RedFarm, Covent Garden

Ms B and I have just returned from a late lunch at the once much talked-about RedFarm restaurant. It is located next to another New York import, Balthazar, in Russell Street, next to the Royal Opera in the centre of Covent Garden. From inside it is bigger than it looks from outside, with nearly one hundred seats over three floors. RedFarm has been founded and, from what we understand, continues to be part-owned and run by Brooklyn-born, Chinese cuisine scholar and restaurateur Ed Schoenfeld (he’s got nearly 60 restaurants under his belt) and dumpling master chef Joe Ng, who grew up in Hong Kong. Their first of now three restaurants opened in Greenwich Village, NYC, nearly ten years ago (the remaining one is located on the Upper Westside). The London outlet opened last year. Ranking a relatively low #2,330 of 20,000 London restaurants on Tripadvisor with 8 out of 96 […]

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Our second visit to Beso, Covent Garden, now re-invented as Italian restaurant

Earlier this year, in January, to be precise, Ms B & I had been invited to check out the then still relatively new Beso in Covent Garden (review here) and we rated it 5 out of 5. The food back then had been labelled Moorish, basically a mix of Moroccan, Spanish, and other Mediterranean cuisines. There were distinctly Moorish design elements including an ornamental nine-seater table with traditional tiles. Recently I was on the way to a meeting in Covent Garden and passed by the restaurant. To my great surprise they had re-invented themselves as Italian Mediterranean restaurant and changed their interior decoration accordingly. When checking their menu I could see that these were not the only changes: the prices had gone up significantly too (their pre-theatre three-course ‘deal’ sets you back £24.95 and included no combination of even only vague interest to me).   After some deliberation I decided […]

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This Mix of Mediterranean & Moorish is so Moreish: Beso, Covent Garden

Recently Ms B & I were invited to check out restaurant Beso (Spanish for ‘kiss’) in Covent Garden, a fairly new (July 2018) opening which has already made it to roughly #200 out of 20,000 London restaurants on Tripadvisor. This casual neighbourhood diner serves modern, Moorish inspired, Mediterranean cuisine. We were immediately taken in by the good vibes when we entered. Warm, friendly colours and lighting, plenty of space, and comparatively modern design and art such as an imitation of Peter Behrens’ famous “Kiss” mixed with rustic elements slightly reminiscent of the colours and materials found in a Moroccan medina. The large and very decorative 9-seater table next to the window front is ideal if you’re enjoying a meal on your own. Like everyone else we’re also great fans of open kitchens, where you can watch the fine-tuned crew go about their business. The Beatles used to compose songs in […]

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