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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Fay Maschler's rating
Reader rating
Description: To the delight of its many mature patrons (and the odd young whippersnapper too), "old-fashioned" dishes come in "epic" portions (especially puds, from the trolley) at this "bizarre" time warp, at the foot of a Regent's Park apartment block; it's "the most endearing waiters ever", though, who really make the occasion.
Food: 
Service: 
Ambience:
Phone: 020 7722 8795
Open: Mon-Sat 12.30pm-2.30pm, 7.00pm-11.00pm
Good for: Romantic meals, Good food, Ambience.
Payment options: AmEx, Mastercard, Visa, Switch, Diner's
Enduring appeal: Tony Sanchez, with book in hand, is co-owner of Oslo Court
Adam Gopnik, a felicitous American writer, recounts the experience of living in New York with his wife and young children in a book called Through The Children's Gate (Knopf, $25).
In a chapter called The Cooking Game he tells the story of accepting a challenge from a group of New York chef/proprietors to organise a cooking competition modelled on an idea conceived by the French gastronome Robert Courtine. After a core of particular ingredients have been selected the chefs are left to write - or rather cook - their own stories. Everyone wins.
In the process, Gopnik remarks that restaurant owners know "that a lot of what tastes like good food is really good service". Restaurateur Peter Hoffman, one of the participants in the game, is quoted as saying: "The thing is, what's a good taste is a feeling, not just a sensation. So if you're feeling welcomed and warm, right then the food tastes better, the whole feeling is better, and you're not going to start prying apart your sensations - you just know you're having a good time and you tell the next person, 'The food's wonderful there'." This, in my view entirely correct, observation is one that many restaurateurs fail to comprehend.
The cult of celebrity chefs, the spurious excitement engendered by the thought that a known face might be sweating over the stoves, has marginalised the literal role of restaurants, which is to restore. A place that understands this particularly well - and consequently does enviable business - is Oslo Court, on the northern fringe of Regent's Park.
In the 1960s, this slightly improbable institution on the ground floor of an architecturally numb block of flats was run by the Katnics, a Yugoslav-Welsh couple who earned themselves a star in Egon Ronay's restaurant guides.
Since the 1980s it has been owned by Tony Sanchez, a chef originally from Galicia, and his brother. A story is told about Tony: when a regular - most customers are regulars - rang to cancel a lunch booking because her friend was ill and couldn't make it, Tony was overheard saying: "Well, come anyway. Have lunch with me."
The Sanchez brothers inherited a long menu and since they sensed that the customers were fearful of change, they kept it. Dozens of dishes on the printed list are enhanced by specials described with such enthusiasm by the waiters that you could almost trustingly imagine that they were making their first appearance. In the Court of Oslo time scarcely impinges, which is perhaps one reason for its appeal; if only the same could be said about all of us.
Exciting discoveries from dinner parties of yesteryear, for example grilled grapefruit (with a brown sugar crust), hang on in there. Classics that were once served at The Connaught like Duck Montmorency are still served at Oslo Court, although I suspect the bird at The Connaught had a less intimate relationship with the fryer.
The idea of turning scallops into sashimi or gilding them in a hot pan is ignored since everyone knows that scallops are happiest bathing in a cream sauce while lolling on a comfortable bolster of mashed potatoes. Dame Nellie Melba continues to be honoured - in her interpretation of toast anyway, if not of peaches.
Oslo Court is not a museum or a theme park. It is a thriving institution where rites of passage are marked - there are the daily and nightly renditions of Happy Birthday to You - and where the owners and long-serving, formally dressed staff understand that essential discrepancy in attitude - it is not that you are lucky to be here, but that we are lucky to have you in our care. That's why I say about Oslo Court that the food is wonderful there.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Oslo Court is without doubt my most favourite restaurant in London. The owner Tony and his family along with the long serving staff always make you feel at home and most welcome, it's a great place to eat on birthdays or just for the hell of it. I defy any other place in town to beat it for ambience and choice of a huge menu, book well in advance to save disappointment. If you like style and courtesy you will find it hard to beat.
- Paul G, London, England
I have been to Oslo Court 3 times now. I have to honestly say it is the best restaurant I have ever been to. Introduced initially to the heaven that is Oslo Court by my boyfriend, it has been and will continue to be the most classy-yet unpretentious, tasty and most accommodating restaurant in London. Part of me wants it to remain slightly secret. The wondrously flamboyant desert waiter is enough reason to come here again and again. Big fan!
- Hattie Collins, London, UK
