Sabrina's Passions' Reviews

What's not to love about a deli and gourmet food shop that has a restaurant attached to it? Especially when it's actually very good. Although it must be said that lunches have a tad more ambience as the deli/shop is actually open for business, whereas in the evening you have to use the rear entrance on a whole other street as the shopfront is closed. Plus the fact that you would struggle to see any sign of life in the evening in that neighbourhood, it can be a bit ho-hum. However the restaurant is equally busy both day and night and the ambience is great. Service, although friendly, can be quite slow at times especially if they are busy.

The menu has a great selection of foods to suit all moods and palates. Modern European would be the best way to describe the food I guess, although I don't really go in for that kind of cliche. My favourite starter has to be the Macaroni cheese with (or without) bacon, it is delicious and the perfect comfort food, but terrine of foie gras, French onion soup and whole artichoke with hazlenut vinaigrette are also great choices.

Main courses are great with a juicy ribeye steak with sauce ‘Cafe de Paris’ or the quivveringly raw Steak tartare, which is equally delicious. But you really must try the ‘Aspen Fries’ as they are a thing of beauty. Crispy fries doused in truffle oil and enough parmesan cheese to reform a mini-wheel, makes these chips beyond special. In fact, I could quite happily eat them on their own, although best served with a nice hunk of meat.

Desserts are pretty interesting with Mars bar cheesecake (not for the faint hearted) as well as sticky toffee pudding and a great cheese plate. I am surprised that they offer 50% off the menu here, when the food is as good as it is. Although perhaps without the 50% discount the bill could end up being quite expensive, so long live the discount!

At last! After a distinct lack of decent Italian restaurants, L'Anima (The Italian word for Soul) arrived like a breath of fresh air and Chef Francesco Mazzei wowed City folk with his trademark rustic, home-style cooking.
The restaurant itself is one big space, minimalistic with decor largely consisting of white walls and glass and an open kitchen where geeks like me can watch the Chefs as they toil over hot stoves creating food for your pleasure.

If you are looking for fancy food, then L'Anima is not for you. The cooking here is simple, vibrant and bursting with Italian flavours. Starters are particularly good with octopus, cannellini beans and ricotta, one of Mazzei's signature dishes as well as scallops with spicy N'duja sausage and of course wonderful burrata cheese with it rich creamy consistency. But it is the Sicilian rabbit stew, which is not to be missed and the Pork belly with N'Cantarata sauce is also a favourite. Mazzei once made me a special pasta dish of tagliolini with toasted hazlenuts, butter, parmesan and oodles of shaved white truffle which was so ridiculously good that I was rendered speechless. The man is a legend and along with his natural Italian charm, he is also very easy on the eyes which doesn't hurt one bit. But fear not Gentlemen, the food is really the main draw here, it is pretty unbeatable and though some say it can be a tad expensive, when you use the quality of ingredients that is used here, every single penny is absolutely justified.

Can't wait to go back after they re-open!

If I'm being honest, I'm almost reluctant to tell you how good this place is because not only is it incredibly cheap for PROPER Japanese food, but it is always packed with Japanese clientele – which as we all know, is a very good thing.

Hidden beneath what looks like a normal take-away Sushi joint with a little bar for eating in, this basement restaurant is really fantastic. Shoes off for Tatami style dining with sunken tables and matting on the floor. The Sushi is so fresh and the quality is really very good indeed. You'd be hard pushed to find better Sushi in London, especially at these prices.

Service can be slow as they get so busy and I would not recommend going without making a booking as you can incurr a long wait, standing on the staircase for up to 30 minutes at a time. Both the sushi/sashimi and the cooked food is great and when you order quite a bit of sushi, it is presented on a magnificent structure of a ship, which although a bit tacky, still has a wow-factor about it. Great place to eat.

After almost a decade of absence, Pierre Koffmann is at last back with a new restaurant. A brief appearance at the helm of a hugely successful pop-up restaurant at Selfridges last Autumn sent bloggers and writers into a frenzy, cementing the public's desire to see Koffmann back in the kitchen. The man is a legend and has set tongues wagging with his recent re-emergence on the London restaurant scene, at the same location that previously housed the second incarnation of ‘La Tante Claire’, The Berkeley Hotel, SW1.

This time around, cooking is less ostentatious and more condusive to the hearty traditions of Koffman's Gascon heritage. Good old fashioned rustic cookery, no pomp or fanfare, instead bold dishes that remain unapologetically simple… the kind of food that sticks to your ribs and warms your insides. Comfort food, like no other. The menu is peppered with classic Koffman dishes like scallops with squid ink, pigs trotters stuffed with sweetbreads and morel mushrooms as well as the infamous pistachio souffle. My starter of cassoulet of escargot and girolles with mashed potato was served in a miniature Le Creuset pot complete with a thin garlic croute. The escargots had a wonderfully smokey taste and without the usual lashings of garlic butter, it made it possible to actually taste them and they were superb. A bite of my friends scallop with squid ink starter served up a contrast of delicate white scallop, soft and sweet with a jet black slick of glossy squid ink.

