Turning 50 brought a celebration at Quaglino’s and some friendly journalistic advice about the virtues of brevity and tighter writing.
This week’s column takes a tasting menu approach, covering several of London’s food destinations with more opinions packed into less space than usual.
Chez Bruce on Wandsworth Common draws a particular Sunday lunch crowd, where gilets are set aside in favour of Ralph Lauren Purple Label linen, according to the columnist.
The dining room has quietly doubled in size over the past decade, outlasting noisier neighbours and their restaurant concepts that have since come and gone.
When the columnist and his wife first visited around the turn of the millennium, the prix fixe four-course menu was priced at £35, compared to today’s £68.50, which he describes as still feeling like great value.
Bread and butter this rich and flavoursome could pass for cheese, and the multi-choice courses represent Michelin-level cooking delivered in the original spirit of the guide.
Chef Bruce Poole’s starters indulge an ingredient too many at times, though a Ridge Grenache Blanc at £140 accompanies the artistic plates well, while mains are seasonal, simpler, and executed perfectly.
Romano’s, situated in the same building as Jeremy King’s Simpson’s in the Strand, is described as “very much the council estate step-sister of its pretend-posh sibling.”
Prices are ludicrously cheap at Romano’s, which the columnist suggests may be partly responsible for the disappointing quality of dishes including a flavourless pork pie and a wilting endive salad.
Both the Scotch egg with coronation chicken and a chicken and leek pie were “around the same level of quality and price you’d find at M&S, only a little smaller.”
Service at Romano’s cannot be faulted, however, and the columnist notes that dining there made him feel remarkably young, which he calls “the perfect antidote to a milestone birthday.”
Los Mochis City, created by entrepreneur Markus Thesleff, is described as arguably the second best rooftop in the Square Mile, after Coq d’Argent.
The salmon tiraditos and seabass ceviche are singled out as brilliant, with the food deserving more credit and acclaim, supported by consistently outstanding service.
George Bukhov-Weinstein, who founded US-style steakhouse Goodman in the noughties, has opened Wild Izakaya no more than ten steps from Goodman City in the former Browns building near Bank.
The menu highlights include nasu dengaku and WFC karaage, both standing out particularly well when paired with either a Catena Zapata Malbec at £90 or a 2023 Marc Colin Chassagne-Montrachet at £230.