Posts Tagged ‘Restaurants in London’

All You Can Eat Meat

Saturday, September 24th, 2011

I’ve written before of my hatred for chain restaurants and the need to immediately veto them as a date venue. Well I’ve found the exception. It has to be said that this is not first date territory for several reasons. 1. There’s too much food. 2. It’s all meat. Unless you’re unashamedly proud of your monstrous appetite, this is best saved for shhhhh don’t say it….the double date.

Rodizio Rico

Girls get stuck in!

Dreaded by many a dater, the double date comes at a point when he decides to bring his friend (ex wingman now he’s with you) or when she decides to bring her single friend along (so she can get a true verdict on you). Rodizio Rico, the Brazilian all you can eat, is a venue that calls for at least two large appetites present. You pay a set price per head (a la carte is available), help yourself to the amazing selection of salads, cold treats, and then the waiters will appear with a variety of grilled meats for you to choose from (16 different cuts to be precise).

Armed only with a beermat that on one side is red for “no thanks” and green for “keep it coming”, you will be treated to an array of perfectly cooked meat that the waiter will carve for you at the table. The rump steak and topside beef is sublime and though the chicken hearts might not be your preference, the lamb is by far the best thing they will bring you so take full advantage.

A great dining experience for meat lovers alike, you will not be left unsatisfied. Ideal for a Sunday night followed by a few drinks and then home! Rodizio Rico has a few locations around the city. The Islington branch is ideally placed on Upper Street where you can always find a busy bar and live music and the other branches can be found in popular locations, Fulham, O2 and Westbourne Grove. You need to book in advance and trust me on this one, come on an empty stomach.

Want to know other great places to date? Have a cheeky perusal at our Places Page. It’s full of suggestions and reviews from our discerning Click members.

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A Nice Slice of Americana

Saturday, June 25th, 2011

It is acceptable to keep things cool and casual on date. Relieve the pressure of a first date by choosing a restaurant that is unassuming, has great food and is bang on the money in terms of the cool factor. Where is this magical place?  Well, we’ve located it and it involves heading East.

Pizza Express, Zizzi’s, Strada or any of the other formulaic chains might be acceptable for catch up with friends or a post work dinner, they are NOT acceptable in the realms of dating. Why? The simple reason that they’re an easy choice, offer nothing interesting and fail in providing a new experience. Take a date there and you’re the equivalent of all those things. Though there is something about sharing a pizza with a date that immediately breaks down barriers by introducing that needed touch of familiarity.

Pizza East, Shoreditch, is a modern pizzeria that has taken up residence on the ground floor of the Tea Building. After opening in 2009 to much acclaim – “the most influential restaurant opening of the year” – this restaurant is one of the many children fathered by Nick Jones who counts Soho House and Shoreditch House as part of his uber trendy family. Take a date there and you’ve already gained points for just knowing about it.

Pizza East, ShoreditchPizza East, ShoreditchPizza East, Shoreditch

The interior echoes its East London location with exposed pipes, concrete walls, and all over industrial style. Leather to add luxe and steel cafeteria style tables make this both edgy and contemporary. The staff are also part of this great restaurant’s atmosphere. Some have been pinched from L.A and their devilish good looks and charming smiles very much cement this as “the place to be”.

But let’s move on to the food. Pizzas blasted in wood ovens made on house recipe 10 inch bases with a basic selection ranging to more gourmet styles like the San Daniele, tomato, ricotta, pesto and ruby chard. The pizzas here are truly amazing. Even if you don’t want to go for the pizza option, there is a great antipasti menu from which you should probably choose the lamb meatballs and calamari. Meat and fish dishes cooked in the wood oven are perfect for a more a la carte style of dining or for starters, pick from the counter a plate of Mortadella and Prosciutto.

You won’t disappoint by choosing Pizza East as a date location. The venue, food and cool atmosphere will mean that you will tick all the right boxes here and maybe even surpass your date’s expectations. Trust us on this one.

