Maison François, Duke Street, Central London

 

Housed in a grand building with high-ceilings and theatrical lighting, Maison François's striking Art Deco dining room can imbue any meal with a sense of occasion. The French menu is safe and stimulating at the same time. The emphasis is on classic French dishes made with high-quality ingredients, precision and passion.  Among the starters, the rock oysters, sauce mignonette (£21 for six) and the assiette de charcuterie (£15) are both top-notch takes on traditional favourites, while the anchovies, ricotta and thyme, with grilled bread (£9.50) is a treat for the taste buds.  On a cold winter's day, the special main of green lentils with bacon and a Toulouse sausage (about £17) is hearty and enjoyable, particularly when combined with the moreish pommes Anna à la truffe (£7) and the rustic cabbage, anchoïade, breadcrumbs and chilli (£8). For fish lovers, the halibut in a mussels sauce is a tad pricey at £29, but gets rave reviews, while the hungry might opt for half a roast chicken cooked in herbs for £24. The very extensive wine list starts at about £26 a bottle and is heavily orientated towards France and its European neighbours. If you are celebrating, the Toffoli Prosecco Frizzante (£36 per bottle) is a decent option. Providing proficient, yet relaxed, service, Maison François successfully occupies the middle ground between fine dining and a fun meal out. 8/10

J Sheekey, St Martin's Court, Central London

 

On a chilly December evening in the Covid era, the distinguished Atlantic bar of J Sheekey is a comforting place to take refuge. A bustle of bartenders mix and serve drinks frenetically while you perch on high chairs and survey the black and white prints of celebrities that adorn the walls. In the dining room the small army of staff flow backwards and forwards shepherding eye-catching plates of seafood in all directions.  Among the starters, the chargrilled squid served with roasted chorizo, padron peppers and smoked butter (£14.50) is both nourishing and flavoursome. Even more impressive and substantial is the Atlantic Bar platter of seafood, which includes oysters, prawns, mussels, clams, ceviche, cockles and whelks. At £25 per person, it is a punchy starter, but this is fresh and scintillating seafood. Among the main courses, the Sheekey’s fish stew (£26), with garlic mayonnaise, is more prosaic, but enjoyable all the same. You should find something you like on the lengthy wine list, but at a price. If you aren't too fussy, the Terres d'Azur Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp and fairly affordable option at £36 per bottle. All-in-all, J Sheekey is a refined and rewarding place to indulge a fish fetish. (8/10)

The River Café, Rainville Road, Hammersmith, West London

It can be tough to secure a table for the winter set lunch at this famous west London eatery. But, if you can, you get a chance to eat reasonably-priced Michelin-starred food from a restaurant that is an intrinsic part of London's culinary folklore - you have a choice of two courses for £28, three courses for £34 or four courses for £42.  The menu changes daily, but with four varied dishes for antipasti, four for primi and four for secondi, you will likely be spoilt for choice. Although the portions aren't that big, you'll get some tasty focaccia rolls upfront, meaning three courses should be sufficient. The hand-cut tagliatelli with Parma ham and cream makes for a mouthwatering primi. For a secondi, the slow-cooked pork with soft polenta is both succulent and full of flavour. The ice cream for desert is good enough, but not exceptional. To drink, the Pinot Bianco, 2018 Cantina Terlano, (£29 for a 500ml carafe) is clean and pleasant.

Pollen Street Social, Pollen Street, Central London

At any Michelin-starred restaurant in London, a three course lunch for £37 is a bargain. At the expertly-run Pollen Street Social, it is almost a steal, particularly if you steer clear of the pricey wine list. Although there are only three choices for each course, the waiting staff also bring a steady stream of extras, so your taste buds will be well and truly stimulated. These memorable morsels include an afternoon-tea themed mix of appetisers, featuring caviar, smoked salmon, cucumber and a mini-Victoria sponge cake. The miniature mushroom soup, which appears before the main course, is also delicious.

