Is the Blue Nile, TripAdvisor’s 'best' restaurant in London, really that good?

A modest Eritrean cafe in Woolwich recently shot to the top of TripAdvisor’s London rankings. Such listings are nonsense – but it is a fine place to eat

I had lunch in London’s “best” restaurant today. It’s a humble Eritrean cafe on Woolwich New Road in south-east London, sitting in the shadow of a vast branch of Tesco, which, in a roundabout way, is responsible for the Blue Nile cafe’s very existence.

When I say it’s the capital’s “best” restaurant, that’s according to TripAdvisor. The site’s rankings are dynamic, and change according to the number of positive reviews posted – as well as how recent they are, so by the time I arrive for my lunch, it’s down to No 4 of 17,434, but that’s still above the likes of Le Gavroche and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.