Eating en Famille/Famiglia

The London restaurant scene is dominated by a small number of companies that own a  biggish selection of restaurants in central London that have appealing menus, slightly less appealing prices but are always reliable and with excellent service. Today I’m going to tell you about a few family owned restaurants.

My favourite is Le Colombier, in Dovehouse Street, off the King’s Road. It seems as if it has been there forever but in fact opened on the site of a former pub in 1998. As its name suggests it has a French menu. They have excellent seafood but their veal kidneys are also a favourite of mine. Although the set menu for luncheon (Mon. to Sat.) is well priced, for London, at £19.50 the bill usually creeps up, not least because of their really good wine list. I recently had a bottle of white 2013 St. Joseph  from Stéphane Montez. White Rhones go well with most food and offer much better value than Burgundies. This one was £35, a fair price as it would cost about £20 at a wine merchant.

The restaurant is run by Didier Garnier and many of his staff have become familiar faces. Unless iron discipline is observed, and it seldom is, it is a bit expensive but it remains my favourite. Were the FT to invite me as their guest for the Lunch With The FT column it would be my choice.

My two other recommendations are Italian. First, Il Portico in Kensington High Street, opposite Holland Park. It is inextricably linked with visits to Opera Holland Park as it just stays open late enough for supper after the opera, sometimes with some of the cast; once memorably with Richard Bonynge at the next table. A typical choice here might be a Negroni cocktail and spaghettini alle vongole. It opened in 1967 and is run by the same family. Being a family-run Italian restaurant it unfortunately does not open on Sundays.

Finally a relatively new discovery, although it opened in 1994: Caraffini in Lower Sloane Street; again, not open on Sundays. There are tables outside under an awning making it an attractive destination for lunch. in the summer. A bottle of the house white is £19, so it needn’t be a hugely expensive outing.

However, eating out in London is always an expensive luxury. This becomes especially apparent in comparison with European cities. I will write about some cheaper options in London another day.