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Review of the Reviews - London

Bocca Di Lupo

Jan Moir, Are you ready to order?

“There are many, many good things about Bocca di Lupo”, says the critic. Right from the off, we know how this review of a new Soho Italian is going to go, and the food here is indeed “tremendous”.

Fay Maschler, Evening Standard (Rating: 4/5 stars)

“Chef Jacob Kenedy and general manager Victor Hugo’s new Italian venture is, to put no finer a point on it, absolutely spiffing” – the doyenne of critics makes no bones about her positive views on this new Soho spot.

Min Jiang

Marina O'Loughlin, Metro (Rating: 4/5 stars)

Oh dear, we’re just going to have to agree to disagree with Ms O’Loughlin about this tenth-floor Kensington Chinese. They make a big thing about duck there, and she concludes that “everything pales into insignificance in the long shadow of our formerly feathered friend”, which is the very opposite conclusion from our own review. But the duck is not the only thing she liked about it. The staff are “a real asset”, and overall she concludes that this is a place “able to hold its head up among the Hakkasans and Hunans” of the world.

Bob Bob Ricard

Fay Maschler, Evening Standard (Rating: 3/5 stars)

“Soho is experiencing a restaurant revival”, pronounces the critic, and this Edwardian train travel-inspired brasserie is, she suggests, part of it. The review does seem rather disappointingly short of opinions though – it clearly wasn’t just written from the press release, but much of it might as well have been.

Hat & Tun

Jenni Muir, Time Out (Rating: 3/6 stars)

The latest gastropub venture from the Martin brothers is “very appealing on paper”, notes the critic: “a revitalised Victorian boozer with a lunch-only menu of pure and simple Britannia – Scotch eggs, potted shrimp, doorstep sandwiches, fish and cottage pies”. Realisation, however, was a touch disappointing.

Bar Trattoria Semplice

Jenni Muir, Time Out (Rating: 4/6 stars)

A rather staccato review of a new Mayfair trattoria, which is an offshoot of a nearby restaurant that’s always struck the Time Out team as being “a little too buttoned-up for an Italian”. Prices are thought relatively high, but the only dish apparently subjected to any critical assessment was “generous in portion and just as liberal with flavour”.

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