Our summary of what the national and local restaurant critics were writing about in the second week of 2023. ***** The Guardian “British hospitality’s approach to vegetarians and vegans has pivoted 180 degrees since the bad old days of the pub-grub microwaved veggie lasagne.” Inspired her late father’s reactions to her teenage vegetarianism, Grace Dent‘s […]

Continue reading


This week’s Review of the Reviews is the last one for 2022 – we’ll be back in the New Year with a two-week round-up. Here’s what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 18 December… it seems to be very Mayfair-focused; maybe our regular critics were treating themselves for Christmas. […]

Continue reading


Our weekly summary of what the national and local restaurant critics were writing about in the week ending 20 November 2022. ***** The Guardian Grace Dent awarded her “2022 Pudding of the Year award” to the “very charming” The Dog & Gun in Skelton for their “dark chocolate millefeuille” that “featured a thick Valrhona ganache between […]

Continue reading


Our weekly summary of what the national and local restaurant critics were writing about in the week ending 25 September 2022. ***** The Sunday Times Even the most cynical of critics will be won over by Water Lane, insists Marina O’Loughlin: it’s “just the most serene and beautiful place, billows of flowers framing ornate grade […]

Continue reading


Our weekly summary of what the national and local restaurant critics were writing about in the week ending 11 September 2022. ***** The Sunday Times The Stratford hotel in east London is “a building that Ridley Scott might have rejected for Blade Runner as too comically dystopian”. Inside, on the 7th floor (“suspended between a […]

Continue reading


Happy Bank Holiday Monday! This is what the national and local restaurant critics were writing about in the week ending 28 August 2022. ***** The Evening Standard “Lately, I have been reacquainting myself with the joys of a bargain restaurant deal.” Taking advantage of the “citywide awakening… that budget-consciousness and brilliance are not mutually exclusive […]

Continue reading


Here’s our regular summary of what the national and local restaurant critics have been writing about in the week ending 31 July 2022. ***** The Guardian “Delicate, imaginative and painstaking cookery….this is a place that deserves to prosper.” Grace Dent visited Maidenhead, but not on the new Elizabeth Line, which won’t arrive there until 2023; […]

Continue reading


Here’s our regular summary of what the national and local restaurant critics have been writing about in the week ending 24 July 2022. ***** The Guardian “Life is odd right now, but it throws up real surprises.” Grace Dent visited Brighton’s old-but-new Shelter Hall, housed in a “rather beautiful seafront building, built in 1888”, which […]

Continue reading


Here’s our regular summary of what the national and local restaurant critics have been writing about in the week ending 17 July 2022. ***** The Guardian “You can’t just “move” a restaurant. The magic is in a plethora of small things other than food: the acoustics, the convergence of tables, traffic noises, the location of […]

Continue reading