Hibiscus in Mayfair and Piquet, just off Oxford Street, are both shutting down in the most prominent restaurant closures so far this year in London. Koffmann’s, the current perch of veteran chef Pierre Koffmann in the Berkeley hotel in Knightsbridge, is also closing its doors at the end of December. Piquet, which chef Allan Pickett […]
Chewton Glen, the “gorgeous” country-house hotel on the edge of the New Forest, is opening a purpose-built cookery school with its own restaurant and bakery, to be known as The Kitchen. A rolling programme of masterclasses led by big-name guest chefs is being put together by James Martin from the extensive list of contacts he […]
If you’ve ever fantasized about running your own pop-up restaurant, Swedish flat-pack furnisher Ikea is offering you the chance to do so this month in the heart of hipster central, better known as Shoreditch. For one meal only between September 10 and 25, you can take over the Dining Club in Shoreditch High Street and […]
⦿ The shortlists for the Harden’s London Restaurant Awards 2016 were announced today. The Awards Ceremony itself will take place at The Hippodrome Casino in Leicester Square on 12 September 2016. The aim is for street-food stall owners and London’s most famous chefs to rub shoulders together to recognise both the budget rising stars and veteran celebrity kitchens of […]
⦿ Jay Rayner reviewed The Classroom, Cardiff – the 5th floor restaurant for catering students of Cardiff and Vale College – and unleashed a twitter storm from defensive Welsh folk. Doubt he’ll be going to Cardiff again any time soon… “I could claim it’s a useful addition to Cardiff’s burgeoning culinary scene but this would […]
As the start of the first university term rolls around parents across the country will be packing their genius offspring off to the hallowed halls of some of the country’s best academic institutions. So parents if you’re planning to take your future graduates out for a ‘last supper’ before you drop them at the varsity, or […]
Foodies who like a bit of competition should bag a ticket for the Croquettas Challenge hosted by Ben Tish, director of the Salt Yard group, at Ember Yard on Berwick Street next Tuesday (Sept 6). The pride of London’s tapas purveyors will be represented, including Social Wine and Tapas, Brindisa, Oldroyd, Duende, Copita, Barrica and […]
Like-for-like sales at PizzaExpress fell a disappointing 1.3% for the UK and Ireland in the year ending June 26, the company announced yesterday. PizzaExpress management claims the dip is due to a broader slow down in the casual dining market, but could it just be that their brand is losing its way? Two years ago, it was […]
Fans who have missed Michael Caines’s much-decorated cooking since he left Gidleigh Park at the end of last year (much-decorated not least by the Harden’s Survey: Gidleigh being a multiple winner of the Harden’s Top 100 Restaurants for The Sunday Times) and who just can’t wait for him to open Lympstone Manor (his new hotel-with-rooms near […]
