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 […]
Definitely a game of two halves this week, with disappointments for TPB, the Evening Standard reviewers and Jay Rayner, and serious highs for Grace Dent and our intrepid reporters from The Telegraph and The FT. Jay Rayner in The Observer pondered the ” thin line between “That’s genius” and “What in God’s name were they thinking?”” […]
Gary Usher, the king of Kickstarter chefs, is chasing his third round of crowdfunding to launch the fourth restaurant of his northwestern empire – with fellow chefs led by Tom Kerridge (pictured) rallying to help. Usher needs pledges totalling £200,000 – significantly more than in his first two campaigns – by June 8 in order to proceed with his planned restaurant Wreckfish in Liverpool. […]
The Wahaca chain of Mexican restaurants has admitted liability in a number of cases following an outbreak of the norovirus last year, and is expected to pay out five-figure damages to a number of customers, according to a report in the Evening Standard newspaper. About 360 customers and staff contracted the virus in the outbreak which […]
⦿ Jay Rayner of The Observer reviewed Plot in Tooting, “a sliver of a restaurant serving terrible cocktails and great food in one of south London’s traditional covered markets”. “Thick curls of squid, crusted with a chorizo crumb on a salad of tomatoes that taste of something, is a bit of textural fun. It’s followed by a dainty […]
High-flying young chef Danny Gill has returned to his home town of Lincoln to buy the pie shop where he first worked as a 15-year-old kitchen porter. Brown’s Pie Shop, around the corner from the city’s cathedral, is a Steep Hill institution that celebrates its 50th anniversary next year. Described in the latest Harden’s Survey as “a taste of […]
Fresh from the launch of Radici in Islington, Italian chef Francesco Mazzei has announced plans to open a third restaurant in the new Battersea Power Station development this summer. Fiume – Italian for river, in reference to the Thames-side location – will serve Italian classics under the day-to-day running of head chef Francesco Chiarelli, Mazzei’s fellow-Calabrian. There will be […]
Cargo 2, the second phase of the multi-restaurant (with a bit of retail) development using smartly reconstituted shipping containers at Bristol’s Wapping Wharf, is to open on May 26. Headliners are led by Spuntino, the first offshoot of the Italian-American small-plates specialist in London’s Soho, which will feature a US diner-style interior. Local acts are well represented, […]
Michel Roux Jr, from the cooking dynasty that has personified French cuisine in Britain for half a century, is to oversee an establishment serving traditional English food. The Wigmore bar, in Regent Street’s grand Langham hotel, will offer dishes inspired by the English pub and tavern, such as raised veal and ham pie and devilled lamb’s kidneys – although diners will […]
⦿ Jay Rayner of The Observer reviewed Koj, MasterChef finalist and former City banker Andrew Kojima’s “cheerfully low-key” Japanese comfort food joint in Cheltenham. “Koj Fried Chicken – work out the initials yourself – is halfway between the softness of American southern fried, and the full-on crunch of Japanese karaage. Sesame flavoured mayo sends it happily on its way. […]
