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Review of the Reviews - London

Empress of Sichuan

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

“To get the best from the menu, go in a party of at least four and you can then also express some entitlement to one of the comfortable banquettes. Demure waitresses are in attendance and if either Naomi or Ruby or both are on duty, ask for them; their suggestions are worth following.” The doyenne of critics gives a rather prescriptive review of Chinatown’s former Keelung (same ownership). Follow her instructions, though, and you can have an interesting Sichuan meal here.

The Avenue

Richard Vines, Bloomberg (Rating: 3/4 stars)

A review of a James’s restaurant that’s “been around for years… without becoming a destination, except for drinkers in search of a bar in St. James where you can enjoy decent wines without paying indecent prices”. Now, however, the critic finds it “reborn under a young Finnish chef whose menu and cooking are deserving of attention and even a detour if you’re thinking of other haunts in the area such as Le Caprice”.

(Chef Mikko Kataja, 31, “is an unlikely champion of modern British cooking and ingredients. He was born in Sammatti near Helsinki, and has become such a fan of U.K. produce that he cooks with rapeseed oil, rather than olive oil, and his improbable signature dish is a fondue made from three British cheeses”.)

Manson

Guy Dimond, Time Out (Rating: 4/5 stars)

“Manson is that rare thing in London: a place where the sophistication of the food easily outstrips its casual, bistro-style setting”, says the critic. Service and setting can jar but, “to compensate, there’s Gemma Tuley’s food”. Ms Tuley was last checked out by the critic when she was working at the “critically panned revamp of Foxtrot Oscar… a bistro of disappointing banality. But at Manson, Tuley’s showing us what she’s capable of when unfettered in the kitchen”.

Boyd's Brasserie

Marina O'Loughlin, Metro

The critic finds an “extraordinary” Marble Hall, just off Trafalgar Square, where the menu – “an all-day, deliberate crowd-pleaser” – “veers from genuinely excellent… to frankly duff”.

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