Texture

Press Reviews (8)

• Zoe Williams (4th March 2008)
  7/10
  
  The critic likes a place “so confident of its own luxuriousness that it doesn't feel the need to be all that comfortable”. It helps that the chef and sommelier of this ambitious spot north of Oxford Street – both ex-Manoir – “came away with the ability to inspire awe”. The cooking, though, is “a pretension/tastiness tightrope”. There were dishes which were “just underwhelming” and others which were “utterly stunning”. “So, in conclusion, yes and no; but the yes moments were just delightful.”
• Christopher Hart (7th January 2008)
  1/5 stars
  
  AA Gill’s stand-in gives a very poor review – amusing, in a mortifying sort of way – to an establishment that’s notable for the disparate reports it has inspired.
• Jay Rayner (19th November 2007)
  
  At least Jay Rayner – who doesn’t award ‘marks’ in his reviews – is clear what he sees his job as being about, though. His key test, he confides at the end of his favourable review of Texture, is “Did it taste nice?” Who’d have thought it.
• Matthew Norman (8th November 2007)
  6.75/10 points
  
  Like the Times’s man, Matthew Norman finds this ambitious newcomer only a partial success. “It's all amazingly clever”, observes his dining companion, “and you have to admire the technical mastery” – “the only problem is, you don't really want to eat it.” For the second week running, the critic decries “the quest for Michelin approval and market distinction that inveigles so many potentially great cooks into compromising their gifts”.
• Joe Joseph (8th November 2007)
  
  “It all works well enough. But you have to concentrate” – Giles Coren’s stand-in for the week finds only moderated rapture at this ambitious newcomer, north of Oxford Street.
• Terry Durack (23rd October 2007)
  16/20 points
  
  Chef Agnar Sverrisson is an example of the current tendency to “lighter eating”, says the critic, and there “a lightness and texture in the décor as well as the cooking” at this ambitious newcomer, just north of Oxford Street. “There is something rather dreamlike about Texture”, which offers “proof that gastronomy is changing to accommodate people who love good food but don't want to be punished by it”.
• Tracey MacLeod (19th October 2007)
  Food 4/5 stars; Ambience 3/5 stars; Service 4/5 stars
  
  This newcomer north of Oxford Street offers “surprisingly palatable” dishes which can have an “incredible sun-drenched kick”, says the critic, and Chef Agnar Sverrisson's shows “traces of the mad perfectionism”. Service is “faultless” too.
• Fay Maschler (19th September 2007)
  4/5 stars
  
  Ms. Maschler enjoys her meal at this trendy newcomer, where the fare is “wonderfully fresh tasting”, and offers some “feisty” textures.