Rules is not retro, much more, it is as it has always been. There a few winks to modernity which can be found both in the déco and on the menu, but mainly, what we have got here is London's oldest surviving still operating restaurant. Yes it out-dates even the concept of ‘hotel dining’ and probably the idea of a ‘hotel’ itself in today's sense of the word. However, no, it is not a tourist trap. Very, very far from it. The food has something very rare about it. Whilr tasty it is somehow dignified and… well… I guest the phrase is ‘have stood the test of time’. It is great that now there is a very young-at-heart bar upstairs which serves one of meanest and best bloody marys in town. If you haven't tried it do – the 1970s restaurants with photos of famous people on the walls will never be the same again.

What a pity this little place would have a much needed addition to the ever problematic dining scene in Covent Garden… but it just doesn't hit home. The menu is complicated, it over-promises and under-delivers and service is not up to scratch either. It is rare that a good location plus very good produce add up to so little on the bottom line. Should we all become wary of ‘third restaurants’ from successful restaurateurs?

The Balcon, is new, great and fills an important gap in this part of Pall Mall. It is open all day. This idea of all day service is great for busy business people and the quality doesn't dissappoint. The kitchen is probably still fine-tuning a thing or two, but there is potential in heaps. The Champagne Balcon, is a funny feature and this place must be in with a shot at serving the greatest number of different Champagnes by the glass. An expense account does help, because this deepest SW1 and the prices are according, however, at least one delivers. I would even go as far as saying that this is a good pre- or post- theatre option as the deco is so nice that it qualifies as a ‘destination’. Well done Sofitel, well done Mr Roux Jr…

If you are like me and are constantly looking for (and never giving up the hope of one day finding) a truely ‘continental European style’ Brasserie in London, then Rowleys does tick – on the surface – a few boxes. The main dining room has something resembling ‘soul’ and thankfully the rather upleasant management team haven't ruined it. So there is a whiff of an old parisian brasserie, but of Course this being St. James rather than Piccadilly there are very strong british accents. There is the tourist-trap pricing policy which is absolutely shameful and the much peddled ‘house special sauce’ which is herb and Roquefort butter… the, err… ‘secret’ is how to make it taste like something they found in the bottom drawer of a 100+ year old kitchen.
All round it is a huge pity, because this part of town would need a place like Rowleys with its pretty dining room and great location, just with better food, more reasonable prices, a friendlier mangement team and… did I mention better food? What a pity…

Bella Italia! Yes, it's true. Your colleague showing off about going to Cecconi's with his wife/girlfriend/client is proabaly not exaggerating. It is quite easy to overspend on Cecconi's lovely menu – and it's wine list for that matter. However, the place oozes with a sense of occaison and the simple understanding that this is a tiny enclave of a top italian restaurant transposed to London. A unbeatable location and a really quite pleasant terrace are futher advantages… Cecconi's fulfills a number of stereotypes, but – and so rarely in London these days – it delivers, and delivers and just when you thought it couldn't improve – it delivered some more. Grazie.

Haché is a pretty brilliant little French burger bar on the Fulham Road. It was in many ways lightyears ahead in the “gourmet burger revolution” and it is still up there given the “burger of the moment” a very strong run for its money. It manages to do this while providing good side dishes, good service and even a pretty – even vaguely romantic! – setting. Well done. Following an refreshment of décor in spring 2012 Haché seems ready to defend its deserved placed amongst Londonds best – and original – burger focused restaurants…

The Avenue is truely a very pretty place to have dinner and the food is remarkably well sourced and prepared. Lainston House itself and its grounds is one of the prettiest places to stay in and around Winchester. The wine list is incredibly well compiled and serivice is very good. Very good indeed.

The Hoops is a very genuine, pretty and highly atmospheric gastropub in what seems deepest Hertfordshire, but is in essence a quick 10-15min drive from Stansted Airport. Now there are a few of these, but The Hoops has something very special about it. The entire property is very pretty and well run, but the kitchen deserves a special notice as there is a real sense of passion about the food that is produced and served here. The cook has his own herb, salad and vegetable garden out back and the result are dishes which many central London eateries would kill for – delicious, honest and simply excellent. There are many reasons to visit The Hoops, but if you are picking up friends or family from Stansted, this is a slice of countryside England before hitting the metropolis. Lovely.

