|
Our latest bi-weekly round-up of the latest London restaurant reviews from the top UK critics as they are added to our reviews section. This week, more good reviews for Pollen Street Social, NOPI and the Riding House Cafe - with a mixed start for The Gilbert Scott and an excellent one for Massimo.
Massimo - overall score 9/10 (new entry)
Fay Maschler - Evening Standard
Choice quote: "Sea bass in lemon sauce with crisp red prawns and green beans was in another league: fish smooth as satin, the shellfish amazing - and in a world where nowadays you are so often traduced by prawns."
Read review
Stephen Farmer - View London
Choice quote: "It might not be cheap but with such a stunning setting and food to match you definitely won’t feel short changed."
Read review
See all the Massimo reviews
Giles Coren - Times
Choice quote: "It made me think of Marcus and the difference between what a chef wants to cook and what he actually wants to eat. And I knew which this was."
Read review
See all the Square reviews
John Lanchester - Guardian
Estimated score
Choice quote: "There were no low points and a competing series of highlights, among them an unbelievably good main of halibut served with a paella of extraordinary intensity."
Read review
AA Gill - Times
Choice quote: "The problem here isn’t that Atherton can’t cook — plainly, he’s inspired, though not plain enough, and rather too inspired. These plates suffer from the most common defect of trendy kitchens: nobody eats them before they get to the customer."
Read review
John Walsh - Independent
Choice quote: "Max's roasted Scottish halibut, exalted by a yummy mussel sauce, twined itself around asparagus, and battled with a side-dish of Catalan paella. These were vivid and extravagant flavours I'd travel miles to experience."
Read review
Richard Vines - Bloomberg
Choice quote: "Pollen Street Social is a work in progress and I’m giving it a maximum four stars because I believe it’s progressing toward excellence."
Read review
See all the Pollen Street Social reviews
Spuntino - overall score 8/10 (no change)
NOPI - overall score 7.5/10 (no change)
Zoe Williams - Telegraph
Choice quote: "The truth is that the first three dishes, against this background of expectation, were such a disappointment mingled with surprise that I can only technically describe them as a shock."
Read review
Marina O'Loughlin - Metro
Choice quote: "...I go back for dinner and now reckon it’s one of the most interesting, affable and, yes, delicious openings in recent times."
Read review
See all the NOPI reviews
AA Gill - Sunday Times
Choice quote: "It’s well intentioned, its heart and all its other organs are in the right places, but its seasoning isn’t. The flavours are smudged and imprecise. The dishes aren’t clear, or doctrinal enough. And a lot of it is decent, but righteously boring."
Read review
Matthew Norman - Telegraph
Choice quote: "Every dish was in perfect balance, every ingredient tasted purely and vibrantly of itself, only more so."
Read review
See all the St John Hotel reviews
Zoe Strimpel - City AM
Choice quote: "...you can spend four hours there, as we did on Saturday night, sipping fizz from saucers, trying a few wines by the glass as you follow your tastebuds and your nose... Time rushes into a vortex of pleasure and animation in the dusky light of the bar."
Read review
See all the J Sheekey Oyster Bar reviews
Lisa Markwell - Independent
Choice quote: "The atmosphere at RHC is its greatest asset. I felt looked after, well-informed and relaxed. Nobody needed to explain the menu "concept" to me and I didn't feel rushed, despite the non-stop walk-ins."
Read review
Guy Dimond - Time Out
Choice quote: "We were so impressed we returned for lunch the next day. The burger is another winner, served is a seed-studded bun, oozing juices and with fine, thin French-fry-style chips."
Read review
Stephen Farmer - View London
Choice quote: "A great little place that should do well, the Riding House Café’s food, prices and flexibility make it somewhere that feels effortlessly good."
Read review
See all the Riding House Cafe reviews
Guy Dimond - Time Out
Choice quote: "It is the building that had the wow factor, not the meal."
Read review
Fay Maschler - Evening Standard
Choice quote: "The problem with an overarching idea more elaborate than something good to eat is that the cutesy monikers make the items all the more disappointing when they turn out ordinary."
Read review
Stephen Farmer - View London
Choice quote: "It certainly looks impressive, but it’s the delicious British menu that would make any man with Victorian sensibilities very proud indeed."
Read review
See all the Gilbert Scott reviews
Barbecoa - overall score 5.5/10 (no change)
Jay Rayner - Observer
Choice quote: "If this restaurant opened in New York, its shortcomings would see it laughed out of town. I wish the presiding chef's home city really had been a huge influence."
Read review
See all the Barbecoa reviews
Kimchee - overall score 5.5/10 (down 0.5)
Marina O'Loughlin - Metro
Choice quote: "Kimchee could be a lot of fun if you’re unfamiliar with the real thing and don’t mind squishing up beside strangers and putting up with somewhat clueless staff."
Read review
See all the Kimchee reviews
Matthew Norman - Telegraph
Choice quote: "Over coffee and nicotine at a table on the sunlit pavement, we agreed that this was a quietly sparkling neighbourhood joint that knows how to make the lunching penny-pincher feel like a plutocrat."
Read review
See all the 101 Pimlico Road reviews
To see how more restaurants are rated, view all our restaurant reviews.
|
Gastroblog 
on twitter
on facebook