Texture, Portman Street, central London

Pollock with chorizo, tomatoes and avocado

A Michelin-starred restaurant with an Icelandic chef, Texture serves imaginative and exquisitely-presented food. Smart, but not stuffy, the stylish dining room has very high ceilings, plenty of natural light and a view of the prep area in front of the kitchens. The quirky crockery and modernist lighting add to the ambiance. The good value set lunch (three courses for £33.50 or two courses for £29) has a choice of two starters, two mains and two deserts, but you'll also be treated to several little tasters, such as an edgy gazpacho, mini poppadoms and chocolate truffles with your bill. To start, the yellow fin tuna tartare, served with ginger, coriander and bonito, is very fresh, but the flavours are pretty subtle. For a main, the precisely-cooked pollock, served with avocado, tomatoes and chorizo on a small bed of creamy mash potato, has more punch and is delicious. The dishes contain very little carbs, but the accompanying basket of warm sourdough and rustic brown bread, accompanied by a fine olive oil and rock salt, is a real treat in itself. For desert,  the Icelandic skyr (a kind of sweet, rich yoghurt) with blueberries and breadcrumbs, really hits the spot. The table service is a bit random, but the Slovenian maitre d' has charm and charisma. As you would expect, Texture's wine list is impressive, extensive and pricey, and you will certainly find something to your taste. Both the Saumur L’Insolite Thierry Germain and the M3 Chardonnay Shaw + Smith (a tenner a glass) are clean, crisp and go well with the seafood. A meal at Texture is a visual and a culinary treat. 8/10

The Portland, Great Portland Street, Central London

A small, but smart, modern European restaurant, The Portland is popular with discerning diners and it can be hard to get a table. The decor is modern and minimalist, as is the menu. There is a choice of three dishes per course, supplemented by a handful of specials, but they may sell out quickly. As an alternative to a starter, the snacks are imaginative and full of novel flavours. They may include white truffle and gruyere macarons (£3), crispy chicken skins with liver parfait, candied walnuts and grapes (£3), wild rice crackers, crab, lime and sorrel (£6) and warm pumpkin cakes, chestnut, truffle and aged Mimolette (£7). The latter conjures up a particularly rich and sophisticated mix of flavours. Among the three main courses, there will probably be a meat dish, a fish dish and a vegetarian dish. The Gressingham duck (£24), served with onions and kale, is earthy and nourishing, but reviews of the turbot (£27), served with carrots and lemon verbena, aren't quite as good. The sides are expensive - five pounds for some new potatoes or an autumn salad - but there is generally enough for two. On the whole, the food is both beautifully presented and precisely cooked: this is posh nosh. The very cosmopolitan wine list starts at about £20 a bottle, rising to over a £100. Fortunately, it features very helpful descriptive notes. The Bisceglia, 'Terre di Vuloano' Falanghina, Campania 2014 is crisp and drinkable, but not quite worth £27 a bottle. The service can be impeccable, while the ambiance is pleasant. Your fellow diners are likely to be middle-aged and middle class, rather than hip young things. 8/10

Benugo Bar & Kitchen, the British Film Institute, Southbank, central London

Housed in a vast space with a soaring ceiling, a shining flagstone floor and framed by glass, criss-crossed by diagonal girders, the Benugo bar and restaurant is an attractive and atmospheric place to eat. In the evening, the leather armchairs in the intimately-lit bar and lounge can be buzzing with cultural chatter, creating an arthouse ambiance. Although the menu is quite short, it is divided into seasonal, land, farm and sea, thereby covering most of the bases. For a main course, you can choose from pork belly, sea bream, gnocchi, sirloin steak and other fashionable favourites priced up to £21.50. The creamy butternut squash risotto with parmesan cheese (about £12) is excellent, boasting a lovely mix of flavours and perfectly-cooked rice. But the portion is a little light. The rocket side salad (£4.50) with cherry tomatoes and parmesan is also very fresh and enjoyable, but is similarly modest. As well as a wine list, Benugo BFI offers beers, such as Amstel, on draught. The service, which comes with a genuine smile, is warm and relaxed. 8/10

