Recent Eats

It’s been a while since I’ve featured a London hotspot so I thought I’d bring it back with a bang, in the form of not one but two restaurants I’ve been loving recently. In typical student fashion I’ve been finding any excuse to eat out and save myself from another night of frozen pasta. I figure ‘research for the blog’ is a valid reason, right? This post would not be particularly interesting if I was reviewing my home-cooked pot noodles!

This month’s features are Kettner’s, a townhouse in Soho, and Fischer’s, a Viennese restaurant in Marylebone. I’ve lumped these two restaurants together not just because they serve delicious food (though they do, obviously), but because they’re the perfect settings for an amateur sleuth, Agatha Christie style…

FISCHERS

Four words: sausages wrapped in bacon. I feel like this needs no further justification. But just in case you’re not convinced, Fischer’s has an extensive menu of Austrian delights including various incarnations of bratwurst and schnitzel that goes far beyond the aforementioned meat medley. I went for Würstchen (sausages), but they’re so much more than your standard frankfurter with exciting flavors to choose from.

What really sold the restaurant to me though was the ambiance and decor. With dim lighting and an eclectic mix of clocks, stuffed animal heads, and obscure paintings, the place feels like the scene of a 1940’s detective novel. I can almost imagine Poirot grabbing a bite to eat in a corner of the room before hopping on board the Orient Express (I would recommend the toilets by the way, they reminded me of train compartments during the glory days of locomotion!).

KETTNERS

Whilst Fischer’s might be graced with the presence of the great Belgian detective, Kettner’s is definitely Miss Marple’s domain. You’ll see a fair number of glamorous grannies here, plotting to do away with their husbands and run off with their gardeners and the life insurance (ok, this might be a slight stretch).

This Soho townhouse serves both standard meals and afternoon tea, in surroundings of elegant grandeur reminiscent of the heydays of the aristocracy. Kettner’s remains shy of stuffiness or pretension with a modern menu of affordable dishes and healthy portions. I recommend the crème brûlée for dessert, it’s perfectly crispy and an abnormally decent size (crème brûlées are always too small for my liking!). My top tip: look out for deals on OpenTable for 50% off food!