The fire which all but destroyed the 14th-century Star Inn at Harome in North Yorkshire in November 2021 was an accident, a judge has declared at York Crown Court. Arson charges against 27-year-old Helmsley man Charles Birkitt were dropped last week ahead of a trial scheduled for next year when the prosecution accepted evidence showing […]

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Our weekly round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about up to 25 February 2024 ***** The Evening Standard Tashas, Battersea Jimi Famurewa confessed that it took a trip to Sydney in January to convince him of the attractions of the Antipodean brunch. “And now I have fallen pretty hard for Tashas — […]

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A new restaurant and wine bar combining Japanese-influenced food with natural wines opens today (Wednesday 21 February) in a townhouse on the Deal seafront in Kent – with yoga and treatments also available upstairs. The Blue Pelican is the latest venture from Chris Hicks and Alex Bagner, husband-and-wife team behind The Rose boutique hotel and restaurant […]

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Our weekly round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about up to 18 February 2024 ***** The Evening Standard Hainan House, Islington Jimi Famurewa was impressed by this “enormously likeable passion project” from “rookie restaurateur Sunny Wu”, who “seeks to illuminate the gastronomic tendencies of Hainan province for no other reason than the […]

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