Best of London food shops , restaurants and wine establishments for 2018

Here is my list of best of London food shops , restaurants and wine establishments for 2018.

Best Restaurant(s) in London : Hedone , The Square , The Clove Club , Bibendum , The Ritz  and The Ledbury

Best Sourcing and Ingredients : Hedone

Best Restaurant Wine Lists : Social Tapas , Chez Bruce  , The Greenhouse , Noble Rot , MASH, Hunan , Hedone and Taillevent 110

Best New Openings :  St Leonards , Kym's and Neptune

Best Argentinian : Zoilo

Best Italian Restaurant (Southern) :  Gola

Best Italian Restaurant (Northern) :  Novikov , Locanda Locatelli

Best Pan Italian :  , River Café  ,  Enoteca Turi , (Francesco Mazzei 's) Sartoria and L'Amorosa

Best Trattoria : Mele e Pere  , Radici and L'Amorosa

Best Indian : Jamvar

Best Casual Indian :  Chai Ki , Darjeeling Express

Best Indian delivery : Motu

Best Indian (Modern) : Roti Chai and Gymkhana

Best Pakistani :  Saloos 

Best Chinese : Hunan , Kai , Silk Road and A Wong

Best Dim Sum :  A Wong  and Royal China (Baker St)

Best Thai :   Som Sa

Best neo BBQ  : Pitt Cue

Best Fusion : Novikov 

Best Japanese : The Araki

Best Vietnamese : head to Paris or Vietnam

Best Lebanese/Syrian : Ishbilia  Knightsbridge

Best Israleli : Bala Baya

Best Greek :  Opsos , Meraki and Horvada

Best "Politiki Kouzina " Peckham Bazaar 

Best Turkish : Gökyüzü

Best Sushi : The Araki

Best French :  Gauthier Soho , Club Gascon, The Square , and Bibendum

Best Modern British/European : The Ledbury , Kitchen Table and The Clove Club

Best Spanish : Cambio de Tercio , Rambla and  Pizarro 

Best Tapas : Tendido Cedro , Rambla and José

Best English : St John's , The Guinea Grill , Parlour

Best Fish/Seafood : One - O - One , Knightsbridge (CLOSED)

Best Gastro Pub : Parlour , Harwood Arms , Anchor and Hope and Great Queen St

Best Service : Galvin's Windows and Cambio de Tercio

Best Sandwich : Kappacaseins Cheese Toastie

Best Pub : The Guinea and The Cleveland Arms

Best Selection of Craft Beer :  The Rake 

Best Wine Bar : 40 Maltby St , Antidote Wine Bar, 10 Cases and Noble Rot

Best Brasserie : Bob Bob Ricard

Best Neighbourhood Restaurants : L'Amorosa , Peckham Baazar and Chez Bruce

Best Mavericks : Morito Hackney Road , Pitt Cue and 40 Maltby St

Best French Bistro/Bourgeois Cooking :  Casse Croûte  

Best Burger :  Little Social 

Best "joint" Burger :  Patty & Bun and Meat Liquor 

Best Chain Burger : Patty & Bun

Best Steak : Guinea Grill , Zelman Meats and Goodman

Best Steak Restaurants : Zelman Meats ,  Hawksmoor , Flatiron , MASH and Goodman

Best Pizza :  Santa Maria and Pizzicotto

Best Street Food : Mr Falafel ( Shepherds Bush )

Best Value for money Wine List : MASH ,Noble Rot, Bonhams , Hunan and Andrew Edmunds

Best Value for Money Restaurants : Koya Bar ,   Flatiron and Peckham Bazaar

Best Breakfast : Koya Bar and The Ritz

My best meals in London 2018 . Hedone . Gauthier Soho , The Ritz,  The Clove Club and Peckham Bazaar.

My best meals outside London in 2018 : The Sportsman (Kent) and The Crown Burchetts Green and The Kitchin.

My best meals outside the UK in 2018 : Chez L'Ami Jean, Paris , Table , Paris ,  Le Calandre , Rubano and Le Calandre , Paris

Best Bakery/Bread :  Hedone

Best  Chocolatier : William Curley

Best Patisserie :  Hedone 

Best Coffee : Prufrock Coffee

Best Coffee Roaster : Difference Coffee and Square Mile

Best Tea : Lalani & Co

Best Croissants : None

Best Gelato :  Oddono's 

Best Fishmonger : The Chelsea Fishmonger (Rex Goldsmith), Chelsea Green

Best Fish and Seafood Wholesale : Pesky Fish

Best Butchers : O'Shea's , Provenance and HG Walter.

