Dining Around in London

If you are planning a trip to London, book restaurants before you board the plane. Just like in New York, tables fill up quickly for the popular dining spots. To avoid disappointment, do some research and make reservations ahead of time. Enlist the help of the concierge at your hotel. These professionals have built up trust with local hot spots and can often get you in even when Open Table and Resy say there’s nothing available.
Here are the restaurants we visited during a recent week-long vacation. We were seeing friends in London, so they handled several of the reservations, booking in advance.

Bocca di Lupo
12 Archer Street
Central London near SOHO and Chinatown
Bocca al Lupo means “into the wolves mouth” and, in Italian, is a way to wish performers good luck before a performance, like the English “break a leg.” This restaurant was a find and delivered perhaps the most enjoyable and tasty visit on our trip. The restaurant offers half and full portions so you can sample many dishes on the menu. And you will want to do that because the choices are excellent.

We began with fried artichokes and their pickled stalks. These were crispy, flavorful, and a little spicy. For a pasta, we chose mezzi paccheri with tomato sauce and pecorino cheese (photo at top). A simple rendition of the dish enjoyed in Rome. Next, boiled cotechino sausage with potato and salsa verde. The meat was soft and a little pungent, while the potato was the perfect accompaniment. Our salad was a favorite – blood oranges with red onion and oregano. Dessert was gelato.

We drank wines by the glass. The biggest surprise was a glass of Lambrusco, which was served cold in a coffee cup! Not the way this wine is served in Emilia-Romagna. We asked our waiter about this, and he admitted that he was from Emilia-Romagna and had never seen Lambrusco presented that way. Bocca di Lupo is filled with surprises.

Rules
34-35 Maiden Lane
Convent Garden
Rules is a London institution, founded in 1798 by Thomas Rule. Although it has passed through different hands, the original features of the bar and restaurant have been preserved. The restaurant continues to serve game in season as well as traditional English fare such as pies and puddings. . This was my second visit and my husband’s third. And based on our experience this time, we will continue to come back.
We arrived early for our reservation and were invited to have a drink in the upstairs bar. It was the perfect way to begin our evening, settling in to take a step back into time. Although other guests were dressed in modern, casual clothing, it was easy to imagine those from the past who dressed up to fit in with Rules’ elegant decor. In the bar, like in the dining room, the walls are filled with photos, paintings, and sketches from the past, chronicling London’s history.

When we were finally shown to our table – a corner one, our favorite – we had the opportunity to study the menu. We began with a dozen oysters from Jersey (not New Jersey, the waiter said with a laugh). They were briny, although quite small. As we hoped, there were several game choices. I decided on the breast of pheasant, while my husband opted for the red leg partridge. Both were perfectly cooked, the meat flavorful and tender. A bottle of Bordeaux, Chateau Carignan, was the perfect wine to accompany the game.

Following our main courses, we enjoyed Cropwell Bishop Stilton, which our waiter scooped right from the wheel of the cheese. It was served with bread and celery. For dessert, we couldn’t pass up the sticky toffee pudding, the perfect end to a delightful meal.

The River Cafe
Rainville Road
The River Cafe has been on our radar ever since its founders, Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray, published the restaurant’s cookbook in 1996. Gray died in 2010 and Rogers has continued to run the restaurant. A who’s who list of celebrated chefs have trained in its kitchens, including Jamie Oliver. Needless to say, reservations are tough to get, so plan way in advance.

Located on the north end of the Thames in Hammersmith, getting to The River Cafe involves a long cab ride from central London. According to Wikipedia, the restaurant was orginally an oil storage facility, done over by Rogers’s husband, the architect Lord Rogers. The dining room is modern, with large windows on the left side and a red wood burning oven at the far end.

We began with an appetizer of bagna cauda, which turned out to be a variation on the classic dish. Usually raw vegetables like carrots are dipped into a mixture of olive oil, anchovies, and garlic. At The River Cafe, the vegetables were served cooked with the piquant sauce over them. Delicious, but we still prefer the traditional dish.

