AA Gill, The Sunday Times (Rating: Food 4/5, Atmosphere 4/5 )
“The cooking is refined and calm” at this Notting Hill restaurant, with Brett Graham at the helm; “this is a wonderful restaurant that was serving the lunch I wanted when I wanted it” and “is far better than I remember it”.
“Most of what we ate was far better than OK” at this trendy, all-day cafe in Hackney which serves up everything – breakfast, lunch and dinner – “in a vaguely Italian-meets-Britian sort of way”; whilst “there is nothing radical about any of this” it is “the quality of a place like this” “which gives cause for optimism”.
Blacksmith and the Toffee Maker EC1
Amol Rajan, The Independent on Sunday (Rating: 4/10)
“This is a pub whose main selling point is booze, not food” so “come here to drink, not to eat” is Amol's advice to those testing out Clerkenwell's newest pub, as “this was one hell of a missable meal”.
Sibling to The Sportsman, this pub near Canterbury serves food that's “well above average even for a well-regarded pub restaurant” and “service, like everything else about the place, works well, too”.
Matthew Norman, The Telegraph (Rating: 4/5 stars)
“Somehow, we had stumbled upon one of the great restaurants of Britain” here in the Midlands, with dishes showcasing “a chiefly amalgam of technical excellence, intuitive flair and imagination” and, at £31 for a three course set meal, it's “a steal for food of this quality”.
John Walsh, The Independent (Rating: Food 2/5, Ambience 3/5, Service 3/5)
“Essentially a simple trattoria with lots of charm but one or two delusions of grandeur”, this Marylebone newcomer straddles the line between a “backstreet-nibbles bar” and a “full-blown restaurant”, with its “extraordinary” menu “mostly devoted to starters” and its interiors “strenuously down-home functional”.
Giles Coren, The Times (Rating: Cooking 7/10, Soul 10/10, SRA 6, Score 7.66)
“The cooking is super-confident, rare and interesting” at this “groovy” Peruvian newcomer to Soho with “stunning” ceviche; “the look of the room is great” and “staff are incredibly sweet”...“this place is brilliant”.
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