It is the line almost every mother dreads — and which most of us wish to utter at least once in our lives: “I’m going away for Christmas this year.”
Love them and their roast potatoes as we might, it’s hard not to wonder what December would be like without the pouring rain, the Pogues and the predictability that comes with a British Christmas. Or sometimes its simpler: we just want a little winter sun, an escape, some time away. Schedules are not always so permissive.
Yet there is one way to recreate the experience of escaping for Christmas: by eating in restaurants where the atmosphere, dishes, interiors or even all three invoke a dream destination so clearly, it’s like you're really there. Come fly with me.
Lisboeta (Portugal)
No prizes for guessing which city this restaurant is seeking to recreate — yet where the name is fairly obvious, the food is not. Founder and executive chef Nuno Mendes is Lisbon-born, and it has described it as his most personal restaurant yet. It’s why he’s so often in, twinkling behind the long marble counter on the tiled ground floor or dashing from the kitchen to tell people about mushroom açorda, a savoury bread porridge with mushrooms, or his beloved bacalhau aÌ braÌs confit cod, caramelised onions and eggs. This is homely food, made high end through virtue of Mendes’ meticulous attention to detail and the evocative, ever-vibey space. Not quite a long weekend in Lisbon, but close.
30 Charlotte Street, W1T 2NG, lisboeta.co.uk
Santo Remedio (Mexico)
Santo Remedio means “holy remedy” and that's exactly what it is for the cold London outside. Its pink-hued walls, colourful crockery and punchy cocktails offer a vivid contrast to what's around it; to the tired chains leading up to the nearby station, to the blood-stained types luring visitors into the London Bridge Experience, and to the blaring traffic going to and from Bermondsey. But the antidote is not just in the decor. At Santo Remedio, the food follows suit, drawing upon traditional techniques, rare ingredients and diligent research. Chef-founder Edson Diaz-Fuentes and his wife, general manager Natalie, are Mexican, and have travelled the country extensively. They've brought back both artwork by Mexican artisans, and family recipes. Their blue corn, Pasilla de Oaxaca chillies, cocoa and agave spirits are likewise sourced from Mexican producers, whilst their vegetables, the lamb in their barbacoa, pork in their pork belly tacos and the Seabass a la Talla are as locally sourced as possible. One bite of a guacamole-topped tortilla chip, one sip of a chilli-dusted marg, and Tooley Street (or Old Street, if you’re at their slightly less evocative sister restaurant) will feel far, far away.
52 Tooley Street, SE1 2TU, santoremedio.co.uk
Napoli on the Road (Italy)
On September 13 this year, the world shifted on its axis as a London-based operator was named the best pizza chef in the world. Sure, Michelle Pascarella is Neapolitan — but his pizza is born and baked in Chiswick and Richmond, not in Italy’s ankle. He’s proud of it, too; of the puffy, blistered crusts, of the wafter thin base and of toppings sourced as lovingly both from here and his homeland (the acclaimed “Cheesewick” boasts stilton as well as 24-month parmesan, and where possible, vegetables and salads come from the UK). Not that one would know it, though — walk in, and it's like being immersed in Italy. The staff are Italian, the guests are Italian, the buzz is Italian and the interiors are Italian, with a lemon tree squeezed in between tightly packed marble tables and hearty red wines lining the tiled walls. Service is smiling but speedy; this is no place to linger over dripping candles. Slam a Negroni, slam some pizza, and make way for the next arrival. But then, when it comes to pizza, that is the Italian way. The relatively reasonable bill feels not quite of London, either.
12 Red Lion Street, TW9 1RW and 9A Devonshire Road, W4 2EU, napoliontheroad.co.uk
Brutto
Come for the £5 Negronis, stay for more £5 Negronis and before the night’s close, you'll feel you’re in Florence. Brutto is a carefully-curated thing, lovingly put together by the late restauranteur Russell Norman, who worked his well-seasoned magic on this trattoria that he has positioned as an ode to Florentine culture and cuisine. Cropped red and white checked curtains slightly conceal the place from those nosing outside; inside, dark, wooden chairs and floors are brightened by pale green walls festooned with the obligatory black and white photography. But it is the food that invokes this towering Tuscan city best of all: handsome, hearty dishes of bruschetta with chicken livers, sausage-studded, mustard-flecked lentil stews and deep-fried dough-ball "cuddles" with prosciutto and stracchino cheese — and pastas, of course, as obligatory as the vintage photos. Norman played a blinder.
35-37 Greenhill Rents, EC1M 6BN, brutto.co.uk
Sabor (Spain)
Were Sabor any restaurant other than Sabor, the fact its menu purports to represent multiple Spanish regions would work against it. How can the glistening seafood platters of Galicia, the tiny tapas bars of Andalucía, the wood-fired asadors of the Basque country all be encompassed within one restaurant without culinary compromise? The answer is Nieves Barragán, the woman who helped build Barrafina, London’s beloved collection of tapas restaurants, and who brought that experience to bear her first standalone venture.
Her infectious energy and inexhaustible knowledge of Spanish cuisine courses through Sabor, invigorating a team of chefs which appear as united as they inspired. Downstairs they send huge Gordal olives, pefect pan con tomate, fanwheels of iberico ham and warm, sightly wobbling golden tortillas spinning across a long shiny counter. Upstairs, in an open kitchen, blushing pulpo are boiled in copper cauldrons, while aubergines and Iberian lamb ribs are roasted in a wood oven. Here, atop a spiral staircase, the green banquette seating and separate tables are reminiscent of more formal restaurants in the north; the informality of the south is capture in the downstairs bar and counter. Start here for lunch, progress — via a vermouth at the bar — upstairs for dinner, and you might just feel like you’ve completed Spain.
