Test Drives

We head to the Odeon at Whiteleys in Bayswater to check out their brand new luxury cinema, with food created by Rowley Leigh.  Can fine dining and film watching go well together?

What can you tell me about Quo Vadis? TV and film folk, media luvvies, foodies of all shapes and sizes all congregate here - Quo Vadis is a venerable canteen for Soho's movers and shakers that's been a restaurant since 1926 and was the former home of Karl Marx. Between 1996 and 2007 it was co-owned by Marco Pierre White and Damian Hirst, and then...

What can you tell me about Roti Chai? It's an Indian restaurant nestled in the heart of Mayfair - but with a difference. Roti Chai's main speciality, and one you'll see as you enter the brightly lit first floor, is of Indian Street food. So the restaurant is split into two - the upstairs mainly focuses on the street food aspect, but the...

Splitting opinion in the food community like a oyster, Tom Aikens' Chelsea restaurant has recently opened with a brand new facelift. Hot Dinners went along to check out whether this particular comeback kid could really pull it off. What can you tell us about Tom Aikens? Having been closed since summer for a makeover that included both decor and...

What can you tell me about Dabbous? The restaurant is named after its chef, Ollie Dabbous, who was Head Chef at Texture and began his career with Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir au Quat Saisons (who has been a big supporter of this new restaurant). He's also spent time working at the Fat Duck, Noma and NYC's WD-50. This is his first solo venture and...

What's Novikov all about? It's the first restaurant outside Russia for Moscow's biggest restaurateur Arkady Novikov. Where is it? On Berkeley Street - opposite Nobu Berkeley, it takes over much of the corner spanning three floors. The ground floor is the Asian restaurant on the corner of Berkeley and Mayfair Place, then there's an Italian...

What can you tell us about Kitchen Joel Antunes? In the 90’s one of the most popular dining destinations in London had to be Les Saveurs in Mayfair. Run by the impressively trained chef Joel Antunes, Les Saveurs couldn’t seem to get a bad review if it tried. After an extended trip to the US where he launched the highly acclaimed Joel in Atlanta,...

What can you tell us about Pitt Cue Co? The brainchild of Tom Adams and Jamie Berger, it sees the BBQ trailer folk who created a storm under the Hungerford Bridge last summer, transferring to bricks and mortar accommodation just off Carnaby St. Where is it? On the corner of Newburgh St and Ganton St. Who’s it suitable for? Carnivores in all...

Ever since it reopened its doors after 36 months and £220 million of refurbishment, the Savoy has been busy pushing its future, whilst never losing sight of its heritage. The American bar, for example. has been sensitively given a gentle push into the 21st century but still retaining all of its original allure. Hot Dinners popped in just before...

What can you tell us about Mishkin's? It's the latest in Russell Norman's slowly burgeoning Soho/Covent Garden empire, following in the footsteps of Polpo, Polpetto, Da Polpo and Spuntino. While it retains many of the features of its predecessors (counter dining, sharing plates, and a bare-brick Lower Manhattan vibe), this time the restaurant is...

What can you tell us about Aurelia? In 312 BC, as part of the ongoing Roman expansion, the construction of the Via Aurelia road began. Over the following few centuries, what started out as a road that ran along a portion of the northern coast of Italy, was extended and now stretches as far as northern France and Spain. We imagine this historic...

What can you tell me about the Bell? Having just spent a night at the newly spruced up Bell at Ticehurst, we have to confess to feeling pretty jealous of the locals and their spanking new inn. The sign outside points one way to a 14th century church and the other way (towards the Bell) to 21st century ding-dong, but the origins of the Bell are...

We've been to a few speakeasy spots in New York and it's always great fun walking through noodle shops to find hidden cocktail bars - it's an easy way to feel like you have the run of the city. That's clearly the vibe that Young Turks chefs Isaac Mchale and James Lowe are after with their new Shoreditch spot at The Ten Bells. On a Friday night we...

So what can you tell me about The Rookery? Recently opened on the South Side of Clapham Common - and just within view of the grassy stretch where virtuous Londoners sweat it out at military-style bootcamps - The Rookery is the new kid in SW London. Modelled after "a great NYC neighbourhood bar in Brooklyn or the Lower East Side", it's a bold...

What do you know about Copita It's a new restaurant set up by the people behind award-winning Barrica (in Fitzrovia). It's going for an authentic Spanish tapas bar style, something similar to Jose in Bermondsey. It's a small room with no bookings, ideal for a quick stop in Soho. Who's it aimed at? More so than traditional Spanish restaurants in...

What can you tell us about Alyn Williams at the Westbury? This is the first solo venture from Williams, the former head chef at Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley and the second new restaurant to open at the Westbury hotel in a matter of months (following The Gallery), making the Westbury a plausible new destination for eating out in London. Williams honed...

We freely admit to being about as barking mad about burgers as most London foodies. So when we heard that the signature dish at the weekend brunch two-Michelin-starred chef Helene Darroze was serving up at the Connaught was an ox cheek burger with foie gras, we knew it fell upon us to go and try it out for you. Selfless and greedy – that’s us. The...

So what can you tell me about Galoupet? Nestled away in a Knightsbridge side-street, Galoupet is an all-day restaurant/wine bar with a strong focus on its wine list and the seasonal aspect of its sharing menu. Who's it aimed at? Given the emphasis placed on wine - there's a string of enomatic machines as you enter the restaurant - it's certainly looking...

Forget Hastings. Forget Trafalgar, and Waterloo. From the 29th November 2011 the lines are drawn for one of the greatest battles ever fought. Swords and guns will be replaced by bottle-openers, glasses and foot long pork scratchings, as Draft House founder Charlie McVeigh takes on Wine Chap Tom Harrow in the ultimate showdown between beer and...