Kitchen W8 is magnificent. It is a very simple restaurant but one that does everething to a standard of excellence. The award of Michelin Star has not changed this, to the contrary – it seems to have spurred the team on to even greater heights. It does maintain the vibe of a – albeight very high end – neighbourhood restaurant, but one which (much like it's neighbourhood) is amongst the best in the city. All this is wrapped up with an imaginative and friendly team that prepares special dinners, and weeks – watch out for the truffles in autumn!

Le Café Anglais is restaurant full of opposites. It a very elegant space with touches of 1930s Art Déco a very good view and a wonderfully airy atmosphere. Also the entrance from Porchester Gardens is very elegant (there is one from Whiteleys shopping centre too, best avoided.) That's one: effortless style in not the most stylish corner of W2. Furhter there is the name in French and the menu of heavily british influenced “modern European” fare, which however is very high quality and efficinetly served. While the restaurant might well work for a date – it looks a lot like the kind of restaurant people in Hollywood movies go for a date – it has two obvious (again opposite) reasons to be: it is a kind of canteen for the wealthy locals of W2. A few steps away from Bayswater you are deep in Notting Hill territiory and this type of customer seems attracted by the quality and especially the dependability. The other is probably just as lucrative but very imporant: Business dining. It is hard to think of a better price/value/wow-factor restaurant for business dining. A great effort and with an element of the “effortless” attitude done so well on the continent. Thumbs up.

Chez Patrick is quitety developing into a true Kensington institution. It is a restaurant which offers a very charming experience and high quality french food. The team behind Chez Patrick is of “Lou Pescadou” fame – the now closed french fish restaurant for 30 or so years on the Brompton Road from which Patrick himself moved on from to start his own venture in the incredibly pretty corner of Kensington (come in spring for the Cherry blossom). There are a few hightlights on the menu, which must be the Soupe de Poisson, which even Michelin Starred restaurants fail to top and – in season – the moules marinères. But the great and reassuring thing here is that everything is reliably good – meat or fish, lunch or dinner, it is difficult to set a wrong foot. To round things off everything is served with a large helping of charm and warmth and some nice wine from the excellent cellar. One leaves wondering if France had moved even closer and instincively wishing the restaurant every – well deserved – success.

This is a truely special restaurant – the food and the views are great and it is rare that places offering such views to really deliver on the culinary front. What is also great, is that the service is truely taught about the high-end Chinese cooking, so one can learn a thing or two The attention to detail is quite amazing, the meats are sources with an incredible dedication. Booking however is a must.

Cassis offers a very pretty setting just minutes from the V&A and Harrods. It is a true bijou with genuine pieces of modern art and a surprisingly unstuffy and well thought-out menu loosly based around the idea of modern Provençal cooking. The food is really good, as long as you do not expect a Nice or St. Tropez mini-break. Cassis is of a US-owned stable of restaurants and thus the cuisine feels a bit like a Provence to New York and then London “re-import”. Which is not bad per se, one simply needs to be mindful. On weekends there is a fun brunch menu. My only concern is the wine list which I feel lacks a few classic choices from the region the restaurant seeks to represent. However, this is an enrichement to the Brompton Road area.

Where to start? I love Paris! (Stay with me…) But, in Paris there is certain a type of touristy would-like-to-be haute cuisine restaurant, which is rather awful, quite expensive and utterly unsatisfying. The reason for this, I belive, is that they do not count on repeat business. Simply get people through the door and through their hour-and-a-half resembling a meal and out a juicy swipe of the credit card later. Le Duexième, unfortunately, has turned into a London rendering of such a place. Covent Garden, of course is historically tricky terrain, so I had often wanted eat here, but most often found myself opting for the more established competiors. So even bigger the disappointment, in a dining room that in itself has no reason to fail so dramatically. First was the House Champagne. This might be well used to clean the photocopier at the office – I did not know that such acidity was legal. The only thing that half-saved the miserable effort were two decent fish mains. The “classic” Covent Garden have become these mainly through tireless attention to detail and, of course, consistency. I don't know why the newer restaurants don't see this.

Now, reviews are a subjective thing. But Scott's, I think it is safe to say, is a matter of taste. It does, without doubt, encapuslate a certain pre-2008 financial sphere and scene of early 21st century Mayfair. However, you should be absolutely clear about one point before coming here: you come to be seen and, if you're lucky, to see others. Food is secondary, service is tertiary. Wine is widely availible at a London and Mayfair markup. But, especially if you come here when you're tired, there can be moments where you feel like being in a (not very good) movie. However, as an anthropological experiment it is quite interesting. Having said this, I would like to make rid wih the myth that this is a good place for a date. It is not, unless your opposite is the kind of person who like to name-drop where they've been taken out…