The Times
Marina O’Loughlin, who gave up writing weekly restaurant reviews late last year after two decades at Metro, The Guardian and the Sunday Times, used a guests column in the FT to tell as what every reviewer is always asked: where do you choose to eat in your own time?
And the restaurant is… Ciao Bella, “a long-standing Italian that’s achieved almost cult status” and which she recently visited three Fridays running.
“Nabbing one of the prized outdoor tables to watch Bloomsbury go by, knowing exactly what I’m going to order (melon and Parma ham; veal Milanese with an off-menu tomatoes and onion salad). I congratulate myself each time for not being sat on a backless stool somewhere with the light of a sex dungeon in anticipation of 15 courses of lactose-fermantation.”
Her other regular spots are Noble Rot’s three branches – but that hardly counts because she’s part of the furniture as contributing editor of Noble Rot magazine. But at least they provide one big perk for somebody who managed to retain a secret identity for two decades as a reviewer: “For once I too wanna go where everybody knows my name”.
Marina O’Loughlin - 2024-08-04
Drinks
Extras
