⦿ The Guardian’s Marina O’Loughlin reviewed Trump Turnberry 6/10 in Ayrshire, where she arrived with “prejudices fully erect” and is told in a whisper, “We’re not allowed to talk politics.” “Yes, there’s a lot to loathe. I hate that the hotel celebrates Scottishness in a way only a tourist can love: charming doormen waft you indoors […]
Rising star chef Anton Piotrowski has left Devon gastropub the Treby Arms and re-launched his career in a small Plymouth restaurant. He blamed the sudden move on the breakdown of his marriage. Piotrowski turned the modest pub in his home village of Sparkwell into a multi-award-winning destination with an ambitious menu over a six-year period, winning MasterChef: […]
A retirement village in Hampshire has become the first to win national recognition for the quality of its restaurant with the award of an AA rosette. The Redwood Bistro at Bishopstoke Park retirement community in Eastleigh – which is open to non-residents – received the award following an anonymous inspection visit in December. While the announcement may have come […]
Australian-style burger café Ben’s Canteen has raised more than £400,000 in a crowdfunding campaign towards an ambitious expansion programme from its Battersea base. Ben Walton opened the original café in 2011, adding a branch in nearby Earlsfield in 2015. The next phase begins with a high-profile branch at the new Battersea Power Station development in September, the […]
A couple who met in the kitchen at St John are opening their first restaurant, Sparrow, in Lewisham at the end of March. Terry Blake and Yohini Nandakumar say they will use seasonal British meat and vegetables and cook their favourite dishes – which gives them a pretty broad canvas. Between them they have notched up experience at Bao, […]
Two former managers at chef Brett Graham’s Fulham gastropub the Harwood Arms have teamed up to open a food-led country pub near Henley. The thatched, Grade II-listed Bottle & Glass Inn, in the south Oxfordshire village of Binfield Heath, will open its doors by the end of March following an 18-month renovation. Owners David Holliday […]
In what may be an unprecedented move, Marcus Wareing has promoted husband-and-wife team Mark and Shauna Froydenlund to the roles of joint chef patrons – should that be “chefs patron” or even “chefs patrons”? – at his Knightsbridge flagship restaurant in the Berkeley hotel. Long-time Wareing lieutenants, the couple have worked at the restaurant since its […]
⦿ In the Observer, Jay Rayner reviewed Barbecoa, the new Piccadilly flagship from Jamie Oliver (pictured, left, with Raymond Blanc), a grand and expensive “meat and smoke extravaganza“. “It feels like a big New York brasserie crossed with a branch of Hawksmoor. The real action is downstairs in a basement space which laughs in the […]
Le Gavroche, the Roux family flagship and foundation stone of modern London gastronomy, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year with a “Back to the Classics” menu of original dishes from 1967. The menu is available until December and costs £90 a head for five courses, bookable in advance, to be shared in the Library […]
