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Review of the Reviews - London

Brasserie St Jacques

David Sexton, Evening Standard (Rating: 3/5 stars)

“Walking into Brasserie St Jacques, halfway down St James’s Street on the site of the former Fiore, immediately feels right”, says the Standard’s now-regular stand-in for Ms Maschler. “The formally dressed French waiters couldn't possibly be more charming”, and the food is “absolutely correct French brasserie fare, quite heavy on the butter and cream one realises afterwards, but fresh and good”.

Vapiano

Anne McElvoy, Evening Standard (Rating: 4/5 stars)

We’re not purists about how only restaurants critics – whoever they are – can do restaurant criticism. (We’re only too well aware of the old joke about how you might get the opera critic to do the restaurants, but never vice-versa.) But we do think that there’s a point in consistency, and we do find it rather frustrating the way the Standard’s reviewers keep changing from week to week. Do the awards made by London’s own newspaper of record reflect the reviewer or the restaurant? How is one to know?

This review of the new Italian self-service chain outlet near Oxford Circus, run by a German outfit, is a case-in-point. We’ve been there, and it is in our view – simply from the nature of the place – most unlikely that Ms Maschler would ever have given it four stars. Three would have been very respectable. Yet Anne McEvoy happily doles out the award one stop down from the max to “a café with well-spaced large wooden tables and plenty of oils, vinegars and basils in the middle for the children to make chaos with” (though, to be fair, she tips upstairs as quieter and more suited to a budget date).

The justification for the giddy award seems to be that prices are reasonable, and that, on the food front, pizzas are “the only letdown”. But then the menu isn’t very extensive in the first place, and very standard.

L'Anima

Elena Berton, Time Out (Rating: 4/6 stars)

As we tend to agree with the Jan Moir view – that this Shoreditch newcomer is one of the best Italian restaurants to open in London in living memory – it’s rather a shame that it has been reviewed rather dismissively by TO. Bizarrely, they decided to run the Amima review second to – and shorter than – one on the Hoxton Pony, which is not principally a restaurant at all! Is it 'cos, seen through the TO prism, Hoxton is trendy, and the City isn’t? – seems an odd basis on which to prioritise reviews.

It’s also a shame that the place wasn’t reviewed by head reviewer, Guy Dimond. Ms Berton, whose pieces appear only occasionally, rather damns L’Anima with faint praise, as a place where “affluent trend-setters will love being spotted flashing their Black AmEx. This is rather irritating when, at least in our view, the prices are more notable for their general reasonableness, given the setting and service.

Saf

Marina O'Loughlin, Metro (Rating: 3/5 stars)

The critic rather enjoys her trip to “London's first gourmet vegan, raw food restaurant”. “What's particularly striking” about the Shoreditch newcomer, she finds, “is its swankiness… Actually, with its cool, pistachio and graphite colour scheme, sleek furniture, designer light fittings and airy outdoor terrace, it's all rather gorgeous [,and the staff] are young, attractive and clued-up”. And the food largely lives up.

Hoxton Pony

Will Fulford Jones, Time Out (Rating: 3/6 stars)

“Shoreditch and Hoxton remain in uneasy flux”, notes TO’s man (and TO is the sort of publication that ought to know about this sort of thing). “The latest entrepreneur to try to crack this muddled market is Gerry Calabrese, son of smooth-talking cocktail guru Salvatore Calabrese and an experienced mixologist in his own right”. Some of the cockails are indeed “exceptional”, but the “sophistication of the drinks stands in stark and presumably deliberate contrast to the food: gauchely described as ‘East End Grub’, it’s poshed-up gastropub cooking served in bijou portions”. Some of it, though, is quite “decent”.

Quo Vadis

Richard Vines, Bloomberg (Rating: 2/4 stars)

“Though it's early days, Quo Vadis has the elements in place to become a successful restaurant, serving unfussy seasonal dishes”, says the critic. Yet, as he sagely observes, “it's hard to get excited about Quo Vadis… If I wanted this sort of food, I'd head over to Hix, or to Maze Grill for steaks. If I wanted high-quality cooking in Soho, it would be hard to beat Arbutus for value.” While this is a “solid start”, he concludes, “it's not a wildly inspiring one”.

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