Monsieur Le Duck, London E1 Jay Rayner for The Observer visited the nostalgic new pop-up from City worker-turned-restaurateur Richard Humphreys, who dreamed of Gascony, with its restaurants serving duck confit and red wine, and decided to bring his dreams to Liverpool Street. The result is “delightful in a low-key, sweetly romantic way”; the “narrow frame […]
Olle, London W1 Jay Rayner for The Observer became the living window display he has so often admired when he dined at Olle, a Korean barbeque joint on Shaftesbury Avenue. The menu at Olle will be “broadly familiar” to those have tended to their own hotplate before – here, “they just do it very well” […]
Pucci, London W1 Jay Rayner for The Observer reviewed Mayfair newcomer Pucci, revived from its bygone King’s Road days by the founder’s son (the original closed in 2010). Decorated like “a wealthy person’s version of a humble farmhouse”, it’s the sort of room “in which you can have a very good time, though ideally with […]
Imperial Treasure, London SW1 Did the chefs at Imperial Treasure recognise Jay Rayner when he visited for The Observer? They chased him to the toilet, so one presumes so. Why then, did they take away his Peking duck (for which he paid a “nose-bleeding… shameless” £100) half-eaten? Astonishing. It tainted the rest of his meal, […]
The Telegraph’s new critic visits a vegan restaurant, Giles Coren finds two great new Oxford restaurants, and another critic jumps the queue at Din Tai Fung Gridiron, London SW1 Jay Rayner for The Observer found himself at the former The Met Bar location for his first review of 2019; it’s “has worked hard at the […]
Jay Rayner in The Observer is rather far afield this week as he reviews Zuni Cafe, San Francisco… The Zuni roast chicken is certainly a thing… featured on myriad lists of greatest restaurant dishes Is it… Sensational? Not quite, but it is very, very good. …faux peasant, faux rustic fantasy. Zuni has long been regarded as a […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Joint – the pop-up-turned-permanent restaurant famed for its pulled pork burger – has opened a second site. The US-inspired BBQ spot has taken over the Marylebone premises in New Cavendish Street which were previously home to short-lived burger bar SLABS. It appears that this high-end burger restaurant, poorly reviewed by many including the Standard, just wasn’t doing […]
The Editors’ review of The Palomar We find a characterful, upbeat dining room-come-bar serving refreshing Israeli cuisine. David Sexton is impressed by Jon Hunt’s first restaurant foray Pavilion, under chef Adam Simmonds, delivers plenty of luxurious complexity for the price. Never knowingly undersold (on burgers) Ham Holy Burgers to open first UK outlet […]
