Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 11th January 2026 The Guardian Martino’s, Chelsea Grace Dent hailed the “beautiful bedlam” of restaurateur Martin (‘The Dover’) Kuczmarski’s “glitzy, sexy, mock-Italian trattoria” in Sloane Square – a place so superbly designed and operated, at once so cool and so laidback, […]

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Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about over the holiday period up to 4th January 2026 The Guardian Poon’s at Somerset House, Aldwych Grace Dent was an immediate convert to Amy Poon’s relaunch of the family’s restaurant brand in the New Wing of Somerset House, declaring it simultaneously “sweet, confident, feminine, […]

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Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 14th December 2025 Financial Times Vetch, Liverpool Jay Rayner had his faith in top-end tasting-menu establishments and their frequently self-important, grandstanding chefs restored – well, “(almost)” – by dinner at this “sweet, modest and clever restaurant”, where chef Daniel McGeorge […]

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Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 30th November 2025, when reviews were thin on the ground as newspapers turned their focus towards seasonal features and end-of-year compilations   London Standard Crisp Pizza at The Marlborough, Mayfair David Ellis nabbed a reservation directly from founder Carl McCluskey […]

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Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 23rd November 2025 The Guardian The Shaston Arms, Soho Grace Dent was resolutely unimpressed by a pub that failed to bridge the gap between being an “old-school boozer” and “a cool restaurant that serves food at premium prices” – a […]

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Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 9th November 2025 The Guardian Lilibet’s, Mayfair Grace Dent anointed her “new favourite restaurant”: Australian chef and Bone Daddies founder Ross Shonhan’s seafood specialist at the birthplace of the late QEII (fka ‘Lilibet’) – whose “turbo-chintz, Las Vegas-style royalist fever dream” […]

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Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 2nd November 2025 The Guardian Franc, Canterbury Grace Dent enjoyed some “just great, great cooking” at a new venture from Dave Hart and Polly Pleasence, formerly of the Folkestone Wine Company, in a timber-framed gatehouse to Tudor-era almshouses – which, unusually, serves its fancier […]

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Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 19th October 2025 The Guardian  670 Grams, Birmingham Grace Dent thrilled to a “dark, daunting, uncompromising” but “never boring” venue in Digbeth’s Custard Factory development, from former Purnell’s and The Man Behind the Curtain chef Kray Treadwell – a place of […]

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Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 12th October 2025 The Guardian Punk Royale, Mayfair Grace Dent braved a subversive, immersive and rowdy Swedish take on multi-course fine dining that she felt was targeted at “cash-rich, experience-hungry twentysomethings”. It certainly wasn’t for her, and she signed […]

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