Stem had Jay Rayner from the amuse-bouche. He was looking for reassurance, having never eaten at the chef’s previous restaurants, and not quite knowing what to expect, but “a tiny, exceedingly crisp tart filled with a deep chive emulsion, all onion kick and adoration” did the trick. The menu of “good clean English, and full […]
Brigadiers, London EC4 Jay Rayner departed Brigadiers smelling of “roasted spices, garlic and happiness”. It’s the latest opening from the “extremely professional” JKS Restarants, “one of the slickest outfits in the business” (Gymkhana, Hoppers, Lyle’s), located “within the dead-eyed Bloomberg arcade in the City”, and “feels like a direct response to the financial institutions surrounding […]
There’s a lamentable crop of reviews this week – Tom Parker Bowles failed to appear in The Mail on Sunday, there’s just one review from The Telegraph, Grace Dent would rather be in east London and The Times reviewers probably just wish they hadn’t bothered. Rovi, London W1 (****) Fay Maschler for The Evening Standard […]
In The Sunday Times magazine this week, Dolly Alderton left a sweltering London for the Cotswolds, and reviewed The Bell, in Langford, expecting to cringe at a village that “fulfils the Cotswoldian prerequisite for chocolate box to the point of saccharine toothache”. But it turns out that she likes this picture-postcard Middle England almost as […]
An amusing side-note (well, actually, most of the article) in Giles Coren’s Times review of Brigadiers this week: a University of Glasgow student has completed a comparative dissertation on Coren’s reviewing style compared to another critic he doesn’t name (to be known as critic X, in order to keep the attention on himself). The insightful […]
A happy week for the majority of the critics, with pork pies, new experiences and old friends. Only Marina O’Loughlin’s trip to West Sussex (“England by Disney”) and Ed Smith’s visit to Bagatelle (“nothing to swerve for”) were disappointments. Continuing from last week’s homage to the dumpling and pastry-encased leftovers, Jay Rayner in The Observer […]
Cheeseburger dumplings, tandoori ostrich and a dinosaur steak feature in this week’s reviews, which also demonstrate some serious love and respect for Bristol’s ever-increasing restaurant collection. for The Guardian has decided that she loves reviewing Bristol’s self-effacing, humble restaurant scene, especially Pasture (26/30) which she visited this week. and “really, really liked”. (Grace also recommended […]
Reporters from The Telegraph won this week’s adventure in restaurant reviewing, with satisfying trips to Alpes and St Leonards. The Standard‘s guest reviewer also landed a plum job at Henrietta, while almost everyone else suffered a case of “nice place, shame about the food”. in The Observer was left with a nasty taste in his […]
A rollercoaster week for our intrepid reviewers: bad starts (including a hellish brush with Bicester Village for Tom Parker Bowles), off-kilter locations and misfiring menus. Jay Rayner in The Observer experienced the “troubled adolescence” of newly-opened, crowdfunded Thomas Carr Seafood & Grill in Ilfracombe, Devon. His initial impression left little to hope for, with a […]
Guest reviewing in The Evening Standard this week was Hamish MacBain, who reviewed the resurrected gastropub The Hero of Maida (8/10). Formerly The Truscott Arms, it was saved following a community campaign, and now (headed up by Henry Harris of “much-missed restaurant Racine”) has “an overwhelming air of much-more-poshness” than its predecessor. The “menu follows […]
