Our weekly round-up of what the national and local restaurant critics writing about, for the week ending 24 May 2020; the country remains in lockdown, with restaurants, cafes and bars officially closed due the coronavirus outbreak, possibly until July. You can still support your local and favourite restaurants; many are offering takeaways or deliveries, or […]

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Our weekly round-up of where the national and local restaurant critics are reviewing and what they are recommending, for the week ending 22 March 2020 – the week that ended with all UK restaurants, cafes and bars being closed due to the coronavirus outbreak. Ampeli, London W1 “On the face of it, writing a restaurant […]

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Our weekly round-up of where the national and local restaurant critics are reviewing and what they are recommending, for the week ending 15 March 2020. Gymkhana, London W1 Jimi Famurewa of The Evening Standard visited Gymkhana, “reopened in bolstered form after a kitchen fire forced it to close for eight months” and declared that “it […]

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Harden’s weekly update of where the critics are eating, recommending and avoiding, for the week ending 16 February 2020. Muse, London SW1 Grace Dent for The Guardian has declared it early this year: “I’ve found my restaurant of the year.” Not all of the critics who have reviewed Muse so far have enjoyed it this […]

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Harden’s regular round-up of the restaurant critics’ musings, from the week ending 9 February 2020. Casa do Frango, London EC2 “Tortured food v excellent ingredients unmucked-about — I know what wins every time” Marina O’Loughlin for The Sunday Times was craving chicken and chips after enduring a TV show in which Heston Blumenthal made a […]

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Harden’s regular round-up of the restaurant critics’ musings, from the week ending 2 February 2020. Mei Mei, London SE1 Jimi Famurewa for The Evening Standard is the first to report on Elizabeth Haigh’s new Borough Market Kitchen outlet; the “tiny counter café” that’s “a meticulous, loving riff on the thrumming ‘kopitiam’ coffee shops that are […]

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Harden’s regular round-up of the restaurant critics’ musings, from the week ending 20 October 2019. Pilgrim, Liverpool For Grace Dent of The Guardian, “2019 has been a year of loitering confusedly in food halls, gob ajar, trying to decipher where one eats, sits, orders and pays”. Her latest (but less confused) visit was to Duke […]

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Harden’s regular round-up of the restaurant critics’ meals, from the week ending 18 August 2019.  Flor, London SE1 Jimi Famurewa for The Evening Standard found Southwark newcomer Flor to be “lightly challenging” and “utterly astonishing”, with food that “hits a sweet spot between the unexpected and the familiar… between thoughtful, modern refinement and messy, chin-dripping joy”. […]

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Harden’s regular round-up of the restaurant critics’ meals, from the week ending 28 July 2019.  Heritage, London W1 Jay Rayner for The Observer made some sweeping generalisations about Switzerland to start his review (“it’s expensive, tooth-achingly polite, efficient and profoundly committed to dairy fats”) but only to point out that Heritage manages just three out […]

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Harden’s regular round-up of the restaurant critics from the week ending 2 June 2019. The Sea, The Sea, London SW3 Marina O’Loughlin for The Sunday Times has “stumbled across the living definition of the word “precious”: a seafood restaurant, a fishmonger and a champagne bar in — where else? — Chelsea”. From the people behind […]

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