The Boundary Rooftop Bar & Grill, Boundary Street, East London

On the top floor of a converted Victorian warehouse, the Boundary Rooftop Bar & Grill has an open terrace with views over Shoreditch, outdoor heaters and an pergola enclosed in glass. Surrounded by pot plants, creeper plants and cool, contemporary lighting, you can sit on canvas chairs at a wooden garden-style table. The Mediterranean menu up here is fairly limited, but it is difficult to go wrong. The starters and hors d'oeuvres can be very good, perhaps featuring dressed yellow beetroot, salami with rocket and bruschetta topped with vegetables, parmesan and olive oil. The latter is particularly delicious. Among the main courses, the rib-eye steak (£24), served with béarnaise and anaemic chips, is juicy and enjoyable. You can get various side orders at about £4 a pop. The wine list, starting at £20 a bottle, is short and French. Although the wine is served in tumblers, it is decent stuff. Among the deserts (£6), neither the creme brûlée nor the chocolate mousse, topped with fresh fruit and cream, really make their mark. Although it is not the ideal winter venue, the Boundary Rooftop Bar & Grill must be a atmospheric place to eat on a sunny evening. 7/10

Jamie's Italian, Piccadilly, Denman Street, central London

A multi-storey, mega-restaurant, this branch of Jamie's Italian tries to bring an edgy east-end feel to the touristy and more salubrious west end.  With brick walls, distressed wooden furniture, exposed vents, wooden floors and metallic tables, Jamie's Italian has the well-honed hallmarks of a Shoreditch eatery. But the clientele is more Highgate than Hoxton. In crisp white shirts, the young waiting staff are cooler-than-thou, but seem a little world weary.  On the menu, the bread basket (£3.95), which contains rosemary focaccia, ciabatta, seeded crackerbread, sourdough and grissini sticks and comes with an addictive olive tapenade, is tempting and tasty. But you might only get a mouthful of each variety. Among the main courses, the sausage pappardelle (£11.95) is pleasant and satisfying, but nothing special.  The prawn linguine (£13.50) gets better reviews, while the beef burger (£13.95 with chips)  contains a large and filling slab of meat topped with smoked mozzarella. The side dishes are nicely-done, but modest for the price tags. The rocket salad with parmesan (£3.55) is delicious, but sparse, while the market vegetables may just be a plate of finely-sliced courgette doused in garlic. For desert, the chocolate brownie (£5.45) is best avoided. Although the brownie is warm, soft and sweet, it may be served with a jarring frozen yoghurt and topped with sickly caramelised popcorn. To drink, the Crystal beer - a cool, flavoursome lager - is excellent. 7/10

Angler Restaurant, South Place Hotel, Moorgate, central London

Images from Angler's web site

A refined Michelen-starred fish restaurant on the top floor of the stylish South Place Hotel, Angler is a fine choice for seafood-lovers looking for a special meal. While the architecture is both high-end and high-tech, the crisp white tablecloths, smart waiting staff and gleaming cutlery are just high-end. At Christmas, you can either plumb for the three-course festive menu (£48) or go a la carte. Either way, you will eat well and be treated to several free appetisers - the mushroom mousse is very, very good, while the sourdough bread is seductively warm and soft. The very extensive wine list starts at £21 a bottle, but if you aren't an aficionado, you can get a bottle of clean Chilean white for £25 that goes well with seafood.

Lunch at the Ting restaurant, Hotel Shangri-La, the Shard, London

Offering lunch with a view, the Hotel Shangri-La's Ting Restaurant is half way up the Shard - reputed to be the tallest building in western Europe. Although service can be slow and the portions on the small side, the understated oriental decor is cool and contemporary, while the view can be spectacular. At lunch time, the set menu is priced at two courses for £27 or three courses for £30.

