Nizuni

22 Charlotte Street is  an unfortunate address for a sushi restaurant, opposite Roka, the constantly packed and incredibly scene Japanese restaurant. It's a bit like being a normal person forced to stand next to a supermodel in a group picture. In this case the normal person was actually rather good-looking. 

Vapiano - Italian food organized by Germans

It is a dream combination. Italian food, created in an incredibly efficient way. This is what Vapiano is all about. There is no messing about wasting time trying to work out who pays what, as every person is given a card, that they then "charge" food and drinks to at a selection of various stations. Your food is made to order at one of each station whilst you watch (pasta, antipasti), or just collect them (dessert or drinks), or order and get a buzzer (Pizza). It works out perfectly. Each person gets what they want, charged to them and can edit their dish to their particular liking - no basil, no issue, no garlic, no problem. Even better, you can get it to go (their pasta makes a very good breakfast), and their takeaway boxes are perfectly lunch sized Tupperware. In fact, this is possibly one of my favourite casual places to go. It is great place to meet up with old friends, as the lack of service means no-one really cares if you sit there for four hours, as I did last Tuesday.

Christopher's - The Search for Brunch Continues...

Still on the search for the "Best Breakfast in London", and killing time until Wolseley V. 2, Delaunay, shows up in the neighbourhood, The Boyfriend, The Sibling and I checked out Christopher's - an American style grill, that has a mouthwatering brunch menu. Its a fairly upmarket place, occupying two floors of a large building in Covent Garden, with a large dining room. Sadly, no newspapers were offered, and this is not the kind of place that its acceptable to look obviously hungover. Service was unmemorable, everything showed up on time, in the correct place, but nothing special. 

Cecconi's - Brunch

Despite having found a pretty perfect Brunch spot in the form of Dean Street Townhouse, The Boyfriend and I decided to check out a similar place on the other side of Regent Street - Cecconi's. We had tested Cecconi's, earlier in the year, for dinner and had come away rather unimpressed, but the breakfast menu looked so appealing we decided to give it another shot.

Dean Street Townhouse - Brunch

I'm on a hunt for my perfect brunch spot. So far I haven't found it. My brunch spots needs to have:

a) Satisfying food, innovative but not too pretentious (Sorry, Helene Darroze)

b) A cute set-up, but not so "scene" I have to make as much effort as I would turning up to Zuma (Goodbye The Wolseley) 

c) No queue (It's just not meant to be, The Breakfast Club) 

d) Proximity to Covent Garden (It is not you, it is me, 202)

e) Brunch served past midday (Why, Nopi? Why?) 

f) Free papers (What were you thinking, Roast) 

The Ivy

There are two things about The Ivy that make it truly remarkable - sadly, neither of these two things are its culinary abilities. Firstly, it must be the only restaurant in London that was full on packed at 5.30 on a Friday. Its not even like this place has a great Pre-Theatre menu that makes it irresistable, because that's only available Monday to Wednesday. Despite that they are very on the ball about theatre and opera, the man who took my reservation knew which opera I was seeing when I didn't! 

Canteen Covent Garden

Harrods,  nine "amazing" courses prepared by Thomas Keller, the six-michelin starred chef, widely regarded as the best in the world, for an impressive £250 a head. For many, that was the highlight of the year. For a ten day period London's foodies, and I'm sure the odd banker or two, enjoyed what many described as a once in life time experience. This was the pop-up to end all pop-ups. On the other side of town, The Boyfriend and I dined at a slightly less glamourous pop-up, in the oh-so exclusive Covent Garden, where we ate one course, at a cost of a £18 a head. Yes, The Boyfriend and I we were some of the hundreds of other people who called a little too late and thus will we be sentenced to dream about the meal we missed until the fanfare dies down. Given the reviews I'm not optimistic that this will be soon 

Nopi

I am divided on the small plates concept that has invaded London. Yes, it provides flexibility, and the chance to try many things on the menu, a major benefit when the restaurant in question has a menu that leads to drooling and mentally questioning how many dishes you can order with out being judged by your waiter. But at the same time there are some downsides. Call me old-fashioned, but I like having a rhythm to a meal. I think there is nothing worse than having eight plates show up at the same time, especially if each comes with a hefty price tag, having nothing left to look forward to and not getting a chance to savour each dish.  Ultimately things get cold, the meal takes half as long as it should and the whole experience feels rushed.