Goldies London, 10 Kingly Court, Carnaby Street, London W1B 5PW. Small plates £4.50-£11, big plates £14-£22, dessert £7, wines from £29
Here is a profound, if grossly oversimplified observation: the more rudimentary a restaurant’s cooking process becomes, the bigger the bill. At its pinnacle you get to the plutocrat excesses of the high-end sushi counter where no cooking may be involved at all, but prices can be scorching deep, smoking holes in any hopes you had for your family’s future. It doesn’t take massive insight to understand why this might be. If you are doing very little to an ingredient, it has to be the best possible, because there is nowhere to hide. The raw bar is the cult of produce, complete with its own acutely delineated rituals. Admire the pearlescence of the scallop; swoon over the marbling of the tuna belly.
