AA Gill, The Sunday Times (Rating: Food 2/5, Atmosphere 2/5)
With decor “too timid to be tasteful” and a menu with “a bit of a concept, but not enough to bother with”, it's hard to comprehend why the ‘everyday’ Italian food at Cotidie “has been Frenchified, to give the dishes…a phony etiquette”, especially as “it doesn't savour of much” and prices are steep for this sort of “monotone” food.
“The basics are there”, and there may be “someone in the kitchen who can cook” but attempts at creativity (or what Jay classes as “desperation”) don't come off at this Harrow-on-the-Hill Italian, leaving Jay feeling like it's a meal “to be endured”, despite the attractive interiors and “attentive if a little off the ball“ staff.
Giles Coren, The Times (Rating: Food 3/10, Service 3/10, SRA 1/10, Score 2.33)
“Street food ought to be easy to do”, so it's a shame that pan-Asian, city-based restaurant Ume is “terrible” with its “extremely rude service” and dishes that offend not only on taste (“a total travesty of this great street-food tradition”), but also sourcing of ingredients - The SRA writes that “Ume can't use cost as an excuse” for its poor efforts at sustainably sourcing its ingredients.
Matthew Norman, The Telegraph (Rating: 8/10)
With “unbelievably fresh” seafood at “ostentatiously fair” prices, it's hard not to be a fan of this “nautically merry” beachfront café in Dorset where food travels just “a few yards from birth to plate”; be sure to visit soon - this will be amongst “the country's busiest restaurants” when the Olympic yachting comes to nearby Weymouth.
With the skills to bring off fusion cooking “without jarring mismatches”, this fish restaurant in the home of husband and wife duo the Pembertons is “more like exceptional home cooking than over-presented restaurant food” with “excellent balance” among the dishes in the “four-course, no-choice” menu.
Tracey MacLeod, The Independent (Rating: Food 4/5, Ambience 3/5, Service 4/5)
Its small plates may be more London than Lima, but Tracey is a fan of this Peruvian newcomer in Soho with its “super-fresh” fish bringing with it a “punchy, citric explosion of flavour” alongside an equally tasty menu of Peruvian classics and desserts but, like many other recent openings in Soho, “its cramped tables” make this place great to “pop in for a drink and a bite” but not the place to spend a “long, lingering evening”.
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