Micromanage my Life - London Edition

[Abbylovi]

If I wanted to just drop in to St. John on a Monday evening around 7 to sit at the bar, is that possible? Or should I make a reservation?

[Wilfrid]

I would be amazed if that was difficult, but by all means get an answer from someone who lives there.

[mongo_jones]

as it happens, and pending a visa (the nightmare of application for which i have just embarked on), i am going to be in london for 7-10 days sometime between july 25 and august 10. now it appears i will be able to stay in a slightly better class of hotel and perhaps order wine at dinner.

 

restaurants i am planning on eating at:

 

benares

rasoi vineet bhatia

the typing room

hedone

la trompette

 

might give the ledbury a try if the friends i'll be staying with at the end of the trip are up for it.

 

will probably do some informal indian places as well.

 

 

as my visa is not yet in hand* my trip will now likely be at the end of august/early september. it might be a little shorter as a result (as it'll be bumping up against the start of the new term). i'll probably drop two restaurants from the above list. based on evelyn's rec i will keep hedone on, and i'll probably do one of the two indians (which?); and of the typing room and la trompette does it matter very much which i decide against?

 

* okay, fine, so i only got around to sending in my application last week, but that's only because of how much of a pain the process is.

[balex]

Rasoi is closed at the moment; it may not reopen in time for your visit.

[CheeseMonger]

Mongo, I too shall be in London for a few days at the beginning of September. I arrive on the 1st, the taking the train on the 4th to Devon (Plymouth to be exact) where I will be making charcuterie.

 

My plan, as is yours and everyone else's, is to indulge in what I can't get in my usual spots, so Barshu is on my list, unless there is better Szechuan to be had these days. I'd love to meet up even for a tea, but watching you sweat your way through spicy food does have it's charms.

[IanT]

Cheesemonger - Bar Shu is still our choice for the best Szeuchan in town. It's remarkably consistent, we go multiple times every year.

 

Hutong (half-way up The Shard) is decent. It's not as good as Bar Shu and somewhat sanitised but there are some very good dishes and its a nice space with amazing views so particularly good for out-of-towners.

 

An ex-head chef from Bar Shu and Hutong has opened his own place called The Sichuan on the border of The City and Shoreditch. Jay Rayner loved it: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/may/08/the-sichuan-london-restaurant-review The signature "Grilled Fish" is excellent but overall it wasn't in Bar Shu's league, the room and setting are dingy, and there were only two other tables occupied which detracted somewhat from the ambience.

 

I'm off to Smoking Goat tonight, which is a worthy casual addition to the itinerary of visitors to London. And I'll give another shout-out to Noble Rot which is about as Mouthfuls-friendly a restaurant as I can imagine.

[mongo_jones]

Mongo, I too shall be in London for a few days at the beginning of September. I arrive on the 1st, the taking the train on the 4th to Devon (Plymouth to be exact) where I will be making charcuterie.

 

My plan, as is yours and everyone else's, is to indulge in what I can't get in my usual spots, so Barshu is on my list, unless there is better Szechuan to be had these days. I'd love to meet up even for a tea, but watching you sweat your way through spicy food does have it's charms.

 

highly intriguing. my passport just came back from the uk visa office, with a visa inside. now i have to look into flights. there is a very good chance that i will be there past september 1, though not very far past--have to be back before brat #2 has his first day at kindergaten (tuesday after labour day). will keep you posted.

 

ian: any thoughts on the list of restaurants i'd posted upthread?

[IanT]

_{Well it wouldn't be my list, but I suspect you must have specific reasons for chooising some of the restaurants?}

 

_{Rasoi/Benares are fine but Trishna is my pick of the high-end Indians (and Marylebone is a great place to spend some time now, loads of nice places to eat and drink). And most people love Gymkhana.}

 

_{We had a good time at Typing Room. It's in a beautiful art deco building in a still-sketchy part of East London. Some good dishes but some misses. If you haven't been to The Clove Club then that would be my choice in this category. Or Fera, very different setting but similar style of food, executed better, in my limited experience of both.}

 

_{I keep giving Hedone another try (I've been five times now) and still don't love it. But almost everyone else does so...}

 

_{La Trompette - I think the only argument for eating there is that you'll be staying in Chiswick and its convenient? The Ledbury would be a much better choice (most recent visit last week and it was great - although as I've disclosed before I'm good friends with the chef so would say that).}

 

_{PS I actually sent you a similar reply in February on the other UK thread, pasted below:}

_{I didn't love Gymkhana either for what it's worth. Good but not stellar. I prefer Trishna, that would probably be my recommendation for best high-end Indian in London right now. I really liked Quilon but haven't been in a few years now (more a reflection of how often I want to go for high-end Indian than anything else).}

 

_{Hoppers is very good but as balex says its a different, more casual, category. It's also insanely popular and no reservations so make sure to visit off-peak.}

 

_{Some other ideas on new places to try:}

 

_{110 de Taillevent is great, much better than I expected. 110 wines by the glass (lots of interesting stuff) and the food is excellent, very well executed high-end French brasserie. And a lovely room.}

 

_{Noble Rot is another wine focussed place. Kitchen overseen by Stephen Harris of The Sportsman. Best bread course I've ever had (Hedone sourdough and the same focaccia and soda bread as The Sportsman). Some very good dishes but execution overall not as good as Taillevent. Interesting wines by the glass (if not as extensive as Taillevent) and a cool place.}

 

_{Not new, but I had a very good meal at Fera last month. On that showing I'd put it comfortably in the top 5 restaurants in the city.}

 

 

[Anthony Bonner]

I had a meal at the clove club last month that was excellent.

