A homage to dining out

We will eventually get bored of drawing comparisons between now (where we can roam in relative freedom, albeit masked up and armed with a negative lateral flow test) and the periods of lockdown we endured, but, for now, having limited access to ‘ordinary’ things remains a fresh memory so we retain the right to celebrate their existence (it also provides easy content and conversation starters, added bonus).

In this insight we’re shining a light on dining out: food that is overpriced involves things like edible flowers and foams that we would never involve ourselves with at home, which is presented on plates we don’t have to wash up afterwards. The appreciation post has come around as BlytheRay (finally) got to enjoy our annual summer party. We reunited at The Aviary, sipped our drinks and admired the views that spanned the city on the rooftop terrace, and went on to catch up over a beautiful three-course meal. Glasses clinked, the space buzzed from the multitude of conversations and the food was delicious – it was everything dining out should be.

We all love working in London – we feel so lucky to be spoilt with world-class places to eat with cuisines from all over the world and we’ve been making up for lost time in the dining out stakes. We thought we’d offer up some of our best finds of late so you don’t have to waste precious time scrolling through TripAdvisor when you could be eating dim sum:

• …from Yuatcha, in the City, highly recommend by Megan. Another top pick was Santo Remedio, a Mexican street food eatery near London Bridge
• Gloria, the Big Mamma restaurant in Shoreditch, was rated as a best recent pick by Rachael, who had the carbonara and the burrata. Their Bora Bora Spritz cocktail is amazing too
• Alice offered up Barrafina, a Spanish tapas bar in Covent Garden, and recommended the courgette flower with goats cheese and honey, “honestly one of the best dishes”
• Meson Don Felipe, a Tapas bar in Waterloo, was thrown into the mix by Sarah, who enjoyed the paella, almond green beans, sardines, calamari, and chorizo, plus a jug of Sangria…obviously
• Naomi sung the praises of Bala Baya, a Tel Aviv-style restaurant in Southwark, and highly recommended the sunny ceviche and the aubergine mess