Hibiscus becomes Bombay Bustle
Saturday, December 09th , 2017
Bombay Bustle is the casual sister of Jamavar, and has just opened on the old Hibiscus site in Maddox Street. It is a larger premises than Jamavar, spread over two floors. The décor theme is the tiffin boxes and railways of Bombay/Mumbai that transport them every day. The menu goes beyond such snacks and is pan-Indian, with a lively chaat snack and an excellent tandoori lamb chop highlights at my first meal here. Over both my inspection meals there was some inconsistency, but this is perhaps to be expected given this was only the second week after opening. If the early kinks can be ironed out then Bombay Bustle will doubtless prosper.
Gauthier (pictured) is in the Soho townhouse that used to house Lindsay House. Alexis Gauthier had a Michelin star for years at Roussillon and indeed held one at Gauthier for a couple of years. The cooking here is rooted in classical French but has some interesting touches. For a start there is a complete vegetarian and vegan menu available, which is not something you are likely to encounter in France very often. Bread is made from scratch and the truffle risotto dish here is special. The standard of the food here is high, and for me it is strong one star level, whatever Michelin think.
The Duke of Sussex is a Chiswick pub where you can get fish and chips, but where the menu is mainly Spanish. At our latest meal here padron peppers were pleasant, and as usual the seafood paella was excellent. The rice was carefully cooked and the mixed shellfish were a good foil for it, all served in an iron wok. As a nice touch they actually make the bread here from scratch in the kitchen, and very good it is too. This isn’t somewhere aiming to set the culinary world alight, but the cooking is capable and the pricing modest.
The Michelin Guide to Bangkok came out for the first time. No three stars, with two stars for Gaggan (which is notionally closing, though it has been teasing this out for a long time now), La Normandie and Mezzaluna. Bangkok has no three stars, 3 two stars and 14 one star restaurants.
The Hong Kong Michelin guide also appeared. There was no change at the three star level. Hong Kong has now 6 three star restaurants, 11 two star places and 45 one stars. I was pleased to see Arcane deservedly getting a star. Duddels lost its second star, which is slightly unfortunate timing as it has just opened a branch in London.