We’d like a big white please, we said. What do you mean, a big white, he said, as if a sommelier wouldn’t know that. You know, we said, like a big Burgundy, or a Gewürtz; something aromatic, we said, in unison. There was a suggestion of something orange, but whilst we are sufficiently adventurous to travel to […]
Category Archives: ★★☆☆☆
October
17
Shaun Dickens at the Boathouse. Not floating my boat.
posted by Nicky Richmond
I’ve booked and cancelled Shaun Dickens at the Boathouse in Henley on more than one occasion, simultaneously attracted by his stated pedigree and put off by pictures of somewhat overwrought food. It’s quite fussy plating, the like of which will generally have me running for the hills, unless I know that they know what they are doing. But […]
April
25
Lima Floral. Confusion in Covent Garden.
posted by Nicky Richmond
I was meant to be meeting a lawyer I had got to know on the other side of a messy, drawn-out transaction but she had suffered palpitations and had had to cancel at short notice. No, it was nothing to do with my being on the other side, before you ask.
March
22
Wormwood. Your guess is as good as mine.
posted by Nicky Richmond
I have no idea why they named it Wormwood. After the herb? Or perhaps the star mentioned in the Book of Revelations, which, according to Wikipedia, falls to Earth and poisons a third part of the earth’s waters. #Awkward. Described on the website as “wholesome, creative colourful dishes inspired by tapas/mezze culture executed with French […]
January
29
Maze Sushi. Miso-ry in Mayfair.
posted by Nicky Richmond
Let’s go to Roka, says J. It works for the diet and it’s just round the corner. Roka (pronounced Rock-a) has become our local client lunch eatery of choice, in that culinary hotch-potch that is NoMa. What is NoMa, you may ask, unaware that is my pathetic one-woman attempt to turn the outer reaches of north […]
January
11
C London. Mugged in Mayfair.
posted by Nicky Richmond
I have thought about taking C to C London, dragging him out of his Oxfordshire hermitage, just so that I can say I’ve taken C to C London, but it’s an expensive trip, just for the sake of a pun. I’ve been a few times myself, so I know what I’m in for. Colleague J has […]
August
24
Signor Sassi. Dinosaur spotted in Knightsbridge.
posted by Nicky Richmond
It is Friday morning at 10 am. I text my client, G, as we are meant to be meeting for lunch on the Monday and nothing has been booked yet. Where are we eating and are you booking something? I am worried that we are leaving it too late. I am married to the wrong woman, he says, […]
August
02
Kurobuta. It’s all a matter of taste.
posted by Nicky Richmond
I tend not to read reviews before I eat somewhere new – I find that I’m swayed. I do want a vague sense of whether it might be snog/marry/avoid, but nothing more.
May
24
Chain reaction : Spaghetti House, Bryanston Street.
posted by Nicky Richmond
It must have been twenty years since I’d been to a Spaghetti House. The one on Duke Street was my regular hangout, in the days when I was a lowly Articled Clerk. Pre-fax, pre-email, we still had carbon copies. for those of you who are not ancient, that’s what cc actually means. As my firm […]
January
13
Boopshis. Fast food, Mittel-European style
posted by Nicky Richmond
Boopshis. A labour of love, for two brothers with an Austrian heritage. The word Boopshis a term of endearment used by their grandparents, who left them some money, which they used to do this. Sweet.
