) uses Tollington’s in Finsbury Park as a foil to explore Spanish cuisine in London. “The problem with Spanish cuisine in London today isn’t that it’s not good in any technical sense, but that it lacks the spirit that makes a restaurant feel unique. It’s a monoculture, entirely lacking a subculture.”
Chris Pople (Cheese & Biscuits) reviews Lima in Shoreditch. “After all these years and even after the new location, I'm still a massive fan of Lima.”
“Christina” (LOTI) calls Bottarga, a new Greek place, “the hottest spot in Chelsea right now.”
✍🏻 Tim Hayward (FT), it turns out, is a tremendous fan of lego — yet another redeeming characteristic — and offers a review of the Lego Mini Chef restaurant which he tried during a visit to Lego HQ in Bilund. “You choose from the menu, where each dish is represented by a different Lego brick. Then you physically ‘build’ your order using pieces stashed in the cutlery holder. This is scanned by a monitor unit on the table, which then begins playing an animated mini-movie showing your order being constructed by little Lego people in a human-scale kitchen. Your meal is then delivered by a conveyor system overseen by two large robots.”
On a similar theme, Charlotte Ivers features the new Ikea restaurant in Hammersmith. It’s not her proper review (that’s linked below), but it reads like one, and it’s charming.
William Sitwell (Telegraph) calls Kushi-ya the “saviour of Nottingham.” Marina O’Loughlin (independent critic) enjoyed Hotel Lutetia in Paris. Tom Parker Bowles (Mail on Sunday) was pleased by Stretford Canteen, a French place near Manchester. Grace Dent (Guardian) gushes about the Troublesome Lodger in Marlow. Charlotte Ivers (Sunday Times) isn’t a fan of the Creamery, a new railway café in Somerset from the folks behind the Newt.
Thanks for reading this week’s update. Let me know where you’ve had a good luck lately. And please subscribe if you haven’t already.