The excitement of getting to dine at Bruno Loubet’s latest London reincarnation – Bistrot Bruno Loubet at The Zetter Hotel – was surpassed, for me anyway, by the fact that we got to sit next to Sir Michael Caine during dinner. To be precise, he was actually sitting at the table next to us with his beautiful wife Shakira (you would never believe she’s 63), but he was so close to me I could have easily tapped him on his shoulder. He sounds just like he does on the big screen, all nasally in that charming, endearing kind of way. I pretended to be all cool, like I hadn’t noticed him, but I must admit to secretly gaping at him out of the corner of my eye.

Well it was no surprise that he would get fawned over – he is a huge celebrity after all. But what was surprising was just how useless our assigned waiter was. He took his time to come and take our order. And when he did come, he didn’t have a pen, so he walked off to get one, and then for some reason forgot to come back. What kind of waiter doesn’t have a pen? He also took his time delivering our bread. But that said, some of the other waiters who also served us during the evening were lovely and attentive, so I don’t think it would be fair to say that all of the service was bad.

Bruno Loubet earnt a notable reputation as a chef under the likes of Pierre Koffman and Raymond Blanc in the 1990s, before going on to successfully head up restaurants Bistro Bruno and L’Odeon. He spent much of the Noughties in Australia, but a decade later, and he’s back in London. With his background, it’s unsurprising that Bistrot Bruno Loubet is classically French.

Guinea fowl boudin blanc (£7) was exquisitely light with a mousse-like texture, but it was a touch heavy on the seasoning. The accompanying creamy leek fondue and chervil sauce married beautifully with the gentle guinea fowl flavour. Having once watched a boudin blanc demonstration at Le Cordon Bleu, this is a fairly complex dish to make. This was a wonderful rendition of the Lyonnaise classic.

Guinea fowl boudin blanc

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In some respects, L’Art du Fromage is the most interesting opening to hit London this year. As the name suggests, the restaurant specialises in cheese, which you will find in virtually every dish on the menu. It might be a bit hard to imagine eating cheese with every course, but you have to admit the idea is novel. La Cave à Fromage in South Kensington offers cheese and wine tastings every other Thursday, but L’Art du Fromage is the only restaurant of its kind in London to make cheese a core ingredient.

The restaurant is the brainchild of two 24 year-old Frenchmen, Julien Ledogar and Jean-Charles Madenspacher, both from Alsace. L’Art du Fromage stocks some 100 cheeses which are brought in weekly from Lyon, a lot of which are proudly on display as you walk into the restaurant.

The restaurant is quaint, simply furnished, small and cosy. Situated on Langton Street, off the Kings Road in Chelsea, it shares the same street as that favourite haunt of the well-heeled, La Famiglia.

We started with smoked salmon and goat’s cheese roulade with fresh herbs and beetroot carpaccio (£6.40). There was a little too much goat’s cheese relative to the amount of smoked salmon on the plate, but otherwise the roulade was lovely. The classic combination of goat’s cheese and beetroot worked a treat, with the sweetness of the root vegetable cutting the creamy richness of the cheese nicely. The cheese accentuated the smoky sweetness of the fish.

Smoked salmon & goat's cheese roulade

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Nyonya use to be one of my favourite cheap-eats in London. Great food is always hard to pass up, and when combined with cheap prices, makes it even harder to beat. As a bit of an ex-regular, I couldn’t help but lament Nyonya’s closing. I suspect the exorbitant Notting Hill rental prices must have had something to do with it.

But the people behind it came back to open up Sedap (which means delicious in Malayan) in Old Street about a year ago. The location is far less glamorous than Notting Hill, but the menu prices have remained cheap. The downside is that it’s harder for me to get to and I no longer call myself a regular. So this was my first visit since it opened up as Sedap, and I must say, it was definitely worth the wait.

We started with kerabu prawns (£6.50), a fresh, crunchy salad of prawns and cucumber finished with a kerabu dressing. Loving the combination of sweet, sour and salty flavours that are a hallmark of a kerabu, we polished this off in minutes. Finely chopped peanuts and black fungus added crunchiness to the salad, and the chilli gave it a nice little kick.

Kerabu prawns

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When Quo Vadis reopened in 2008 following a buyout and revamp by the famous restaurateur brothers, Sam and Eddie Hart (their other restaurants include Fino and Barrafina), it was virtually impossible to get a reservation. That distinction now belongs to Dean Street Townhouse, where despite numerous attempts to secure a booking, I have only ever been offered 6pm or 10pm timeslots. Two years on, and its much easier to get a table at Quo Vadis, so with any luck, in about two years time, I might actually get to have the pleasure of dining at Dean Street Townhouse.

