Restaurants
WC2N 4DW
London
5 William IV Street
I’ve had a thing about natural wines ever since I went to see a wizard on a wine-tasting trip to Bordeaux last year. The wizard (given name: Jacques Broustet, owner of Chateau Lamery) makes wine according to the arcane principles of biodynamics.
There was a lot I couldn’t fully understand from this first encounter with biodynamics (particularly the bit about filling a cow’s horn with manure and burying it for six months), but the wizard’s wine was definitively good.
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W1H 7BY
London
34 Portman Street
Texture is still offering incredible tasting menus full of, well, texture (you’d expect nothing less really, would you?). A year since iLoveMyGrub’s last visit we have returned to try their new “rejuvenation menu”. Including pre-dinner crisps (parmesan, bread, potato & cod skin), bread with oil, butter & tapenade, amuse bouche, two savoury courses, a pre-dessert, dessert and petit fours, this offering is incredible value at £39.
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If ever a restaurant embodies its name, this is it. A true exploration of taste and, of course, texture. If I were to list all the ingredients from just one dish I would probably exceed my word count. The staff are efficient and courteous, without being over-friendly, the bar is gorgeous: creams and browns of wood and suede with a glamorous edge, and every table in the bar area comes with its own ice bucket in the centre, both convenient – and potentially embarrassing!
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SW4 9JW
London
Abbeville Road
Having recently had a makeover, The Abbeville which is located on a quiet high street near Clapham Common, continues to be a cosy neighbourhood pub, perfect for wiling away the day. We wandered over to this leafy area of London on a lovely sunny Saturday afternoon. The chairs and tables on the pavement outside the pub were packed with late twenty to thirty year olds, soaking up the weather, relaxing, drinking and tucking into some British grub.
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The force behind the new St Pancras Champagne bar and ‘The Gherkin’ have decided to take on summer drinking under the guise of a lakeside bar at the Barbican. Given the amount of sunshine we get it’s an optimistic venture!
The idea is to offer an afternoon and early evening dining venue (the place closes at 8.00pm so as not to upset the neighbours), serving simple food and summer drinks, including champagne.
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TW10 6UT
Richmond-Upon-Thames
61-63 Petersham Road
When Lady Anne Bingham lived in the elegant Georgian houses that today form Richmond’s Bingham Hotel, she might have been a little upset had she known that, centuries later, guests and diners would be walking through her back reception rooms with a sense – albeit brief – of ownership.
Coming in from Petersham Road to the small hotel reception of The Bingham, and walking through into the impressive bar, you do feel surprisingly at home.
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EC1V 4PA
London
Clerkenwell
292 - 294 St John Street
There’s something of a trend in the world of London pubs at the moment, for a return to the honest British food more familiar to those raised on the cooking of the 60s than the cooking of the noughties. Back-to-basics, great British grub, call it what you like: old-school cuts of meat and comfort food classics are appearing on menus all over the city.
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The Blue Elephant sits on the busy, traffic-laden stretch of Fulham Broadway. Admittedly not the most serene of locations, but this becomes irrelevant once you set foot inside the restaurant. To get to our table, we walked over two bridges, two ponds and past enough foliage to put Kew Gardens to shame. Inside this Thai eatery, the people at Blue Elephant endeavour to take your mind off the buzzing high street, and transport you to a place altogether more relaxing and rejuvenating.
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KT2 5AU
Kingston upon Thames
Lower Ham Road
Canbury Gardens,
The Boaters Inn has bagged an enviable spot on the stretch of The Thames between Kingston and Teddington Lock. Beside a decent riverside location (and stellar sunset views to soak up on summer evenings), The Boaters has long been known as a jazz venue too with 2010 marking the 20th anniversary of jazz starting up here. Jazz at The Boaters started off in 1990, with one of its founding members being keyboard player Simon Carter who’s played with the likes of Jamiroquai and Anastacia.
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