Our mission is remarkably simple. To tell it how it is!
The Observer’s Jay Rayner doesn’t so much review Plaquemine Lock in Islington as write it a love letter. The Cajun-Creole-influenced pub comes to us courtesy of Jacob Kenedy (of Bocca di Lupo fame)… “A celebration of the food of the Louisiana basin… The walls are painted a hot, sultry yellow overlaid by naive murals of life on the […]
This week the Observer’s Jay Rayner waxes lyrical about The Garden Museum’s new Garden Cafe in Lambeth, a lovely new space with food to match thanks to the quality in the kitchen. Harry Kaufman and George Ryle have an impressive list of credits between them, including St Johns Bread & Wine, Padella and Primeur… “The Garden Café occupies a sparkling new […]
Jay Rayner in The Observer finds the cooking at Roth Bar & Grill, Bruton – housed within the Hauser & Wirth gallery – more than a match for the art. “The whole proposition is so damn civilised that the quality of the cooking is an extra. The site, part of a working farm, is a pastoral […]
Jay Rayner in The Observer enjoys a knowing attempt to bring the street inside at Borough Market’s El Pastór (from Barrafina founders, the Hart bros)… It’s “a fun space of bare brick and shiny metal and colourful murals; a knowing attempt to bring the street inside”, with “tequilas in worryingly large servings” and “pork shoulder, marinated and […]
When our reporters praise Bray’s Hind’s Head it is because the picturesque pub is “thankfully not over-Hestoned” but The Sunday Times’s Lisa Markwell has the opposite problem – she can’t find any evidence of Blumenthal’s pseudo-scientific cooking at all, nor the influence of his trusty lieutenant Ashley Palmer-Watts – and it leaves her disappointed… “I […]
The Guardian’s Marina O’Laughlin is back in her native Glasgow, but the locals may not want to hear what she has to say about Dennistoun’s Bilson Eleven. “How dare I? How dare I be critical about a small, new indie restaurant, its name an elision of the chef/owner’s two sons (and the number of tables they, […]
Marina O’Laughlin’s idea of hell is Victoria’s new Nova development, and although Stoke House may not be its most hellish corner you’d still need a pitchfork to the Guardian’s restaurant critic anywhere near it again… “The music is deafening, the place full to the rafters: my hell doesn’t seem to be other people’s. The menu […]
It’s National Barbecue Week, so that means hunching over the rusty old Webber in your back garden with an umbrella – right? Not according to Giles Coren. He reviews Shoreditch’s Rök and Smokestak with such enthusiasm that he implores readers to visit one of these two smokehouses, rather than light the barbie in their own […]
⦿ The Observer’s Jay Rayner finds a trip to Soho’s new Test Kitchen rather hard work, but thankfully is able to salvage his day through the restorative power of pastry at Maison Bertaux… “The strawberry tart at Maison Bertaux in London’s Soho should be available on prescription as an effective treatment for post-traumatic stress. The sweet […]
⦿ Jay Rayner of The Observer reviewed Veneta, just off Piccadilly, which, while “not an actively bad restaurant”, brought his culinary year to a disappointing end. “I long ago stopped taking notes in restaurants, figuring that if I couldn’t recall what I’d had for dinner that spoke volumes. With this one I had to dig out the […]
