Dining

Dining

Historically speaking, an osteria was a spartan, no-frills establishment where people would go to have a drink. The original osterias date all the way back to the Roman Empire. If you go to Ostia Antica or Pompeii, you find the osterias of the era. They were like bed-and-breakfasts, with rooms for rent above the dining room where people could listen to music.

Accounts filed at Companies House show SL6 Ltd recorded a loss of £2.05m for the year to 2024, up from £1.39m the previous year, despite turnover of £8.9m. Administrative expenses totalled £8.4m, including £2.3m in cost of sales, while staff costs rose to £4.07m, reflecting inflationary pressure and higher wage bills.

The seating style has become a fundamental of casual dine-in kitchens, but deciding between a high-back style versus a neatly tucked away backless one is just the beginning of your sourcing considerations. Lumbar support for those of us with a weak core can certainly dial up the comfort level, while footrests and contoured or cushioned seats are other nice-to-haves as well.

Here's the thing: You don't actually know what's in your friend's bank account. She may have come into an inheritance, have a generous child helping her out, or simply have her finances more under control than you assume. Making decisions based on guesses about someone else's financial situation is a risky game, and it can quietly become its own kind of condescension.

In a press release, Faison said the concept draws from her days running Tiger Mama, which served a fusion of Southeast Asian cuisine. In the opening menu at Tigerbaby, you'll find influences of Thai and Vietnamese, but also more Eastern Asian influences as well, with dishes like Thai basil chicken, black pepper beef and broccoli, and Vietnamese cold coffee.

The front of house team were the embodiment of hospitality, making us feel comfortable and special, and happy to explain the aspects of the menu that felt unfamiliar. The dining room layout has a few nooks and corners but instead of feeling cramped, it is cosy and intimate.

Everyone will tell you to get the chicken, and everyone is right. It's half of the bird in a glossy, herbal sauce. Swimming in the dish alongside it are the real stars of the show: chunks of Parmesan-roasted potatoes, their edges crispy and craggly and ready to sop up the pan gravy. The main fish dishes change, but when available, the cod, studded with thinly sliced potato "scales," offers a lighter alternative to the chicken.

What happens when Nancy Silverton and Phil Rosenthal open a diner? Evidently, eight-hour-long waits, more celebrity appearances than a Saturday Night Live anniversary episode, and rumors of a secret phone number to get a table. After some anticipation, Max & Helen's opened in November 2025 with a menu meant to pay tribute to longstanding legends like the Palace Diner in Biddeford, Maine.

A wall near the entryway is plastered with pages from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and thrifted gold candle sconces line the walls. Diners are greeted with thimble-sized welcome cocktails and eat off tea party-like floral-painted plates atop doilies. But the whimsy doesn't stop there: At the end of your meal, the check comes tucked inside an old romance novel, a nod to chef Althea Grey Potter's grandmother, who loved to read romance novels in the bathtub.

"I'm a huge fan," Fang said of the two-time Emmy Award winner. "He said that he's been coming for years and has been a fan of our restaurant, and it's been kind of a tradition where they would come during Sketchfest."

The tasting menu has long represented the pinnacle of chefly ambition. And for years now, restaurant critics have complained about it. In 2012, Pete Wells described the "trapped, helpless sensation" he felt facing "a marathon of dishes chosen by the restaurant." Three months later, Corby Kummer, in Vanity Fair, decried the "subjugation to the will of the creative genius" that is required to enjoy a degustation. Adam Platt, my predecessor, memorably wrote about his own "tasting mennui" in 2022. Chefs keep at it anyway.

Last Updated on February 3, 2026 Notting Hill's New Italian Spot for Handmade Pasta, Charcuterie and Wine Via Emilia by Food Roots has recently opened on All Saints Road in Notting Hill, joining its Shoreditch and Fitzrovia siblings. Moments from Portobello Market, the street has a rich cultural past and an unmistakable sense of character that today blends seamlessly with a more polished, upmarket feel. It is now known for its relaxed, subtly edgy vibe and a growing reputation as a foodie destination.

Can't stop, won't stop chef Myles Moody and sommelier Rachael Pack. The duo behind Kinship Butcher & Sundry is in major expansion mode: with the upcoming opening of their new location of Kinship in Grant Park, they are now gearing up to open a new restaurant, So. Fox, this spring. They are doing this all while hosting their sold-out dinner pop-ups, k|n.

