London restaurants

Barburrito, Paddington Station

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UPDATE 05.12.2019 – VISITED AGAIN AND 15,000 OUT OF 20,000 IS STILL TOO GOOD A RATING. RUDE AND UNHELPFUL STAFF, BAD FOOD. We’ve recently been back to Barburrito, Paddington Station, after it had been closed for some time while that part of the station was being refurbished, and we still love the taste of their burritos. It’s a shame that they do seem to have a problem attracting decent staff. Their Tripadvisor reviews have tanked to #15,000 out of roughly 20,000 London food places. Our experience was just fine for a fast food place, no complaints, but seems like we were lucky. They’ve got a great story, dating their origins back to 1920s Los Angeles, and they certainly do know how to do pulled pork and skirt steak.    They run 22 outlets in the UK, of which 3 are based in London. I tried their ‘Loaded Burrito’ with spicy […]

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London restaurants

Pre-Theatre Dinner, Leicester Square Kitchen

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We’ve just returned from our 2nd visit to Leicester Square Kitchen, which has recently rapidly and steadily climbed to #12 out of 22,784 Restaurants in London on Tripadvisor, and rightly so. What a delight it was! The set menu contains 12 Mexican and Peruvian small plates to choose from. On the advertising boards next to the entrance it is being advertised as pre-theatre deal, valid until 6:30pm, but in reality and in line with what it says on their website, it is simply their standard set menu, available every day for lunch or dinner. (Their A La Carte menu overlaps to some extent, but has plenty more on offer, including steaks, lamb cutlets, and seabass ceviche.) The 12 small plates are split into groups of four and you can choose one out of each group for your 3-course dinner for £20, which is what we did, or additionally choose a […]

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Art and Culture, London, Music

Haydn, an Imaginary Orchestral Journey with Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO

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This photo is (c) Evening Standard

We are just back from our evening at the Barbican, where Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra performed pieces of Wagner, Bartok, and Haydn under the headline of “Haydn, an Imaginary Orchestral Journey”. Sir Simon Rattle is currently finishing his tenure at the world’s 2nd best symphonic orchestra in Berlin (where his tenure ends in 2018) and will already take over the reins at the LSO, usually ranking #5 worldwide (#1 being Amsterdam, #3 Vienna, and #4 Chicago) in September this year. So this evening is a nice way of saying hello to his new home. He seems to be taking Brexit with good humour, but some say he would have made a different decision had he known about it. As expected, the evening was a brilliant experience. I normally dislike Wagner’s music, because in my mind it’s got the (unjustified, of course, I admit that!) feel of […]

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London restaurants

Sunday Lunch at the Alfred Tennyson

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Sunday lunch at The Alfred Tennyson is something we had planned to do for a while. We had been to this gastropub a few times before, but usually just went for a quick burger or fish’n’chips. The owners also run The Thomas Cubitt, The Orange, both of which we’ve been to before and liked (even though the staff at The Orange can sometimes be a bit snippy), as well as The Grazing Goat, which we still have to check out. It is named after Lord Tennyson, Queen Victoria’s Poet Laureate and still one of the most popular British poets. Formerly known as The Pantechnicon Rooms (after the nearby cinema), the restaurant stretches over four floors, with the upper floors being the more elegant ones. We chose the ground floor bar, which has precisely the same menu as the other floors, but a much more relaxed pub feel to it and […]

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Art and Culture, Fun, London

Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion, New Retrospective, V&A

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Last weekend, MrB and I went to the exhibition Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion, New Retrospective, V&A (27 May 2017-18 February 2018).  I’m not a fashionista, and only knew Balenciaga from his namesake designer handbags.  I left the exhibition in awe of his skill and creativity, and grateful that he brought us designs that I can easily see myself wearing today: the baby-doll dress, the shift dress, the raglan sleeve, tunic and cocoon coat.       Cristobel Balenciaga (1895-1972) is widely acknowledged as “the designer’s designer”, and although he is not as recognisable a name as Coco Chanel or Christian Dior, there is no doubt as to his legacy and innovation.    Lovingly curated, the V&A draws on its existing collection of his pieces, the largest collection in the UK, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Spanish master’s first fashion salon in Sans Sebastian and the 80th anniversary of the opening […]

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