Lutyens
The recently-opened restaurant in the Reuters building “bears all the familiar Conran DNA: a pleasant room that doesn’t scream for attention, a seafood counter” and an “unashamedly French” menu, says the critic. It offers simple food that “you can order and enjoy while continuing a conversation”, staff are “helpful without being intrusive”, but the prices mean it is “not so much ‘an everyday’ neighbourhood brasserie” as it tries to appear.
Sushinho
AA Gill, The Sunday Times (Rating: 0/5 stars)
In “a rather smart dining room” on the Kings Road, Gill samples Brazilian-Japanese fusion food. Unfortunately they are “not naturally companionable cuisines”; the former “large, generous and sloppy” and the latter “like neurotic fish origami.” This restaurant, he concludes, “is a bad concept done as well as it could be.”
Restaurant at St Paul’s
Zoe Williams, The Telegraph (Rating: 5/10)
The critic warns us that she finds it “unappetising” to dine in the “atmospheric austerity” of a church. Unfortunately, the food at the new restaurant in St Paul’s does little to sway her. Although there is the odd “almost redeemingly good” dish, she is mostly “ambivalent” about her meal, in which “there was more disappointment than awe”.
Del’Aziz
John Walsh, The Independent (Rating: Food 3/5 stars, Ambience 2/5 stars, Service 4/5 stars)
The “mind-bogglingly ghastly” Bermondsey Square is home to the latest branch of this chain of Middle Eastern restaurants. The “charming and enthusiastic” service and the “excellence” of the puddings stand out, but the “generic mezze” is “formulaic”, and it appears, “with its shop of goodies, its bakery and all-day fare”, that it is “trying to do too much.”
Sushi Hiro, Kiraku
Jasper Gerard, The Sunday Telegraph (Rating: 3/5, 3.5/5)
This week, the critic visits “two modest Japanese restaurants in Ealing”. The first, the tiny Sushi Hiro, doesn’t offer a large range of food, but what it does have is “a winning formula”. The second is an “ altogether swisher establishment” (by Japanese standards), where he enjoys some “joyful” cocktails and “wonderful” food.
Pizza Hut
Lisa Markwell, The Independent on Sunday (Rating: 12/20)
The critic visits the rebranded ‘Hut’ “to see whether [it] can regain some kudos”, having “been overtaken in terms of fun and quality by other chains.” She finds it delivers in terms of quantity – “the Everything Buffet is a greedy eater’s dream” – but the quality is only “OK”. The best she can say about the place? “I'd take my kids there – even if I'd have to talk them into it.”
21212, Edinburgh
At this “rather swanky restaurant” in Edinburgh, the critic finds that chef-patron, Paul Kitching, has left behind the “multiple-course extravaganzas” that characterised his Juniper restaurant, in Altrincham. However, he is still “not a man to use one ingredient when 15 will do” and the critic acknowleges that this is “not food for everyone”. For him, however, it is “some of the most highly characterised, beautifully realised, best-value cooking in the UK.”
Magpie Cafe, Whitby
“You would have to be a certified curmudgeon to not like the Magpie”, says the critic. There is “nothing chic or sleek” about this Whitby institution (which has been going for seven decades), but it does “simple things with really good fish.” This cafe has “the longest menu [he has] ever seen”, which is ironic as “you only come to the Magpie for one dish” – the fish and chips, which are “marvellous”.
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