POSH
Wrong side of the feckin palace.
Core.
Wrong side of the Palace (www.corebyclaresmyth.com): You can tell a lot about a chef by the way they treat a potato. To Clare Smyth, who grew up in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, potatoes were their own daily religion. In more than 20 years working in professional kitchens, Smyth developed a ritual of eating a cooked one “plain” with salt and pepper before service. So it is fitting the humble tuber gets star billing on the menu of her first restaurant. And it is a mind-blowing potato. The concept: Smyth hits “refresh” on fine dining, ditching some of the trappings (cloches, carpets, tablecloths etc.) but hanging on to many more. Spiffy-suited waiters are thick on the ground; there’s a sommelier for every occasion; and handbag stools, Zalto stemware and petits fours are present and correct. Core is the debut restaurant of Clare Smyth, the first and only female chef to run a restaurant with three Michelin-stars in the UK.
The Ledbury
(www.theledbury.com): Not only is The Ledbury the 14th best restaurant in the world, it has been voted the UK’s best restaurant more than half a dozen times and holds two Michelin stars. It is also just as famous for being the place where chefs and waiters armed with rolling pins and frying baskets fought off a masked mob during the 2011 London riots. When it comes to Notting Hill, I’ll take my carnival on my plate and my riots in my flavours, thanks very much. Scottish langoustine wrapped in shiitake with cauliflower is one of the best things I have eaten all year, either in the UK or anywhere else in the world. A chubby finger of langoustine tail is tiled with slices of shiitake mushroom like the armoured scales of an armadillo, with a savoury cauliflower purée to balance out the sweetness. It is one of the most ravishing plates of food you will find anywhere, but the atmosphere at The Ledbury is too upbeat to stay staring at your dinner for long.
Afternoon Tea
NOT High tea…that was dinner eaten at a table rather than a lap.
Aqua Shard.
Afternoon tea at Aqua Shard, London Bridge. (aquashard.co.uk): It’s all about the views from the thirty-first floor of Renzo Piano’s glass spike, with London served up as a glorious dish of buildings. But the team here aren’t prepared to be outdone by a load of bricks and mortar. From the imaginative selection of hearty finger sandwiches (rye bread and chive cream cheese is our fave) to the Earl Grey opera cake and deconstructed apple and blackberry crumble, everything is beautifully executed and impeccably served. Not really my thing but a fab view.
Browns
“There are Afternoon Teas, and there are Afternoon Teas fit for a queen. Queen Victoria loved to take hers at Brown’s, in our irresistibly elegant Drawing Room.” - So they say, gets good reviews but I haven’t tried it because I can’t be arsed with afternoon tea.
Scarfe’s Bar
(www.scarfesbar.com): Renowned British artist and caricaturist, Gerald Scarfe, has lent both his name and artistic vision to Scarfes Bar. Gerald’s own collection of amusing and conversation-provoking paintings, highlighting his best work, adorn the marble walls, transforming Scarfes Bar into a living canvas, described by Gerald as “my personal art gallery, where you can see my life on these walls”.
It’s fucking expensive. Go when our mate Ed Jones is playing with Kitty LaRoar and Nick Shankland. It also says it’s in Covent Garden, it isn’t it’s Holborn.