Santo Remedio

Shoreditch Mexican

Octopus with Yerba Santa & Jalapeño Mojo de Ajo

London is seriously lacking good quality Mexican restaurants, with the rise of Peruvian cuisine in the capital in the last few years, I see no reason why Mexican cuisine can not have the same impact. I am a great admirer of Mexican street food, the richness of its cooking, combining with the freshness of its garnishes made it one of the most comforting food in the world. Newly launch in Shoreditch, Santo Remedio is a Mexican restaurant with an open kitchen and bar spreading across two floors, offering a small selection of traditional dishes with a light modern touch. We visited on its soft launch period and was given a 50% off discount.
 

Patty & Bun Soho

Chicks over beef

Smoked Confit Chicken Wings with BBQ sauce & Spring Onions

Refusing to fall behind the "burger race" against rivals like Honest Burger and Meat Liquor, Patty & Bun have just launched its 4th site in Soho. Unlike the very first Patty & Bun near Bond Street, it is a lot bigger, spreading across two floors with a cocktail bar... and thank goodness, the mad queue is no longer visible. The "evil" roast chicken skin was naughty but packed with wonderful fatty flavours, super crispy with a great combination of sweet Maple and chilli hot sauce, this is junk food at its best.The thunder thighs with chilli butter was also done well, the meat was tender and finely seasoned, Nando doesn't even come close to it. The infamous confit chicken wings once again was fabulous, so good that I ordered two portion. the meat was moist with a wonderful sweet and smoky dressing, easily one of the best street food dishes in London. 

Murukami

Upmarket casual Japanese

Murukami bites

Murukami is a semi-modern Japanese restaurant located in Covent Garden which has just recently relaunched after refurbishment. I said semi-modern because the food is hardly traditional with a fair amount of western engineered dishes. But at the same time, the concept and cooking is not as adventurous or as creative compared to the likes of Shakafu. We opted for the a la carte menu. The soft shell crab rolls with avocado was average at best, it lacked flavours. As was the tobiko, while the spicy mayo dominated everything else, and at a cost of £14 for such a tiny portion, it was hardly worth it. The baby squid tempura was close to fast food level, too heavy in its seasoning and the batter was far too thick. 

Duende

Avant garde tapas

Foie Gras Stuffed Quail

Spain provides some of the very best restaurants in the world, which makes Spanish cuisine have the highest number of chefs injecting imaginative elements and standing inspirational to others around the globe. I have tasted some widely creative tapas from my trips to Spain so I was pleased to find a restaurant taking on a similar concept in the name of Duende in Covent Garden. Victor Garvey's latest restaurant is in a rather competitive area surrounded by restaurants of all kind. The decor of Duende is dark and edgy, this tiny 20 seated restaurant has a slick looking open bar and kitchen, with artwork of wires spreading across the ceiling. The menu is tapas style with our waiter suggesting us to order 3 dishes per person to share.

Ichiryu

Hit and miss

Ichiryu

When the legendary Koya was closed down last summer, I was wondering if I can find another place in London that offers top notch udon beside its sister venue the Koya Bar. Udon is a big part of a dining culture in Japan, and also a more healthier alternative choice to ramen. So when Japan Centre, the popular Japanese grocery retailer launched Ichiryu, I was generally excited to see how its udon would compare. Ichiryu positioned itself as a Hakata Udon House, specialise in handmade noodles alongside other classic Japanese items such as tempura and hakata bun.

Frenchie

High flyer

Smoked eel, Calcot onions, black garlic

There are many French restaurants in London, but only very few become top quality ones. So which side will Grégory Marchand's newly opened Frenchie fall on? It is located in Covent Garden, in a smart and clean looking decor, with a big reputation from his first restaurant in Paris (A popular tiny restaurant that you would need to book 3 months in advance). This second outpost is also hot in demand as I needed to book weeks in advance and had to settled for a 6pm slot. Frenchie so far is showing a lot of promises, with early positive media reviews as well as praise from fellow trade professionals. The dinner menu contain only 4 mains courses with a large selections of starters and snacks which our waiter suggested we can order up to 3 dishes per person like a tapas.  

