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Our latest fortnightly round-up of the latest London restaurant reviews from the top UK critics as they are added to our reviewssection. This week , we've three weeks worth of reviews to catch up with, including new entries for the refurbished Tom Aikens, Jeremy Lee's Quo Vadis, Pitt Cue co. and more...
Andy Lynes - Metro
Choice quote: "It’s difficult to find major fault with Alyn Williams at The Westbury, yet the evening fails to catch fire. The windowless room is sadly lacking in atmosphere... The food, while technically accomplished, is rootless, with no antecedents except in the food served at all the other fancy restaurants and hotels that Williams has worked in."
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See all the Alyn Williams at the Westbury reviews
AA Gill - Sunday Times
Choice quote: "This restaurant is one deep breath away from being in the half-dozen best dining rooms in the country, but he needs to ditch the show-off sardine. He needs to find his inner herring."
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Richard & Peter - Harden's
Estimated score
Choice quote: "Two of us tasted everything from the lunchtime menu, and had one of the most innovative and most enjoyable meals we can remember having in London, or anywhere else for that matter, for a very long time."
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Fay Maschler - Evening Standard
Choice quote: "For all the air of dress-down casualness with its nod to Danish furniture design and lighting - perhaps subconsciously to bring to mind New Nordic cuisine - this is the customary Michelin stargazing. Which is not to say that much of it is not beautifully executed and the inherent little extras are meticulously wrought."
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Kelly Hussey - View London
Choice quote: "Tom Aikens has taken a risk with the new direction of the restaurant, and it’s sure to be one that’s not to everyone’s taste. However, it’s perfectly fine to be quirky as long as you maintain the quality – and that’s certainly the case here."
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Steve Dineen - City AM
Choice quote: "Tom Aikens Restaurant feels like the way great food should be served today – without stuffiness or ostentation. It comes very highly recommended."
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See all the Tom Aikens reviews
Richard Vines - Bloomberg
Choice quote: "The restaurant isn’t just a great idea: It’s a winner because of the quality of the food. Even the salad -- tomato, lettuce, onion, red and yellow peppers, pickled vegetables -- is special: The colors are so vibrant it looks like it’s been Photoshopped, while the dressing has just a hint of sweetness."
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Charmaine Mok - Time Out
Choice quote: "If you're looking for value for money, it's the crustaceans that win every time. The lobster roll - chunks of the meat coated with Japanese-style, egg-yolk-rich mayonnaise, swathed in soft and glossy brioche and topped with a whole claw - would be our recommendation of the three."
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See all the Burger & Lobster reviews
Giles Coren - Times
Choice quote: "I would hate to send you here, to this, I think, paragon of a restaurant, only for you to feel ignored when you arrive, or treated less well than the table next to you. But that’s what life is like."
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John Walsh - Independent
Choice quote: "The Delaunay instantly zooms to the top of my list of Restaurants to Take Special Friends For a Big Treat. It's lovely just to hang out there. The waiting staff are friendly and attentive. The prices aren't astronomical. You can't help feel it's your kinda place."
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John Lanchester - Guardian
Estimated score
Choice quote: "...I do have to say that, at the moment, if someone were offering me a treat here or at the Wolseley, I'd go for the one that has been open for longer."
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See all the Delaunay reviews
Hedone - overall score 8/10 (down 0.5)
Zoe Williams - Telegraph
Choice quote: "It's quite fussy but, for the fuss, OK value. I personally would come back for the smoked potato, but that's just me."
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See all the Hedone reviews
Guy Dimond - Time Out
Choice quote: "...a death row last meal never tasted this good: baked beans made using black turtle beans in a hammy stock, braised sprout tops with the kiss of garlic, or a side order of shiitake mushrooms which had been pickled in cider vinegar, then given a panko crust and crisply deep-fried."
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See all the Pitt Cue Co. reviews
Pizarro - overall score 8/10 (down 0.5)
Nick Curtis - Evening Standard
Choice quote: "Although its simplicity sometimes verges on bluntness, Pizarro serves beautifully cooked, evocatively Spanish food."
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See all the Pizarro reviews
Fay Maschler - Evening Standard
Choice quote: "The combination of lovely Jeremy Lee, the hard-working Hart brothers and "Spitz" is the dream team of which my nights are made."
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See all the Hedone reviews
Giles Coren - Times
Choice quote: "It’s the very opposite of what fashionable restaurants have striven to do in the past, which is to make it feel from the outset like everyone who is anyone is there. Meat Liquor, rammed though it is, feels like there’s nobody there at all."
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See all the Meat Liquor reviews
Novikov - overall score 7.5/10 (up 0.5)
AA Gill - Sunday Times
Choice quote: "The maki of soft-shell crab was back on track. Yellowtail with coriander and a spot of chilli was better than the original across the road in Nobu."
