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The Chap Dines

the don
The Chap Dines

The Don

Gustav Temple lunches at a reopened City dining institution and descends into the ancient network of tunnels and cellars at its core. According to folklore, whatever the weather on St Swithin’s day (15th July) will determine the same weather for the next 40 days. While we did not visit the Don, a reopened restaurant in… … Keep Reading

embers brighton
The Chap Dines

Embers

Gustav Temple samples the flaming fare at Brighton’s hottest new restaurant. It was opening night at Embers, a discreet bistro tucked away in one of the Venice-like passageways of the Brighton Lanes that are so easy to get lost in. I believe, though may be mistaken, that the previous incumbent was one of those out-of-date… … Keep Reading

the lanesborough
The Chap Dines

The Lanesborough Grill

Gustav Temple and Alexander Larman take an early Christmas lunch at the Lanesborough Grill on Hyde Park Corner. Larman is usually a punctual chap, but on this occasion he was late for our appointment with victuals at Hyde Park Corner. He had relayed some vaguely literary excuse, something about watching and writing about a documentary… … Keep Reading

Jones-Family-Affair
The Chap Dines

The Jones Family Affair

Gustav Temple reviews a new steakhouse in the heart of London’s Theatreland. One of my favourite pubs in London is the Harp on William IVth Street in the heart of Theatreland. It is not, as one would expect, full of chorus girls and understudies awaiting their moment in the footlights, at least not on a… … Keep Reading

kutir
The Chap Dines

Kutir Chelsea

Gustav Temple and Alexander Larman set foot in a changed world since lockdown for a splendid Indian repast. Where does one choose to go for one’s first meal in a restaurant since last December? Is the pressure too great to find the perfect establishment, with the ideal food, wine and ambience? Is the sense of… … Keep Reading

benares-mayfair
The Chap Dines

Benares Mayfair

Gustav Temple and Alexander Larman grab a final Tier 2 repast before the nation’s second lockdown M’colleague is nothing if not optimistic. When Larman suggested dining in the heart of Mayfair just as London limbers up for Tier 2 of pandemic measures, I thought he had lost his Elgin marbles. Infected by his gung-ho enthusiasm… … Keep Reading

hix-porterhouse
The Chap Dines

Hix Oyster Bar and Chop House

Monday 16th March 2020 was an auspicious day for a long lunch with Chris Sullivan. Coronavirus fever was about to hit London, and full lockdown was imminent, with deserted streets and nearly empty Underground carriages. This could be the last chance we met for some time, and possibly the last chance anyone had of enjoying… … Keep Reading

ruya-london
The Chap Dines

Rüya London

For many of us in Britain, our experience of Turkish cuisine has usually been taken while standing on a pavement, perhaps slightly swaying in the recollection of a drop taken, bathed in the neon glow from a sign succinctly reading ‘Kebab’. Those of us who were fortunate enough to have lived in the borough of… … Keep Reading

The Chap Dines

Hot May

Knightsbridge is the only London Underground station with six consecutive consonants in its name, but this is not the only remarkable aspect of that borough. Once ejected from the tube station into the glittering lee of Harrods, one can be forgiven for thinking one has been accidentally teleported into a Hollywood film with a Christmas… … Keep Reading

baoziinn-lamb-chop
The Chap Dines

Baoziinn

When m’learned colleague invited me to join him for a Chinese meal, my first thought was – isn’t at least one of us a little old to be gorging on cut-price fodder ordered in a dank Soho basement by pointing at lurid pictures on a laminated menu, to an oriental chap who makes a virtue… … Keep Reading

bob-bob-cite
The Chap Dines

Bob Bob Cité

The City of London doesn’t look much like the set of Blade Runner. It looks more like the set of a Charles Dickens adaptation that ran out of budget and left the builders behind. One of the few parts of the City that looks complete is the Leadenhall Building, around the corner from Leadenhall Market.… … Keep Reading

roast-borough-market
The Chap Dines

Roast at Borough Market

Borough Market came to everyone’s attention in the 1990s, when Jamie Oliver pointed out that British food is actually rather good, as long as you spend vast amounts of cash on each ingredient. The market continues to thrive, anachronistically at odds with the vast developments that have taken place around it in Southwark. The change… … Keep Reading

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