Honest Burger Covent Garden

Going too fast?

The Rib Man burger

Honest Burger has always been my no1 burger joint since when I have tried for the first time back in 2013 when it only had 2 outlets, now 10 plus strong with many more on the ways, the management expects to hit the 20 marks by the end of 2016, Honest Burger really has taken off as a business. Who could have imagined a humble burger van can turn into a multi million pound operation? Byron has done it, Meat Liquor is well on the way and now Honest Burger is right up there too.

When beer meets fine dining

Beer paring at Outlaw's at The Capital

Sharps Brewery products

Have you ever considered ordering a beer to pair with your dinner instead of wine at a Michelin restaurant? As part of London Beer Week, Sharps Brewery and Outlaw's at The Capital has teamed up together to challenge the mindset of diners and educate them about the idea that beer can be just as good as wine to pair with haute cuisine, if not even better. Head chef Tom had came up with a 3 course dinner, using first rate ingredients from Cornwall whilst Ed, the sommelier from Sharps had carefully selected a wide range style of beers to go with Tom's creation. Beer as a type of drink has such a big diversity: from IPA, lager to bitter and stout etc. So in theory, this is something I can see it works and I'm certain it will have a bright future ahead.

Bibimbap Soho

Superb Korean food Superb price

Pork & vegetable mandoo

If you are looking for an affordable Korean meal in central London, I cannot think of a better place other than Bibimbap in Soho. The menu contains mostly classic Korean comfort food at a very reasonable price, I have tried plenty of Bibimbap rice pot in London, and so far there isn't one that can compare to Bibimbap (The restaurant) if you factor in the quality vs the price. Once again, I ordered a few side dishes followed by a bowl of steamed hot Beef Bool-Go-GI Rice. The Mandoo, a type of fried Korean dumpling was solid, the mixture of the pork, vegetable was at a good balance with great seasoning. 

8 Hoxton Square

King of Hoxton

Welsh black beef

This is my second visit to 8 Hoxton Square, the modern British/Mediterranean restaurant from the same people whom opened the ever popular 10 Greek Street. It offers a regular changing menu depending what is available and in season, with a mixture of bold and full flavoured dishes mostly. You can go a la carte in this restaurant or treat it as a tapas bar with small plates served during whole day, it also had a full bar serving fine wine to cocktails. We only opted for the mains as we weren't too hungry, I was a big fan of the Gloucester old spot, the classic apple sauces offered sweetness to the very tender pork while the artichoke offered a clean and delightful soft texture. On top of that, the lightly salted pork crackling was as crunchy as you can get. It was a indeed a very accomplished dish. 

Viet Eat

Working lunch hot spot

prawn pancake

As you can easily figure out, Viet Eat is a casual Vietnamese restaurant in Holborn. This place is extremely popular at lunch hour, all thanks to the famous "Banh Mi": a Vietnamese baguette that is usually filled with grilled meat with far eastern seasoning. On top of that it also offers all the usual Vietnamese classic such as pho and vermicelli on the go. The cost is similar to other Asian take-away chain such as "Wasabi" and "Kimchee To Go" but with better quality and made-to-order, so it is to understandable why this place is always jam packed every weekday.

Native

Wild sensation

Wood pigeon kebab

Native is a brand new restaurant in Covent Garden operated by the duo Ivan & Imogen, 
The reason that their restaurant caught my attention and made me decide to make a booking is because of the interesting unique concept they have came up with: Game meat in combination of wild fish and foraged vegetable? This concept made me extremely excited. I can't think of any other restaurants are doing anything similar right now and the price seem really reasonable, with most mains costing under £15. Without being made aware, I have booked at its soft launch period so I was given a discount for my bill. The restaurant is tiny and can hold about 20 people max at a time so booking is highly advisable.