Nopi Restaurant - London

Sorry, didnt take a picture of any of the food so here's an image from Google

This place has had mixed reviews but all the people who I know have been, have thoroughly enjoyed themselves. However, this was my second visit to the restaurant having been turned away last time because of a cock up with the reservation. Normally I wouldnt bother going back but friends and colleages suggested I make a special effort and get down there. My visit was with my wife, business partner and his wife and after double checking they had my reservation this time, I was looking forward to it.

Nopi is situated just North of Picadiliy, hence the name 'Nopi'....yeah, great! The first thing that hits you about this place as you walk through the door is the smell, it smells amazing! To the left of the entrance they also have what I can only describe as a 'salad bar'...sounds crap I know but it's not. It's an array of salads and things on the menu that dont require cooking and it all looks delicious. That coupled with the smell leaves you desperate to get on with dinner.

After being led to our table, we cast our eye over the menu. The whole affair is like a middle eastern tapas type thing, you choose maybe three dishes each and share away, experiencing difference flavours as you go. It's broken down into Veg, Fish, Meat and Sweets so we ordered around eight dishes between the four of us to start with...couple of veg and the rest split between meat and fish...

The vegetarian dishes were awesome and made you realise what really can be done with vegetables. The French beans, smoked wheat and tahini dressing was lovely, as was the Vadeon cheescake. I could have turned vegetarian had it not been for the arrival of the other courses.

Highlights for me were the seared scallops. pig's ears, black bean and ginger sauce - it was absolutely spot on. The twice cooked baby chicken, lemon myrtle salt and chilli sauce was immense too along with the lamb sadle with pickled aubergine, preserved lemons and ginger sauce. Reading all this back, seems nuts, so many flavours, so much going on but trust me the whole things works a treat.

We tried a few other dishes, too many to mention and they were all really good. I dont think I can fault any of them, each and everyone left you thinking 'WOW' even the deserts.

We'd scoffed a whole load of food, drank far too much vino but had a great evening. Great atomosphere, good service and spectacular food. It's very informal, buzzy, fun and a great way to eat. We absolutely loved it and would recommend it highly.

Marks out of ten? I'd have to give this one a 9/10.

It's one of the best places I've been to in a long time.

Arbutus - London

The 'nice' squid & mackerel 'burger' with parsley, cockles and sea purslane

I visited Arbutus in London whilst looking for a quick bite to eat. There I was in Frith Street and thought why not?! As you might imagine they were pretty busy but managed to find room for my business partner and I at their bar. This all sounded great and we were offered a drink by the barman who enquired as to what we might be ordering - very nice Irish chap, very friendly and also very helpful when it came to the menu too. He suggested we try a couple of glassed of a portugese red which we were more than happy to do and it was lovely. I ordered the squid & mackerel 'burger' to start followed by the Saddle of rabbit with a shoulder cottage pie and enjoyed some more wine and a nibble on some very nice bread while we waited for our grub.

Along came the starters within good time. I'm not sure what I was expecting but basically the burger was a fishcake. A nice fishcake but a fishcake. The flavours were good, the food well cooked and all in all I quite enjoyed it. I liked the herbs on the side, not sure where the sea purslane was or indeed what is was but the dish was a goodun that's for sure. So, for the main course, I'd gone for the rabbit which was ok, dont get me wrong there was nothing wrong with it but it didnt blow me away. The cottage pie that accompanied the dish was good, lots of flavour but for some reason it felt like I had two dishes.

We supped a bit more wine, chatted to an Israeli chap who was sitting at the bar next to us and had a very good evening. Would I go back? Probably not, not by choice anyway as there are tons of similar restaurants all over the place. I'd much rather go back to Wild Honey, depsite the smelly waiter. The food was much more impressive and left me wanting more.

Marks out of ten? I'd have to give Arbutus a 6/10

Wild Honey Restaurant - Mayfair, London

I was invited to Wild Honey Restaurant by our PR agency just before Christmas. I'd heard of the restaurant and understood it had a good reputation. It's situated in George Street, Mayfair and is run by the same team as Arbutus.

We arrived a little late after a mix up with directions and the taxi so were a little rushed. The entrance to the restaurant is a little cramped, there were five of us but we all felt a little squashed between the bar and the door. As we were led to our table, you couldn't help noticing the oak panelling and massively high ceilings, along with the booths where we ended up. It was a bit of a squeeze in the booth as there were five of us and one person had to sit on the end. This wasn't great as the coat stand was immediately behind him and made things even tighter.

Still, we were starving and looking forward to tasting the food. It took a while to get drinks ordered and they forgot about one of the drinks. It was hard to get the attention of the staff, perhaps because we were in a booth but they just didn't seem to want to serve us, at least that's what it felt like.

The menu on the other hand looked great and I was feeling in a particularly gamey mood, opting for the Shoulder of Hare cooked in red wine, pappadelle, olive oil and Parmesan, followed by Slow Cooked Venison, roast carrots and soft polenta. We ordered a bottle of red and some water and by now things were looking up, plus we were now munching on some rather nice bread.

Our first course arrived in good time and looked very terrific, the smell of the food was lovely too but over powered by the smell of the waiter! I hate to say it but this chap had some serious body odour and it wasn't nice at all. My first course was awesome, absolutely delicious and I'm sure I could have eaten another plateful had I not have the main course still to come. The hare was beautifully cooked, the sauce very rich and tasty and the Parmesan worked a treat. I found the dish top notch and right up my street and almost made up for the smelly waiter!

My main course arrived and again looked lovely, very rich and gamey although very similar to my starter! I was starting to regret ordering another game dish, but it didn't disappoint despite the similarities with my starter. I was soo impressed with my dishes, they were very very good.

Between us we decided to have a cheese board instead of desert, we'd walked past it earlier and all fancied sampling it. It was good, a nice selection of cheeses from the UK and France although I can't remember what exactly we had. We all really enjoyed it.

My conclusion? Well, first class food it has to be said, the restaurant atmosphere and ambiance are great too. It was really lively and enjoyable and the booths would be quite nice if there were four of you. You have privacy and can talk amongst yourselves which was good as it was a business kind of thing but the booths hinder the service, at least it did with us. We really struggled to get the attention of the staff, particularly at the end when we wanted the bill - we had to go and ask for it!! Wild Honey could be SO much better in my opinion. Improve service and deal with the smelly waiter and you'll have an amazing restaurant.

Worth going back? Yes I think so, I'd give them another chance as the food was brilliant!