Bentley's Oyster Bar Review

I suppose I could be a bit more lenient on Bentley's as we dined on a Sunday but I'm not going to: it was terrible.

It is not a bad dining atmosphere in the oyster bar, but it began to drag a bit as we were sat there with nothing to eat or drink for an age as the lack lustre staff ignored us. Our neighbours also were waiting for an unacceptable period and they were clearly dissatisfied as well.

We finally got to order and the food seemed bearly good enough to start with. The squid dish seemed to have been killed twice so rubbery was it. Once the starters had gone it was another interminable wait, punctuated only with them bringing a different bottle of wine to the one we ordered. This was remedied with the same degree of sloth that our orders were taken.

We were served an incorrect main course, and yet again there was huge delay in fixing this. The main courses were perfectly edible, but by no means did they make amends for the hopeless service. It was a great disappointment and I really don't see the need to return there.

Contact: Bentley's Oyster Bar and Restaurant, 11-15 Swallow Street, W1B 4DG. Telephone 020 7734 4756.

David

Sushi-Say review

When I was asked to book a sushi place for Sunday lunch I was a tad surprised; Sunday hardly seems like the best day to be seeking the freshest of fish. Fortunately, my fears were unfounded as this turned out to be the best sushi meal I've had in London.

As a South London kid, it is a bit of a trek to get to, right at the Nothern end of the Jubilee line in Willesden Green. It was worth it. Sadly we appeared to be the only people willing to make this journey on a Sunday; we dined with only the staff for company.

We ordered sashimi and sushi. The sashimi was a tiny bit cold so the flavours were initially a bit hard to discern. I suppose this is the price one has to pay for dining at a quiet time. The fish all seemed to be of high quality, the fatty tuna (toro) and salmon especially so.

The sushi was a real step up. Served at the correct temperature it really showed itself to be a step above that which I had eaten in London before. The ratio of rice to fish seemed pleasingly low, with large pieces of fish on each piece of sushi. Tuna, salmon, sweet shrimp, yellow tail and squid were really quite impressive in terms of quality. One of the clam sushi pieces I had was a bit tired, but again I see this as a reasonable price to pay for eating on a dodgy day.

The prices were perfectly reasonable for the quality, expect to pay around £30 a head, and the service was great. Heartily recommended.

Contact: Sushi-Say, 33b Walm Lane, NW2 5SH. Telephone 020 8459 2971.

David

Yauatcha review

Yauatcha is quite an impressive looking place in the middle of Soho. Upstairs there is a tea room with little cakes on offer, downstairs is the main restaurant which is the site of the best dim sum meal I have ever eaten.

The restaurant itself it quite stylish, with plenty of room between tables and a reasonable number of helpful staff milling around. It suggests you are going to have quite an expensive meal. Looking at the comprehensive dim sum menu the price for most of the dishes seemed very low. This led us to order multiple plates of the same dish. A bit of a mistake.

When your food arrives, and it does so promptly, the mistake was plain to see; portions are quite large with multiple pieces of dim sum per plate. I would recommend than even if you are very hungry four plates each would be plenty.

The dim sum was excellent. Char sui buns were as light as clouds and filled with tasty, rich pork. Sesame prawns on toast were delicious, made with a whole large prawn. The duck spring rolls were a delight, stuffed with flavoursome duck meat. All of the little dumplings we ordered were lovely, perfectly cooked and filled with flavour. There was not a single disappointing dish.

For a change, we didn't bother with wine; the Chinese beer was perfectly acceptable to eat with a large meal. Thanks to our ordering it was a very large meal and I ended up happily stuffed.

Due to our heroic ordering the price was a bit high, but if you order less enthusiastically a meal should set you back at around £30 a head.

I cannot recommend Yauatcha highly enough; if you like dim sum this is the place to go in London.

Contact: Yauatcha, 15 Broadwick Street, W1F 0DL. Telephone 0870 780 8265.

David

My lunch today was Sillfield Farm Bury-style black pudding. These are sold as whole sausages that you can slice up and fry. Jolly good they are too. They have a reasonable content of grain and fat, but stuffed with rich, cooked blood. This is the best black pudding I've had, and I heartily recommend that you head off to Borough Market or go to Sillfield Farm's website and pick some up.

David

La Brasserie Ma Cuisine Bourgeoise review

Yes, I admit it has an awful name, and the outside looks frankly hideous, but we dined very well.

The menu has loads of French Brasserie favourites, so many recognisably fun things that the choice was difficult. Daniel and I ordered a different starters each and swapped half way through. The little crispy cake of pig's trotters I had first was very rich and strongly flavoured, really very good, but blown away by the other starter. This was pan fried foie gras with lentils. The foie gras was cooked to perfection, a good crust and melting soft in the middle. Excellent.

I did not try the main course of our guest, but she reported the lamb with merguez and beans was perfectly cooked and flavoursome. Daniel and I can rarely resist ris de veau when they appear on a menu and so we both went for this option. It was perfectly cooked and the capers and celeriac surrounding it added a bite to the rich Sauternes sauce it was presented with. This was a truly excellent dish.

The main wine list is a bit pricey; it is really lacking anything one would wish to drink. They have a fine wine list which has some better offerings, but the prices are quite steep. Our bottle of 1998 Macon was getting a bit long in the tooth, but the red Vosne-Romanée 1995 from Rene Engel was excellent.

The food made this worth the trek out to Twickenham, so it was a bit of a shame they only had one other diner in that night. They deserved to be full.

Contact: La Brasserie Ma Cuisine Bourgeoise, 2 Whitton Road, Twickenham TW1 1BJ. Telephone 020 8744 9598.

David