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See all the Novikov reviews
AA Gill - Sunday Times
Choice quote: "Roti Chai may be the beginning of something, but it may also be the end of something we will miss after it all becomes McCurry."
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See all the Roti Chai reviews
34 - overall score 7/10 (up 0.5)
Richard Vines - Bloomberg
Choice quote: "I like 34 and I’ll go back. The dining room (designed by Martin Brudnizki) is so elegant, it’s like a magnet. The service is better than I’ve experienced at other Caring restaurants."
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Zoe Williams - Telegraph
Choice quote: "I don't want to sound coarse by banging on, but this certainly isn't a budget choice: however, it was indulgent, nostalgic and exciting, like lying on a rug made of a tiger. I loved it."
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Tracey MacLeod - Independent
Choice quote: "For me, 34 lacked the theatrical buzziness of rival opening, The Delaunay. But it will doubtless become a favourite of the Mayfair set, who can watch their steaks sizzling on the grill, all trace of smoke whisked away by a top-of-the-range air conditioning system."
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Giles Coren - Times
Choice quote: "It’s just not in a place that I or anyone like me is ever going to be walking past when they happen to be hungry."
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John Lanchester - Guardian
Estimated score
Choice quote: "(price) allowances made, 34 is, in its unobtrusive way, very good. You notice the food only if you consciously choose to pay attention – it doesn't raise its voice – but if you do, you'll see that the cooking is bang on target."
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See all the 34 reviews
Colchis - overall score 7/10 (down 1)
Fay Maschler - Evening Standard
Choice quote: "As often happens, khachapuri (pillow-soft cheese-filled leavened bread) was the standout assembly in the first course followed by lobio mchadit, kidney bean stew."
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See all the Colchis reviews
Lisa Markwell - Independent
Choice quote: "I know I'll come back to The Modern Pantry – Hansen (not in the kitchen on our visit) is a real talent – but tonight feels an ill-fated date."
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See all the Modern Pantry reviews
John Walsh - Independent
Choice quote: ""We needed high levels of pampering, stroking and warming-up. Though the room wasn't up to it, luckily The Well's food and drink were. "
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See all the Crooked Well reviews
Emma Barnett - Telegraph
Estimated score
Choice quote: "The varied plates, mixed with the vivacity of colour beamed onto the tables, and the smell of a spicy Asian banquet, provided a real sensory feast. And the technology definitely enhances rather than hinders the experience."
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See all the Inamo St James reviews
Marina O'Loughlin - Metro
Choice quote: "They’ve embraced the pleasing, comfort-food elements of Jewish delis and ditched the worthy, parve-y stuff... Me, I’m just glad I don’t have to adhere to the rules: Mishkin’s is all the more delicious for the flouting."
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Jay Rayner - Observer
Estimated score
Choice quote: "...I love Mishkin's. I love that anyone has bothered. And on a cold winter's day, with the windows steaming up, and the room full of noise and clatter it feels right."
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See all the Mishkin's reviews
Steve Dineen - City AM
Choice quote: "A meal with so few redeeming features is a rarity – an experience you should be able to dine out on for years to come, embellishing the details with every telling. Antunès even falls short on this count."
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Angela Jones - View London
Choice quote: "...this restaurant epitomises decadent yet accessible French dining. From the well defined flavours to the friendly waiters, cruise ship chic rarely tasted this good."
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See all the Mishkin's reviews
ALSO REVIEWED
Downtown Mayfair
Marina O'Loughlin - Metro: "Downtown Mayfair is a ludicrous restaurant. File this under ‘I went so you don’t have to’."
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Bukowski
Jasmine Gardener - Evening Standard: "If I could find a fault it might be the chef's timings with the beef - so if you like your burger medium make sure to ask for it rare and you'll eat happily every time. And, best of all, without forking out a fortune."
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Baku
Fay Maschler - Evening Standard: "The choices are, I would venture, undeniably Azerbaijani - caviar included - but not impenetrable to anyone who has eaten in a Turkish or Iranian restaurant. Prices are high, which sort of goes with this Sloaney territory, but portions are tiny. Perhaps that is thought to be sophisticated."
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Bright Courtyard
Giles Coren - Times: " The food was mostly immaculate. The presentation was top-end international grand hotel but the cooking had real balls."
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Gaby's Deli
Matthew Norman - Telegraph: "... what makes Gaby’s so special is that it stands almost alone as a beacon of individualism, illuminated by a tight-knit family working almost around the clock, in an ever-more homogenised age. We need the retention of character and tradition it represents."
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To see how more restaurants are rated, view all our restaurant reviews.
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