Ambassade de l’Ile (The Return), London

I know what you must be thinking: “Another ‘return’? Again, Food Snob? But we want to hear about different places, not the same ones over and over again.” Well, settle down readers, I agree; of course I too want to try new restaurants, but exceptions are acceptable and do sometimes seriously pay off…

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Le Gavroche, London

The Le Gavroche. That is not an error that is emphasis. Londoners owe It a debt of gratitude. A huge debt. Before Its arrival, fine dining did not exist in the city. Eating well was not a priority/desire/care; ‘we knew nothing of the British indifference to food because we had only ever cooked for the rich,’ Albert Roux has admitted. It was the sixties and Albert and younger brother Michel, already in London as personal chefs to the Cazelet and Rothschild families respectively, saw their opportunity. With their former employers turned patrons, Le Gavroche was established in 1967 and It changed everything.

St. John (The Return), London

Whilst reflecting on the previous evening’s meal at St. John, embellishing on the notes I had made mid-mouthful, it came to my attention that I had not left a tip when settling the bill. I must admit, having idly inured to seeing that now-standard syntax, 12.5%-discretionary-service-charge-included, so often, when it came to paying, I literally did not give the gratuity a single thought. An honest mistake, n’est-ce pas? Well, it was a mistake that would return to haunt me that very day…

St. John, London

I must be spending far too much time in Chowhound chat rooms; a post from the esteemed Hermano Primero, of Dos Hermanos. kindly informing Chowhounds that St. John would be closing from late June until late August for “a much needed programme of refurbishment and maintenance” was all it took for me to immediately book a table for ‘final week’.