Flying Foodie's Reviews

Not many people know that a few yards from the bustle of Oxford St is this oasis of calm and tranquillity, set inside a beautiful historic home, surrounding by a fascinating free museum. It’s not trendy, but it’s charming and attractive, with the courtyard feeling warm and cosy even in winter.
It’s a great place for a casual lunch with a friend, but would feel an odd choice for a business lunch. The restaurant has two parts, a proper restaurant and a lighter food part. I ate in the latter and three of us emerged for only £19 with main courses but no drinks.
Service was fine and I would definitely go again

This is a very welcome spot of fine dining and high design in the underserved City. Whilst initially surprised by the hefty pricing of £20-30 mains, we were completely convinced once the food arrived.

I had a perfectly cooked duck with seasonal vegetables which was the best I had had in over a year. The side dishes, whilst also expensive at around £5 each were excellent too. We realised that is a truly fine dining restaurant and worthy of the cost.

The atmosphere is excellent too with the slick white and grey stone effect echoing the Armani stores that the designer has also worked for. The kitchen is visible in a discreet way through lots of small windows which do not invade the dining room but give you as much of a view as you want. A unique and welcome approach.
Service was spot on throughout, especially from the manager Gal, who offered a tour of the kitchens and their private cellar dining room (up to 6 people at no extra cost) and the main private dining (14).

Tables are well spaced giving the required privacy for deal discssions. If in more relaxed form, there is also an excellent wine bar space which is much more sophisticated than all the other City hell-holes. Thank God I don’t work in the City any more, but if I did I would be here a lot, especially on expenses.

I want to love BBR. The décor and concept is fantastic. I love anything by David Collins and this one is no exception, especially the downstairs lounge bar which feels exactly like an Orient Express train carriage. The venue creates a great combination of a sense of glamour and fun all at the same time, yet is tremendous value on the food, with burgers at £12 and top mains at £17.

Service was excellent with nice touches like a newspaper immediately provided whilst waiting for other diners. The food was well executed, if a little unexciting. The menu is a strange mish-mash of British staples seemly scattered at random across the menu. I did struggle to find dishes I wanted for dinner.

This restaurant could be so brilliant if they just made a few simple tweaks. My suggestions are:

1. Drop the one menu all day idea. It looks awful and is pointless.
2. Expand the list of traditional starters and mains to give lunch and dinner customers a broader range and to compete on an even footing with the local alternatives
3. Think about sexing up the food a bit. The British staples don’t live up to the glamour of the surroundings
4. Think about how difficult the food can be to eat. As I struggled to find a starter I had to plump for a chicken salad with lentils. It came in a tiny bowl with the chicken on top. As I tried to press down on the chicken with my fork, lentils went all over the place. One for a plate me thinks
5. Lose the pink uniforms. They’re gross

Overall – I highly recommend it. It’s a great place despite my gripes and good for a weekend night out. Your mates will be impressed. Top tip – The gorgeous bar is open to 3am and walk-ins accepted. Better than a private members club.

The key attraction of Skylon is the great view out over the river through the huge 25ft tall front windows. If you can time your sitting for sunset in the summer it’s awesome, but on any evening the twinkling lights of London look great. They are also good from virtually any seat in the house, making it a safer bet for views than Oxo Tower for example.

I was there on a D&D offer of £15 for three courses so I had no complaints about pricing. The food was good throughout, with an excellent tirmasu yoghurt thing that is quite hard to describe but was delicious as dessert.

The atmosphere is fashionable, buzzy and makes a great setting for a Friday or Saturday night out with friends or a date. Service was well timed throughout. Décor is pretty cool, being a modern interpretation of the 60’s Royal Festival Hall in which it is set.

I recommend it as a good stylish all rounder, suitable for both weekend fun or something more intimate.

I recently had my first lunch at GR Claridges after a long gap and was impressed. The key thing was the faultless service, which made the meal effortless. In so many other places you spend anxious minutes trying to catch oblivious waiters’ eyes whilst trying not to look desperate in front on tour guest, but not here. I never had to think about anything as a well trained chap had got there before me to politely enquire what we might need next. At no stage did I feel like the invisible man.

The setting is certainly plush but is perhaps beginning to date. It none the less has considerable wow factor and no guest would be disappointed.

We both plumped for the reasonable £35 a head set three course lunch which had enough choice on it to make everyone happy and escaped for £150 for two included a £55 bottle of wine. For this quality of establishment I had no complaints at this pricing.

The food was high quality throughout with no disappointments and the quantity well-judged over our three courses plus petits-fours.

Overall I would heartily recommend the experience and it is a good all round experience.

My wife and I made it here for its second day of opening and had a fantastic time. We were given a good table by the window and experienced excellent service from beginning to end. It did suffer from over-attentiveness and familiarity a bit, but I do not think that is a big deal.
Food was classic modern-continental and all well-executed, although with no dish especially memorable. It was really the combination of the gorgeous decor and the feeling of being treated like a lord and lady that made the experience so special.
More generally, I highly recommend spending time in the other areas of the Connaught. The refurb has been done in a really beautiful way – plush, modern, but retro, understated but bang on trend. It is a real gem.

Oh – And I did try to eat the Chocolate stands for the chocalate petits-four. They tasted fine, but it would be rather ambitious to eat them as they are huge. My tip – more chcolate in the petits fours, and drop the stand.

As a regular diner here I always enjoy the high quality and varied food, although the menu could change a little more frequently. It is one of the few restaurants where I can expect a “wow” moment each time I am there due to the often interesting and unusual combination of ingredients. Most of the food could easily be found at its Michelin starred sibling.

The decor is nice, restrained and modern, but not striking. Service at lunch is fine, but suffered one evening in the private room where it felt slow.

This is a favourite of mine for its slick and inviting design. Its dark wood walls and honey coloured lighting make it a pleasant place for lunch or dinner. Hidden down a side-street it is not known by many in the area and is a great place for a civilised business lunch or dinner away from the crowds of Oxford Street. The menu is traditional Italian with modern twists, and with mains topping out at around £18, is good value for the sumptuous surroundings and quality produce.

The food is always high quality and well executed, but does not tend to have a wow factor. Service is diligent but can be irritating with an awful lot of people not doing very much. They insist that the restaurant manger is the only one you can take your order while other staff members are free. This seems a pointless complication in what is overall a lovely place.