Jay Rayner in The Observer is rather far afield this week as he reviews Zuni Cafe, San Francisco… The Zuni roast chicken is certainly a thing… featured on myriad lists of greatest restaurant dishes Is it… Sensational? Not quite, but it is very, very good. …faux peasant, faux rustic fantasy. Zuni has long been regarded as a […]
Nicholas Lander in The Financial Times reviews Kai Mayfair, Grand Imperial at Charing Cross Hotel and Four Seasons on Chinatown’s Gerard Street, in anticipation of Chinese New Year (the Year of the Dog begins on 16 February)… “The long-established Kai Mayfair has a menu that is well attuned to wealthy clientele. While the high prices could, I suppose, […]
Jay Rayner in The Observer falls head over heels for Bertha at Edo, a new restaurant from former Ramsay protégé Jonny Elliot which opened discreetly in Belfast last year. To clarify, Bertha is the name of their wood-fired oven. You weren’t expecting her to be the waitress were you? “One of the issues with somewhere like […]
Jay Rayner in The Observer is more than able for Soho institution L’Escargot – seeing as he “bloody loves a snail” and all. It is the critic’s first article as part of the launch of Observer’s new magazine… “L’Escargot is your stylish auntie, the one who knows how to grow old gracefully. Oh, and it does snails, […]
Jay Rayner in The Observer says the decor at Gul & Sepoy is so distressed it needs a hug. From reading his review it sounds like Jay could use one too… “Sometimes it just doesn’t matter how good individual dishes are… If, at the end of the meal you feel baffled or let down or short […]
Giles Coren in the Times revisits Restaurant Gordon Ramsay (the original on Royal Hospital Road) and finds the three Michelin star level service to be just a bit much… “Smartly redone a couple of years ago in the art deco style, it must look great when empty, but it was so rammed with waiters that I […]
Jay Rayner in The Observer reviews The Kitchen, Inverness (after a bad meal at Boath House, Nairn)… BOATH HOUSE: “I’ve had more fun at the chiropodist, getting my corns removed. I left the Boath House with my will sapped. It is a brilliant opportunity wasted. “A narrow, gummy strip of treacle-cured salmon arrives, with cubes of bitter, […]
Fay Maschler in the Evening Standard, heads to another of London’s many ‘baby roll-outs’ as she samples the second Smoking Goat… “’Nu-Thai’ is what the cool kids call it, I am told, food from white boys who have travelled widely in South-East Asia. “New place, groovy food, stripper ghosts, Shoreditch, buzz, buzz, buzz. Drinking Foods — the […]
Marina O’Loughlin in The Sunday Times gives kudos to the kitchen at Brixton pop-up Smoke & Salt (formerly in Islington) for serving food with bravura… “We order almost everything from the short menu. (There are only two choices of red or white wines, too: I ain’t glugging prosecco during dinner, so we have a surprisingly lush […]
This week saw Marina O’Loughlin write her last review at the Guardian before she takes over AA Gill’s former mantle as food critic for the Sunday Times. As she moves onto pastures new, we thought we’d take a look back at some of her best bad reviews during her Guardian tenure. Because Marina is always […]