A mini portion of the pig's trotter was served to us as a special course courtesy of Pierre Koffman and admittedly although I would never have chosen this dish, it was absolutely delicious and incredibly delicate and perfumed with morels. My main course of rump of lamb with couscous came sliced and cooked to medium-rare perfection. Glistening with meaty juices and every mouthful wonderfully succulent and tender. The coucous accompaniment spiced with middle-eastern flavours, was a tad heavy on the cinnamon and… More

Trader Vic's is one of those establishments that has been around for donkeys years, relying heavily on trade from the London Hilton Hotel in which it is located, I severely doubt it would remain open if it wasnt so popular with hotel guests. It is also pretty well known for ‘ladies of the night’ (to be polite) touting their wares to businessmen and the like.

The drinks are superb, despite being mostly rum based and INCREDIBLY alcoholic! The Tiki Puka Puka is one of my all time favourites and comes adorned with a beautiful orchid flower. The bar food is actually way better than the restaurant to be honest… I always go with friends and we order lots of different bar snacks including fantastic spare ribs, crab rangoon, perfect calamari and lots of other delicious treats.

I would say Mahiki ripped this concept off completely and ruined it with their chavvy overpriced version of a Tiki bar-cum-club. Ditch Mahiki and go to Trader Vics… These bars were the epitome of chic in the 70's and 80's!

Elistano isn't terribly cheap, thats the one thing you should know, but if its proper Italian food with fresh ingredients and flavours and bags of visual appeal, then Elistano is for you. Tucked away in the back streets of Chelsea, Elistano has been around for a long time and every time I go there the restaurant is teeming with trendy locals, yummy-mummies and hoards of Italians (which is always a good sign). Expect a noise-level that can be insufferable if you have a headache and sitting elbow-to-elbow with fellow diners is a tad overly initimate to say the least, but hey, this is Chelsea.

My favourite starters are definitely the Carpaccio di Manzo, Insalata Vitaminica (bacon, avocado and spinach) and also whole artichoke with dressing… Main courses, for me personally either the fabulously good Linguine alle Vongole, perfectly ‘Al Dente’ strands of linguine with garlic, white wine, chillies and juicy clams or the equally good ‘Spaghetti allo Scoglio’ a seafood pasta with a tomato and saffron sauce. Fish dishes are also always great and lovely and fresh.

For me, its a winner. But take your credit cards because cheap it ain't!

As expected, Galvin Bistrot proved to be another fine culinary offering from brothers Jeff and Chris Galvin. The restaurant immediately reminds me of high-end Parisian eateries, with the classic dark green leather banquette seating paired with dark wood panelling and starched immaculate white table cloths. The menu is not enormous, but just the perfect size so as not to overwhelm. Between the two of us, we couldn't resist the temptation of ordering 3 starters of huge garlic butter and bread crumb-stuffed Escargot, meltingly tender and bathed in buttery garlicky goodness. Decadent yet simple Terrine of Foie Gras with toast and gaining a special mention, a first class Lasagne of Dorset Crab with a perfect pairing of beurre Nantais sauce. The lasagne is truly spectacular in it's towered glory, bound with eggs to give it an almost feather-light weightless texture and packed with the beautifully sweet crab meat.

Main course of scallops with Provencale tomatoes and also surpreme of ‘Landaise’ chicken with girolles and delicately creamy fettucine are both beyond sublime. I would just like to say that i NEVER order chicken at a restaurant as I find it terribly disappointing most of the time, but the skilled hands at Galvin restaurants manage to execute flawless cooking of chicken, retaining succulence at the centre and crisp skin on top. Heavenly.

A simple vanilla creme brulee may amount to the most perfect creme brulee I have had to date. The perfect amount of sugar, bruleed to perfect. A creamy rich creme peppered with vanilla seeds and not remotely scrambled or unpleasant like the offenders at so many other restaurants these days. My guest went for the Tarte Tatin which arrived as a enormous portion topped with caramelised apples that were virtually glowing with appeal and soft and made a delicious and sweet topping for the perfect pastry beneath them.

Looking around, the people that ate there seemed to be regulars as the wait staff engaged in conversations with them… More

Despite opening last year, I still had never managed to make it to Harry's bar until today. What a huge departure from it's sister restaurant in Cannon Street. This branch of Harry's is light and airy, extremely modern and minimal in decor. The food is also really good and the service is very efficient. I also saw large platters of food being whisked past me for a group of bar patrons. Yummy looking lettuce cups filled with what looked like Hoisin duck, crisp tempura squid and prawns and other goodies. All delicious. Shall definitely be going back for another meal soon!