Do you know any great date restaurants? Or have you eaten somewhere and just can’t keep quiet about it? Share it with your fellow members on our Places page.

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We All Love A Good Bit Of Meat

Friday, June 10th, 2011

It’s an undeniable fact that there are some great restaurants in London. A few are simply amazing. We all have our favourite go to restuarants for Thai, Japanese, Italian, fusion whatever, but you really can’t do much better than a good steak. Combine that with an elite dining experience, innovative cocktail menu and luxury interior, you have something really special.

Steak @ The Hawksmoor

The perfect steak dinner

The Hawksmoor @ Seven Dials, Langley Street takes up residence at the old Watney-Combe brewery- the perfect setting for a restaurant that is centred around tradition and gastronomy. Specialising in various cuts of meat (you can give 48 hours notice for rare meats and they promise to get it for you), order your steaks by the weight and add half a lobster for a plate of rapture or be tempted by grilled bone marrow.

Make sure you get this early though as it’s a house favourite and is often sold out by 9 p.m. The side dishes cannot be overlooked and you should not miss out on the opportunity for beef dripping chips.

The drinks menu is an adventure through traditional English drinking rituals. I definitely recommend trying “The History of the Cocktail in Ten Drinks” – brownie points if you make it to the end. Punch cups are amazing and the famed Juleps that hold their origins in Opium are a perfect after dinner tipple. If you’re a true steak enthusiast, The Hawksmoor also invites you to engage their private rooms and start your own Supper Club.

I think there are some brilliant date restaurants each perfect in terms of suitability for different situations. Save The Hawksmoor for a truly special occasion and for the time when you really to need to bring out the big guns as it promises an unforgettable dining experience.

For more amazing restaurant suggestions, check out our Places page.

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Viva La Revolucion! Islington’s Very Own Havana

Friday, May 13th, 2011

Undeniably one of the best restaurants in Islington and potentially London is Cuba Libre. A quirky bar/restaurant that has been on Upper St since 1990, it’s an establishment in itself. With a happy hour that never seems to end (£9 for two cocktails!) it’s a hot favourite with locals and one of London’s best kept secrets. Perfect for a Friday night.

When you walk through the curtain entrance you’re abandoning the streets of London and entering into small corner of Cuba, a bar in Havana with wall murals, stone floors and patio style tables and chairs. The music is loud (not too much though) and the atmosphere is very lively. Aside from from all the above reasons that render this small restaurant as your next go to for cocktails, the best thing about it is undeniably the food.Cuba Libre, Islington

True to its Cuban roots, the a la carte menu offers up the best in Cuban Cuisine. Go for the empanada with spiced shredded pork, it’s one of their signature dishes whilst the “Ropa Vieja a la Cubana” – translation “Old Rags” is a tenderly cooked braised beef with a flavoursome herb sauce. My favourite however and probably the restaurant’s best feature is the lunch/dinner tapas menu which you can choose up to 6 dishes for £13.95. I’ve eaten quite a bit of tapas in London and I challenge anyone to find a better deal than that. Seriously, if anyone does know of something that trumps that, I would really like to know. I wholeheartedly recommend the albondigas, lamb brochette and calamare. If you head there for lunch the menu is £7.95 for up to 4 dishes.

A great date destination, Cuba Libre is well placed on Upper St for after dinner drinks but you never know if you’ll end up staying there. Now that the weather is getting better, you can dine on the terrace. A welcoming and fun atmosphere, coronas and cocktails on hand, you’re guaranteed a good time.

Looking for inspiration this weekend? Check out member recommendations on our Places page.

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Lunch Date? Try Tokyo Simplicity

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

Whenever I have a lunch date, I always try to pick restaurants that meet certain criteria. 1) Is it close enough to where I need to be afterwards 2) Will we able to get a table (nothing is worse than lunch time rush and overcrowding) and finally, 3) Can we enjoy good food, good atmosphere etc.- essentially get the most out of this micro date. Time on lunch dates is of course, of the essence.

