MissSushi's Reviews

I just came out of Hakkasan an hour ago, most of my senses satisfied and already planning my next visit. God it's good! You walk in and the intoxicating smell of jasmine hits you gently and makes your mouth water. We were seated on the ground floor, a lovely room in red, dark wood and beige leather. It is definitely brighter than the original restaurant, but still cozy. The menu is extensive. There is a separate dim sum menu for lunch and the normal a la carte. Sipping our fragrant jasmine tea, we waited in anticipation for our starters. A sharing dim sum basket of 8 dumplings arrived, 2 of each: scallop with tobbiko, crab and prawn, mushroom and bamboo and prawn and chives. The former two were outstanding, the plump juicy seafood wrapped in a delicate translucent noodle sheet. This was followed by an unbelievably good crispy duck Salad of generous proportions with grapefruit and spring onions, and a deep fried spicy soft shell crab – the best I have had in years. We were in heaven. To be honest I could have had exactly the same again for our mains. However, those were the infamous silver cod in champagne and Chinese honey, which melted in your mouth, the jasmine tea smoked chicken and a scallop egg fried rice. The fried rice portion was surprisingly large, but we finished it all, and appreciated it's size. I hope this won't change. Service was charming and efficient and the financial damage fair, considering the high standards. I can't wait to go back (a truffle chicken and an Alaskan king crab needs to be tasted) and I'm delighted that Hakkasan has finally come to Mayfair.

This bar serves without a doubt the strongest & tastiest Dirty Martini in London. If however, you happen to be a lightweight, ask Alessandro to make you a passionfruit martini. Eat and compliment him on his juicy, enourmous olives from Puglia. They are to die for.

After having read about it, I made my way to Shiori for lunch.
This supposedly delicious sushi island lies amongst a sea of kebab shops and curry houses. There are no tables at Shiori, just bar seats, 3 facing the Itamae, and 6 looking out the window front. That's it. The tiny room, smaller than Dinings or Inaho, was sparkling clean. I sat opposite the sushi chef and got excited when I was handed the menu. It boasts a long list of fish, including chu-toro and aji, which are not available at most London sushi bars.
My nigiri selection was beautifully presented. For such a teeny tiny, reasonably priced restaurant it felt unusually luxurious. A small dollop of truffle paste decorated the plump sweet scallop which was resting on perfectly cooked room temperature rice. Tiny shreds of shiso leaf complimented the salmon. The yellowtail melted on top of the tongue, together with its ginger and spring onion topping and the tuna was so buttery, it virtually disintegrated once inside the mouth. Apart from the eel, which could have been better, every piece of sushi which was presented was served with a delicious little accent. The friendly lady running Shiori told me that she had designed the mainly raw menu. It was short, but authentic yet modern compared to most London sushi bars. I'll be back.

Ten years ago I was here almost every saturday for brunch. I once even celebrated a boozy girls-only birthday brunch here which lasted from noon until 5 o'clock, so I had really fond memories of this place. But after my last experience, ten Polo horses wouldn't be able to drag me back into PJ's. The surroundings are still nice and I can't complain about the service, but it's the food that has become a joke. After I was served the greyest eggs I have ever seen alonside the beigest smoked salmon on the planet, I suffered severe food poisoning for the next 12 hours! Silly, hungry, greedy me for eating it! Never again.

I remember when not so long ago going to Automat was an automatic guarantee for great food in a nice buzzy place, complimented by efficient service. How times have changed.
My last visit there was somewhat painful. Upon our arrival we were reminded of our 1 and a half hour time slot, which would have been ok, since it was only brunch. We did not take into account that we would have been kept waiting for over one hour for eggs! When they finally arrived, the hollandaise sauce was not on the side, as specifically requested, and when we pointed it out to our waiter, he coldly removed the plate without a single word. Ten minutes later another plate of eggs was pratically thrown at us – no sauce in sight, not even on the side.
We quickly ate our average breakfast, got out of there and vowed never to return again.

