AA Gill is thoroughly unimpressed by Shaftesbury Avenue’s new Chinese hotpot restaurant Shuang Shuang – an “anxiety-inducing concept” where diners are asked to assemble their own soup from a conveyor belt of ingredients. It’s making The Sunday Times critic nostalgic for the days of turtle soup terrines, Michael Winner, and drinks trolleys… “This is by […]
The Observer’s Jay Rayner finds a very generous sunday lunch at reasonable prices (always a welcome surprise in central London) at the latest venture from the Goodman Group, Zelman Meats. This new meat-focused venue took over the site of keenly priced Soho seafood spot Rex & Mariano (also a Goodman enterprise) late last year… “Yes, […]
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 […]
AA Gill is back at the Sunday Times’s Table Talk column with a bang as he reviews London’s hottest new opening – Richard Caring’s improbably named Sexy Fish. He finds its a tale of two restaurants; the ostentatious room itself which ‘comes on like one of Ron Burgundy’s pick-up lines’, and then there’s the food […]
This week saw a double helping of reviews for Richard Caring’s latest Mayfair venture, the lavishly appointed and ludicrously (yet somehow brilliantly) named Sexy Fish. Both the Evening Standard’s Grace Dent and the Telegraph’s Joseph Connolly paid the Berkeley Square newcomer a visit, and opinion was very much divided. Grace, being the meeja dahling that […]
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 […]
Brilliantly named Spanish chef and founder of the Ibèrica group, Nacho Manzano, will take to the stoves at the recently opened Ibèrica in Spinningfields, Manchester, later this month. On 27 April, he will prepare a seven course tasting menu alongside group head chef Cèsar Garcia, paired with wines from Manzano’s restaurants in Asturias – Casa Marciel, La […]
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 […]
Skye Gyngell has announced an addition to her first stand-alone London restaurant, Spring at Somerset House. The chef (often credited with putting Petersham Nurseries on the culinary map) plans to open a trio of spaces called The Salon adjacent to her New Wing dining room on 3 April. Spring opened late last year and had a […]