Tokyo Diner

I was in Central London on Monday looking for somewhere to grab food (in the mood for sushi), and ever impressed by an iPhone’s ability to find places to eat, technology guided me towards Tokyo Diner, Chinatown. So unassuming, Tokyo Diner is very very simple with a few good guiding principles that has ensured its success since setting up in the early 90’s.

The sushi is some of the best and there’s noodles, bento boxes and you can grab the house special “Katsu Curry” if you “don’t do raw fish” (my date’s initial complaint). Everything is incredibly fresh and if you’re feeling extra ambitious, they will let you order up big rice portions for free, as long as you don’t waste it. That’s one of the things that makes this such an endearing epicurean hot spot – it’s a restaurant with a heart.

Big believers in sustainability will love their eco mentality to business. Tokyo Diner uses electricity sourced from Ecotricity (renewable only) and has a firm policy on tuna (as in they won’t serve it). Though I love my tuna sashimi and though it’s normally such a focus of Japanese cuisine, I was not going to get any here. As tuna is expensive and therefore heavily over-fished, this restaurant refuses to serve it until sustainable fishing methods are found. At the core of the restaurant’s philosophy is also a no tipping culture. They won’t accept them and if you even try to leave some cash behind, they will donate to charity.

Having never really thought about how a restaurant could do their small part in helping the environment (and I’m the most unlikely activist), it was a great topic of conversation over the date and with good customer service and great food such a focus of this restaurant, it’s no surprise they serve up an average of 300 covers a day. If you want to have a look, check out their website, there’s a live webcam so you can get a glimpse of it as it is right now. It’s the ideal antidote to lunchtime rush hour madness and a great casual date spot. When everything else is complicated and over-thought, this small corner of simplicity might be just what you need.

Need inspiration for great date restaurants? Go here for some ideas.

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What Did You Do On Valentines’ Day?

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

(Because we are dying to know)

Le Relais de Venise l'entrecote

Don't bother trying to book: "You 'ave to queue like everybody else"

Valentines’ Day is over and the pressure is off – at least until the next birthday or Christmas and we would like to know what everyone got up to. Where did you eat? What did you drink? Was it positively awful, full of expectation only to result in disappointment? Or were you one of the lucky few who had the unicorn of dates – the perfect Valentines’? February 14th is after all the most popular day to pop the question and I’m not talking about “do you want to share a cab?”. In fact, it was brought to my attention by a waitress last night that one pricey London venue was picking up the bill for men who proposed in their restaurant.

For Valentines’ Day, I decided to revisit one of my favourite restaurants in the city, Le Relais de Venise l’entrecote in Marylebone, also commonly known as “that steak & chips place”. Yes, the sophisticated French name may suggest a deep menu of overly complicated French dishes, but the only food this resturant serves is salad, steak and chips – and it is arguably the best entrecote steak in London. I also suffer from big menu anxiety and I like that it’s decided for me. The only decision I have to make is what to drink and how I would like the meat cooked. Perfect.

But after a long day at work and contending with the usual rubbish on the Underground (not to mention weaving my way through throngs of men hurrying home with last minute bouquets of half dead roses), I arrived home, thought better of my trip to Marylebone and opted for sushi takeaway and a bottle of red wine. Though it wasn’t the Valentines’ I had planned, I managed to avoid the heart shaped balloons, pink table confetti and had l’entrecote actually been entertaining any of this ridiculous fare, I might have lost a little bit of respect for my favourite steak restaurants. Attempt no. 2 this weekend!

Were you at our F*** Valentines bash? Check out the photos from last Thursday’s party at Funky Buddha, Mayfair

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Your Favourite Places

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

Where are the best places to go out in London? Are you looking for a new restaurant to take a date to or the trendiest new cocktail bar? Hitting the club with your mates, or even just looking for a new watering hole? We often source out for you our favourite places we think you should know about, but for once we are leaving it up to our members to tell you about where they like to go…

The Restaurant

Beach Blanket Babylon
Beach Blanket Babylon, Shoreditch

Decorated in the style of “Boho Chic and Grand French Country Chateau”, this 150 seater restaurant is the place to go if you are looking to impress and be impressed. An opulent setting, there’s a marble bar serving Oysters and the bubbly stuff. If you’re dining from the dinner menu, opt for the grill option and go all out with Lobster and chips!