Nozomi is one of the most embarrassing restaurants in London. To call it a japanese restaurant is an insult to japanese gastronomy. It is therefore extremely surprising to see it listed under ‘Best Japanese’ next to award winning kitchens such as Nobu, Zuma and Umu.
I have been there twice and both times were a waste of time, appetite and money. Both times the service was unacceptable: waiters did not understand the menu or the ingredients and were confused by the meanings of ‘handroll’ and tobbiko (which was not available). In fact the service is comical: the first time the waitress needed us to point at each dish on the menu to copy what we were ordering – she still got it wrong, brought us the wrong dishes and asked what this extra wasabi was that we wanted since she could not find it on the menu. The food is a badly executed copy from much more successfull rivals. Hardened steamed rice which was at least one day old, refrigerated and then microwaved to order, was the least of our worries. Generally most fish we were served at Nozomi was of poor quality and therefore tasteless. The salmon, tuna, yellowtail & seabass sashimi were very obviously from a cheap mass farmer and scallop sashimi did not taste fresh – we left it because it looked and smelled like food poisoning on a plate. The black cod resembled a soup and the duck was swimming in teriyaki sauce, a common trick restaurants perform, to mask poor or expired products. The music makes your ears cry, it's not a nightclub and even if it were, it'd be a really sad one full of clowns. Overall a pathetic attempt for sushi-beginners at trying to play with the London big boys, which results in a shamefull and mortifying experience for all: the management of the restaurant and the poor patrons who have to sit through a painfull and less than mediocre dinner.

I never felt any desire to visit a Gary Rhodes restaurant. The main reason for this is that, as an avid food programme enthusiast, I have always switched the channel whenever his out-of-date coiffure invaded my living room. Not so much his hair, as his condescending tone irritated me. I never liked watching him degrading international star chefs in their own countries, to mere sous-chefs while he talked non stop about their dishes. Or speak to us viewers as if we were slightly moronic. And then I was invited to a birthday party at RhodesW1. The entire dining room was booked and the venue was quite pleasant. It boasts great chandeliers and very luxurious furniture.The light design was particularly nice.
When we arrived we had champagne and unmemorable canapes in the foyer until finally the dining room opened. Generally the service was good: attentive and unfuzzy. But it is very difficult to judge the service of a restaurant when the entire dining room is supposed to be served at the same time. That night they could have done with a few more waiters.
As for the food, it was not bad, but it was not great. For starters we were served foie gras with duck which was cold, although I am pretty sure it was supposed to be warm. It was fine. As main course the chosen dish was an unspectacular smallish cod with lentils which unfortunately was embellished with needless bits of bacon – as a result only half of our table ate it – they did not miss out on much. It is a dish I have eaten many times before in other London restaurants without the bacon bits at, much higher executed standard. The dessert, a chocolate and hazelnut concoction, was a little too sweet for my taste.
To be honest our menu was boring, the food was indifferent and on the small-portioned side, but I recognize that it was pre chosen for us. It still did not change my mind. Gary Rhodes might be the complete opposite of what he comes across like on television, but now that I have eaten at one of his restaurants, there… More

A delightful blast from the past was a recent monday lunch visit, to celebrate a friends' birthday. Admittedly the dining room was only one-third occupied, mainly by ladies who lunch with their happy spaghetti munching toddlers, some out of town families, and the occasional middle aged british gentleman inhaling an entire 4 course lunch by himself.
The service was attentive and pleasant and our waiter was visibly mortified when one milanese turned out to be almost raw. The starters we had were grilled octopus (tender yet lightly charcoaled), burrata (lovely) and melanzane (very tasty). One of our party ordered an off the menu dish (vegetarian pasta) which looked and tasted a little boring, but that was her fault, not the kitchens in my opinion. Other mains included veal milanese, which after it came out the second time was very gratifying, lamb and dover sole – I did not taste either of those but I was told they were exquisit. I had ordered the daily special which were rich potato tortelloni al tartufo and half the table dove into my plate so unfortunately I only managed to eat two thirds, but it was truly satisfying with generous black truffle shavings. Pinapple carpaccio was light and refreshing and a nice finish to our meal. I am disappointed with myself that I haven't paid Daphne's a visit for nearly 8 years but after this lunch I know it won't happen again.