New Michelin starred restaurant to the 2024 Michelin guide for Great Britain and Ireland Pavyllon is the much anticipated addition to the London dining scene from three Michelin starred Yannick Alléno (of Ledoyen and formerly Le Maurice).  His latest restaurant Pavyllon is set in the former main restaurant of the Four Seasons, Park Lane which holds an impressive bar area, private dining room and reception area upstairs and lunch and dinner options downstairs in front of an open kitchen for lunch and dinner.  This main area also doubles up as the breakfast area for the hotel guests an ..read more

Newly Michelin starred restaurant for 2023 in Edinburgh Timberyard is one of Scotland’s latest Michelin starred restaurants gaining its star in 2023.  Once a former prop store for a theatre, its setting is charming and original.  Three courses for lunch is £60 and a tasting menu of 6 courses at dinner for £120, so lunch is once again far better value and there are optional, opening snacks to choose from for additional supplements.  I chose the parfait, green pinecone & duck fat focaccia and St. Andrew’s cheddar gougeres & mustard mornay snacks which were not small and li ..read more

Skilful, long tasting menu option only from Kenny Atkinson's second fine dining venture Solstice opened in the summer of 2022 and gained its Michelin star at the very first opportunity in 2023.  Kenny Atkinson, owner of House of Tides is the head chef of Solstice and now oversees both kitchens.  I have always thought very well of House of Tides and was keen to sample this new venture, the short version being that I was not disappointed.  In fact, I would actually say that this much smaller restaurant, if anything, was a notch upwards and the 15-18 course tasting menu only option ..read more

Small burger chain in London Black Bear burgers are a small chain of outlets located mainly in East and South East London.  Their venues include Exmouth Market (near Fitzrovia), Shoreditch, Brixton Market, Victoria and now Canary Wharf Cargo Market Hall (opposite the new Elizabeth line).  It is another collection to the more notable burger options I have placed on the site that are small chains, cook burgers to order and use what seem to be better quality patties and bread.  I tried the classic Black Bear burger that comes with dry aged beef (length of time not specified), chees ..read more

New Michelin starred entry for 2023 in Cumbria - half pub half main restaurant Heft received its Michelin star in the 2023 guide and its addition helps to keep Cumbria the county with the most Michelin stars within the UK. It is modern cooking by Kevin Tickle who is formerly of L’Enclume and the head forager at Forest Side (both also in Cumbria). The menus represent very good value for money, with a set menu lunch option for £45, a Sunday roast menu for £37 and evening set menu for £110. The lunch experienced showed good skill and I thought it an especially nice touch that the pub area (on ent ..read more

Imperial Treasure's UK branch serving authentic Chinese dishes Imperial Treasure is a well-known and high-end group with over 20 branches in Asia, but just two in Europe, one in Paris and one in London.  I have visited the Imperial Treasure in Singapore (where 14 of their branches are) that is famed for its duck and I was indeed impressed, leading me to be excited for this overdue visit to its London branch.  Whilst the dishes in general are good quality, diners do need to note that you must look carefully at when various menus are available and as I learned the hard way, if you wish ..read more

New Michelin starred entry to the 2023 guide St Barts is a beautiful, refurbished restaurant standing in the site of what was most likely a part of the old St Bartholomew hospital building area.  The restaurant is nestled in the charming old and very new alleyways of the Barbican and Farringdon, with a restaurant view of the picturesque courtyard of St Bartholomew church.  The cooking was very competent and the team very accommodating and professional although I thought the wine list could be broadened more in terms of choices by the glass.  Lunch offers the more reasonable £70 ..read more

New Michelin starred entry for the 2023 guide Àclèaf (meaning oak leaf in Anglo Saxon) opened in 2018 and is the flag ship restaurant of the grand-looking Boringdon Hall hotel in Plymouth and is one of the newly awarded Michelin starred restaurants of the 2023 guide. The four course menu for £120 showed innovative touches and I enjoyed the fact that there was plenty of choice for the four courses, pretty much as per an a la carte in essence (see menu pic).  Service and hospitality here was impeccable with some of the best I have encountered anywhere in the country and I was equally entire ..read more

L'Atelier brand of Joel Robuchon returns to London and former Comptoir site. L’Atelier Robuchon is the reincarnation of the brand in London having closed in West Street (Soho area), reconstituted as Comptoir Robuchon on Clarges Street (just off Piccadilly) which has now as of late ’23 returned as an official L’Atelier with its distinctive red and black decor as they are across the globe.  I was exceedingly happy to see the return of a Joel Robuchon L’Atelier in London as regular readers of mine will know how much I enjoy the its winning formula as a favourite (yet not best).  Rather ..read more

Quality Chinese restaurant within the brand new Peninsula Hotel opposite Wellington Arch and Hyde Park Corner Canton Blue is one of the higher end restaurants in the newly opened (Sep 2023) Peninsula Hotel in London, set on the south side of Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner.  It is legendarily difficult to gain a reservation here and this, I found out, is in part that that many of the tables are required to be set aside for Hotel Guests, so if you are desperate to gain entry here, there is always that option – you just need to budget around £1,200 extra to stay there for one night to e ..read more