For pasta, we chose tagliarini with tomato sauce. The pasta was perfectly cooked, and the sauce well seasoned. This is one of those dishes that looks simple, but often misses the mark. This one hit the target.
For a main course, I couldn’t resist the Dover sole, one of the restaurant’s signature dishes with the whole fish roasted over wood in the oven. My husband ordered the veal shank, a different version of osso buco, with the meat taken off of the bone. Our waitress seemed unfamiliar with osso buck, the veal shank bone filled with marrow enjoyed with bread. This was an unusual, and disappointing way, to present this iconic dish.
Throughout the meal we ordered wines by the glass, including grillo, a spicy Sicilian white which is currently enjoying popularity not only in London, but in New York City.
Dessert choices were uninspiring, so we had the affogato with espresso, vanilla ice cream with espresso poured over it.

Fish Central
149-155 Central Street
King Square
We were attending an evening performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Barbican and wanted to find a place to eat nearby. Our friends suggested Fish Central, described as “London’s Seafood Gem.” The restaurant was truly a fish lover’s dream with a multitude of choices.
We arrived a few minutes early and were seen by one of the chef’s next door at the restaurant’s take out place for prepared and fresh fish. He let us in and showed us to a great table. The chef served us, gratis, an appetizer of dips with bread. We enjoyed this with our drinks.

I started with marinated anchovy bruschetta, a great choice. For a main course, I went with the Dover sole, prepared differently from the dish I had at The River Cafe. This version was lightly grilled and served simply with a lemon wedge.

My husband had the fish and chips. The fish was plaice, a white fish with a soft, mild texture. The chips were fried potatoes, but not the crispy fries we are more accustomed to be served in the U.S. Of course, there are many versions of fish and chips served all over London. This was one interpretation and was fine, although not anything that would stand out.

Balthazar
4-6 Russell Street
Convent Garden
A matinee performance of The Tempest, starring Sigourney Weaver, was on our schedule. Looking for someplace to dine in Convent Garden, our friends decided on Balthazar, the London version of the popular restaurant on Spring Street in New York. The brainchildren of Brit Keith McNally, who has also launched numerous places in New York, including Cafe Luxembourg, Pastis and Minetta Tavern, it’s easier to book a table at the London restaurant than the one in New York. Both restaurants are a take on the French brasserie. This London location was lively, the service efficient and friendly.

For appetizers, our choices included: oysters (also from Jersey); baked Camembert with honey, rosemary, and garlic toasted crostini; buffalo mozzarella with grilled comic pears; and soup de poisson. Main courses: seared filet of salmon with aubergine, fine capers, pine nuts, and olives; char grilled halloumi with beluga lentils, red pepper tapenade, and toasted almonds; and roasted rump of lamb with cassoulet of haricot beans and toulouse sausage.
For dessert, we shared a blackberry soufflé served with a berry sauce and cream anglaise. Throughout the meal we enjoyed cocktails and wines by the glass.

Trullo
300-302 St. Paul’s Road
Islington
This was the last restaurant we visited in London and one of the best. Located in Islington, it’s a tube or cab ride away from Central London, but well worth the ride. It’s a neighborhood place our friends, who live in Islington, visit frequently, and we knew we were in for a great meal.
We shared two pastas. The pici with guindilla chili, garlic, and pangrattato was excellent. The pasta, made from just flour and water, consisted of long, thick noodles. The tomato sauce was very spicy. For a main course, I went with a vegetarian dish – Florence fennel, Jerusalem artichoke, and porcini al forno with bitter leaves and mustard. A tasty dish like this, could convince me to become a vegetarian. My husband enjoyed a black Hampshire pork chop with soft polenta and salsa verde, a dish that came together beautifully. Another great choice was the Brixham sea bass with greens, cannelloni beans, and small clams. One of our party had pasta as a main course, ravioli stuffed with pumpkin and served with butter and sage.
For dessert, it was easy to opt for the ricotta donuts with cinnamon custard and Marsala prunes. A sweet end to a great meal and for our last meal in London.
Top photo: The ceiling at Rules
Photos by Woman Around Town