Carl Johan's Reviews

I went to Yoshino for lunch the other day and I believe that it probably suits this time of the day better than in evening, seeing as it is a bit stiff. That said, that might change so who knows? I had some delicious sushi there and do not regret my visit. As in most good sushi places, however, the lack of a proper lunch set menu was slightly annoying. It’s easy ending up paying an arm and a leg only to have to resort to food hunting in the fridge a few hours later. That’s not a surprise for anyone though so I can’t really complain.

In summary, it is a great sushi place, ideal for lunch meetings. I wouldn’t necessarily go there in the evening.

Le Metro can't really claim to be anything extraordinary, but as far as lunch restaurants go in Knightsbridge, it'sdoing pretty well. Especially given the abundance of over-priced and pretentiuos places in the area. Since I work close by, I've visited Le Metro on several occassions and I'm rarely disappointed. The biggest plus is the service which has been very good at all times. The food is nothing to rave about, but it's definitely alright.

At lunch the place is always fairly full, but unsurprisingly, the atomsphere is either quite business-like, or very Knightsbrige – which obviously doesn't necessarily mean anything negative.

I'm not really sure why there's only “drinks” to rate since I've had some really good food at La Fromagerie. I'm a huge cheese fanatic and living close to a place like this is just too good. The recently enlarged store section is excellently laid out, with bread, small pots of random jams and other French-style foods and bits and bobs all over the place. My favourite is obviously the Cheese Room. A whole wonderfully smelly room full of all kinds of cheeses. I'm always impressed by the helpfulness of the staff in choosing appropriate cheeses for whatever occassion or wine. If only the staff serving you at the table were as helpful, which is a bit of an issue.

Another, probably inevitable, downside to the restaurant is that they don't take bookings. The queue can sometimes be very long and the fact that you're seeing the queue from where you're eating doesn't exactly relax you.. Otherwise, a really nice and quaint place for a weekday brunch.

I must admit that I have a bit of a negative bias to Italian restaurants after a few too many of them trying so hard and charging even harder. After all, the Italian cuisine is rarely overly complicated, right?!

Anyway, I had a pleasant experience at Il Convivio. I would have preferred to sit further in the restaurant, under the skylights, but it wasn't bad in the section before. The food was well presented and definitely delivered. I had a carpaccio for starter and a crab linguine as main. Apart from the pasta being a bit less warm than I would expect, it was very tasteful. I do react to paying almost 20 pounds for a dish that I probably could do quite well myself (wouldn't bet on it, but still). Finally, the service left nothing to complain about, very discreet and the sommelier was very quick to react to the unfortunate corked bottle of wine we nearly were served.

All in all, nice place, but I think I prefer other Italians to this one.

I'm a big fan of the other Galvin around the corner from where I live and was very excited about trying this, the more upscale, version. Galvin at Windows is on the 28th floor (or 27th?) and the first thing that strikes you is quite unsurprisingly the gorgeous views. That alone is worth a lot in my eyes. Key here is to get a table by the window since I get the feeling that you wouldn't have the same experience in the middle area of the restaurant.

Service is absolutely impeccable from the very first minute. The old “attentive but not intrusive” is very much applicable. We both went for fish dishes and were very satisfied, although I wouldn't accentuate the food too much here. It is very good, but I think some people would feel that they've had as good or better at lower prices. That said, you're definitely paying a bit for the fact that you can landmark-spot during dinner. Something I failed miserably at by the way.

To conclude, having been here only twice I'm already happy to call this one of my favourites for finer dining. Sure, it isn't exactly cheap (£75 for the tasting menu, £110 with wine), but given the views, the service and the high quality food, it's definitely worth it.

A few days ago I had my first dinner in a very long time at Electric. I must say I was left a bit unsure about the concept last time around. This time, luckily, it was different. I would dare to say that the place is almost the ideal start of a big night out. We were a group of 12, all guys, celebrating something and Electric delivered from the very start, with the drinks in the bar, to the food and the general atmosphere.

I had tartar for starters and the steak frites for main. Both the dishes were good but nothing special or outstanding. That said, given the volume and the atmosphere, it would be a bit of waste to eat super-high-end food. You almost feel like you’re eating in the bar area, which obviously is good or bad, depending on your aim with the evening. I really enjoyed it.

Unfortunately the service isn’t excellent, and they're pretty steep in price given the food quality. But that aside, a very good place for the right purpose and you can always justify the price by saying you're paying for the atmosphere.

I could write this review quite short. Imagine a mediocre Strada, but multiply the bill by a factor of 3.

For some reason my expectations differed wildly to reality. Having had a great visit to one of the sister restaurants some time ago, I thought Oliveto would at least justify the rather hefty price level. Truth is, it isn't even close. Apart from the dimmed lighting, this could have been part of any chain imaginable; Zizi, Strada, Pizza Express etc. The sad this was that the food actually was passable, but the problems were the poor service, the cheap chain-like decoration and the fast-food like atmosphere.

The only reason I ended up here was the fact that we had drinks across the road at Thomas Cubitt. It's clear that we should've stayed there for dinner.

Even though its location isn't brilliant (for me at least), this brasserie is definitely worth a visit. We started the evening in their traditional and elegant bar, just the way I prefer it, and had the dinner in what I believe was the private room. Also in the same style.

I had three courses and they were all excellent, especially the duck I had for starter, but the rib of beef main was absolutely lovely as well. I'm not sure about the value for money since I was lucky enough not to pay, but judging from the guide price here, it's actually ok. The way the restaurant was laid out created a great atmosphere, which was made even better thanks to the pleasant and helpful staff.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this for a second, especially for a more formal event. Since our group was so big (30+) and quite lively, I'm not sure if the place might be a stiff otherwise, but generally, no complaints.