One of the delights of a being in a big city is choosing from a wide range of restaurants and cuisines. London is one of the best places in the world in which to do this; there is everything from traditional British pub food to Indian and Chinese plus Lebanese, Thai, Mexican, Italian, French, and the list continues. While here, we indulged in some special places, but also returned to old favorites from seven years ago. Here’s my list of where we dined on good, and occasionally great, food.
Norfolk Arms (Russell Square)–This gastropub was just introducing Spanish tapas when we lived here and they were delicious! They still are and we made it a point of booking several lunches here. Highlights were the choice of sherries to start, the mounded blue cheese and walnut brushetta with a drizzle of honey, the blistered Padron peppers, and the delectable meat platters—ham, chorizo and the like. And if you simply must have your Sunday roast, that’s available too.
Benares (Mayfair)–This Michelin-starred Indian restaurant is superb! The space is elegant, the service attentive, and the food Indian with a contemporary twist.
Hutong (LondonBridge)–Located on the 33rd floor of The Shard, the view from the window tables is spectacular. This is London with the twisting Thames and the rippling rail yards splayed out before you and St. Paul’s looming on the horizon. The food is similar to what you would find in Beijing and good, but not exceptional.
De Amicis (Notting Hill)–Small, family-run Italian restaurant that is most welcoming with good food. We’ve enjoyed their veal preparations (one with fresh porcini) as well as the chicken cacciatore–so much so that we ate here several times this visit!
Mall Tavern (Notting Hill)–An upscale pub that gets very lively most every night (not for those desiring a quiet tete-a-tete), but which offers a sophisticated menu. Reserve ahead and you may be able to sit on the non-bar side which is somewhat quieter. We liked the hake with fennel and the smoked salmon in particular.
Kettner’s (Soho)–Many years ago my grandfather gave me a copy of Kettner’s Book of the Table, published around 1880 with recipes and tips supposedly from this renowned restaurant. We had walked by on a previous visit, but never eaten here. This time we closed the loop and enjoyed a pre-theatre dinner. Kettner’s is known for its selection of champagnes and has a pre-theatre menu. We chose neither preferring instead to order a la carte. It was good and very acceptable as a pre-theatre meal. Kettner was the chef here, back in the day, and had cooked for Napoleon. But he didn’t write the book–someone else did!
Borough Market (Southwark)–I don’t know how we missed out on discovering this marvelous maze of food stalls and produce and meat purveyors on past visits, but we did. This 100-year old market complex is worth the price of the Tube ride with lots of options of ingredients to cook at home, international dishes to takeaway and several sit-down restaurants. We opted for lunch at Fish! which offered a wide range of choices and an excellent fish soup with rouille. We first tasted this smooth, perfect for a nippy day, comfort food in Ajaccio, Corsica in the late 1970’s. It became a favorite then and still is.
Waitrose (everywhere, but especially The Brunswick in Bloomsbury)–I was amazed and impressed with the selection in this supermarket when I came here from Pennsylvania. After having lived in San Francisco for some years, I remain impressed. Waitrose, and even the other food chains (Marks & Spenser and Tesco) do ready-to-heat prepared foods far better than their American counterparts. These items occupy a significant amount of shelf space and the range of cuisines from which to choose is mouthwatering. We purchased several curries this time, which didn’t happen to be from Waitrose, and they were very good!
