Your way around London's top restaurants

BLUE ELEPHANT

4 Fulham Broadway, london SW61AA 020 7385 6S95. blueelephant.com A place of fantasy where customers find streams, greenery waterfalls and wooden walkways, evoking an Image of rural Thailand, and staff dressed in Thai silks greet guests with orchids. Nothing is too much effort, and every dish is beautifully presented. Their restaurant at the London BBC Good Food Show is a great Introduction — try their ever-popular som tam—green papaya salad or classic Thai fish cakes, mow on to green chicken curry fresh black pepper tiger prawn or phad Thai -Blue Elephant" and folio* with kanotn kluai — exotic steamed banana pudding.
CAFÉ SPICE ÑAMASTE

16 Prescot Street, El 8AZ 020 7488 9242. cafespke.co.uk
Cyrus Tddiwala set up Café Spice over a decade ago ami lias won many plaudits for his Indian cooking. The choorfUl restaurant, with a lovely decked garden, has good enough smells and an interesting enough menu to tempt even the most recalcitrant appetites. The menu for the show is just a taster of what's on offer In the restaurant proper. Try Cheltenham beetroot and coconut sarnosa—sizzled with mustard seeds, curry leaves and fresh ginger and chilli; murgh brida roll Frankie—a Bombay-style omelette wTap. filled with minced chicken in rich masala: janlaloo ma gos no palav—lamb, cooked In a single gravy flavoured with whole spices with apricots, blended with part-cooked rice, served with a mixed raita; or ragda pattice. griddled potato cake with split white peas and spices, drizzled with date and tamarind chutney
L'ORTOLAN
Church lane. Shinfietd. Reading. RG2 98Y 01l89888 S00.loftotan.com
I
Tills restaurant may be steeped In culinary history, but under the guiding hand of chef proprietor
Alan Murchlson. it's arguably at its best now His cooking is based on the classic French style, but with a reduction of butter, cream and salt to suit modem times. At the London BBC Good Food Show you may not experience the Berkshire manor house setting and the gorgeous chocolate coloured interiors. Indulge, instead, in the food: smoked hamhock with foie gras terrine and apple chutney fillet of organic salmon with oriental broth, followed by a delightful lemon mousse and spiced cherries.

LA PORTE DESINDES

32 Bryanston Street. London W1H 7EG 020 7224 0055. laportedesindes.com
Go through the rather forbidding entrance of this Marble Arch restaurant to enjoy an unforgettable restaurant dining experience, with a bamboo-lined bar. huge twostorey marble waterfall and forests of foliage dividing the enormous space into romantic nooks and crannies and private spaces. The cooking. Indian via Pondlcherry lias French influences from its old colonial masters. At the BBC Good Food Show expect white lentil crepes with a spiced potato mash and fresh coconut and ginger chutney black leg chicken biryanl with pomegranate raita and crushed basmati rice and alphonso mango cream.

REFETTORK

19 New Bridge Street london EC4V6DB 02074388052 refettorio.com
The Restaurant Experience sponsored by Penfolds Wines: a real flavour of London
NOT only is there a full schedule of demonstration theatres at which to watch your favourite chefs cook up a storm. Penfolds ■Wines are sponsoring ten of London's top restaurants to be actually at the show, ready to give you tasters of their specialities and a chance to sit down and plan the next part of your visit Tb get the most out of your restaurant experience, look at the menus and decide what takes your fancy this is a chance few fantasy dining. WUI it be starter of ham hock and fote gras terrine
An up-to-the minute City-side Italian canteen where customers can choose to sit around huge communal refectory* tables or opt for the smattering of more private seating around the room. It's a great place to go for simple food done as only the Italians know how —elegant pastas, excellent dried hams and salamis, cheese and bread. Get a taste for it at the show—start with piadina romagnola con prosciutto. squacqerone e rucola — traditional bread served with Parma ham. fresh squacquerone cheese and rocket, and

SUM0SAN

26 Atbermarte Street, london WIS 4HY 020 7495 5999, sumosan.com
from l'ortolan, perhaps, followed by Sumosan's tuna and truffle T+T roll? Have you room for pan fried scallops with boriotti beans from Theo Randall's excellent Italian restaurant before you make your choke betwwn the Blue Elephant's steamed banana pudding and Refettorio's tiramisu?
The fun doesn't stop there. Each of the dishes has been paired by the expertawith a wine from Penfolds, Beringen Wolíblass and Rosemount to entonce your enjoyment (though you may like to do some experimenting and matching of your own - for more information about this see page 12). Sit back and enjoy while London's finest see to your culinary needs - all the while being entertained by the inimitable Henry Saxby who'll be tinkling the ivories next to the hmfokls Restaurant Experience throughout the show.
follow with tortellini Emilianialragú — homemade tortellini with traditional pork ragout. Refettorio's tiramisu to follow needs no translation.
One of the heavyweights among fine Japanese dining in Ix>ndon. where the innovative and well prepared menu reaches much further than the beautifully fresh sushi and a huge array of sakes. The restaurant's neutral tones and comfortable setting make it a remarkably pleasant place to whi le away an evening, helped by the crowd of beautiful people who make up its clientele. At the BBC Good Food Show they may not be serving wagyu beef, but you can be sure of something interesting in dishes such as lamb ftirlkaki with mustard sauce, their Tvr" roll (tuna and truffle with ponzu)and the mcltingly good chocolate fondant.
KA1 MAYFAIR
6S South Audtey Street, london W1K 2QU
020 7493 8988. kaimayfair.co.uk
A ptsh posh Chinese restaurant that suits its grand situation in the centre of Mayfair very well. The grand-asyoulike interior makes the local residents feel at home, and the kitchen cooks with the very best ingredients, whether in beef sirloin chow mein or lobster and spring onion. Pop by at the show to see what the füss is about- some of Kai's most famous dishes are being served, but you won't haw to pay Mayfair prices to taste their famous wasabl
prawns, duck and Chinese broth.
ROAST
floral Hall. Stoney Street, london S€11TI 020 79401300. roast-festaurant.com

Alan Murchuon: chef proprietor of l'ortolan
Any time spent in Borough Market is a feast for the gastronomic senses —arrive peckish, and a wal k among