Best Greengrocer : Andreas Veg , Chelsea .

Best Cheese Shops : La Fromagerie , Androuet , Buchanans and Neal's Yard 

Best Purveyor of French Charcuterie  : The Ham and Cheese Company

Best Purveyors of Italian Salumi : The Ham and Cheese Company 

Best Purveyor of British Charcuterie : Cannon and Cannon

Best Wine Merchants Retail :  Bottle Apostle , Hansen Hayes and Clark and Handford

Best Wine Merchants Wholesale : Liberty , Fortyfive 10 ,  and Fields , Morris and Verdin

Food , Wine, Tea and Ale, 13th, 15th and 16th of MAY 2009

Having tasted a number of top 1999 Bordeaux over the past few months I decided to take one of my cases of Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 1999 out of bond and storage . Berry Brothers and Rudd promptly delivered it on Friday may 15th. I therefore bought some Black Angus Grass Fed Irish Côte de Bœuf form Jack O'Shea to have with the Pichon Lalande on Saturday.

On Friday evening we had some wonderful Scottish Sea Trout from The Chelsea Fishmonger, Rex Goldsmith which I simply roasted having covered with salt pepper and olive oil and stuffing some fresh thyme from Mrs. Gastro's allotment in the stomach of the fish. The fish was served on a bed of steamed East Sussex Asparagus sprinkled with my sauce Gastro - juice of two lemons, 1.5 tablespoons of Savora, 5 tablespoons of Seggiano Extra Virgin Oil and salt/pepper.

We drank an excellent 2006 Chassagne-Montrachet, Les Chaumées, 1er Cru, Domaine Jean-Noël Gagnard - Berry Bros & Rudd

On Saturday I let the beef reach room temperature over four hours and then first pan fried the Côtes de Bœuf for about 6 minutes each side then adding salt and pepper before finishing them off in a very hot over for 8 minutes. The beef was served with Gratin Dauphinois and par steamed French Beans finished off sautéed with butter. The Pichon Lalande complimented beautifully both the beef and the Camembert from La Fromagerie that followed.

We ended the meal with some Strawberries and a delicious bottle of Diamante d’Almerita 2005 from Tasca d’Almerita in Sicily that I picked up from Last drop Wines - not as good as the Ben Rye Passito de Pantelaria I had last week but certainly a contender for my second favorite Italian desert wine!

After smoking a Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona Mrs Gastro and I had a delicious cup of Oolong Tea from the Rare Tea Company.

I had the pleasure of meeting @raretealady aka Henrietta Lovell on Wednesday at a wonderful event held at The Westbridge, Battersea hosted by @Charlie McVeigh and and organised BY @eatkikeagirl on behalf@ Catavino those passionate evangelists on skates for Iberian Wines (#LWFB London Food and Wine Bloggers) Charlie supplied the room and an inspired selection of cheeses and charcuterie and Salumi to compliment a selection of mainly Spanish and Portuguese wines . Star of the show for me was José Maria da Fonseca's Domini 2007 from Douro and a wonderful Tête de Moine Cheese (with correct cutter sourced by Charlie).

Henrietta is the Jancis Robinson of tea and I learned enough from her in 10 minutes to realise that one of the reasons I don’t drink tea very much is that both the quality and knowledge of how to prepare it in the UK is generally very poor. This is really astounding for a country that drinks so much tea but then again in line with both food and wine consumption!

Anyway you can buy tea from the Rare Tea Company online and in selected supermarkets including Waitrose.

www.rareteacompany.com

The Westbridge is also an excellent establishment serving outstanding beers coupled with solid food and wine list. Charlie who these days is also a shareholder and executive in the excellent Le Café Anglais introduced me to a stellar beer called Wandle Ale produced a few hundred meters from both my home and The Westbridge at Samsbrook’s (micro) Brewery.

www.sambrooksbrewery.co.uk

www.thewestbridge.co.uk