Binge day in London

[KungFuPanda]

Me and a couple of friends are hitting London on Wednesday for some shopping and a gastronomic binge day given that I have lost two and a half stone since January. Last time I went down to pick a watch up from Bond Street and we started the day off with bagels and salt beef from Brick Lane followed by afternoon tea at Fortnums and dinner at Burger & Lobster in Mayfair.

Personally I think we made excellent choices although we were rushed as my friend also had to tie up a couple of watch deals too.

This time round, there will be three of us and we're getting the train down from Manchester. We're going to be having Bollinger and bagels on the train. Then we've got lunch booked at Bar Boulud at the Mandarin Oriental. Apparently the burgers there are amongst the best in London and I reckon I could persuade the lads to go for the Billecart Salmon Blanc de Blanc as a treat.

After lunch, we haven't made any firm plans. One of the group fancies hitting Chinatown for dim sum for dinner but I'm not so sure. Does anyone have any experiences of decent dim sum restaurants in the Chinatown / Bond St / Mayfair area? Alternatively we may just go to Mash or Hawksmoor although I've done Hawksmoor to death recently. Any other ideas. What I want is to go somewhere decent for dinner where the food or dining experience is better or totally different to what we already have in Manchester.

[eastsider]

As an alternative to Hawksmoor I’ve had both STK and Goodman’s recommended to me, haven’t tried either yet though.

http://www.goodmanrestaurants.com/

http://togrp.com/togrp-stk-london/about/

[Gruffy]

I can't speak for their dim sum but the food at Kai in Mayfair is first class, especially the wasabi prawns. It has a Michelin star, for what it's worth.

[15peter20]

For dim sum - yauatcha in soho. Michelin starred, outstanding overall experience and not eye watering on price.

Steakwise - cut is supposed to be good but pricey.

[kiethton]

It's not particularly classy but is delicious and for a 'binge' you can't beat the portions of Big Easy on Kings road - doubt there is much quite like that in Manchester!

[ascayman]

China Tang at the Dorchester or either of the Hakkasan's

[R11ysf]

As said above Yauatcha. Excellent dim sum and the best value Michelin starred restaurant in London. Staff are excellent too.

[Dave200]

15peter20 said:

For dim sum - yauatcha in soho. Michelin starred, outstanding overall experience and not eye watering on price.

I concur.

[z4chris99]

eastsider said:

As an alternative to Hawksmoor I’ve had both STK and Goodman’s recommended to me, haven’t tried either yet though.

http://www.goodmanrestaurants.com/

http://togrp.com/togrp-stk-london/about/

goodmans is better food than SKT, and STK has a 'nightclub' vide which gets noisy..

however STK has radio bar above it which has a great terrace and is a good place to end the night.

[z4chris99]

ascayman said:

China Tang at the Dorchester or either of the Hakkasan's

+1 for asian foodys

or the Mango tree

[okgo]

Roka is good for that kind of pan Asian fusion blah blah

MASH is st, don't bother, its far too large, and has no atmosphere at all. I liked the new Hawksmoor on Air St, quite nice.

[Cheib]

z4chris99 said:

eastsider said:

As an alternative to Hawksmoor I’ve had both STK and Goodman’s recommended to me, haven’t tried either yet though.

http://www.goodmanrestaurants.com/

http://togrp.com/togrp-stk-london/about/

goodmans is better food than SKT, and STK has a 'nightclub' vide which gets noisy..

however STK has radio bar above it which has a great terrace and is a good place to end the night.

Been to most of the high end steak places though not STK.

Personally the best steak I have had in London is here http://www.buenayre.co.uk/

I doubt you'll find anything like it outside London....Hackney might sound a bit scary but it's where all the trendy young things live these days and it's a fantastic restaurant. If it's food you want and not pretentious/high end surroundings it's your place.