Jay Rayner Instead of a review this week, Jay looks back over his 20 years as The Observer’s restaurant critic in an article that ranges from 1999 (the year MPW retired, Jamie O debuted his Naked Chef show, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay hit its stride and The Fat Duck won its first Michelin star), through the […]
The team behind Le Bab and Maison Bab are to launch Kebab Queen, an adventurous fine dining concept that will see the humble Middle Eastern dish explored and extended across a seven-course tasting menu. In April, Manu Canales, formerly a sous chef at La Gavroche, will open Kebab Queen below the group’s Maison Bab site […]
Magpie the much-fêted (including by Harden’s reporters) central London restaurant opened by Pidgin’s James Ramsden and Sam Herlihy two years ago, has reportedly closed. The 54-cover site debuted on Heddon Street in June 2017. It opened as a contemporary British venue with a twist, drawing inspiration from dim sum-style dining whereby customers chose plates from […]
Herman Ze German, the Bavarian-style restaurant group best known for its tender currywurst and crispy schnitzel, is to open in Birmingham. The London-based mini-chain, which has three sites in the capital, is expanding outside the M25 for the first time, launching a venture at Birmingham’s Grand Central station on April 1. Having launched as a […]
Chef, restaurateur, and crowdfunding powerhouse Gary Usher has broken a world record after raising £100,000 in 11 hours to help open Kala, his sixth venture to date. Usher announced his plans on Instagram last week, conceding that while he had planned not to crowdfund for Kala, he had “f*cked up” and needed a cash boost […]
Restaurateur Sam Harrison has revealed more plans for Sam’s Riverside, his upcoming “glamorous brasserie” in a landmark site on the Thames near Hammersmith Bridge. Harrison, who sold Sam’s Brasserie in nearby Chiswick and Harrison’s in more distant Balham back in 2015, told Harden’s that he’s “really looking forward to being back on the [restaurant] floor” […]
Celebrity chef Daniel Clifford is suing an interior designer for £190,000 over work done to his Essex pub the Flitch of Bacon. Clifford, 45, famed for his work at the acclaimed Harden’s Top 100 Cambridge restaurant Midsummer House (at no 38) – and also judging appearances on the Beeb’s Great British Menu – is claiming […]
The Crown, London W4 Jimi Famurewa for The Evening Standard went out to west London to try out the latest of chef Henry Harris’s “expanding stable of amiable new-wave gastropubs” – The Crown in Chiswick. He was expecting “a sort of cosy, creaking coastal tavern that had been magically airlifted on to a corner in […]
Adam Handling opened his Chelsea restaurant to much fanfare last week. We were there at the Belmond Cadogan hotel to witness the launch, buzzing as it was. Harden’s reporters – and everyone, really – are expecting great things. There’s been an early set-back. Handling’s restaurant empire is growing. The 29-year-old now has two Frog sites […]
Blacklock, the fiery purveyor of “simply mouthwatering plates” of “succulent and well-seasoned chops”, is to launch a new lunch at its Shoreditch site. Blacklock opened its Shoreditch branch in October last year. It offers a slightly buzzier atmosphere, largely thanks to its cocktail bar, but also its location. But evenings in the “fun haunt” are […]
