⦿ Jay Rayner of The Observer reviewed The Other Naughty Piglet, a branch of Brixton’s Naughty Piglets inside Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new theatre in Victoria, The Other Place, where he found “a kind of modern British cooking with wallops of umami”. “Sometimes the cleverness is textural. A pile of white crab meat sits atop a heap of […]
⦿ Marina O’Loughlin of the Guardian reviewed Popolo 8/10 in Shoreditch,”run with utter grace by Jonathan Lawson, [an] ex-Theo Randall chef”. “The main flavour here is Italian classics, flawlessly realised… and dishes that straddle cuisines. Some appear to be the result of a particularly febrile imagination: cool, thick labneh studded with a hectic combination of crisp-shelled fried […]
⦿ The Guardian’s Marina O’Loughlin reviewed Trump Turnberry 6/10 in Ayrshire, where she arrived with “prejudices fully erect” and is told in a whisper, “We’re not allowed to talk politics.” “Yes, there’s a lot to loathe. I hate that the hotel celebrates Scottishness in a way only a tourist can love: charming doormen waft you indoors […]
⦿ Jay Rayner of The Observer reviewed Bundobust in Manchester, a “vibrant and cheap” combination of Indian veggie streetfood and craft beer that opened in December — and “by God, it works“. “Right now, the large, echoey basement space off the city’s Piccadilly feels like a big fat link in a chain, only one that hasn’t quite been […]
⦿ The Observer’s Jay Rayner reviewed Chop Chop in Edinburgh, which confirmed his view that dumplings are the ultimate comfort food – “While you are eating dumplings nothing bad can happen.” Opened in 2006 by Jian Wang, from Dongbei in northeast China, Chop Chop excels in its dumplings, although its other dishes were more variable […]
Seafood and oyster specialist Wright Brothers will open a flagship 150-cover restaurant this summer as the first businesses move into the redeveloped Battersea Power Station. It will be Wright Brothers’ fifth restaurant since opening their first at Borough Market in 2005. The business began as a seafood wholesaler three years earlier – a role that […]
⦿ The Observer’s Jay Rayner reviewed The Salt Room, Brighton, overlooking the beach from the unpromising ground floor of the Hilton Metropole. “Good things are sometimes found where you least expect them, and this restaurant is a very good thing indeed.” “Most pleasing of the starters is the fish soup. A bowl arrives containing a soft, […]
⦿ Jay Rayner of The Observer reviewed Louie Louie in Camberwell, a daytime cafe that becomes a restaurant in the evening under chef Oded Oren, originally from Tel Aviv, who is “an absolute corker”. “Lamb sweetbreads come skewered and grilled over charcoal. There is a wedge of lemon to squeeze over them and a tidy pile of za’atar, […]
The mystery team behind rising star 108 Garage in Notting Hill – chef Chris Denney and owner Luca Longobardi – plan to launch another restaurant in New York in September, with further US openings to follow. Denney told The Times he is flying to New York every Saturday night and back to London for service on Tuesday while he sets […]
Donal Doherty, who struck gastronomic gold with his hit Northern Ireland seafood restaurant Harry’s Shack, on the beach at Portstewart, has opened a new high-end city bistro, Harry’s Derry. Doherty (right in photo, with head chef Derek Creagh) is keen to catch the new wave of dining that has seen the emergence of half a dozen high-quality […]
