Tag Archives: overpriced

March 10

Chutney Mary: the makeover.

My first impression is that they have spent a small fortune on the fit-out and my second is that I want to stay in the bar. Chutney Mary is the pimped-up reincarnation of the original restaurant of the same name which, until very recently plied its trade at the bottom end of the King’s Road. […]

September 10

Sushi Samba. Splash the cash.

My FOMO has reached new proportions. I know that this is a mix of Japanese, Brazilian and Peruvian, pure con-fusion food but I’m not sure what that really means.  Though I do know my nigiri from my sashimi, I’m not so hot on the churrascos and the anticuchos, so I have decided to plan in advance,  otherwise known as looking up […]

July 03

Amaya. Rich pickings.

I feel like I’m five, says C, waving his arms high in the air and simulating an exaggerated knife and fork movement. The chairs in the raised section of the restaurant are too low or the tables are too high, it doesn’t matter which. Obviously, I point this out and the maître d’ suggests I might […]

January 11

C London. Mugged in Mayfair.

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 […]

December 14

Wiltons. SW1. History on a plate.

It’s been there since 1742, according to the doormat. Bang in the heart of hunting-shooting-fishing-land, you can stock up on all your country needs before you come here and eat something that someone else has had the decency to shoot for you. Wanting, nay needing to avoid anything remotely festive, when  Wiltons pinged up on […]

November 20

Benares. Blinging it up in Berkeley Square.

We’re going to the Punchbowl, I tell J, it’s that pub in Mayfair, you know, the one that used to be owned by Guy Ritchie, when he was Madonna’s husband. For all I know, it  might still be a Ritchie venture but even if it is, we can be eternally grateful that we won’t be […]

Rasoi. Spice at a price.

There is practically no time when C has refused an invitation to a meal involving curry. He doesn’t like Trishna (uncomfortable chairs, the noise, the fussiness), or Benares (the complexity, the expense) and in this, as in much else, we disagree. Funnily enough, I didn’t mention that there might be fussiness at Rasoi, the brainchild […]

June 03

Wing Lei. Give it the gold finger.

I’d got it all planned. My male pedicurist/food truck chef had recommended Lotus of Siam, five minutes away from the ode to overshlog that is our hotel, the Wynn, Las Vegas. Covering 250 acres, boutique this is not. Do not ask what I am doing here. For those of you who don’t know, the Wynn […]

January 02

Kai Mayfair. Cry, wallet.

  It’s got lots of awards, has Kai. Not only a Michelin star, but, according to its website, it was the highest ranked Chinese restaurant in the Sunday Times Food List 2012, Best Chinese restaurant in London in the Hardens Guide, Best Chinese restaurant in something called “Zagat survey” though it doesn’t say when, or what […]

Zafferano. Z-lister.

I’d been here in a former life. When this was a great restaurant. When Giorgio Locatelli used to be the chef. When they had a special truffle menu and even the dessert had truffles in it. I remember it well. I will remember very little of this meal, other than that it was overpriced and […]