Where to Eat in London 2016 - out now!

I'm very pleased to announce that the 2016 version of my Where to Eat in London app is now available from the iTunes app store! Grab it here:

Where to Eat in London 2016

Anyone familiar with the 2015 version will know pretty much what to expect - 100 restaurants that I consider to be the very best in town, each with a review written specifically for the app. And if this all this is new to you, it won't be long before you're discovering new places and ticking off your 'visited' list with the best of them. It's very easy to use.

Such is the pace of change in the past 12 months that at least 20% of the entries are brand new for 2016. I'll leave you to discover which ones they are, but anyone following these pages probably won't be very surprised to see certain Kingsland Road chicken joints and Sri-Lankan Soho curry houses making an appearance.

And with the total number of restaurants being still just 100, that of course means there have been a few culled from the list. Most are simply closures; Zucca, Fino, Garufin, Koya, all decent restaurants that didn't make it through the maelstrom of activity that was London 2015. It's been a funny old year.

And there's still no Android version I'm afraid - at least, not yet. Complicated economic reasons but boiling down to the fact that the extra development costs for Android aren't worth it for the potential returns. But if the iOS version does well enough then the publishers will consider developing one - so watch this space.

Anyway I hope you enjoy it, and as ever, if you like it and find it useful, or even if you download it just for the reviews (plenty of reading material there for your £2.99, I'm sure you'll agree), please do leave a report on iTunes. It all helps.

Meantime, happy downloading and happy eating!

Where to Eat in London 2015 - the app!

A break from the usual programming today at Cheese and Biscuits, as I'm very pleased to finally announce the release of Where to Eat in London 2015, an app I've been working on for the last few months with the very talented people at Blue Crow Media. If you want to just dive in and have a look yourself, the link to the App Store is here (it's only £2.99):

Where to Eat in London 2015

For a long time I resisted the idea of producing a printed guide, as the resources required to come up with anything useful were a little beyond the capabilities of a hobbyist blogger. But an app is a different matter - it's (relatively) easily updated and managed, and doesn't have to pretend to be as comprehensive (or as objective) as other guides; it is, essentially, just my opinion on where's good to eat. But chances are if you've been regularly reading this blog then you'll know if your tastes align with my own, and if so you should find it rather useful.

A few other points while I have your attention:

1. As I say, it's not supposed to be comprehensive. There are just 100 restaurants listed in the app that I consider to be as close to a guarantee of a good meal out as it's possible to find in London. If your favourite isn't listed, then I can only apologise, but then again, if you know about it anyway, why do you need the app to tell you about it?

2. During the beta testing, I used it "in field" a few times, and it was (even if I do say so myself) incredibly useful. There was the time it rescued an evening with a few friends after a rather anticlimactic press dinner near Marble Arch by directing us to Roti Chai just round the corner. Or when the Holborn fire forced a change of evening plan and we ended up in Great Queen Street. Chances are it will find something worth visiting wherever in London you happen to be.

3. Each of the 100 restaurants have a 200-word review, written (or largely rewritten) entirely just for the app. So even if you think all my choices are rubbish and the app is completely useless, you could at least entertain yourself with those.

4. Finally, although this wasn't my deliberate intention when drawing up the initial 100, we seem to have ended up with a remarkably diverse set of restaurants in the app. From budget to fine dining, Thai to Tonkotsu, Tayyabs to Trullo, there really should be something here for every niche interest. And for that I only have to thank London itself, for being one of the most consistently rewarding places to eat out in the whole world.

Oh one more thing - apparently the first few reviews that come in to Apple are incredibly important. So if you could throw a few 5*s my way, it would be much appreciated, and would help make the 2016 edition even better.

Anyway, that's enough from me. Enjoy the app, let me know what you think, and the next post here will be a restaurant review. And a bloody good one at that - watch this space.

As of 2pm on 7th April we are officially no.1 Bestselling Food & Drink app on the iTunes store! Thanks to everyone who has downloaded.