Mark's reviews
Review of Yauatcha
21 Jun 07, 21:37
Venison puffs! Tea cocktails! YUM!!! 
Christian Liaigre designed this place, probably the most stylish dim-sum restaurant and tea room on the planet. For dinner, head downstairs. Dark, moody, with electric tea candles filling niches in the stony walls and a star-flecked night sky of a ceiling, this room is high glam. Upstairs is cooler, brighter, airier, and perfect for mid-day refreshment. Now that dim-sum is served upstairs as well, you can have your cake and eat it too! And speaking of cake, don't choose from the menu. Take a walk over to the patisserie case for a personal explanation of the day's selections. Highlights include baked venison puffs, a sparkling rendition of Peking duck, and an array of weird and wonderful tea-based cocktails. True, it'll put a bigger dent in your wallet than one of those places on Queensway, but for the quality of experience, presentation, food and surroundings I'd say Yauatcha is worth it.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Review of The Wolseley
21 Jun 07, 18:15
An instant London institution
Though relatively new, it's hard to imagine London without the Wolseley. Reminiscent of (Brit) Keith Mcnally's establishments Balthazar and Pastis in New York, this restaurant WORKS day and night. Let's just dispense with the fact that the food, while competent and well-executed from a bewilderingly-yet-reassuringly extensive menu, is nothing to write home about. Let's also dispense with the fact that the service can be WAY off at times, with impossible-to-find waiters and dishes that never arrive. That's not the point. Somehow, the experience adds up. A good measure of happiness and satisfaction can be chalked up to the space (you can't really call it a room -- it's too grand!): the assortment of bare bulbs hanging from the ceiling at different heights, the chinoise wall decorations, the low-slung furnishings affording unobstructed celeb-sighting... On Piccadilly are the bar (to the right) and "tea room" (to the left). The intimate bar is absolutely perfect to the last detail, but unfortunately is only available to diners -- so no stopping in for a quickie. On the tables, linens, cutlery and china are all funky yet correct: tea is served in heavy antique hotel-style pots of various shapes and sizes. Having disparaged the food, I must say that it's possible to assemble a meal tailored to your specific whims by choosing from starters, salads and side dishes in a way you never could at a more formal restaurant or even at a traditional pub or gastro-pub. Also, it's the kind place you can come at any time of day or night, from breakfast to a late-night snack, and be assured that you'll get the kind of buzzy feeling you'd expect in the world's greatest city. My best Wolseley celeb sighting? Gael García Bernal.
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of Opuz Kitchen
21 Jun 07, 17:35
Quick, healthy, reasonably priced
So you're on your way to Rupert Street, The Yard, Profile, Compton's, or Bar Code in Soho and you need to pack in some protein before your marathon binge drinking -- um, I mean carb loading. Right. Cuz you're bulking up. At the gym. Anyhow, Opuz serves up fresh, tasty, healthy kebabs, etc. in an above-average setting featuring small high tables and a narrow counter, all with high stools. Checking out the hotties at the next table is facilitated by strategically placed mirrors. In fair weather they put one or two tables out front, and during London and Soho Pride they take over their stretch of Old Compton Street.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.