Best restaurants of 2008: Part 1

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It’s got to be Gordon: Angela Hartnett at Murano, another Ramsay-owned venture

Double delight: Mark Hix opened The Albemarle and his own Oyster & Chop House

Front man: Jacob Kenedy of Bocca di Lupo is among those reviving Soho restaurants

Family affair: Eddie (left) and Sam Hart of Quo Vadis with chef Jean Phillippe Patruno

On the rails: the stunning design of St Pancras Grand will impress Eurostar arrivals

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• Best restaurants of 2008: Part 2

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As frosty winds make moan and the media paint pictures of families huddling around a baked parsnip for Christmas lunch, it is, how shall we say, piquant to find that Harden's Guide has announced that the last quarter of 2008 looks set to go down in history as a boom period for London restaurant openings — “possibly an out-and-out record”. Of course, restaurants are planned long before they open but it reflects how precipitous the financial floundering has been.

My guide — the first half is below, the second half appears next week — celebrates the best of this bountiful 2008 and highlights a few that just maybe will not endure.

LOCAL FRIENDS
The north London bias is coincidental. But better move there since part of the charm of an excellent local is getting to it on foot. Jean-Christophe Slowik put in 20 years with Marco Pierre White before going it alone at L'ABSINTHE in Primrose Hill. French bistro food faithfully executed, wines sold at a fixed mark-up from retail and a welcome as warm as cassoulet have ensured a troop of regulars.
Antonio Carluccio is the godfather for chef Mario Magli and manager Giorgio Pili who own and run CINQUECENTO, a charmingly understated Italian restaurant that has taken Holloway Road by storm. MARKET in Camden Town won Best Local Restaurant in The London Restaurant Awards 2008. It only remains for me to say, go and try Daniel Spence's wide-awake British cooking and Denise Tang's friendly front-of-house skills.

LONG LIVE THE SISTERHOOD
This grouping is arguably sexist but it is pour encourager les autres. In the stew of 12-hour lamb (on so many menus) I had forgotten how beguiling and refreshing fusion food can be. Anna Hansen, once business partner of fusion-master Peter Gordon, successfully reminded us all at THE MODERN PANTRY in Clerkenwell. Young Gemma Tuley, who worked for Gordon Ramsay at his flagship restaurant and opened his version of Foxtrot Oscar, left that dismal re-incarnation (currently open half the week) to be head chef at ARCH ONE opposite Waterloo station. For inspiration married to good value and with added noise, it is hard to beat.

“Leave him, love, he's not worth it” summed up the view of many restaurant reviewers of Angela Hartnett's vivacious Italian-influenced cooking at MURANO set within a Gordon Ramsay Holdings stiff and stilted context. That the “marriage” still has mileage is perhaps proven by the huge success of the more casual YORK & ALBANY — a bar and restaurant with rooms and a deli.

SOHO REVIVAL
Entertainment on the plate is back in Soho. Tin Pan Alley housed one of the most popular openings of the year in the shape of THE GIACONDA DINING ROOM. Due to a cycling accident, Aussie chef Paul Merrony is serving “a one-armed menu” at present. The two-armed menu returns on 5 January. Bookings are hard to come by not only because the premises are poky but also because the food is spirited and well priced.

Brothers Sam and Eddie Hart sent an advance guard into Soho with their brilliant tapas bar Barrafina and then this year took over the legendary QUO VADIS. “Whither are you going?” There.

Another tapas bar, DEHESA, from the folks who brought us Salt Yard, named after the woodland area where black-footed Iberico pigs rootle around before they become wonderful hams, was a welcome addition where Kingly meets Ganton Street. Their Blackfoot Butchers in Charlotte Place was equally appreciated.
The small and larger plates at the Italian BOCCA DI LUPO, meaning the mouth of the wolf, rounded off my eating-out year on a high note. Fresh-faced chef Jacob Kenedy is almost a prodigy. If Soho means louche times and late nights to you then BOB BOB RICARD, open daily 7am-3am with understanding food is there to oblige.

BRITISH COUNSEL
Having devised the menus that made Le Caprice, The Ivy, J Sheekey and Scott's such a desirable group, Mark Hix left after its sale to champion British produce and time-honoured ways of handling it. Brown Windsor Soup — and much else — came back to a grand hotel in THE ALBEMARLE at Brown's Hotel. Later in the year HIX OYSTER & CHOP HOUSE revived traditions worth reviving, created some admirable new ones and gave chefs and YBAs somewhere new to hang out and carouse in Smithfield.

Oliver Peyton, another champion of the home-grown and honest, led many people, including me, to discover handsome Fulham Palace. On a warm summer's evening a table at THE LAWN is a perfect slice of London life.

Until the opening of ST PANCRAS GRAND there have been in recent times no great railway restaurants. Designer Martin Brudnizki produced a timeless classic interior to show off proudly our indigenous cooking to French people pouring off Eurostar.

The passionate life of Richard Corrigan has found its best flowering yet at the recently opened CORRIGAN'S MAYFAIR. A rural upbringing, a canny mind, a love of blood and guts but also an ability to tread lightly, Corrigan is a singularly talented chef and his restaurant a place of pleasure.

More restaurants and more awards on 24 December

L'ABSINTHE 40 Chalcot Road, NW1
(020 7483 4848) £70
CINQUECENTO 782 Holloway Road, N19 (020 7272 3406) £60
MARKET 43 Parkway, NW1
(020 7267 9700) £75
MODERN PANTRY 47-48 St John's Square, EC1 (020 7250 0833) £75
MURANO 20-22 Queen Street, W1
(020 7592 1222) £160
YORK & ALBANY 127-129 Parkway, NW1 (020 7388 3344) £100
ARCH ONE BAR & GRILL 1 Mepham Street, SE1 (020 7401 2329) £70
THE GIACONDA DINING ROOM 9 Denmark Street, WC2 (020 7240 3334) £70
QUO VADIS 26-29 Dean Street, W1
(020 7437 9585) £120
DEHESA 25 Ganton Street, W1
(020 7494 4170) £65
BOCCA DI LUPO 12 Archer Street, W1 (020 7734 2223) £90
BOB BOB RICARD 1 Upper James Street, W1 (020 3145 1000) £94
ALBEMARLE GRILL 33 Albemarle Street, W1 (020 7493 6020) £130
HIX OYSTER & CHOP HOUSE 35-37 Greenhill Rents, Cowcross Street, EC1 (020 7017 1930) £100
THE LAWN Fulham Palace, Bishop's Avenue, SW6 (020 7610 7160) £86
ST PANCRAS GRAND Upper Concourse, St Pancras International, NW1 (020 7870 9900) £85.
CORRIGAN'S MAYFAIR 28 Upper Grosvenor Street, W1 (020 7499 943) £120

Prices estimate a meal with wine and service for two.

 

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