London – A London Journal

Resto 8 Brasserie Zédel, Piccadilly

After the seeing the excellent Spilliaerts exhibition at the RA I'd booked Zédel to see how one of the more up-market groups was handling the Covid thing. And eat some good grub too, natch.

Resto 7 Shoryu Ramen, Regent St

The first post-lockdown restaurant and it was back to an old favourite after a day of sweating over the books in the library.

Retro Resto #6 – Odin’s, Marylebone

A jolly, squiffy and ultimately pooped evening in the company of a friend greatly missed.

Retro Restos

The Big C having (temporarily?) terminated restaurant going as a social activity I'll be lucky to get beyond number six this side of autumn. And unlikely to have the funds to dine out in style the other. So what is a restaurant reviewer to do?

Take a Proustian turn of course. The great man lay in his cork-lined room and let his mind do the travelling through time and space. And I intend to follow his lead. Though not in every detail you'll be glad to know, I have neither the skill nor the inclination to imitate Proust's description of the Duchesse de Guermantes' dinner over 150 pages.

Journey with me through restaurants remembered, people remembered, places remembered.

Restaurant 6 My Old Dutch, Holborn

The last time I was in My Old Dutch Denis Bergkamp was playing for Arsenal and I could climb a flight of stairs at a tube station two at a time. MOD, I'm glad to say, has aged better than I have in the intervening years.

Restaurant 5 Timmy Green, Victoria

Timm-eh! Turns out to be high quality and excellent service. Recommended.

Restaurant 1 The Swan, Bankside

At Bankside for the Wanamaker production of Swive it was an improbable first time at the Swan for us for the first resto of 2020. We were nearly the first arrivals, save for a couple by the window. So it was a bit of a surprise to be seated at a table right next to…