London's Michelin star restaurants: our verdict
Female chef power. The most thrilling story of Michelin's latest awards is Clare Smyth winning two Michelin stars straight away for her first solo restaurant Core by Clare Smyth which only opened earlier this year. Jumping one star to two star immediately is very rare indeed, and, a feat only Claude Bosi's Bibendum has achieved before.
Exciting too are the Bib Gourmand awards: these are more informal (and more affordable) restaurants serving seriously good neighbourhood food. This year, there are four London recipients: Sorella: sister restaurant to The Dairy in Clapham and Robin Gill's ode to the Italian Amalfi coast; Kudu, a South-African inflected neighbourhood restaurant in Peckham; Farang, Seb Holmes' Thai meets British ingredients in Highbury and Petit Pois, an intimate French bistro in Hoxton.
Michelin is getting with it. Enough so to award two restaurants in Shoreditch Michelin stars. The brillliant Brat where we've swooned over the wood-fire cooked turbot, the silkiest ever taramasalata and radishes and that wondrous, smoke-infused cheesecake, and, the laidback, winecentric Leroy.
Leroy is the new itiration of Ellory in a more hip and less pricey location and, all the better for it. The menu is unapologetically Parisian in influence with nostalgic sharing dishes including Coquilles St Jacques - scallops served gratin style with wine, breadcumbs and cheese and skewers of confit chicken gizzards with lardons and duck-egg yolk.
Larger sharing plates might include brill poached in butter with autumn vegetables, braised beef with red wine and girolles or pumpkin with chestnuts and spinach. Desserts are equally all about simple, non showy flavour whether poached figs with hazelnut ice-cream or greengage and almond tart.
Leroy pride themselves on a superb and ungreedily marked-up wine list with lots of interesting bottles and a few crazy ones. It's also a wine bar where customers merely wanting to try a glass and graze on charcuterie are encouraged.
DInner: £70.00 plus including drinks
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