LondonTown.com | Eat London book review

Terence Conran is a name that commands respect when it comes to eating out. His success on the restaurant scene is universally acknowledged, so when he’s got something to say about how and where we should eat, we listen. Teaming up with Peter Prescott, who has worked with Conran since 2001, their book Eat London mixes restaurant reviews with recipes, tips and scraps from the city’s top tables. In short, it’s a book crammed with all that’s good about London eating straight from the mouths of professional foodies. Reading their pearls of wisdom, recommendations and preferences is like being taken into their inner sanctum.

Better by Design

Almost as well known for his designs as his restaurants, Conran first made a name for himself designing a shop for Mary Quant and went on to create Habitat. So it’s no surprise that his signature style can be seen throughout the Eat London pages. Even before you open the front cover (which doubles as a handy gastro map) the matte feel and no-fuss font used for the title set the understated tone. Inside Lisa Linder’s clean photographs are fitted around menus, quotes and reviews making it a pleasure to read, flick through and inwardly digest.

In the Area

Chapters are helpfully arranged by region, concentrating on each of London’s most distinctive areas from the spicy East (including Brick Lane’s curry mile, naturally) to the well-heeled West (home to The River Café as well as Conran’s own Bibendum and Bluebird restaurants). But Eat London, being about more than just restaurants, doesn’t just leave you there. It leads you on a gastro tour of the area so you won’t miss a must-see market, a butcher with the best organic cuts or a viagra of a book shop (described as the equivalent to a hard-core sex shop, if Janet Street-Porter’s comparison between cookery books and porn is to be believed).

Recipe for Success

It’s not just a coffee table book either. Keep it in the

kitchen and see how many of the 60 or so recipes you can get through. You’ll be in good hands with directions from some of Britain's top chefs: Peter Gordon of Providores, Georgio Locatelli of Locanda Locatelli, Fergus Henderson of St. John… the list goes on. Anyone who’s had the wonderful chicken tagine with olives and pickled lemons at Momo and wondered how they would do it at home can now recreate the magic (the trick, they’ll discover, is in the ground ginger).

If this small taster has your stomach rumbling for more follow Eat London’s advice and take a gourmet tour around your chosen area – but don’t forget to take a copy of the book with you. That way you’ll make sure you don’t miss a single tasty morsel.