Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant reviewers were writing about in the week up to 15th September 2024
The Evening Standard
Exit Jimi Famurewa
The week was dominated by the ending of Jimi Famurewa’s tenure as the Evening Standard’s chief restaurant reviewer – a role made famous by his illustrious predecessor Fay Maschler, who became the paper’s most famous writer over the course of her 48 years in post. Jimi lasted a little under four years, having succeeded Fay in January 2001.
No immediate explanation was given for his departure by either the paper or Jimi, who signed off his final review (of José Pizarro’s new Lolo, see below) with a note of regret that “we won’t get to explore … this crazed landscape together anymore”.
He also tweeted a cryptic message on X saying he was “pretty sure there will still be reviews [in the Standard] but I won’t be writing them. Odd few weeks but excited about what’s next… Much more soon”.
Jimi’s leaving may or may not be connected with the shrinking presence of what has been for decades the capital’s leading daily local newspaper: the Standard is no longer printed daily but is now a weekly freesheet that is also available online.
Jimi seems to have departed on reasonably good terms: the paper’s restaurant page farewelled him with not one but two “greatest hits” columns – one celebrating some of his best lines, the other listing his favourite (Miga, Roe, Lita, Story Cellar, Kolae, Mountain, Bouchon Racine, Al Kahf, Evernight) and least favourite restaurants (Kebhouze, Salt Bae’s Nusr-Et, Swiss Butter, Akira Back, Grasso, Black Sheep, Terra at Eataly).
His many admirers will be hoping another publication snaps him up to share his vivid enthusiasms and occasional dislikes
***
Lolo, Bermondsey
For his final Evening Standard review, Jimi visited what he called “the latest twinkling node in José Pizarro’s ever-growing Iberian empire” – an all-day restaurant next door to his flagship tapas bar José in Bermondsey Street.
It is, he said, “low-slung womb of dusky pink walls, abundant wood, backlit, decorative conservatory tins and glossy coral tiles framing an open kitchen” – “a soft-lit daydream of playful, punchy drinking snacks and burstingly fresh, high-glamour sharing dishes”.
A positive review then, but if Lolo had a fault, Jimi reckoned the sheer size and variety of its meant meals here could be “prone to a kind of discordant formlessness”. Perhaps the best approach would be simply to order “some languorous drinks, augmented by the great snacks”.
*****
The Guardian
Noah’s, Bristol
Grace Dent visited Spike Island in Bristol’s harbourside where Daniel and Joie Rosser have created a “rare breed of chip shop that underpromises and then overdelivers” – you may expect (and will indeed find) battered cod or haddock with chips, mushy peas and tartare sauce, but there’s also “a menu with more joie de vivre than your standard megabucks speciality seafood restaurant”.
Highlights include “at least a dozen types of spankingly fresh fish and shellfish from Brixham and Newlyn”, “world-class Orkney scallops”, and “huge, grilled wild Atlantic prawns that came with their heads on and whiffing of sea salt and thyme”.
And in another departure from the standard chippy, it’s an “elegant space” with turquoise banquettes and a terrace at the back for warm days — all in all, “one of the nicest restaurants I’ve come across in years”.
*****
The Observer
Tharavadu, Leeds
Jay Rayner throughly enjoyed his visit to a Keralan restaurant whose success has led to a planned move into new premises in the city that will accommodate 350 diners.
Initially inclined to scoff at the mini essays explaining each item on the menu, Jay was won over by the upbeat enthusiasm of the staff and the seafood-forward cuisine reflecting Kerala’s long coastline.
“I’m certain you could have almost anything here and it would make you profoundly happy. The cooking is that cheery marriage of layered flavours, bold aromatics and fire softened by all that coconut.”
*****
The Times & Sunday Times
Albert’s Schloss, Shaftesbury Avenue
Back in London after his summer hols, Giles Coren went in search of the fabulous – and fabulously inexpensive – cooking and beer he had enjoyed in Bavaria. Much to his surprise, the new central London branch of this Manchester-based group came much closer than he had expected.
His favourite Bavarian dish, the splendidly named ‘schweinshax’n’ (or more prosaic pork knuckle) “was as beautifully done as in Tegernsee, with a lovely, rich beer sauce. At £19.50 it was considerably more expensive, but … again, would have fed two. I think that’s cracking value.”
Albert’s is not for the faint-hearted, though – it’s a noisy, rollicking bear-pit of a venue, Giles warned: “Don’t come here if you’re over 35 or easily startled by loud noises, table dancing and public sex (to be fair I did come on a Friday night, which is no time to be in Soho). But if you’re planning a hen do, dig a live Lionel Richie cover and have never had a roasted crispy pig’s knee, well, this is your lucky day.”
***
Parveen’s Canteen, Glasgow
Chitra Ramaswamy was thrilled by a “throughly modern Pakistani lunch” from sisters Fariya and Saha Sharif at this canteen named after their grandmother at Civic House in Speirs Wharf – the “beating heart of Glasgow’s contemporary cultural scene”, close to Glasgow School of Art, the Royal Conservatoire, the National Theatre of Scotland and Scottish Opera, all of which ramp up “the coolness quotient of Parveen’s clientel”.
The sisters’ ethos is “to cook and serve one meal a day that everyone can eat” – no dish costs more than a tenner, with dishes such as a “spot-on” North Indian masoor dal .
The sisters also run Nights at Parveen’s when they serve kebabs accompanied by south Asian DJ sets and monthly dinner clubs where four-course meals costs £30 a head.
***
Plates, Old Street
Stand-in reviewer Adam Kay managed to grab a table at this “100% vegan” spot that is fully booked until February next year, from “nepo-restaurateurs” Kirk and Keeley Haworth, whose dad Nigel was long the kitchen supremo at Northcote in Lancashire.
He found Kirk’s cooking “beyond impressive” – and “you won’t miss meat here”, although he wondered, “between joyous mouthfuls of a mushroom steak introduced as “Ability not Disability”, why the dishes had names. Answering his own question, he reckoned it was because of Kirk’s appearances on Great British Menu, and in return Adam awarded ratings in the form of “Kerridges” out of 10.
Top mark, with nine Kerridges, went to the final course, “A taste of unity” – a spectacular but deceptively technical chocolate cake, “its edges perfectly chamfered by the sourness of cherry, cooled with a coconut ice cream you’d be hard pressed to describe as vegan-tasting”.
*****
Financial Times
Ibai, Smithfield
Given that he has just published a book about steak, Tim Hayward was duty bound to check out this new Basque steakhouse in what he called the ‘Testosterone” of the City of London – clearly not Tim’s crowd, although this was possibly a rum observation from someone who writes for the FT.
First impressions were not favourable. The noise was “staggering”, as if you were eating in an F1 pit lane, and Tim wondered if they had run out of budget before installing sound baffling. He was also less than impressed with the heavily promoted signature Croque Ibai, whose “innovative” combination of cheese, black pudding, prawns and honey “actually delivered less than the sum of its parts”.
But there were plenty of triumphs, starting with “fat, brick-coloured” Cantabrian anchovies that Tim wants on his death-bed, just in case he can be revived. As a new-minted steak-nerd, he dismissed the Spanish-reared Black Angus and Norfolk-reared Wagyu as “glittering baubles for the less discerning”, choosing instead a T-bone of Galacian Blond beef – “by far the most important dish in the restaurant”. “Roaring with flavour”, this steak had been treated with “admirable respect” by the kitchen before being rested properly, then served. Tim gave it his seal of approval.
