Top restaurant ideas for Islington please

[mckenzie]

Dh has asked me to book something nice for wednesday night for a relaxed business dinner (I'm invited ).

I remember taking clients to Fredericks but that was way back when I was working pre DCs (late 1990s).

Any ideas please? Fish would be good or International.

A friend used to rave about Le Mercury. It doesn't look wildly expensive either - £7 for a main.

Or you could always go to Exmouth Market and go to Moro (and take me too, please).

Morgan M is fab french cuisine

Contemporary posh but fab indian food

The newly vamped Canonbury Tavern - google it for pictures - an upper end gastro pub

is this close enough to Islington? It's fab

I second Morgan M...is Metrogusto still around - terrible name but fantastic Tuscan food just off Upper St.

For Fish the fish shop on st. john st.

Or Fifteen?

I like Le Mercury BUT it is a very casual rush in rush out very small tables and impersonal shifty through type place. Somewhere to take a family member maybe but not a business dinner. It has too much of a fast food feel about it but does suffer very pregnant women arriving en masse for lunch very well!

The House - very upmarket gastropub with great food but relaxed atmosphere.

We went to The House in the summer with work. We had some fab cocktails but it is right next to some kind of rehab place and a few of them came over (right into the restaurant) for money.

I am not being snobby or unsympathetic, it didn't matter at the time. I just really wouldn't want that to happen if I was hosting a business dinner.

I wouldn't do Le Mercury either - too cheap and too noisy for business (esp if anyone from overseas is attending). I like it more as a "mates" place.

Personally I would be tempted to jump in a taxi to Farringdon and go to
The Bleeding Heart

The food is excellent, it is very relaxed and it feels special.

I have never been to Moro - but certainly will now I have seen these reviews!

thanks very much all. I've put a few forward to DH - let him have the final say then I wont have to feel any pressure about the choice

Best food in the area is to be had at bottom of St John Street at St John. Number 14 on world's best restaurant list: www.theworlds50best.com/module/acms_winners?group_id=1, second in the UK. Very good.

The Fish place is a good dull business-friendly choice, if you want something more intimate you could try Sasa Sushi, which is at the top of St John Street, just opposite Angel Tube (it's not cheap, but the settings are fairly bare).

Fredericks has got the fussiest service, if that's what you're looking for - plenty of millionaire diners in there. If you fancy posh Ikea fare on the top floor of the antiques mall, go for Upper Glas - Anna Mosesson is a very charming host.

A certain type of businessman might prefer the www.bavarian-beerhouse.com/.

St. John's is very emperor's new clothes, IMVHO

Bleeding Heart is loads better if you're Farringdon-bound

St John post their menus up daily: www.stjohnrestaurant.com/menus/

They eschew all adjectives on their menus, which makes it look very stark. The approach is to use simple dressings, meats that lend themselves to long cooking times (to bring out the flavour), and whatever vegetables are fresh and seasonal.

My DW prefers it to Gordon Ramsay, Michel Roux et al.

Honestly, I could chuck a stone from St. John and hit 4 or five places I'd rather drop £200.
Everything was just competent.

Nice creme brulee when it's on though.

But not as good as the one at chez bruce.

If you're spending £200 at St John, you're working your way through the winelist too much to notice.....

There are some good photos and such here: www.alifewortheating.com/uk/st-john/ A fairly representative spread of what you're likely to find.

As it happens, I prefer St John at Spitalfields (menu) if I'm paying - the cooking is of the same standard but it's cheaper and you can follow more of a grazing approach. Probably too informal for business though.