Our weekly summary of what the national and local restaurant critics were writing about in the week ending 6 November 2022. ***** The Guardian “A very decent, experimental Japanese with a side of jazz.” Grace Dent was in Dalston, at mu, a live music venue where “the food is taken seriously” – to a surprising […]
Simpson’s Tavern, one of Britain’s oldest restaurants and London’s oldest traditional chophouse, is fighting for its life after its landlord changed the locks in an apparent row over pandemic-induced rent arrears. The City institution, which opened in 1757 and serves breakfast and lunch in a Dickensian interior, has called on supporters to contribute to a […]
New England seafood specialist Saltie Girl makes its international debut next week with its launch on North Audley Street in Mayfair. As the address might suggest, it will be a pretty upmarket offering – the original is noted for serving Martinis with a caviar-topped olive. Founder Kathy Sidell, a serial Boston restaurateur, says she was inspired […]
Celebrity chef Mark Hix is to make a come-back in the capital as food & beverage director of the Groucho Club – two years after losing his HIX London restaurant group to the pandemic and retreating to his native Dorset. The new appointment would seem to be a marriage made in heaven. Mark has been a […]
Diners can help alleviate homelessness by donating £1 per table at more than 540 restaurants, pubs and hotels around the UK between now and the end of the year in the charity StreetSmart’s annual fundraising drive. Chef and StreetSmart ambassador Monica Galetti (pictured), of restaurant Mere in Fitzrovia, is among the volunteers who provide daily […]
Peter Sanchez-Iglesias is relaunching his flagship restaurant Casamia – this time as an Italian restaurant called simply Casa. The new venture opens on 16 November, next-door to his Spanish tapas bar Paco Tapas in the harbourside former Bristol General Hospital building. The new Casa is to some extent a reimagining of the original Casamia, a family […]
Our weekly summary of what the national and local restaurant critics were writing about in the two weeks ending 30 October 2022 – sorry for the enforced break, the editors were busy putting the finishing touches to our UK guide. We hope you enjoy this double issue! ***** The Sunday Times Marina O’Loughlin surprised and […]
A permanent pop-up ‘incubator space’ has opened in London’s Chinatown to promote new east and southeast Asian restaurants. The first to occupy the site, at 15a Little Newport Street, is independent Taiwanese concept Dragon Cat Café, which specialises in bubble tea and snacks. At the new space, it will focus on freshly made fluffy Taiwanese […]
Highly rated Nottingham Indian restaurant Masala Junction is to reopen on Monday, 31 October, less than three weeks after closing down – apparently for good. The surprise reprieve came about when the owner of another prominent Indian restaurant in the city, Amita Sawhney of MemSaab, came forward with a rescue offer. Naj Aziz, who founded the […]
