gordonwhite's Qype reviews
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155a Wardour St, London W1F 8WG
gordonwhite
wrote on 5 April 2012
Yes, cupcakes are extremely dated these days but Hummingbird still does the best ones in London.
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12 Archer Street, London W1D 7BB
gordonwhite
wrote on 29 February 2012
Just magnificent. The best Italian food in London. Regional, seasonal, expertly chosen and expertly prepared.
Jacob’s cookbook, Bocca, rarely leaves my kitchen (the caponata is to DIE for) and it is pleasing to see the exact same sensibility, often even the same dishes, appear on the menu.
If possible, do try and sit at the bar. At least that’s my preference. It means you get to watch the staff do their thing. There’s a conviviality about it that you can sometimes miss when seated at a table.
The whole place, from the food to the wine list to the decor has a relaxed confidence that I find extremely appealing.
Whenever I’m out in Soho I’m either eating at Bocca di Lupo or wishing I was eating at Bocca di Lupo.
Little tip: skip the desserts and head across the street to Gelupo. It’s the perfect end to an evening out!
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56 Brewer Street, Soho, London W1F 9TJ
gordonwhite
wrote on 8 December 2011
How have I not reviewed Ten Ten Tei yet??
This is such a great place… cheap, authentic, right in the heart of Soho. There really is no other choice worth considering if you’re in the mood for Japanese in town.
One thing worth mentioning… the house wine is extremely drinkable and an excellent match for sushi. You’ll know which one it is when you look at the menu. It’s the one called “wine”. -
66-70 Brewer Street, London W1F 9TP
gordonwhite
wrote on 8 December 2011
Was here for a work event. No part of it was bad.
The wines were exceptional, the starter and main was fantastic… But it was the cox’s apple crumble for dessert that did it for me. Unbelievable.
But then… I wasn’t picking up the tab. :) -
6 Poland Street, Soho, London W1F 8PS
gordonwhite
wrote on 14 November 2011
Points for affordable happy hour cocktails, hot barstaff who can make a mojito in, I’d say, around 1.2 seconds and for its central location.
But… I don’t know. The bar food could be better, the vibe seems a little off for after work drinks -like one of those places where they try to make you feel like it’s perpetually 1am and you should be partying.
Go here if that’s what you’re after, of course.
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134 Wardour Street, Soho, London W1F 8ZR
gordonwhite
wrote on 14 November 2011
I truly don’t get the hype.
Overpriced food of
saying this politelyvariable quality. All for what? The fact that you order on your table like you’re playing a rubbish free game that came with Windows 95?And the cocktails are better suited to a dive bar in Singapore airport: pointless, weak, overly sweet.
You could throw a rock and hit a better Asian restaurant in Soho.
Avoid.
kristubby I ate at the St James one last night. I was really disappointed with the standard of food, especially for the price we paid.
16 November 2011
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7 Archer Street, London W1D 7AU
gordonwhite
wrote on 14 November 2011
This is five stars! Ignore the naysayers!
It’s getting to the point where I try to engineer meals with friends in this part of Soho so that I can “just happen to suggest” going to Gelupo instead of ordering dessert.
The seasonality of the flavours, the ambition involved in some of the combinations (beetroot was a factor last time we went)… it’s the best gelato in London.
The. Best.
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69-71 Dean Street, Soho, London W1D 4QJ
gordonwhite
wrote on 8 November 2011
I had despaired of ever finding good avocados in London and then I had breakfast at Dean Street Townhouse.
Amazing.
Perfectly ripe, served on sourdough toast with a poached egg. (£6.)
This is a great spot to go if you’re having meetings in town
indeed most of the tables around us were media types talking shopas the service is extremely efficient, the coffee certainly beats chain coffee and the tables are large enough to flip open your laptop. (Granted that last point won’t appeal to everyone but it’s always something I look for in a meeting venue after having spilled one too many sugar pots with the corner of my stupid computer.)I’ll certainly be back here for work reasons and, if I’m completely honest, those avocados on toast will likely bring me back for a weekend brunch, too.
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55 Brewer Street, Soho, London W1F 9UN
gordonwhite
wrote on 6 September 2011
A quiet Sam Smith pub with really friendly staff and great prices.
Lovely, cosy Victorian watering hole. Loses a few stars for the clientele. Not the seedy old soho locals up the front
everyone loves thembut those in the back: it’s rammed with hipsters talking about their “unpaid writing projects”.Oh! Wait! Right now: “Are you still doing your Chinese medicine thing?”
Ahh hipsters.
Be warned. Sit up the front.
Reviewed using iPhone. Get the app
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61 Rupert Street, London W1D 7PW
gordonwhite
wrote on 17 June 2011
I love this place. I love the pants off it. Russell Norman is the undisputed king of restaurants at the moment -possibly in the world. (There are those guys in the US doing the Mexi-Japanese fusion thing but this is probably better.)
Spuntino is in ‘proper’ Soho – it’s on perhaps the last street that can still be called that. On my walk up from Piccadilly Circus I was stared down by a shirtless crack head looking for a fight, had drunks break glasses all around me and an enormous Polish woman offered me a discount to get into a sex show. (It was 5:30pm. Maybe they have matinee performances?)
If you’re familiar with Rupert Street you’ll know it’s not really all that long and yet all of this wackiness will happen to you too. The walk up to Spuntino is like a rapey version of a Charlie Chaplin sketch.
The surrounds are just seedy enough to give you a dodgy frisson. This, despite the fact you’re a few hundred feet from a major tourist destination and are as safe as houses. (Does that expression need updating for a post-2008 world?)
We had the truffled egg on toast (of course), the pulled pork slider, the lamb and pickled cucumber slider, the pizzetta, and the curly fries. All for £3 – £5. Everything was amazing. Proper amazing. I could have gone another round.
In fact, if we didn’t have a show to get to we may well have. (I was also acutely aware that, because I had been waiting for James, I had been occupying one of the stools for well over an hour -this is bad bacari etiquette. Eat and run.)
Like any Russell Norman restaurant, the house wines are extremely well chosen so you can cheerfully stick to them. Beers are Italian -James was particularly keen on the fact they chill their ales.
As for cocktails, always, always start with a negroni. In fact, start every meal with a negroni.
Longer review and more photos here:
http://gordonwhite.co.uk/2011/06/spuntino-review-why-i-lo...
