The Magdalen arms
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THE gospel according to St. John has spread beyond London to Oxford with the opening of the Magdalen Arms. Backed by the chaps from the Anchor & Hope in Southwark and run by two ex-'Hopers, Tony Abarno, who's doing the cooking, and Florence Fowler, who's running the front of house, its take-over-a-grubby-old-boozer-and-give-it-a-good-scrub-and-a-lick-of-paint feel will be familiar to anyone that's ever eaten at the Anchor & Hope or its sequel, Great Queen Street in Holborn. Likewise the menu which changes twice daily and is big on gutsy seasonal cooking and shared dishes - slow cooked shoulder of mutton and potato gratin or rib of Hereford beef for example - will, likewise, be deliciously familiar to those au fait with the source material. The Magdalen Arms |
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Proud Cabaret
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From Alex Proud, of the oh-so fashionable Proud Galleries and Proud Camden fame, comes Proud Cabaret over by not-yet-terribly-hip Tower Hill. Sultrily styled as a 1920s speakeasy meets an old school Hollywood supper club with waitresses dolled-up like flapper girls, it is built around a cocktail bar and a 120-cover restaurant. The menu is crammed full of Brit classics, put together by well-regarded caterers Absolute Taste, and runs from the simple comfort of gammon, egg and chips and steak and kidney pie to the posh retro of beef Wellington and lobster thermidor. Although it's open from midday for lunch, it's in the evenings, when they serve up side orders of jazz and burlesque, that it seems a much more desirable destination. |
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Kitchen W8
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A partnership between Philip 'The Square' Howard and Rebecca Mascarenhas, the restaurateur behind a series of successful neigbourhood restaurants including Sonny's in Barnes, Kitchen W8 sits on the Kensington site of what was previously Mascarenhas's Bistrot Eleven and before that Abingdon Road. Howard has installed Mark Kempson, who worked under him for two years at The Square, as head chef to produce a menu that reads well and includes game consommé with a bacon cream and small game hot dog, thinly smoked eel with grilled mackerel, leek hearts and sweet mustard and fillet of halibut with a Beaufort crust, melted onions and chanterelles. The dining room has been given a going over by the same designers that did The Square and La Trompette and is a predictably smart looking combination of olive leather banquettes and stone floor. |
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Wheeler's dealings
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Marco Pierre White has swiftly relaunched his St James's Street restaurant, Luciano, as Wheeler's of St. James. White ran Wheeler's of St James in its original, listed, Duke of York Street premises, now offices, between 2001 and 2004, before selling it on. Wheeler's hasty re-appearance on the site of one of his former restaurants would not be particularly noteworthy – MPW has form for this sort of thing - were it not for Garry Hollihead, recently returned from Dubai and an old mucker of MPW's, having been installed as head chef. Last time he was in London, Hollihead ran Geales fish restaurant in Notting Hill and the restaurant at Embassy for Mark Fuller. |
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Joe Warwick