To the Summerhouse

Open for the summer only, Summerhouse by the waterway is a great place to chill with a glass of Chardonnay over a fish dinner. The presentation of the dishes is thrilling to the eye - the popcorn shrimp and the salmon where a pleasure to eat and to behold. For the ichthyophobes there is the safety steak option just in case. Salmon and haddock fishcake with poached egg makes for a good late breakfast, swordfish with mango salsa and wasabi mayonnaise makes for a filling lunch. Peacefully located in little Venice, the Summerhouse is the best place to take in the brief, warm London evenings, you can relax at the bar with drinks and a selection of dips and sharers, or spend all day gossiping over watermelon platter and summer berry pudding with clotted cream.

Food Chains

It is not in my habit to review chains. But Dim t in Hampstead has struck a cord. Hampstead high street has a wide range of dinning establishments that look better than they taste and cost more than they are worth. Dim t surprised me. It was value for money - large portions and promotional offers. In addition it delivered consistently good food. Kyoto Udon soup, Dim sum, Coconut rice, aromatic duck all tasted great. The service was fast and the staff friendly. I haven't been to other Dim t's but this one is definitely worth a try.

Other chains are worth a mention - Wagamama only does good soup and desserts. The curries lack whim. Byron overcomplicates burgers and uses too much of something in the dressing, I wish I could figure out what. Pizza express if blue and that just kills any appetite - so great for those dieters out there. Chez Gerard has too much pomp and too little quality. Cafe Rouge is not bad at all for what it is. At Ask - and this has been agreed by many - either don't eat or have the Caesar salad which is nice. Itsu is overpriced but comfortable. Wasabi is a place I like to avoid . Burger king has better burgers than Mcdonalds because the former flame grill theirs while the latter does better breakfasts.

Heathrow's Roux

Jet lag aside there is nothing one wants more after landing than some culinary miracle to help wipe out that taste of airplane food. Therefore I was more than exited when I heard that the owner of legendary Gavroche in Mayfair - Albert Roux is opening a Brasserie at Sofitel, Heathrow. I was even worried my casual flight attire would be frowned up on. I was hungry. The journey through terminals would have been complicated had I not had a good guide. Sofitel inside was a boring as an accountant. I did not care - Brasserie Roux met me with a better designed seating area done up in a color known as mulberry burst. "It has to fit in with the rest of the hotel", I reconciled myself as I leafed through the menu. The latter was very regional French and had a lot of what I would call Catalan undertones. Hence the Gazpacho that I'd ordered as a starter. A simple dish the Gazpacho but very easy to get wrong. And they did. It was too sour and oily. I didn't think much of this until the main of duck leg on mash came. It was dry and boring like Sofitel. It was one of those dishes you'd get served by your friend's mother. You 'd eat it thankful for the fact that it's so uncomplicated and you don't need to spend stressful hours trying to forget that strange taste when she mixed up the spices in her ratatouille. Perhaps Mr. Roux does not fly from Heathrow often as he prefers the more budget airlines but perhaps he should take a look at Terminal 5 where at Ramsay's Plane Food manages to deliver the goods despite its remoteness from Mayfair and management.

Paramount

What is open late and does breakfasts? What has a view of BOTH the City and Canary Warf? What used to be an all members bar and is now open to the public? Paramount Restaurant and Bar on top of Center Point. That's right, finally that beacon of tube for the weekend drunkards has become something more than an orientation point by night and an egg holder crying for the recycle bin by day. Center point has finally become a lighthouse for the stylish and food loving public. Paramount boasts a 360 degree, unadultered view of London and a decent chef partial to the good old British menu. There are old classics amongst the starters like a tuna nicoise or a shellfish platter, with something more interesting like haddock and lentil chowder with lemon oil and roquefort souffle with beetroot and aged balsamic. The mains are unpretentious and wholesome, if not somewhat boring. The bouillabaisse and the trio of pork were very good indeed but sank into the limelight in comparison to such exiting cocktail concoctions as Dark Chooclate and Fig Manhattan or roast pineapple and chilli Margharita . Paramount is and excellent casual establishment with surprisingly reasonable prices and excellent personel.

Wapping Project

Little does one expect to find a place of culinary and cultural delight in East London. This is however one of those old "dont judge a book by its cover" tales. Wapping is a dignified, swanky area on the river, quite akin to the trendy refurbished warehouse appartments one finds in London Bridge. Amongst them is a converted hydraulic power station that houses the Wapping Project. An exhibition space with a restaurant and cocktail bar. The Wapping project is definetely an extensive conversation piece - be it the design, the location or the neighbours (one of the oldest bankside pubs located on an old execution spot). The cocktails blew me away - the classics were well performed and honey vodka based mixes delighted the palate and excited the senses. In a mild sense of ubriation I was delighted by the simple down to business composition of the menu. There was something to satisfy every taste in the fushion of starters of roast quail with peach, chicory and walnut or chilled papaya, cucumber and mint soup. The mains were unmistakeably British with an Andalusian twist. Roast pork loin with paprika potatoes and chorizo and Brecon lamb with sweet onion cake were discarded in favour of roast duck on mash. Everything was cooked to perfection and presented beautifully. However the portion size and the combination of ingredients fell a little bit short. Be as it may but the drinks, the desserts and the overall ambience of the place have made it one of my current favourites. Wapping project provides and excellent setting to get toghether and celebrate with friends.

London's Skylon

Named after the famous grasshopper - like sculpture that adorned the South bank in the 70s Skylon restaurant at the Royal festival hall, does justice to its famous namesake.
This place is as close to perfection as can be - there is a gorgeous view on the Thames, impeccable service and great opening hours (till 1am). The menu was simple and innovative. The tartare of trout was succulent and refreshing. The venison carpaccio went surprisingly well with beetroot and hazelnut. Poached ox cheeks with aromatic consomme were soft and well seasoned while the coffee and cardamon infused rack of lamb produced bags of flavour! All the food was very tastefully presented, especially the deserts, my panettone with custard heart and kirsch ice cream was as fun to eat as it was to look at. Skylon is not the cheapest place in the world but if you want a guaranteed good time, you should try it.

Seen the Zeen?

I first heard of Zeen on the legendary Masterchef show. The contestants had to do their apprenticeship there. Located on Drummond street amongst numerous Indian restaurants Zeen really proves that there's more to Indian food that Sainsbury's curry. Zeen food looked great on television, but I was not prepared for the design or the space itself - very modern and casual. Perhaps it is not a place for a romantic meal but rather a great business lunch venue or a casual friends' meeting place.
I must say it is definitely the best Indian cuisine I have tried so far in London. We had spicy jumbo prawns , rich lamb pattice, marinated chicken bits and fragrant duck.. just for starters. Everything was perfectly seasoned and had just the right amount of hotness - the kind that makes you weep and be thankful for the bottomless glass of water that the staff helpfully feel up at regular intervals. For mains we went for the Zeen platter and the whole cooked pomfret which is a type of ocean fish with a very unique, particular flavor. It is hard to describe Indian cuisine, I will suffice to say that it was flavoursome and we ate everything! There is a vegetarian menu as well as a meat one. Zeen has definitely lived up to it's reputation.