Le Cafe Anglais

Jay Rayner, The Observer
“Poetry in four dozen dishes” – that’s the critic summarises the carte at Rowley Leigh’s much-hyped Bayswater newcomer. For, as Rayner notes, Leigh is: “one of a group of smart, bookish middle-class boys - think Alastair Little, Simon Hopkinson and Fergus Henderson - responsible for establishing a style of French bistro-influenced modern British cooking, without which eating out in this country would be a much sadder affair.” Rayner’s meal is not absolutely faultless, but “there is so much else here to like - no, to love - that I find it hard to bear a grudge”. “I want to go back, and often. Rowley Leigh has written a menu designed for eating from, and I intend to meet the challenge.”


Urban Turban

Mark Palmer, Daily Telegraph
Rating: 3/10
“If this is Mumbai street food, then I'm Rudyard Kipling”, moans the critic. Sloppy service and disappointing dishes win a real drubbing for Vineet Bhattia’s Bayswater chain-prototype.


Tiroler Hut

AA Gill, Sunday Times
Rating: 4/5 stars
“I can’t think of a single dining room in London that still insists on dress code”, says the famous critic. A pretty staggering admission of ignorance, really: anyone who knows anything about restaurants knows Le Gavroche – which is, after all, by far the most obvious suspect – still does. It does make you wonder about the all-knowing pronouncements which Gill – in particular – is prone to making. And if you’re ignorant even of the most banal bits of local background information, why on earth should anyone take any notice of your views on the tricky bits? Having established his ignorance, Gill then goes on to opine that, objectively speaking, the Tiroler Hut has very little going for it. How droll and ironic, then, to award it four stars!


Kensington Place

Giles Coren, The Times
Rating: 7.33/10
“At the tale end of a some Jamaican reminiscenses, the critic happens to return to Kensington Place just after a new chef has been installed (as, by a curious coincidence, did we). Like we did, he has a most satisfactory meal, but found the place not very full. “There is something majestic and lovely“, he notes, “about a big old restaurant from which the name-chasing hordes have moved on, cooking very good food for nobody in particular”.


Griffin Inn Fletching

Matthew Norman, The Guardian
Rating: 9.5/10
A real rave review of a pretty pub which offers an “immaculate synthesis of outstanding ingredients and technically excellent cooking”.


The Walnut Tree Abergavenny

Nicholas Lander, Financial Times
“The Walnut Tree burns brightly once more”. The FT’s man has a great time at the famous restaurant which is the new perch of Shaun Hill (the Merchant House chef who ‘made’ Ludlow).