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 26th October 2025 The Guardian Fête, Chelmsford Grace Dent thoroughly enjoyed a “welcome slice of unpretentious hospitality happiness” in deepest Essex, where chef Tobias Godfrey and his co-owner and partner, Laura Day, have “taken the Chelmsford dining scene by storm” with […]

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Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 24th August 2025 The Guardian Bellota, Bury St Edmunds Grace Dent hailed a 20-seat counter venue “tucked away in a quaint West Suffolk market town” and serving a set menu from two “relatively unknown chefs”, married couple Ruben Aquilar Bel and […]

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Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 12th July 2025 London Standard Singburi, Shoreditch David Ellis visited the new, modernised incarnation of a Thai canteen that won cult status as a “national treasure” for ultra-cheap and tasty cooking at its former Leytonstone address. David, who never visited […]

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Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 8th July 2025 London Standard Acme Fire Cult, Dalston David Ellis has revised his opinion of a live-fire grill restaurant he dismissed on his first visit three years, declaring after a couple of recent meals that its B-movie “cult” […]

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Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 22nd June 2025 London Standard Lai Rai, Peckham David Ellis enjoyed himself at a new venture from a quintet of Vietnamese siblings – a daytime café that morphs by night into a canteen full of cool kids on dates. With […]

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Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant reviewers were writing about in the week up to 8th June 2025 London Standard Eel Sushi, Notting Hill David Ellis raved over a tiny no-booking bar with a dozen seats which serves “London’s best sushi”, the latest opening in the nascent Notting Hill empire from Chris D’Sylva, across the […]

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Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 1st June 2025 The Guardian Town, Covent Garden Given its Drury Lane address, Stevie Parle’s new restaurant might be considered suitable for pre-theatre dining. Wrong, according to Grace Dent: “the food is far too good to rush through in […]

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Our weekly round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 25th May 2025  London Standard Town, Covent Garden David Ellis was first critic into Town, Stevie Parle’s expensively put-together new restaurant in Covent Garden – and gave his thumbs-up to “a Wolseley, reimagined for the modern age”. “True, no […]

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