Restaurant Find: Duck Soup London

London Hotspot Find: Duck Soup | meltingbutter.com

Duck Soup is a buzzing London restaurant where the chefs turn out simple food made with restraint. In fact, everything about this hotspot is pared-back, even the surrounds are minimal, probably deliberately so to showcase their honest food. The restaurant is inspired by the neighbourhood eateries of provincial France but with an ever-changing menu line […]

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London Restaurant Find: L’Entrepot

London Hotspot Find: L’Entrepot | meltingbutter.com

L’ENTREPOT, HACKNEY What goes together better than food and wine? Nothing right? So to me, it makes complete sense for an independent wine merchant like Borough Wines, known in London for their excellently edited wine selection, to open an adjoining rustic French eatery. It also leaves me questioning why more boutique wine sellers aren’t doing […]

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NYC Restaurant Find: Joseph Leonard

NYC Hotspot Find: Joseph Leonard | meltingbutter.com

JOSEPH LEONARD, WEST VILLAGE Brunch at Joseph Leonard can be likened to attending your cool stylist friend’s brunch party. You feel slightly jealous as you enter into her tiny but bright West Village apartment filled with all the curious antiques she’s discovered on her travels. You can’t help but notice how she seems to have […]

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NYC Restaurant Find: Hi-Collar

NYC HOTSPOT FIND: HI-COLLAR | meltingbutter.com

HI-COLLAR, EAST VILLAGE I keep saying “this is my new favourite restaurant” but this time it really is, promise. Hi-Collar is one of those no-details-spared Japanese hotspots. It’s a Parisian-inspired cafe by day and restaurant/sake bar by night. The place literally transforms as soon as the barman stealthily slides the wall-to-wall cabinet door to reveal […]

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Restaurant Find: Bohemian NYC

NYC HOTSPOT FIND: BOHEMIAN | meltingbutter.com

Hidden behind Japan Premium Beef on Great Jones Street, lays a Japanese restaurant shrouded in secrecy ”“ an almost impossible feat in a city run by publicity and where speakeasies and members clubs are a dime-a-dozen. Somehow though, Bohemian pulls off the member’s only restaurant concept in a way that weeds out the scene-y side of […]

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NYC Restaurant Find: Charlie Bird

NYC HOTSPOT FIND: CHARLIE BIRD | meltingbutter.com

CHARLIE BIRD, SOHO Lingering lunches at Charlie Bird are my new favourite weekend pursuit. Modern Italian food isn’t always done with as much flair in this town, there’s always that fine line that’s crossed where the food is more American-Italian than it is Italian-Italian, but Charlie Bird gets it right. I’m even poised to say […]

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London Restaurant Find: Ottolenghi

LONDON HOTSPOT FIND: OTTOLENGHI | meltingbutter.com

OTTOLENGHI, ISLINGTON Yotam Ottolenghi, best known the world over for his imaginative and beautifully photographed cookbooks (Plenty being my fave), is also known by lucky Londoners for his delightful little restaurants (Islington being my fave). You see, I used to live right on Upper Street where Ottolenghi’s Islington outpost is located and each day walking […]

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Restaurant Find: Uncle Boons NYC

NYC HOTSPOT FIND: UNCLE BOONS | meltingbutter.com

Let’s say you’re reminiscing about your last trip to Thailand, when you were nursing that ice-cold beer and grazing on Thai food with that unmistakable fresh, dynamic flavor. You want to recreate that, but you’re stuck in Lower Manhattan, that concrete jungle we all know lacks quality Thai, considering every other cuisine it does so […]

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NYC Food Find: Taïm Falafel & Smoothie Bar

NYC HOTSPOT FIND: TAÏM FALAFEL & SMOOTHIE BAR | meltingbutter.com

In the beautiful tree-lined West Village lies Taïm (pronounced ta-eem) a quaint little falafel and smoothie bar serving up unadulterated Israeli falafel in the form of sandwiches and platters. Taïm, meaning “tasty” in Hebrew, has no difficulty living up its own name by offering crunchy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside falafels […]

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NYC Restaurant Find: Extra Fancy

NYC HOTSPOT FIND: EXTRA FANCY | meltingbutter.com

EXTRA FANCY, WILLIAMSBURG If I really think about the establishments popping up around Williamsburg one theme comes to mind ”“ not so fancy and extra fancy. It’s a veritable hodgepodge of highbrow, lowbrow, cheap, expensive, dive-y and upscale and Extra Fancy is a bar/restaurant nodding its head to this wonderful characteristic of Williamsburg. Don’t let […]

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