London
Gordon Ramsay

Gordon Ramsay

68-69 Royal Hospital Rd., Chelsea SW3 4HP, SW3 4HQ, London, United Kingdom

French • British • European • Vegetarian


"I owe a lot to Gordon Ramsay. Back in the period around the millennium while the U.K was going mad for Jamie Oliver’s simple dishes and Essex charm, a foul mouthed chef chasing three michelin stars was bringing the focus onto how life as a chef was in the real world. That man grabbed my attention. That man was Gordon Ramsay.Now of course Ramsay is the face of cooking on television sets across America and you have to say fair play to him. Building up a multi million pound empire of restaurants that stretches the breadth of the globe can’t have been easy, likewise attaining the trades ultimate accolade of three stars back in London. Who could begrudge Gordon for yelling at Americans for a large paycheck?Ramsay though isn’t the angry bully that some would have you believe him to be. I watched him do a live demonstration with sous-chef Mark Sargeant at The Good Food Show in Birmingham. Ramsay eclipsed all other chef’s at the venue and turned out to be a fun guy who enjoyed a laugh. His food wasn’t half bad either.Royal Hospital Road is the flagship restaurant of Gordon Ramsay. The very spot where the three star’s were won. Also the scene of the documentaries ‘Boiling Point’ and ‘Beyond Boiling Point’ which featured Ramsay’s pursuit of the top prize in cooking. Both of which are television gold and available to view on Youtube. We made our reservations quite easily online and timed it with my 29th birthday celebrations. Menu’s are all accessible online and due to the restaurant being a three star the chances of a menu changing is slim. All menu’s were priced very fairly for this part of London and looked incredibly inviting.A quick taxi from Sloane Square took us to the restaurant just as the doors were opening. With the Christmas decorations up outside it’s quite a small, intimate place but very stylish. We walked down a long corridor to the cloakroom area where the reservation was confirmed and our coats taken by the friendly staff. The staff then lead us into the dining room which was a lot smaller than I had envisioned.Straight away the familiar face of Maitre D Jean-Claude Breton arrived extending his hand and wishing me a happy birthday. The man oozes charm and class at the same time putting the guest at ease. It became like chatting to an old friend as we discussed France, rugby, football and food."

Chez Bruce

Chez Bruce

2 Bellevue Road London, SW17 7EG, United Kingdom

Beer • French • Cheese • European


"only at chez bruce ate, because our original choice to the jubilee dinner (thames river cruise) was cancelled at short notice after we had already booked our hotel: in wandsworth. instead of canceling the whole trip to london, I decided to try cb and see if they could fit us as they were only about 30 minutes away from our hotel. it was a Tuesday night when we were able to get in. I have bruce poole cookbook so was very excited to taste the restaurant and eating was really good. very similar to la trumpet in chiswick and I think they share. my starter of enoki mushroom salad with romaine, rump and comte was enormous. my cousin also thought her makrelenrillettes were first class. we have rejoined our head; I choose the hain that was outstanding again. my cousin complained that her pork was too much meat and not enough of something else. she was again on board with the dessert of white chocolate jerk and rusty ice cream. I had the cheeseboard that was good, but I had better. good wine list, with a little decent half bottle. However, the bottle was ordered by pomerol i was not available, but the sommelier hit an alternative, cheaper bottle that was very good. brot was very nice. service was okay, not great. there were some stretch before us to pour wein, to take plates that were both my cousin and I annoyed. but this little grip aside, I thought £200 without wein was pretty good."

Koji

Koji

58 New Kings Road London, SW6 4LS, United Kingdom

Sushi • Asian • Japanese • Vegetarian


"It's no secret that I love Japanese food. And even less of a secret is my fondness for a good cocktail. So put the two together and I'm a very happy girl. Koji which ticks both these boxes in Parsons Green, seems to be a bit of a secret.... I'd never heard of it until researching sake cocktails for a piece I wrote for Time Out, but when they read my piece they invited me down to sample the cocktails and food in person. I went along with Lucy the night before heading to Tresco to do a weekend of pop ups, and we had the most delicious feast of delicate yet punchy Japanese food with punchy yet delicate cocktails!Koji have an ex Nobu chef in their kitchen and you can really tell there's someone who knows what they're doing there. Every dish was exquisite, and the whole experience heightened by being in such a gorgeous setting if you want to impress a date then head straight to Koji. We started with cocktails in the elegant bar area, which is lit by huge feather covered lights. When you go to Koji (which you really should if you're anything like me about good cocktails and Japanese food) order the lemongrass and chilli martini. The perfect balance of zesty and spicy it left our lips tingling in all the right ways. We didn't get round to trying it but the watermelon martini also sounds divine.The food at Koji is Japanese,with a modern twist. The menu's divided into snacks, hot and cold tapas, robata grill and various forms of sushi and sashimi. Being the good (greedy) reviewers that we are, we tried to sample something from each section. Starting with the most wonderful soft shell crab and asparagus summer roll. Light, fresh and expertly rolled it was a great start to what turned out to be a top notch meal."