Craft London

Duck sensation

clay baked duck

This is my second time visiting Craft London in North Greenwich, a modern fine dining restaurant located between the tube station and the O2. I had a great dinner a while back from it's good value testing kitchen menu, which costed only £28 for 6 course. I could taste enough quality from it, therefore it warranted me to head back to Craft London to try its dishes from the normal menu. Not to mention to try the restaurant's signature dish, the clay baked duck, this dish became the talk of the town since it launched. We opted for the tasting menu for a special birthday occasion, for an additional £20, we also got the clay baked duck as part of the long tasting menu.

Pitt Cue

Gourmet BBQ

Cured and smoked jowl

Any foodies who love eating should be well aware of the name Pitt Cue. The original site at Soho was so popular that you will even need to wait for more than an hour to get a table on a weekday for lunch. It has now moved to The City with a much bigger dining room along with a full bar and outdoor space. Not to mention it now takes in bookings, which is music to my ears. The menu is largely built around all kind of BBQ meats, with some unusual and interesting cut such as the lamb hearts and ox tongue. It also has a daily black board with some larger cuts that are great for sharing.

Rok Islington

Premium smoked meat

Scallop in the shell with ndjua & british seaweed

It hasn't been long since I last at at the original Rök Smokehouse in Shoreditch; that time, the meal was generally solid and surprised with some very interesting flavours. So as soon as I found out that Rök was launching a second site, with a soft launch offer, I put it at the top of my to-do list, as the main reason for not eating there regularly is the premium price. The new site is between Angel and Highbury & Islington station, the décor is fairly simple with an open bar in the middle of the restaurant.

Picture Marylebone

Falling down

Stone bass, courgette, black olive

Picture, the modern British restaurant in Fitzrovia, has just recently launched another restaurant with the same name at Marylebone. I had a fantastic tasting menu at the old site two years ago and it's one of few restaurants I would recommend to friends when they are seeking something special without going above the £50 mark. The new site's format is more or less the same as the original's, diners can chose between from an a la carte or a six-course tasting menu.

St John

British classic

Pig cheek and dandelion

If you were asked to name a high-quality, classic British restaurant in London, St John would be one of the very first places to come to mind for most Londoners. Opened by the legendary chef Fergus Henderson, a British pioneer in championing nose-to-tail cooking,St John's style of cooking takes a no nonsense approach; you wouldn't see any fancy presentation or combinations of creative ingredients on the menu, it's just very British-style cooking that emphasises quality ingredients.Even the restaurant itself is somewhat plain and simple with its decor, which means that unless you've done you're research on its Michelin star you could miss this.