The Tramshed, Rivington Street, central London

With a spectacular and spacious dining room,  The Tramshed is a destination restaurant housed in a grade-II listed electricity generating facility built for the tramway system in 1905. The enormous vaulted ceiling, the thousands of tiles and the industrial ambiance is something special, but it is all overshadowed by a Damien Hirst installation consisting of a stuffed cockerel standing on top of a stuffed cow transfixed in an embalming tank on a plinth. Unsurprisingly then, the Tramshed's menu is dominated by meat. For a lightish lunch, the cock and bull is a decent option. It's a steak and chicken, salad and mayo, ciabatta, sandwich served with a dozen chips, for about a tenner.  It is moist and tasty, but not that generous. The (very) garlic mushrooms, which are delicious, make a great accompaniment. If you are ravenous, you can get a whole roast chicken (presumably to share) carved up at your table. In the men's loos, you are overlooked by a picture of a semi-naked woman, which, unnervingly, starts to move after a few seconds. You won't forget this place. 8/10

Tsuru Bankside, Canvay Street, central London

Primarily a lunchtime spot, this compact branch of Tsuru is a decent place to take the kids for dinner.  The decor is fairly clinical, but it is softened and styled by a wooden trim and tasteful black and white prints.  You can sit at a high wooden table on stools or at lower conventional table, while you eat using chopsticks, from heavyweight Japanese crockery. As an appetiser to share, the Tsuru taster (£8.70) works well. You get a platter of eight pieces of Sushi, featuring tuna, salmon and avocado, with soya sauce. The succulent pork gyoza dumplings are also a good buy at five for £4. Among the keenly-priced main courses, the salmon katsu (only £6.40) is a mixed bag. The "8 hour curry sauce" is rich and rewarding and the dish comes with a generous helping of rice, but the fried fish can be very crispy.  You may find the flavourful teriyaki dishes a better bet. The very dry, crisp Asahi lager (£4 a pint) makes a good accompaniment to the curries. There is also free tap water, but the soft drinks are cheap: You can get a decent apple or pear juice for £1.90 each, while a can of San Pellegrino lemonade is just £1.40. You'll be happy to pay the 10% service charge. 7/10

Les Deux Salons, William IV St, central London

A little piece of Paris in London, Les Deux Salons is a grand bistro serving fine French food with the requisite touch of snobbery.  Beyond the over-staffed reception, the vast, two-storey, dining room and adjoining bar is a sea of wood-panelling, mirrors and spherical lights. With its tiled floor, it isn't exactly cosy, especially if it is far from full on a Friday night. Still, the skills of the chefs and the sommeliers more than compensate. Even the lower priced wines, which start at about £19 a bottle, are smooth and satisfying, while the cooking seems to be consistently good.

Angler Restaurant, South Place Hotel, central London

A Michelin-starred fish restaurant on the seventh floor of a smart modern hotel in the city, Angler is surprisingly good value. In the run up to Christmas, Angler offers a three course festive menu, with a complimentary glass of Devaux Grande Reserve champagne, for £45. Soon after you sit down, you might be brought an anonymous, yet tasty, appetiser, followed by some mouthwatering warm ciabatta bread. Among the starters, the crab cannelloni, served with buttered leeks, lobster and ginger bisque, is subtle, but delicious. The tubular cannelloni appears to be topped with black caviar, as well as the bisque.  For a main course, the perfectly cooked seared salmon, served with chestnut puree and queen scallops bourguignon, provides a fine balance of flavours and textures. For a desert, there are a couple of tempting sweet options on the festive menu, but the British cheese selection can make a fine finale. You get a blue cheese, a creamy cheese and a hard cheese, plus biscuits and raisin bread.  The a la carte menu is equally interesting and thoughtful. Without exception, the dishes are beautifully presented and the service is well-polished. On the massive wine list, the bottles start at about twenty quid, but the 2012 Sauvignon Gris, Kadun Vineyard, Vina Leyda (£36), from Chile makes a good accompaniment for fish. It is crisp with some zing. Predominantly white and silver, Angler's decor is cool and contemporary, yet comfortable. Large sloping windows illuminate the long dining area, while a patterned mirrored ceiling reflects light on to the crisp white tablecloths. Angler deserves to be a destination restaurant. 9/10

