Dreary Old London is Now SUNNY
KTW
I especially love the city of London, UK. The whole English culinary culture is thoroughly exciting (and I'm not being sarcastic in writing this), especially if you consider it's excellent and varied artisanal foods, multicultural influences and exceptional chef-driven restaurants. Considering this variety and quality, I can think of few cities where I would rather eat than London (and I've eaten in quite a few). So when I was in the capital of the UK recently to deliver a team building program I was fully prepared to deal with what, besides the value of the US dollar to the British pound, is usually the negative part of visiting the isle: its weather. I had my rain slicker and was fully anticipating being 'damp' for the three days of my stay. Well, let me tell you something, with a few hour rainy exception the weather was simply.. lovely. So I left my rain overcoat at home, and made my way to a few new outstanding restaurants. Here are the highlights:
The River Cafe- A longtime London institution, The River Cafe has been pumping out creative, yet authentic, regional Italian food for decades (Jamie Oliver trained there, and doesn't he OWN the UK now?). In much the way Chez Panisse of Zuni Cafe is an institution of N. Californian cuisine, I think of The River Cafe as the perfect example of how the modern Brit likes to eat. Fresh, varied and creative, my meal there was both simple and unforgettable. A hard combination! It's not inexpensive, even before the conversion to PS, and can still be hard to get a reservation for, but if you want to see what so many of the new British restaurants are aspiring for you must visit at least once.
Hix Oyster and Chop House- For a modern, proper British steakhouse meal, I think it would be hard to beat Hix's. The menu is very similar to new age brasserie/gastro pub/retro steakhouse, in that it has creative, well-sourced British standards (Gamey Brown Windsor Soup anyone?) a vibrant, retro atmosphere. The venue reminded me of my days at King Louie's in that everyone was eating dinner at the bar and they all knew one another (more than one my bar mates apologized for there not being enough stools for my party, even though we were merely waiting for our table. Clearly, if you pull up to that bar you're there for the long haul). The oysters were as good as I've had, we tried delicious rabbit speck, and split a South Devon porterhouse steak (and while British meat is not widely regarded, this was a spectacular cut). Plan on finishing with some treacle tart and cobnut cheesecake.
The River Cafe- A longtime London institution, The River Cafe has been pumping out creative, yet authentic, regional Italian food for decades (Jamie Oliver trained there, and doesn't he OWN the UK now?). In much the way Chez Panisse of Zuni Cafe is an institution of N. Californian cuisine, I think of The River Cafe as the perfect example of how the modern Brit likes to eat. Fresh, varied and creative, my meal there was both simple and unforgettable. A hard combination! It's not inexpensive, even before the conversion to PS, and can still be hard to get a reservation for, but if you want to see what so many of the new British restaurants are aspiring for you must visit at least once.
Hix Oyster and Chop House- For a modern, proper British steakhouse meal, I think it would be hard to beat Hix's. The menu is very similar to new age brasserie/gastro pub/retro steakhouse, in that it has creative, well-sourced British standards (Gamey Brown Windsor Soup anyone?) a vibrant, retro atmosphere. The venue reminded me of my days at King Louie's in that everyone was eating dinner at the bar and they all knew one another (more than one my bar mates apologized for there not being enough stools for my party, even though we were merely waiting for our table. Clearly, if you pull up to that bar you're there for the long haul). The oysters were as good as I've had, we tried delicious rabbit speck, and split a South Devon porterhouse steak (and while British meat is not widely regarded, this was a spectacular cut). Plan on finishing with some treacle tart and cobnut cheesecake.