[changeup]

I had a meal at the clove club last month that was excellent.

 

We also thought it was pretty good but I couldn't shake the notion that their approach is heavily directed by "top 100" style. They are pretty young as a staff so should evolve quite a bit if they stick around. The food right now is ahead of the service, it wasn't hard to spot a bunch of faults even if they are pushing pretty hard. Reminds me a lot of early EMP actually.

 

Which is to say that personally I'd choose to re-spend my pennies at St. John, but it could be fun to look back on meals there in a few years if they eventually do evolve to set their own style.

[Anthony Bonner]

I actually had a long chat with the chef and your description is totally spot on. He was actually kind of weirdly focused on emp.

 

My last trip to London was my first not stopping at a St Johns location since like 2000.

[changeup]

He was actually kind of weirdly focused on emp.

 

Yeah, having eaten at EMP throughout Humm's entire tenure, what struck me was the circularity of EMP being so open in it's early days (and somewhat knocked for) its obvious influences, only to later have its evolved state serve as an obvious influence to a new upcoming restaurant abroad. Hopefully they go through a similar transition here, cause I thought the ingredients and profiles behind the food were quite interesting, and deserving of its own original and origin based packaging. Their being ranked so high so early on (in this case in the top 100 list) is also a parallel to EMP - when Bruni threw EMP into the 4 star group well ahead of them actually getting there, just sort of on faith right before stepping down.

[balex]

_{Well it wouldn't be my list, but I suspect you must have specific reasons for chooising some of the restaurants?}

 

_{Rasoi/Benares are fine but Trishna is my pick of the high-end Indians (and Marylebone is a great place to spend some time now, loads of nice places to eat and drink). And most people love Gymkhana.}

 

_{We had a good time at Typing Room. It's in a beautiful art deco building in a still-sketchy part of East London. Some good dishes but some misses. If you haven't been to The Clove Club then that would be my choice in this category. Or Fera, very different setting but similar style of food, executed better, in my limited experience of both.}

 

_{I keep giving Hedone another try (I've been five times now) and still don't love it. But almost everyone else does so...}

 

_{La Trompette - I think the only argument for eating there is that you'll be staying in Chiswick and its convenient? The Ledbury would be a much better choice (most recent visit last week and it was great - although as I've disclosed before I'm good friends with the chef so would say that).}

 

_{PS I actually sent you a similar reply in February on the other UK thread, pasted below:}

_{I didn't love Gymkhana either for what it's worth. Good but not stellar. I prefer Trishna, that would probably be my recommendation for best high-end Indian in London right now. I really liked Quilon but haven't been in a few years now (more a reflection of how often I want to go for high-end Indian than anything else).}

 

_{Hoppers is very good but as balex says its a different, more casual, category. It's also insanely popular and no reservations so make sure to visit off-peak.}

 

_{Some other ideas on new places to try:}

 

_{110 de Taillevent is great, much better than I expected. 110 wines by the glass (lots of interesting stuff) and the food is excellent, very well executed high-end French brasserie. And a lovely room.}

 

_{Noble Rot is another wine focussed place. Kitchen overseen by Stephen Harris of The Sportsman. Best bread course I've ever had (Hedone sourdough and the same focaccia and soda bread as The Sportsman). Some very good dishes but execution overall not as good as Taillevent. Interesting wines by the glass (if not as extensive as Taillevent) and a cool place.}

 

_{Not new, but I had a very good meal at Fera last month. On that showing I'd put it comfortably in the top 5 restaurants in the city.}

 

 

 

I ate at La Trompette last week -- largely because of a free corkage offer -- it's a good restaurant but not really a destination one. If it's convenient then go for it.

Hedone is very good in my opinion, but I know quite a few people that don't like it, and it's long tasting menu only now, which I find slightly offputting.

 

I have eaten quite a few times now at Noble rot, which is great I think. And very very interesting wines by the glass.

[mongo_jones]

oh, my list is random. based mostly on googling and looking at magazine lists. the constraints are that for most of my meals i will be dining alone and so tasting menus are a little more attractive. and of course, i am trying not to spend more money than i have to (the ledbury is more expensive than the others on my list, right?)

 

as for indian food, i have an irrational suspicion of trishna on account of how overrated the bombay original is (i assume they're related). but i see they do have a plausible tasting menu at lunch. gymkhana's lunch menu doesn't look very interesting.

[mongo_jones]

tickets purchased. i arrive in london on monday the 22nd and depart on tuesday the 30th (sorry, cheesemonger--would have been great to see you after all these years!)

 

i have a lot of meetings to set up still with the people i'll be interacting with during the much longer term-long visit next spring, but if anyone is around then and interested in lunch/dinner/drinks please pm me.