⦿ Jay Rayner of The Observer visited 108 Garage off Portobello Road in Notting Hill, where he said “dribblingly positive reviews, of which this is another, have stacked up” – despite the lack of pre-opening publicity. “There is a touch of the Italian to the menu here, but also a touch of a bunch of other things besides. What […]
Acclaimed New York chef Dan Barber has lined up a stellar squad of London restaurant heroes for a month-long residency of his food-waste project wastED on the roof at Selfridges. Gordon Ramsay, Clare Smyth, Pierre Koffmann, Isaac McHale of Clove Club and Brett Graham of the Ledbury are among the leading London-based chefs who will put in a shift […]
Tom Kerridge is hosting a week of dinners with the pick of West Country chefs at his new private-dining space The Shed, almost next door to his Marlow pub the Hand & Flowers, in the last week of March. The Gloucestershire-born chef has lined up Peter Sanchez of Casamia in Bristol (Monday March 27), Michael […]
Ben Murphy, a protégé of Pierre Koffmann, has been appointed chef at Launceston Place, the South Kensington restaurant most famous as Princess Di’s local. Murphy, 26, made an immediate impact with his first restaurant, the Woodford, in northeast London last year, but quit after only 10 months. His predecessor at Launceston Place, the highly regarded […]
⦿ The Observer’s Jay Rayner reviewed Jihwaja, “a hilariously brilliant new Korean place in London’s Vauxhall” where “I felt like I had been glazed inside and out by their sweet-salty chilli sauce.” “Fried chicken is completely outrageous: crisp in a way that echoes through your jaw and muffles chatters, salty and sweet and fiery. Seaweed rice balls, laced with […]
Chef James Allcock is to open a small all-day bistro, the Pig and Whistle, on Sow Hill Road in Beverley, East Yorkshire, in early April. The former head chef at 1884 in Hull Marina left Humberside two years ago to work on the launch of Gary Usher’s Burnt Truffle in the Wirrall. He has returned home […]
The Hawksmoor group has suffered its first public reverse with the announcement that the Stoke Newington branch of its Foxlow spinoff will close for business on January 14. The closure comes just weeks before the main Hawksmoor brand is scheduled to open its eighth branch in the prestigious location of Borough Market in Southwark. Founders Huw Gott and […]
Following the success of the Cronut – a donut crossed with a croissant – here comes the sushi donut, the latest hybrid from the new Camden branch of Asian fusion mini-chain Inamo. In fact the sushi donut is much more palatable than the name suggests, mainly because it does not involve the deep fryer. Inamo is best known for […]
The Real Junk Food Project has launched a fundraising campaign to open a full-time pay-as-you-feel restaurant in Manchester next year, using only food destined to be thrown out. The project needs to raise £20,000 by January 13 in order to go ahead, with pledges being sought through Crowdfunder. Chef Mary-Ellen McTague, formerly of the Fat Duck and Manchester’s Aumbry, […]
⦿ Jay Rayner of The Observer reviewed Veneta, just off Piccadilly, which, while “not an actively bad restaurant”, brought his culinary year to a disappointing end. “I long ago stopped taking notes in restaurants, figuring that if I couldn’t recall what I’d had for dinner that spoke volumes. With this one I had to dig out the […]