35-37 Heddon Street, W1B 4BR, saborrestaurants.co.uk
Plaza Khao Gaeng and Speedboat Bar (Thailand)
Even those who have never been to Thailand feel like they’ve come within tasting distance after a sojourn in one of Luke Farrell’s restaurants. Plaza is Farrell’s homage to the khao gaeng canteens of Thailand, specifically one above an old cinema in Bangkok. It’s in a food hall on Tottenham Court Road, an area one has no sooner entered than wishes to escape from — but that wish is quickly granted in the form when Plaza's cheerful blue and white tablecloths, bright lights and blazing southern Thai curries appear.
Speedboat, meanwhile, is inspired by the creative collision between Chinese and Thai food found on Bangkok’s busy Yaowarat Road, and is another striking counterpoint to conventional Thai restaurants in Britain. There’s a pool table, Singha beer towers and, dotted on the walls, tributes to Dorameon, a bright blue cartoon cat beloved in Thailand. Farrell has form in Thai cuisine, having spent over 15 years cooking in the country and having acquired hundreds of its seeds and plants to cultivate at his dad’s farm in Dorset. His basil, Sichuan pepper, galangal and more have supplied the likes of Kiln, Begging Bowl and Smoking Goat. Little wonder, then that his food is as specifically evocative as his restaurants — be it Drunkard’s seafood and beef noodles slurped with a Singha in Soho or a betel leaf stuffed with sugary nuts, white hot chilli and soothing coconut on the Tottenham Court Road.
Plaza Khao Gaeng 103-105 New Oxford St, WC1A 1DB, plazakhaogaeng.com
Speedboat Bar, 30 Rupert Street, W1D 6DL, speedboatbar.co.uk
Bistro Freddie (France)
After years of being outshone by lighter, more colourful concepts, old fashioned French bistros are back — and the beiger the better. Butter with your bread to mop up the buttery sauce of your plaice, monsieur? Absolutement — and perhaps some house-cut chips with homemade mayonnaise on the side? Bistro Freddie is the latest addition to this welcome genre, and the most transportive so far, in terms of interiors: think starched white tablecloths, wood panels, all illuminated by long, flickering candles. The food moves, too — but possesses a touch of modernity, being the work of Anna Søgaard, a young Danish chef with a deft hand. There are flatbreads draped with Dorset snails, parsley and garlic, fried plaice, dressed crab and not one but two strong vegetarian options. The wine list is as reassuringly heavy as it is French, however, and, like the bistro itself, sings of better places and better times than a British winter.
74 Luke Street, EC2A 4PY, bistrofreddie.com
Meson don Felipe (Spain)
Back in 1987 when the British were still baffled by tapas, Meson don Felipe opened its doors on The Cut in Waterloo. The founders had fallen in love with the bars and the buzz of Madrid; with the hot chorizo, cool jamon, cold beers and sizzling prawns. Somehow, they recreated it here, in what was an old Midland Bank, with green awnings, bullish red walls and a cute, can-I-just-squeeze-past arrangement of tables. Somehow, it took off — thanks in no small part to their manager, Santiago, who you’ll still finding squeezing past, bearing a huge smile and platters of blistered padron peppers. The restaurants is still in the same family, the vibes are still sort-of Spanish, and the food is still full on fun and flavour. It’s no Sabor — but then neither are the prices, making it the perfect place to escape to Madrid with some mates and a well-priced bottle of Rioja.
53 The Cut, SE1 8LF, mesondonfelipe.co.uk
Koba (South Korea)
Sleek, sophisticated and slightly space agey — even those who don't know Seoul will feel transported in Koba, a South Korean barbecue restaurant that has been showing London how Korean barbecue is done since 2005. Behind it all is Linda Lee, a woman as petite as she is particular, and everything is just so, from the soju to the savoury seafood pancakes to the rich soy dipping sauce for the barbecued spiced pork belly. The DIY element, though not obligatory — there are plenty of bimbambaps and jigae’s (stews) to order, should you prefer — adds to the immersive nature of Koba, as do its cocktails; both non-alcoholic and alcoholic are laced with the tastes and scents of another world.
11 Rathbone Street, W1T 1NA, kobalondon.com
Adulis (Eritrea)
Adulis the city was an ancient port on the Red Sea, and was for centuries Eritrea’s centre of trade between Yemen and Nubia. Today, its namesake sits on the Brixton Road — and whilst no ships can dock here, it is still a portal. Eritrean cuisine centres on the injera, a large leavened pancake made with teff sourdough, upon which is served an array of tsebhi, or stews. To eat, friends and family gather round the circular bread, served on circular silver trays, and tear it by hand to scoop up the dishes, without using utensils. It’s a food culture rooted in sharing.
44-46 Brixton Road, SW9 6BT, adulis.co.uk
Hoppers (Sri Lanka)
There are three Hoppers in London now and whilst for interiors, the OG is the best, it’s the food which Hoppers hangs its escape hat on — and that’s as good in Marylebone and Kings Cross as it is in Soho. As in Sri Lanka and South India, the menu is filled with unfamiliar-to-some terms; unlike in those countries, there is a glossary. There are also staff: friendly, knowledgeable and as delighted to enlighten as they are to direct you to their hero dishes: the mutton rolls, bone marraw varuval, aubergine kari and the eponymous hoppers, the beautiful, breakable, bowl-shaped, fermented rice pancakes. The genius of founder Karan Gokani and the Hoppers’ team is in channelling not just the taste, but the spirit of a cuisine and culture which is by turns vibrant, kind, complex, comforting and warm.
