The Wolseley - Restaurant Review

Cuisine: French

Cost:  

Rating:

Where?:  160, Piccadilly, London. W1J 9EB.

Closest station(s): Green Park, Piccadilly, Leicester Square.   

Telephone:  0207 499 6996

Website: www.thewolseley.com  

Having been to The Wolseley a number of times I still can’t quite decide what to make of it. My problem relates to what it is; for the prices you would almost expect a fine dining restaurant, however it could also fall into the café or brasserie sections too. 

Though a few years ago The Wolseley was the place to go in London it is not, I have come to learn, a fine dining restaurant; it is a grand café and at ticking boxes for a grand café it excels. Having opened at 7 for breakfast it then moves onto a lunch service, then an afternoon tea service followed finally by dinner that stops serving at midnight –a long and tiring day for anyone.

This elegant former car showroom and bank is a beautiful setting for all of your meals. For breakfast it can be highly recommended, certainly cheaper than most of the local hotels but offering an excellent and appetising selection of grub to give you a kick start in the morning.

Afternoon tea again is spot on; a tasty tea without the prices and pomp that come with the effort made just moments away in the Ritz and other hotels.  We then come to lunch & dinner. If looking for somewhere to pop into whilst out shopping at lunchtime and you are craving a classic, i.e steak tartare, duck confit or calf’s liver and you want to enjoy it in a pleasant environment, to be cooked well, served quickly and washed down with a decent glass of wine then The Wolseley is excellent; as it would also be pre or post-theatre. At £19.50 for calves lives and £18.95 for the seven hour lamb, whilst well-cooked it may be more than many want to spend at lunchtime.

What I would not recommend is going to the Wolseley under the impression that it is a fine dining restaurant; it is not set up to provide you with a drawn out relaxing meal – and the staff do little to improve this, often seeming rushed.  

Helpfully, the restaurant leaves a considerable number of tables free for walk-ins; allowing this to be a refuge from shopping or other daytime activity.  

Polpo - Restaurant Review

Cuisine:  Italian / Tapas

Cost: 

Rating: 

Where?:  41, Beak Street, Soho, London. W1F 9SB.

Closest station(s):  Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road.   

Telephone: 0207 734 4479

Website: www.polpo.co.uk     

I apologise for adding tapas to cuisine type above as Polpo is not a tapas restaurant; it is the Italian equivalent, namely a bacaro. Polpo has received a huge amount of media attention and on this occasion it is certainly well deserved. Everything about the restaurant seems to have been done to minimise stress and allow you to have a relaxed and enjoyable evening.  

The menu offers a selection of small dishes, ideal for sharing. This includes a selection of cicheti - tiny plates of food starting from £1.00 (I am surprised to see you can get anything in London for that price these days). Small plates at low prices allows you to have a wide array of food to graze on whilst there.

The food has been excellent each time I have been; on the last occasion I went the highlights were the mackerel tartare, the fritto misto, the polpette and a duck ragu that was bewilderingly unctuous and packed with flavour. At around £5 a plate for the larger plates it is very reasonably priced – the house wine at £18 is extremely quaffable.

Polpo only allows you to book tables for lunch. I am in two minds as to whether the lack of evening booking is a good thing or not; it is great for those occasions that you are in Soho and want a lively atmosphere and great food but haven’t booked – the great shame is that it is so popular you can often find yourself waiting for half an hour or more for a table; during which time it is very easy to get carried away at the bar.

Overall I have great affection for Polpo; the staff are friendly, you get to try lots of delicious morsels, the cooking is excellent and it has a lively buzz throughout the day and evening.