Jeremy King: My honest thoughts on The Ivy £1bn sale April 21, 2026 The Ivy and Simpson’s in the Strand restaurateur on holding his nerve, having no regrets and bringing fun back to London dining “People come in crying,” says Jeremy King from a white tableclothed banquette in his new British restaurant, Simpson’s in the Strand. “They have so many stories: my father brought me here, my godfather [...]
Pub of the week: The Walrus and Carpenter is pints perfection April 17, 2026 We have opened nominations for the Toast the City Awards 2026. Each week we’ll be profiling some of the nominees: today it’s the Walrus and Carpenter, a pub like no other beside Monument. To find out more and to nominate your favourite bars, restaurants and hidden gems, visit the website here. “‘The time has come,’ [...]
The Galvin brothers: Our Toast the City award means the world April 16, 2026 Our Toast the City Awards return for a second year, bigger, better and more ambitious than ever. We will once again shine a light on the restaurants, bars, green spaces and cultural hotspots that make the Square Mile one of London’s most exciting places to work and play. This year we’ve invited the winners from the [...]
Why I love hotel restaurants – and two of my favourites April 10, 2026 Our top columnist on the joys of a hotel restaurant, and two of his favourites London is rightly famous for outstanding hotels that are home to amazing restaurants. The Mandarin Oriental created this movement, breaking the mould fifteen years ago when the most excellent restaurateur Mark Hastings opened Dinner by Heston and Bar Boulud in [...]
The new Simpson’s in the Strand is a classic for a new generation March 25, 2026 The culinary calendar is hotting up and the Square Mile and its surrounds are right amongst it. This week I turn to two restaurants in Canada and the hotly-anticipated ‘new opening’ on the Strand, Simpson’s by Jeremy King. Kolamba East I first discovered Kolamba during the pandemic. One of the few successful [...]
A hundred not out… yet: Why Veeraswamy is in trouble March 25, 2026 Veeraswamy, the Michelin-starred Indian restaurant on Regent Street, celebrated its centenary on 18 March. But it has found itself in the headlines for other reasons recently: glowingly reviewed by Morning Wire’s own Adam Bloodworth two years ago, it is now in dispute with its landlord, the Crown Estate. Campaigners have even called for the King [...]
Hands off our spuds: How Americans ‘discovered’ jacket potatoes March 24, 2026 The New York Times has found about the jacket potato, a British staple the world isn’t ready for, says Steve Dinneen Sometimes in this tightly interconnected world of ours, it takes a New York Times headline to remind us that stark cultural differences still exist. “The British Have Finally Learned to Love Peanut Butter”, the [...]
Pairing wine with spicy food at London restaurants KOL and Gunpowder March 18, 2026 Wine and spice make for a tricky duo. Traditionally we are taught that an off-dry white is an excellent pairing to soothe the heat, but this isn’t always the right call. I went to KOL and Gunpowder to find out how to best pair wine and spice. Pairing wine with spicy Mexican food at KOL KOL, [...]
Why Boisdale founder Ranald MacDonald is a London hero March 11, 2026 My culinary journey last week took me away from London. It was a tale of two Vikings, from Scotland to Stockholm and back again. So allow me to introduce my fellow founders, Niklas Ekstedt of his eponymous restaurant Ekstedt and Ranald MacDonald of Boisdale. BOISDALE OF BELGRAVIA When I began my entrepreneurial journey as founder [...]