Sable D’or, Crouch End, London

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HONESTLY’S VERDICT
In a word:  Reliable
Food:  Beautiful salads, pastries and good breakfasts
Service:  Warm welcome but table service is a bit hit and miss
Presentation:  Lovely window and deli counter display. Salvage-chic interiors!
Ambience:  Pretty chilled, verging on quiet for an early breakfast
Location:  Crouch End High Street, North London
Value for money:  A little further from central London = reasonable price tag
Worth a visit?:  The salads and English Breakfast are worth the trip ‘up north’

We were drawn to Sable D’or by the window display of freshly baked pastries and rather gorgeous looking salads, and it became one of our go-to places for breakfast when we wanted to get out of the big smoke and head north…on the 91 bus!

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155 Bar & Kitchen, Farringdon Road, London

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HONESTLY’S VERDICT
In a word: Designer
Food:  Modern classics
Service:  Attentive and friendly
Presentation:  Beautiful interiors, I love the decor – think modern take on 70’s chic
Ambience: Very quiet when we first visited, it’s now picked up the pace and has a real buzz
Location:  Clerkenwell, just a hop-skip and a jump away from Farringdon station
Value for money:  Standard London  prices
Worth a visit?:  If the intro offer was still on, I’d say YES GOGOGO NOW…but It’s not.  Good modern food in a beautifully finished restaurant

I’m loving 155 Bar & Kitchen, the new(ish) kid on the block in Farringdon, set into the Clerkenwell Collection, a newly refurbed ‘out-of-the-box’ retail and gallery space.

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Ottolenghi, Islington, London

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HONESTLY’S VERDICT
In a word:  Original
Food:  Favourites are the salads (all of them) and breakfasts
Service:  Great service from familiar faces
Presentation:  Sleek, shiny and polished. Food.  Flowers.
Ambience:  Busy buzz of talk over the communal tables, avoid this with a breakfast visit
Location:  Our local is Islington, right in between Highbury & Islington and Angel tube stations.  Branches at Notting Hill, Spitalfields, Belgravia, and NOPI in the West End.
Value for money:  A personal fave: £18 for a large box of takeaway salad that easily fills two.  Breakfasts between £5 and £10. Coffee or tea £2 to £3.
Worth a visit?: Yes, this is a must visit foodie establishment.  Plus their almond croissants are our of this world amazing!

Ottolenghi is original, a much reproduced original, although very few manage to hit the high standards in the deliciousness stakes of Yotam Ottolenghi and his team.

Food-wise,  it’s a casual, European dining style with a couple of large communal tables with a few small tables along one side of the restaurant.  The menu is very much seasonally influenced with enduring favourites making a regular appearance.  Flavours are a mix of Mediterranean, Middle and Far Eastern and ingredients are sourced from the UK and Europe with a focus on small scale, artisan producers and growers.

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