We kick off this week’s review of the reviews with a corker. Everyone should read Marina O’Laughlin’s scathing dissection of NYC interloper Hotel Chantelle in the Guardian, if only to hear the phrase ‘le wanquerie’, from the woman who brought us ‘Mayfair Wankpits’. From the food, to the service, to the very reason behind the […]
Alan Pickett’s (sort-of) eponymous solo venture Piquet in Fitzrovia gets a double dose of restaurant reviews as both the Standard’s Fay Maschler and Tracey MacLeod of the Independent pop by to try the chef’s Gallic-influenced British dishes. The Indy’s critic finds the service surprisingly stiff and the venue strangely deserted. Fortunately the food also receives […]
If the hipster-driven dude food revolution was prompted by the 2008 recession then, according to Giles Coren at The Times, the arrival of Sackville’s in Mayfair (an opulently expensive ode to beef and truffles) is a sure sign the hard times are well and truly over… “There would be exposed brick, bespoke cocktails and an […]
The Evening Standard’s Grace Dent seeks out Shoreditch’s latest smokehouse venture, Rök, concerned that it may be a another tedious, cavernous, edgy-by-numbers barbecue joint, which – she says – it absolutely is not. “Rök is small — 40 seats — and elegantly formed, dispatching gorgeous, highly devourable sharing plates of exquisite British produce with a Nordic […]
No egg puns were used in the writing of AA Gill’s review of Egg Break in the Sunday Times, but no punches were pulled either. He hated the place, from the bottom of its ‘Fritzl memorial lounge’ basement to the top of its ‘counter-cultural, recycled, reclaimed, ironic’ name sign. And is this the least appetising […]
Jay Rayner weighs in on the north/south restaurant divide question The Observer’s critic-in-chief heads to Manchester to try out the new Hawksmoor and stumbles across a veggie dining room, 1847, serving great food – well, apart from the desserts. Read our roundup of restaurant news in Manchester and enter our Hawksmoor Manchester competition. Meanwhile the […]
Rapper-turned-chef Rabah Ourrad’s food at Wormwood gives pause to The Observer’s critic-in-chief Jay Rayner His one caveat? “Some will find the Wormwood experience profoundly irritating. There is a breathiness to the service, an intensity in the way ingredients are pointed out before you’re allowed to eat them, which can be wearisome. And costs mount.” Zoe […]
Can a pie be life-affirming? Marina O’Laughlin certainly makes Portland’s sound so The Guardian reviewer loves this recently opened Fitzrovia venture from the Quality Chop House’s Will Lander. “…it takes reservations and doesn’t charge like a rhino.” Meanwhile The Observer’s Jay Rayner is on another one of his jaunts, this time in Lyon The critic-in-chief […]
The Harden’s survey results for the 2015 guide are in Find out which London restaurants are hot (and which are not) with our results based on 65,000 restaurant-goer reports. Grace Dent blows her Christmas budget at Roka Aldwych The Standard’s reviewer finds great robatayaki at wickedly expensive prices – “Think The Wolf of Wall […]
The Editors’ review of Heddon Street Kitchen It’s a competent operation but we can’t help but feel Ramsay’s association has inflated prices. Grace Dent can’t find her sea legs at Sea Containers Why would anyone call a restaurant something so “bloody awful”? the Evening Standard’s reviewer wants to know. Tuscan wine dynasty opens […]
