What the experts recommend
Bronte 1-3 The Strand, London WC2 (020-7930 8855) What’s this? A swaggeringly luxurious restaurant on the edge of Trafalgar Square named after the literary sisters from the edge of the Pennines? No, says Emma Henderson in The Independent. This extraordinary place – “like walking into a colonial dream, but with a punch of modernism” – takes its name from the column-topping chap you can see from the restaurant’s terrace: Admiral Nelson, the 1st Duke of Bronte. Designer Tom Dixon’s theme is global exploration. There’s a vast Buddha head and an oversized white plastic boat. There are huge palm trees, arched glass doors and a colonnade tiled terrace. And there’s a vast dusty-pink concrete bar, and glass cabinets full of minerals and fossils. In a place like this, the food is almost beside the point, but Bronte’s “fusion on steroids” cooking – there are Asian, Antipodean, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern offerings – is extremely serviceable (without being spectacular). Our highlights included a prawn and chorizo Scotch egg, and chicken samosas with feta and butternut squash. Large meal for two, with cocktails and wine, about £120.
The Riverside Quayside, Woodbridge, Suffolk (01394-382174) On a warm summer’s evening, the Suffolk streets of Woodbridge do not “buzz with a Mediterranean-style passeggiata”, says Tim Hayward in the FT. Rather, there’s more of a sleepy “Enid Blyton meets Essex Riviera” vibe. So it is a delight to discover The Riverside, a thriving cinema and theatre with a top-notch restaurant attached. My starter was “lobster caesar”, with sweet lumps of claw and tail meat steamed just right and “gilded with some of the most outstanding anchovies I’ve had in ages” – firm-fleshed, lightly smoky and “applied in gracious plenty”. The main course was a fresh fillet of sea bass served with a crab croquette and a mound of “sprightly roast peppers”. The Riverside’s head chef, Dan Jones, decidedly knows his stuff. In fact, the only bum note was the embarrassingly tiny skirts that the female waiting staff are obliged to wear: for God’s sake, give them proper clothes! Starters about £6-£8, mains £13-£18.
On Café 31 Clapham Park Road, London SW4 (020-3759 0162) This “absolute gem” of a place in Clapham is “a long way from some of the flashier dim sum outfits in the centre of London, the likes of Royal China and Yauatcha”, says Jay Rayner in The Observer. But while On Café’s size and pricing are both modest, the quality of chef Loretta Liu’s dim sum is “exceptional”; and here, that quality “comes with a side dish of charm”. Pieces of scallop and king prawn inside “translucent crystal skins of potato starch and tapioca are so fresh that they practically pop between the teeth”. Duck xiao long bao “burst with ginger, five spice and sesame”. As well as being expert at dim sum, Liu (who trained at the Raffles Hotel in her native Singapore) is also a patisserie wizard. Her Clapham chiller cabinet is full of macarons, tarts and other sweet wonders so “intricately accessorised, they could be worn at Ascot as fascinators”. Some, alas, do look tired – as if this site’s low footfall means they’ve spent a day too long in the chiller cabinet. “Which is why I’m now encouraging the crowds to descend.” Meal for two, including service, about £50.