INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY | TERRY DURACK
Rating: 15/20 points
Like most of the reviewers to date, Mr Durack is satisfied with his visit to this Mayfair newcomer, which offers “all that is good about Arbutus… in a more comfortable and charming package”.
INDEPENDENT | TRACEY MACLEOD
Food 3/5 stars; Ambience 3/5 stars; Service 3/5 stars
Lauding the up-and-coming foodie scene in Marlow, Ms MacLeod visits this well-known hotel. The food sounds praiseworthy enough, with “sauces are combed over the plate like Richard Long installations”, and scallops “perfectly caramelised and succulent”, but it has “more impact on the eye than on the palate”. Soon after eating at The Compleat Angler, she “can't remember much about it”.
THE TIMES | GILES COREN
Rating: Meat/fish: 9/10 points; Cooking: 6/10 points; Harry: 10; Score: 8.33; Price: lunch about £15 per head; dinner, £25
Giles is leaving his north London ’hood, where the local restaurants are often “revolting” and “disappointing”. For a final review before his relocation, Coren selects R.E.D - “Really Excellent Dining” - where he has “had a lot of lunches”. The restaurant is “nice-looking” and “classy”, and serves “well-made” food.
SUNDAY TIMES | AA GILL
Rating: 4/5 stars
Astonished by the flavourful fare which makes one feel “healthy, compassionate, fun-loving and against the war in Iraq”, Mr Gill highly rates this seafood restaurant, even though “the last place you look for fish in England is by the sea”. It offers “very good value” too.
SUNDAY TIMES | MICHAEL WINNER
The appearance of this Pimlico classic (est. 1962, he says) suggests that the decorator “went mad”. “There are hanging baskets with wheat, dried flowers and grapes coming from them. The only things missing were human heads from the tumbrel”. The food is rather up-and-down, but it ends with a tarte Tatin which is “not unpleasant”.
TELEGRAPH | BELINDA RICHARDSON
Rating: 7/10 points
Belinda Richardson, stand-in for Mark Palmer, relishes her experience at the small Welsh restaurant, where the “refreshing” and “good” food is unfortunately “not really worth the London prices”.
OBSERVER | JAY RAYNER
This second-floor Thames-side Japanese newcomer “works if you treat it as a place for a casual meal and if you order the right things”, says Rayner, and it helps – obviously – “if you “get a table by the window”.
IN THE PREVIOUS WEEKS PAPERS
EVENING STANDARD | DAVID SEXTON
“There's no doubt this place is going to be a big hit” - writes David Sexton, the stand-in for Ms Maschler this week, even though some customers can endure “long waits” at this Covent Garden Mexican. Some diners may have problems with “stupidly overstyled plastic spoons” too, which can make for a “messy” meal.
METRO | MARINA O'LOUGHLIN
Rating: 3/5 stars
“Cool”, “funky”, “well thought out”, and “quirky”, Ms. O'Loughlin raves about Wahaca, where one can find the pork “divinely squelchy” and the tortilla chips “terrifically fresh”.
Service is excellent as well, as the staff are “cute, friendly young thangs”.
HARDENS OWN REVIEWS, AS PUBLISHED IN CITY AM
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