Keelung
Terry Durack, The Independent on Sunday (Rating: 14/20)
This Taiwanese newcomer is, we’re told, “a mile away from your average Chinatown greasy-chopstick caff, with its smart wall of wines, dark, comfy booths, and eager, gung-ho staff”. Navigating the “maze of menus” the critic finds “interesting” “nose-to-tail” cuisine, where the only let-down is the “Dreaded Taiwanese Brown Sauce” which pops up in lots of dishes.
Did the Observer’s man really go to the same restaurant as his opposite number at the Indie? He just finds the new Chinatown Taiwanese “[a]nother searing disappointment”. It is “a grown-up space, all clean, dark wood and shiny wine racks”, but he is “baffled and bemused” by the complex menus. These include a couple of good dishes, but “[m]uch else was mediocre to bad”.
Palm
AA Gill, The Sunday Times (Rating: 1/5 stars)
Mr Gill comes to much the same conclusion as many other critics about this “much chewed-over American institution”, recently arrived in Belgravia. He finds the “qualifications” about the steaks – “their age, weight, place of birth” – “unnecessary”, and the meat itself “bland, tough and miserably parched”. All in all, it is a “drearily disappointing” experience, that ends with a “very bullish” bill.
Tracey MacLeod, The Independent (Rating: Food 3/5 stars, Ambience 2/5 stars, Service 4/5 stars)
The critic enjoys the American experience at the Belgravia branch of “[t]he granddaddy of New York steakhouses”. The staff are “the real deal” and the look – apart from the “startling” caricatures – is “standard steakhouse”. The steak, when it arrives, is “first-rate”, but the lobster has a “vacuum-packed quality”, and the starters and puddings disappoint too. Predictably, the “only part of the Palm experience which doesn't feel authentically American” is the “staggering” bill.
Eastside Inn
Giles Coren, The Times (Rating: 6/10)
The critic – newly engaged, in case you didn’t know – finds that the layout of Bjorn van der Horst’s City venture doesn’t quite work. The “silent posh room” “hangs awkwardly off the hotel-style reception area” and has “the feel of a hushed exam hall”, whilst the lighting in the bistro area gives it “the look of an operating theatre”, and it has “terrible” acoustics too. The food, however, turns out to be pretty good.
Zoe Williams, The Telegraph (Rating: 7/10)
The fine dining room of this Farringdon newcomer is “pretentiously laid out” but, we learn, “with some justification.” The critic experiences food that is “spectacularly good”, although some dishes disappoint, topped off with some “hilarious” yet “utterly delicious” desserts. “It would be unfair to call it hit-and-miss: the hits are so much better than the misses are bad. But it’s not quite there, yet.”
The Carpenter’s Arms
Matthew Norman, The Guardian (Rating: 9/10)
The critic visits a Hammersmith gastropub that “serv[es] outstanding food with unaffected charm”. The design is “engaging” and “retains its pubbiness despite a dash of bistro”. The food is “beautifully cooked”, and he notes that “the chef shows real delicacy in balancing flavours”. The only slight criticism is that portion sizes “tend toward the rustic”.
San Lorenzo Fuoriporta
Jasper Gerard, The Sunday Telegraph (Rating: 2/5)
The “country cousin of the Knightsbridge trattoria”, in Wimbeldon is a “good venue” for romance, with its “subdued lighting and sophisticated atmosphere”. The “huge” portions of Italian fare are “[f]amiliar” and “bland”: “[i]f the restaurant understands that back in Italy there is a movement towards food that is fresher and less heavy, it hasn't quite delivered here.”
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