Market

AA Gill, Sunday Times
Rating: 2/5 stars
It may have been widely hailed by other reviewers, but Mr Gill doesn’t have a great time at the British bistro in Camden Town. “It’s difficult, after the opening buzz and the rave reviews, to keep up the standards of a packed restaurant… Market needs to get a grip if it’s in it for the long run”, says the critic.

Tom's Place

Matthew Norman, The Guardian
Rating: 6.75/10 (though that's only because I added 1.25 points in the hope of avoiding domestic ructions)
“But when it comes to fish and chips, really, who on earth wants to go to Chelsea?” Oh dear, yet another review that’s more about Chelsea, and its inmates, than it is about Tom Aikens and his new eco-chippy.

Terry Durack, Independent on Sunday
Rating: 15/20
“Clientele aside, there is plenty to like about Tom's Place”, says the critic. Chelsea’s sustainable chippy, however, is not paticularly new to him “as Sydney's Bondi, Manly and Balmoral beaches did new-wave chippy back in the 1990s” (“inspiring Rick Stein and others to follow their example”). Aikens, it turns out, has even sourced an Australian manager in Chris McNally, “last seen at Sydney's Flying Fish”.

The Landau

Joe Joseph, The Times

The critic, standing in for Giles Coren, is less than thrilled to have his credit card demanded when booking dinner for two at this hotel dining room near Oxford Circus, especially as “when we arrived 20 minutes later, maybe 4 of the 30 or so tables were occupied”. He immediately endures the “still or sparkling” trial, and is not especially thrilled to be told that the waiter has "prepared… a selection of bread” for him, and that the salt comes form the Himalayas. (“Doesn’t European salt just drive you so mad?”) Unsuprisingly, he does not seem convinced that the meal which follows is entirely up to its pretensions.

Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester

Michael Winner, Sunday Times
Rating: 1/5 stars
Our hero finds Monsieur Ducasse’s new outfit a “very pleasant” room. Not the cooking though, and he finds the £1m allegedly invested in the new kitchen an almost total waste of money.

Tom Ilic

Zoe Williams, Sunday Telegraph
Rating: 9/10
“[T]he local-bistro look belies some absolutely stunning cooking”, says the critic. Tom Ilic’s “superhuman” achievements win a real rave review for this Battersea newcomer.

Le Cassoulet

Jay Rayner, The Observer

“Le Cassoulet is not a great reason to visit Croydon, but it's not a bad reason for staying in Croydon if you already happen to be there”. This is “not quite” a destinatino restuarant, opines the critic, but it is a “fine ornament” for the “lucky people” who live nearby.

Yellows, Norwich City FC, Norwich

Tracey MacLeod, The Independent
Rating: 2/5 stars for food
The critic visits Delia Smith’s brasserie at Norwich FC. “[A]s the brainchild of one of Britain's most famous and influential cooks”, she concludes, “it needs a bit more work to earn promotion to the Premier League”.

The Castle, Taunton

Jasper Gerard, Daily Telegraph
Rating: 6/10
The Telegraph’s critic, still settling in, visits the once-celebrated West Country hotel restaurant that’s just been re-awared the Michelin star it got all those years ago when one G Rhodes was at the stove. He finds a place which “just feels a bit dead” – perfect for the tyre men then! – where the service is very slow, and the food doesn’t quite live up to his expectations.