Micromanage my Life - London Edition

[CheeseMonger]

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!)

 

Indeed. Enjoy your time, and I look forward to hearing about your eats.

[mongo_jones]

so, my hotel is about a 15 minute walk from the st. john bread and wine location. will i need reservations to eat at the bar or is a solo walk-in a doable proposition? i'm tempted to hit them for breakfast a few times. for dinner or lunch should i be looking to go to the smithfield location? reservations necessary there?

[Anthony Bonner]

Iirc at B&W doesn't have a bar.

 

For an occasional visitor I think the mother ship is a better choice - just given how the menus work.

[Daisy]

And if you dine at the mother ship the terrific Zetter Townhouse is nearby for cocktails.

[mongo_jones]

ok, reservations needed for the bar at dinner or lunch at the mothership? there doesn't seem to be a way to specify the bar at the reservations link and i don't want to be sitting all by myself at a table.

[Anthony Bonner]

Bar is a different menu. I don't think you can book it, but I also don't think you need to.

[bolderite]

FWIW, I dined at Clove Club solo and had a great experience. Bartenders quite lovely and because I was on the early side, they gave me a tour of the dining room and kitchen and I chatted with the chef for a while about his influences.

[johannabanana]

mongo_jones, I also provided some recommendations in response to your question on the other thread. You might consider Antidote instead of Hedone and I personally do not share Ian's liking for Bar Shu, which I feel has become mediocre, having once been good. Also, the à la carte menu on the Gymkhana website is the one to look at. It's served at lunch and dinner. (I wouldn't order the set menus there.)

 

Here are my recommendations again in case you missed them:

 

Personally, I've found the game dishes, goat methi keema with bheja, and ras malai at Gymkhana to be very good. My husband and I like it for lunch. We went twice in December. You can walk in and sit at the bar downstairs without a reservation, usually without difficulty at lunchtime.

Moro is a restaurant I try to go to whenever we're back in London. They have a pleasant bar.

40 Maltby Street is excellent and would be good for eating solo as all the seating is on bar stools. If you'll be in London on a Saturday, you could have lunch there and check out the Spa Terminus market beforehand.

The restaurant upstairs at Antidote Wine Bar is very good - it's the sister restaurant to Hedone but not as expensive (although Hedone seems to have a cheaper lunch menu).

The Sportsman at Seasalter doesn't take very long to get to on a train (with a short taxi ride from Faversham) if you feel like an adventure. You pre-arrange the tasting menu, which is fantastic and very reasonably priced.

I haven't eaten at the restaurant in Bonham's but would like to.

(Marina O'Loughlin in the Guardian is fairly reliable and London Eater is a useful blog. They both have good Instagram accounts to follow.)

[mongo_jones]

thanks. i don't know why i have no memory of that other thread.

 

what's wrong with the set menu at gymkhana? a la carte indian as a solo diner is going to be either too much food or not a balanced meal. one of my cousins (a londoner) wants to take me to dishoom one of the nights, and i might try to stop in at hoppers for a late lunch one day. will look into antidote. might hit a random curry house too.

 

noble rot is already scheduled.

[Evelyn]

I love The Sportsman. But you are at the mercy of the train schedules.

[mongo_jones]

alas, the only train i will be taking is to slough on the weekend to visit my aunt and uncle. however, in the "not alas" side of the ledger that meal will be one of the best i'll eat anywhere all year.

[johannabanana]

thanks. i don't know why i have no memory of that other thread.

 

what's wrong with the set menu at gymkhana? a la carte indian as a solo diner is going to be either too much food or not a balanced meal. one of my cousins (a londoner) wants to take me to dishoom one of the nights, and i might try to stop in at hoppers for a late lunch one day. will look into antidote. might hit a random curry house too.

 

Yes, I was surprised you didn't respond at the time.

 

I find the set menus at Gymkhana either too conservative or too expensive but I can see how they would be convenient for a solo diner. The à la carte dishes aren't so big, though. (It's an expensive restaurant but the ingredients are good.) Looking at the current à la carte menu online, I would be very happy ordering the grouse pepper fry, a smaller dish from the "Nashta" section of the menu and even a dessert just for myself.

[changeup]

Anyone tried Chutney Mary? I was recommended that over Gymkhana.

[mongo_jones]

this was years ago, but my cousins were very dismissive of chutney mary. a lot of fuss about nothing, they said.

[Anthony Bonner]

Similar thoughts from 2004