The Bar

The Jewel Covent Garden
The Jewel Covent Garden

Around the back cobble streets of Covent Garden, you will find The Jewel. Perfect for if you’re looking for some drinks in Central London and it’s very accommodating if it’s just some after work drinks, post dinner night cap or even if you’re looking for somewhere a bit lively. It’s a deceptively large venue with four separate bars, each with its own personality and atmosphere.

The Pub

The Lansdowne
The Lansdowne, Primrose Hill

Not only is this a hot favourite with Click members, it’s also one of my personal favourites. Situated in the heart of trendy location Primrose Hill, The Lansdowne is something of an institution. Easygoing and relaxed, it’s the ideal venue for a boozy Sunday lunch and a rendezvous with friends. The food is great (get the pizza!) and when the weather takes a turn for the better, have some beers outside on the benches – ideal for people watching!

The Club

funky buddha
Funky Buddha, Mayfair

There was no second guessing when it came to your favourite club. Having spent many a Click party in Mayfair’s smoothest location, it currently holds the top spot on the clubber’s list. Not ones to disappoint, we will definitely have some things planned for you in the not too distant future.

Where are your favourite places? Share them with us, post photos, write a review and tell us where you’ve been.

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Let’s Do Lunch!

Friday, October 29th, 2010

Pho

If you’re really committed to the idea of finding that special someone, then you have to have to put the time in. But where to find it these days? Between work and a hectic social schedule, finding time to squeeze in that extra date can prove somewhat of a challenge. The solution? Sometimes like your lunch, your dating schedule has to be “on the go”. More and more I hear about friends opting out of working lunches in favour of dating lunches. So, let’s do lunch.

A great lunch date venue has to be Pho. Promising “Vietnam in a bowl”, this restaurant has a fast paced environment and doesn’t waste time in getting the food out to you. So busy you can’t book in advance, if it’s just the two of you then you can find your seats pretty quickly. Pho’s are considered the national dish of Vietnam and is essentially noodle soup made with fresh stock, herbs and spices. Served in big bowls with ladles, the concept is fun though you might want to bring a bib as it can get messy! A few locations dotted around London, you can dash in, date and be back at your desk within the hour.

VapianoVapiano on Great Portland Street is another excellent option especially if you like your Italian food fast and furious. Queue up canteen-style for authentic Italian cuisine in a well decorated restaurant where you can watch the chefs making fresh pasta throughout the day. There is no service in this restaurant so you can dictate your own pace whether you’re keeping it short and sweet or taking a long lunch. If you can manage the whole Oyster card concept, then you’ll love the mechanical like efficiency of the self service option.

Like Dim Sum? Have your lunch date meet you at Ping Pong. Spread out in eight different locations in London, it’s a favourite of celebrity types like Kate Winslet, David Schwimmer and Danii Minogue. Like Vapiano the ordering process is independent of service where you’re given a paper menu and it’s very much a case of ticking the right boxes. Everything is quick and it’s easy to re-order more food. The duck sticky rice, pork puffs and green lipped mussels are a particular house favourite and the sharing opportunities make it a great option for a date. Each dish presents a talking point. Ping Pong is essentially a modern take on a traditional Chinese tea house so enjoy the experience and finish lunch with a traditional flower tea or one of their exotic cocktails.

ping-pong-london Things seem to move so quickly at the moment and though it’s hard to keep up sometimes, we have to adapt and learn to compartmentalize our time. It’s all about proportions. How we divide up our free time is important and when it comes to dating, the more time – even that extra hour once a week during lunch can make all the difference.

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