The Midland Grand Dining Room Restaurant

Not your usual Hotel French food

Duck a la orange

There are plenty of great French restaurants in London, from the classic Otto to creative venues such as Bibendum. However, these places would easily set you back well over £150 if not more. I found it hard to find anything that is less than £100 for a 3-course meal while the quality is close to a Michelin star level. The Midland is one of those rare places that I feel does the job. The beautiful setting within St Pancras Renaissance Hotel and some of the most comfortable chairs have turned this place's decor into one of the finest in London. 

Noble Palace

Classy Cantonese banquet 

Peking duck

Noble Palace, the low-profile Chinese restaurant hidden in St James has been a regular spot of mine when I am seeking a casual dim sum meal or a full-on Cantonese-style banquet feast. The kitchen is pretty fixable of coming up with a bespoke menu to your liking according to classic Cantonese cooking, as long as you give the kitchen a week or 2 notice in advance. For my 18th visit, I came up with a menu containing some classic Chinese British dishes such as sweet and sour pork and dishes popular in Hong Kong, but have yet to get mainstream interest like the seafood clay pot and wok fry Dover sole.

Gloria

Not as glorious as it seems

Langoustine and black pepper tagliatelle

Part of the flamboyant Big Mama group's collection of funky Italian restaurants in London, Gloria in Shoreditch is an all-day trattoria that attracts tourists and people who love to follow social media trends. This is not my kind of place to go to usually, from what I can see on its website, all Big Mama group's Italian restaurants have similar menus, but each carries a different name with different decor, the food offering seems basic enough for Italian cuisine, from cold cut, pasta to pizza etc. 

Hide

A new 'Hide'

Grilled lobster with black pepper, pickled rose petals

Located in the smart address of Mayfair, Michelin-starred Hide by chef Ollie Dabbous has gone into a transformation. Beforehand, I recalled it used to have 2 different concepts across 2 floors which was confusing, and I had a very underwhelming meal there. The revamp of the restaurant has since merged the 2 concepts into a pretty standard ALC and tasting menu format. The food offering is still very creative, with a Nordic theme blended with international flavours. For my visit, I opted for the ALC menu and I noticed the restaurant was busy on a random weekend lunch, showing Hide is going strong.

Berners Tavern

Classy British brasserie 

Berners Tavern pork and pistachio pie bread and butter pickles

Out of all the restaurants owned or consulted by chef Jason Atherton in London, no one would challenge you if you claim Berners Tavern is the most beautiful. Located inside the classy Edition hotel not far from Oxford Street, Berners Tavern has a New York brasserie feel with its golden colour theme with paintings spreading across the entire dining room. It offers an all day dining affair with food based on British cuisine, yet with a hint of influences from around the world. My first visit was back in 2013 when it first opened and looking at the menu, it doesn't has changed much since. 

The Game Bird

 Classy traditional charm

Venison, cabbage, redcurrant

The Game Bird is a British restaurant located inside the 5-star Stafford Hotel in Mayfair. As the name suggests, it is highly regarded as one of the top places for game meat in London, therefore, my last 3 visits have always been around the game season in late Autumn/ early winter times. My recent visit has switched things up for me to sample what The Game Bird is capable of outside game season. As expected, the seasonal ALC menu has no game dishes anymore in Spring so I opted for other meaty dishes to share.

The Grill at The Dorchester

Modern classic British fine dining

Beef wellington

The Grill at The Dorchester has long been a dining choice of mine since it appointed chef Tom Booton to be the executive chef of the venue. Since taking on the venue, Tom has turned this place into a British fine-dining powerhouse. I really enjoyed how he has taken classic British dishes with a modern makeover but maintained the true essence of British cuisine. It had just revamped its menu for 2024 so a perfect time for a revisit.