The Guardian
Grace Dent enjoyed herself at a new spot in one of London’s oldest corners – it apparently escaped the Great Fire of 1666 – set up by a pair of “earnestly endearing” wine importers in Joe Haynes and Ben Butterworth, with an ex-Marksman, Levant and Brawn chef, Tom Hurst, in the kitchen.
This trio have “swept away the nonsense” behind a lot of contemporary restaurants, “leaving behind the bare bones of good, modern British hospitality. Namely: a table, a great glass or two of wine, and an interesting, hearty, ever-changing menu”.
Better still, Grace surmised that “Hurst had entered some sort of imperial cheffing phase” from her first taste of his miso-soaked mushroom, carrot and cucumber pickles, that were “especially delicious with a round of oysters in an apple dashi and a plate of housemade bread.”
Grace Dent - 2024-06-30The Times
Giles Coren opened his review with a disquisition on the rising standards of London cuisine, stating that the critics of yesteryear – Michael Winner, Jonathan Meades, AA Gill and their ilk – were forced into writing hilariously savage put-downs because most of the restaurants they reviewed were “utterly bloody stinking”, with “rotten” produce, “filthy” cooking and “vile” staff.
“But around 2013-2015 that started to change and now almost all new restaurants, especially in London, are incredible. Just eye-popping. So, so good. Some of them are a bit pricey, it is true, but only because being anything less than 100 per cent awesome is no longer acceptable in this town.”
Giles’s point is fully supported by the evidence of this week’s reviews by his peers, which are universally rave, as you will see, with the not so honourably exception of one venue in Glasgow. As to specifics, the particular subject of Giles’s praise was a recent opening by wine importers Joe Haynes and Ben Butterworth in Cloth Fair, one of London’s oldest streets.
The food, from chef Tom Hurst, was all spot-on – “such fresh, simple, vibrant stuff to find in a beautiful room on an ancient side street, I was quite beside myself”. In fact, with the “humble values” indicated by its mismatched “found” crockery, its “local thinking” and ‘youthful vigour”, Cloth was everything that the “hipster food movement” of East London and Brooklyn back in 2007/8 was trying to be – but with better cooking.
Giles Coren - 2024-07-14
