Harden’s weekly update of where the critics are eating, recommending and avoiding, for the week ending 1 September 2019. Kala, Manchester Jay Rayner for The Observer headed to Manchester to try out the latest jewel in Gary Usher’s crown. He wasn’t welcome, of course – when Usher opened his very first restaurant, Sticky Walnut in […]

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Harden’s weekly update of where the critics are eating, recommending and avoiding, for the week ending 25 August 2019. The Yan, Lake District Grace Dent for The Guardian loves the Lake District, and visits a lot, but is constantly “in search of a big, reasonably priced and, above all, welcoming place to take normal folk” […]

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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 11 August 2019.  Pilgrim, Liverpool Marina O’Loughlin for The Sunday Times had very little time for the marketing “tripe” surrounding the new Duke Street Market flagship restaurant she visited in Liverpool – one of the many new additions to the UK’s food scene, […]

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Harden’s weekly round-up of the restaurant critics’ reviews, from the week ending 4 August 2019. Little French, Bristol Marina O’Loughlin for The Sunday Times was in Bristol checking out the brand-new (and first solo) venture from Freddy Bird (formerly of the city’s Lido restaurant) – with a challenge, no less: “there are four of us […]

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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’ meals, from the week ending 21 July 2019. The Kensington Arms, Bristol Grace Dent for The Guardian is “acutely aware that I’m the last face any kitchen brigade wants to see over a long bank holiday weekend” but she’d heard great things about the “dependably brilliant Sunday lunch” […]

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Harden’s regular round-up of the restaurant critics’ meals, from the week ending 14 July 2019.  The Newell, Dorset Marina O’Loughlin for The Sunday Times celebrates the restaurants she calls “quietly wonderful” – not the “flashy and splashy and showy and spendy” places chased down (and sometimes closed down) by food critics and hordes of Insta-tourists, […]

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Harden’s regular round-up of the restaurant critics’ meals, from the week ending 7 July 2019.  Mana, Manchester From the moment the first of 16 courses arrived, Marina O’Loughlin of The Sunday Times was “blown away” by Simon Martin’s cooking at Mana. He cooked at Noma for several years (unlike so many chefs, which, as Marina […]

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Harden’s regular round-up of the restaurant critics’ meals, from the week ending 30 June 2019. Tayer + Elementary, London EC1 Jimi Famurewa for The Evening Standard is on a roll; last week he discovered Gezillig, and this week he was in east London at the the new split personality venue from celebrated mixologists Alex Kratena […]

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