Quo Vadis first opened its doors in 1926, and at one point it had the distinction of being Karl Marx’s workplace. Before the Hart Brothers took over the restaurant, it was part of the empire of Marco Pierre White, the chef who once held three Michelin stars but has fallen so spectacularly from grace that he is now a spokesman for Bernard Matthews.

The Edwardian building that is Quo Vadis has maintained much of its original charm. Art deco mirrors and elaborate art works, including a Damien Hirst, grace the walls. The furnishings are comfortable and elegant.

A starter of octopus, chorizo and artichoke salad (£8.50) was generously filled with the bite-sized pieces of soft octopus, hearty chorizo and tender artichoke. The dressing was light and pleasing, and overall, this was a lovely salad.

Octopus, chorizo and artichoke salad

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I have mixed feelings about set lunch specials at Michelin restaurants. They can be very good value, but as they often offer a limited selection, they are not necessarily a complete representation of what a restaurant has to offer. However, browsing through Quilon’s lunchtime menu online, I was pleasantly surprised to discover the number of choices available.

Quilon is a one Michelin-starred restaurant which specialises in South Indian Coastal cuisine. It opened in 1999, earning its first Michelin star in 2008. The lunchtime menu listed about 6 starters, 4 seafood dishes, 3-4 game and meat dishes, not to mention various accompaniments and vegetable dishes. Three courses and a side such as rice or bread costs a very reasonable £22 per head. A combination of price and choice lured me into a visit to Quilon.

For our initial little tasters, we were presented with tiny bite sized pieces of crispy, light poppadoms with coconut and tomato chutneys, both of which were nicely spiced.

Poppadoms with tomato and coconut chutneys

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Kettner’s owes its name to Auguste Kettner, who as chef to Napoleon III, opened up a restaurant 1867. A ‘Soho institution’ that has seen the likes of Agatha Christie and Oscar Wilde passing through its doors, the restaurant has been through several reincarnations including that of a pizza parlour. The latest transformation took place in 2008 when it was extensively refurbished in its current guise as a restaurant and champagne bar.

Interior designer Ilse Crawford has created a rococo-style décor which has been softened with muted lighting to maximise the allure of the various objets d’art that graces the grand dining room and champagne bar. Large windows allow a bird’s eye view of all the Soho street activity.

The food is French/European, and we started with a grilled quail with orange and pomegranate salad (£7). The quail was nicely cooked, leaving the flesh moist, but the skin had been charred to the point where it was slightly burnt. It was also very peppery, which left a heavy pepper aftertaste. The salad was fresh, but it was overwhelmed by too much orange dressing.

Grilled quail, orange & pomegranate salad

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I can never resist the patisserie delights at Ottolenghi. Whenever I walk past the branch on Ledbury Road in Notting Hill, I invariably end up gazing longingly through its shop window at all the treats on display and walking away with one a few minutes later. But Ottolenghi does much more than the sweet stuff. There is also a savoury selection at the display counter, and at the Islington branch (there are also branches in Kensington and Belgravia), there is a laid-back communal dining area, furnished in white, where you can choose from a menu (Islington is the only branch to offer this serviced dine-in area).

This menu is updated daily, and is split between dishes from the display counter and those ‘from the kitchen’. The dishes are all starter-sized, and so Ottolenghi recommends that you order three dishes per person. There were 15 choices on the menu on the evening of our visit (the menu is updated daily), and as there were 5 of us, K came up with the excellent idea of ordering all 15 dishes for us to share. I love to share! And I love to taste lots of little things, so this was ideal for me.

Left in a clockwise direction: tuna, pear, pumpkin, beef, aubergine

We started with the dishes from the counter selection. A line-caught seared tuna (£8.80) wrapped in nori (seaweed) and panko (breadcrumbs) was resoundingly fresh, and given a burst of life from the gentle heat of an accompanying wasabi cream.

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It would not be an understatement to say that Galvin La Chapelle, the third restaurant to be opened by the Galvin brothers (Chris and Jeff), has to be one of the most stunning looking restaurants in London. A converted Grade-II listed building that was once a school chapel, the room soars high up towards the almighty, ending in the complex framework of crisscrossed beams that support the ceiling. It’s a palatial space that has been decorated to good effect. There is a fine interplay between modern urban features and classically elegant touches – the glass and steel mezzanine level that overlooks the main dining floor is coupled with crisp white linen tablecloths and leather seating. If you are looking for a place to impress, then this probably ranks in the top three in London in terms of design.

We started with a slow cooked pork belly with roasted langoustines and pommes mousseline (£14.50). This was a really beautiful dish. The pork was meltingly tender and juicy, and the langoustines (3 pieces) were delectably sweet and firm. The pommes mousseline exuded buttery richness. Finished with a fine reduction of pork and langoustine jus, this starter produced a harmonious symphony of flavours.

Pork belly with roasted langoustines & pommes mousseline

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