The Book Club, Leonard Street, central London

One of many self-consciously hip places to hang out in Shoreditch, The Book Club is dominated by a large loft-style space with tables laid out canteen style. Cartoons are scrawled on the white-washed brick walls and light floods in through the large windows and from the ranks of hanging lights above. A side room is given over to a ping pong table, overlooked by dozens of table tennis bats hanging on a wall. The varied lunch menu includes a Ploughman's Lunch, quiche, burgers,  risotto and even mackerel fillets.  If you want to revisit your childhood, you can also get a fish finger sandwich (£7.50) in bloomer bread with lettuce, tartare sauce and chunky chips. It is filling, but a bit dry. You have to go to the counter to order your food, where you can help yourself to a glass of cucumber-flavoured water. With many of the punters touting laptops, the Book Club has an industrious vibe. 7/10

Wagamama, South Bank, central London

On a summer Saturday evening, this warehouse-style branch of Wagamama can have a queue out the door. With a location on the South Bank and keenly-priced Japanese food, Wagamama pulls in plenty of tourists. Still it turns over tables fast, so you probably won't have to wait long. However, there doesn't feel like there is much air con inside and the tap water seems to be rationed - you get small glasses rather than large jugs.  Moreover, Tiger beer is about £7 for a 640ml bottle. Still, the typically funky young staff help create a good vibe, mixing fast service with banter. The menu offers a good mix of curries, teppanyaki, donburi (big bowls of rice with meat and vegetables), ramen and salads. Moreover, the main courses, such as cha han and yaki udon, start at about £8 and the kids menu is great value and fairly healthy. Unfortunately, the food isn't anything to write home about - the salmon teriyaki with soba noodles (about £11), for example, can be overcooked. Still, this is a lively pit stop for a fast family meal on the hoof. 7/10

Tapas Brindisa London Bridge, Southwark Street, central London

It can be tough to get a table for dinner at buzzy Tapas Brindisa. This perennially popular tapas bar on the edge of Borough food market doesn't take bookings. If you pitch up around 8.30 pm on a Saturday, you may have to wait for up to an hour to be seated. In the meantime, you can have a drink, standing at the bar and order a dish or two to keep you going. The menu includes many of the classic tapas dishes, such as chorizo tortilla (£4.50) and chorizo with rocket and piquillo pepper on toast (£6.50). The succulent tortilla is impressively light, but would be even better warm, while the chorizo is mouthwateringly meaty and works well with the rocket. Seafood fans will like the juicy pan-fried clams in white wine sauce and garlic, but they are very salty and you might want to order some of the disappointingly tough white bread to mop up the sauce. You get about 20 clams or so for £8. The house specials include some delicate black rice and squid with alioli (£7) - it is a small portion, but the flavours are good. Another special is eggs broken over fried potatoes and pork (£7) - a really, rich breakfast-style dish. It is delicious, but won't do your cholesterol levels any good.

Brawn, Columbia Road, East London

An inviting restaurant housed in an elegant early Victorian building, Brawn combines a hip buzz with excellent  earthy food. The front dining room with its big windows and high ceiling is more appealing than the back dining room, but the latter does include the bustling kitchen, providing some much needed warmth on a cold December evening. The bare brick walls, painted white, and the avant-garde art give Brawn the loft-living vibe.  The cover includes a basket of freshly-baked wholemeal ciabatta, but don't eat too much of it because Brawn serves big portions.

Wahaca, Chandos Place, central London

A cavernous Mexican restaurant in a basement near Covent Garden, Wahaca has spicy food, funky decor and a lively buzz. This subterranean space, which is harshly illuminated by large colour panels in the ceiling, has plenty of tables, wooden screens and wide, padded benches on which two rows of people sit back to back. Wahaca's menu, which covers an A3 paper place mat, offers a mix of "street food" (smaller dishes priced up to five pounds) and larger dishes (around a tenner), plus some side dishes for a few quid apiece. If you want to try the "street food", you will probably need two or three dishes, plus one side. While you are choosing, you might want to sample the lovely, fresh guacamole (£3.85), served with tortilla crisps. There is not enough and you will be scraping the bowl.