Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 26th April 2026
The Guardian
Grace Dent was left “punch-drunk with memories” after a meal at this new venue from the all-conquering Super 8 group, where chef Meedu Saad has conjured up a “hazy blend of styles, cuisines and shabby-chic luxury” that might just be “the next era of restaurants”.
The menu – “essentially a 3D printout of Saad’s mind” – needs some explaining from the servers, with dishes like bird’s tongue pasta (a type of orzo) braised with spiced oxtail; molokhia (braised jute leaf and shoulder of cull yaw sheep); and aish baladi (an Egyptian wholegrain bread). A mush of pounded white beans was “insanely good”, as were monkfish wrapped in grape leaves and cooked over coals, grilled short rib infused with rosemary and three varieties of black pepper; and a “riotous, salty-sweet date and pistachio custard tart” that was the only dessert.
“Impala is shamelessly, brilliantly too much”, Grace said. Its “extraordinary, inimitable and delicious” food somehow blending “a long-ago holiday in Tunisia mixed with late-night dinners on the boundaries of Stoke Newington, complete with throwbacks to the cocktails at the weird, industrial-chic Alphabet Bar back in 90s Beak Street and sprinklings of London’s Turkish-Cypriot scene.”
*****
Financial Times
Jay Rayner found “beauty of the soul” (‘kallos’ meaning beauty in ancient Greek) at a Greek café and wine bar set in a brutal concrete box of a building on a gloomy day in a northern city.
Much of his pleasure was found in the pitta cooked in-house: “It has both crunch and duvet softness. It’s the kind of bread that challenges restraint, if you ever had any, for some of us are powerless in the face of bread this good.” He relished it with “silken” dips; in the form of flatbreads with toppings such as roast lamb, tomatoes, red peppers and cheese; and with a selection of top-class Spanish and Portuguese tinned fish and seafood.
Other dishes – prawns roast with tomato sauce and feta; stuffed cabbage leaves; the classic orange cake portokalopita – were equally impressive, as was the list of most Greek wines by the bottle or glass. “A menu like this, stuffed with stifados, spanakopitas and the rest, joins that at Oma and Myrtos in London, and the original Fenix nearby, as cheery evidence of a growing enthusiasm for the Greek repertoire in the UK.”
*****
The Times
Chitra Ramaswamy scoffed a good-value lunch of “big flavoured small plates” at a small and spartan venue from Stuart Ralston – “one of Scotland’s best chefs” (see also Tipo, Vinette, Lyla) – where his East Asian-via-US East Coast dishes remain as “thrilling” as when it opened seven years ago (“a lifetime in restaurant terms”).
Highlights include “bing”, a pan-fried Chinese bread that has become something of a Ralston signature, and his ‘Arbroath smokie chawanmushi’ – or “Cullen Skink chawanmushi”, as Chitra renamed it – “a masterclass in fusion and technique: served in the teacup in which the savoury custard was steamed, topped with thick flakes of smoked fish and a rich leek-infused brown butter miso emulsion.
The chef is also “a beef tartare magician” (the venison version at Vinette is brilliant), and Noto’s is “another stunner: the beef buttery with a mineral back note, balanced with black garlic puree and a kiss of yolk, served on a dense, nutty fried rice cake infused with furikake”. Desserts also hit the spot, including a chocolate mousse whose “dark not-too-sweet richness [is] achieved, incredibly, with tofu, maple syrup and chocolate.”
*****
London Standard
David Ellis enjoyed eating solo at a plush and comforting steakhouse that was ignored because it was members-only when The Ned launched in 2017; by the time the owners realised their mistake and allowed the public in, it was too late to get any attention.
Set in the former manager’s office at the old Midland Bank HQ, its heavy wood panelling, green leather and white-coated staff “could have come from a Pall Mall club, the Titanic, a scene in Brideshead Revisited”, while the food is “just as it should be for a grill: unchallenging but of fine quality. A place for Montrachet with the salmon and Margaux with the rib-eye” – all “priced to reassure”.
“It is not a challenging restaurant, nor particularly fashionable. But service is exceptional, food excellent, and the setting a beauty.”
*****
Daily Mail
Tom Parker Bowles and his dining companion were “struck dumb, sitting in a sort of startled, delighted silence” by the excellence of the strozzapretti all’amatriciana at this “civilised” new place from Trullo’s Conor Gadd.
Given that his companion was “Giles” (Coren of The Times), the silence could not have endured as they worked their merry way through more pasta (busiate with a rocket and basil pesto, “verdantly vibrant, all spring vim and sap rising”), deep-fried slivers of artichoke with a “genius” dusting of grated bottarga, rich Venetian-style chicken livers, a “transcendentally fresh” piece of brill, and a crab aqua pazza that contained “the essence of Southern Italy”. Several hours and two bottles of crisp Pecorino later, the pair agreed that “the long lunch is a thing of the past”.
“London has an abundance of Italian restaurants,” Tom declared, “but very few that are actually any good. Burro is up there with the best.”
*****
Daily Telegraph
William Sitwell’s enjoyment of a “sensuous” menu (roast bone marrow, brandade, and lamb rump) and a strong wine list delivered in a shipping container venue with a “rustic French vibe” was marred by service he blasted as abrupt and aggressively brutal.
“Start with a smile,” he urged the staff.