Adorned in a statement-making blue splatter design, the stoneware plates give you all the style and charm of a pricey enamelware piece - without the splurge. Featuring a chunky round rim, the plates have a funky, sculptural look that brings a stylish flourish to mealtimes and hosting. While I'll obviously be going for the blue splatter colorway, the plates also come in solid blue, butter yellow, and classic white options, giving you plenty of room to mix and match pieces for a tablescape

Famous for its bridges, its black-and-white-striped football team, its big-hearted warmth (the people, if not the temperatures), Newcastle has usually been dismissed as a dining hot-spot. That would be unwise. The city gained its first Michelin star over 35 years ago; it now has two Michelin-starred restaurants as well as a jostling handful of serious wannabees. And that's just at the fine-dining end, the tip of an eating-out scene that crackles like the Geordie humour.

The last decade has seen monumental shifts toward vegan dining, and Crossroads Kitchen in Beverly Grove has played a major role. Clichés can overwhelm discussions surrounding vegan restaurants, with side-eyed assumptions on menus that emphasize tofu, meat substitutes, and nutritional yeast. Yet chef and founder Tal Ronnen has struck a chord in Los Angeles and beyond with white tablecloths, stellar wines, intimate service, and an innovative menu favored by locals and A-list celebrities.

Often, we have stated in advance that it is our treat and then we are surprised when more than half of the meal ordered by our friend or family member is boxed up to take home. Last night took the cake when we treated two of our dear friends to a dinner at a very nice restaurant. The wife barely touched her entree before having it boxed to take home.

I'm glad many of you out there are feelin' good and lookin' svelte, but if we're friends going out to dinner together and you're taking Ozempic or any other GLP-1s, I feel like you need to disclose this when we're deciding where to go since you won't be eating or drinking very much. Like, let's skip the tasting menu or the dim sum feast and get sushi instead.

What do buttoned-up business professionals, early diners, and deal hunters all have in common? They all go wild for a well-timed and well-positioned happy hour. We can all appreciate markdowns on food and drinks, and oftentimes, if we arrive at a restaurant early enough in the day, we're rewarded with just that. Really, it's a win-win all around, since the restaurant benefits from a boost of traffic during its off-peak hours, while customers fill up for less.

When Pasta Pomodoro was a household name, a friend of mine insisted on eating there every time the stars lined up. A routine meal included a starter salad followed by a sauced pasta. The meals were dependable and unimaginative, an Olive Garden-esque concept aimed at a more urban crowd. Or a less suburban crowd, depending on one's point of view.

Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines continues to set the benchmark for in-flight gastronomy. Its'Book the Cook ' program allows passengers to pre-select from a wide range of dishes created by its International Culinary Panel, including globally recognized chefs. Highlights include lobster thermidor, wagyu beef with truffle jus, and refined regional specialties. Paired with champagnes and wines that often retail for several hundred dollars per bottle, each course is presented on fine tableware, elevating the experience.

Gendelman, the founder of the notoriously selective dating app Raya and the creator of Places, a curated travel and dining platform built by the same team, designed one feature in particular for nights when everything looks booked: Table Tonight. The feature aggregates real-time reservation availability across multiple platforms, allowing users to see and book same-day openings in one place instead of bouncing between various apps, websites and waitlists.

Earlier start times may encourage higher attendance since it does not require staying late for a work-related event.

When you need a quiet meal near Union Square-or a place to take visiting parents for a solid brunch-Bombay Brasserie fits the bill. Part of a global chain, this Indian-French spot inside the Taj Campton hotel is the first US outpost. The "" influence is limited mostly to a tartine and a crepe on the brunch menu, but the food has enough range to please nearly anyone.

The good news is that there are still restaurants out there doing everything they can to save you money. Fast food chains, for example, have resurrected their value menus that used to dominate in the '80s and '90s. And believe it or not, similar kinds of cost savings can also be found at sit-down chains. At select few, you can even find meal deals priced at less than $10 a pop.

When it comes to Los Angeles's Historic Chinatown, few places hit all the right notes as well as Broadway Cuisine, a wide-open banquet hall that lived as Plum Tree Inn for decades before new owners Yi Long and Wen Yu took over a few years ago. Though the restaurant suffered a setback from a fire this year, it's now fully back with heaping plates of beef chow fun, honey walnut shrimp, and nostalgic orange chicken that everyone seems to love, especially during the holidays.

Nobody's perfect, and that's as true for restaurants as it is for people. Google your favorite restaurant right now and odds are you will find at least one review so negative it makes you wonder if the reviewer visited the same restaurant. Every restaurant gets bad reviews now and then, but something appears to be wrong at Sirloin Stockade, the eight-location steakhouse buffet that is routinely criticized for the same issues across four states.

Though robo is in its name, the only labor robots actually perform is the cooking itself, which happens in rotating drums right behind the counter; the preparation and doling out of dishes requires humans to take over. For an affordable and quick option, Robowok more than fits the bill, but don't expect the same heart (or flavor) as your favorite neighborhood Chinese restaurant.