West African cuisine will gets its most prominent central London showcase when Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen opens a six-month residency at the Sun and 13 Cantons in Soho on April 4. Zoe Adjonyoh has been cooking at supperclubs and pop-ups in London and Berlin since 2011, and is well established at Pop Brixton. Her first book, […]
⦿ 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 […]
⦿ 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 […]
Chef Gordon Ker is opening an offshoot of his hip Soho chophouse Blacklock in the City of London next month. Blacklock wins praise in the latest Harden’s Survey for “the best chops in London”. The new, bigger venue will have an extended version of the same menu, featuring char-grilled meat from Cornish farmer-butcher Philip Warren, served on flatbread, […]
The trio behind Taiwanese steamed bun specialist Bao are to open a more upmarket restaurant, bar and tea house called Xu in Soho this spring. Bao, which has branches in Soho and Fitzrovia, has been a runaway success for founders Shing Tat Chung, Wai Ting Chung and Erchen Chang, with customers enduring long queues to sample […]
Following the success of the Cronut – a donut crossed with a croissant – here comes the sushi donut, the latest hybrid from the new Camden branch of Asian fusion mini-chain Inamo. In fact the sushi donut is much more palatable than the name suggests, mainly because it does not involve the deep fryer. Inamo is best known for […]
⦿ AA Gill of the Sunday Times opened his review of The Magpie Café 5/5 in Whitby with the bombshell that he has cancer, an announcement that – uniquely perhaps for a restaurant review – was trailed by a front-page report. “I’ve got an embarrassment of cancer, the full English,” he wrote, promising to let his readers know […]
⦿ Jay Rayner of The Observer reviewed Jaya in Llandudno, where he found “cracking Punjabi food by way of East Africa”. “From the specials there are lamb chops, marinated in their own lime pickle, which is all fire and acidity. The heat of the oven has mellowed the punch a little but turned it into something deeper […]
Billed as the world’s most expensive pho, two bowls of the Vietnamese national dish could be yours if you’re prepared to pay more than £1,000 for the privilege. The “super pho” concocted by Shaftesbury Avenue restaurant Pho and Bun using Kobe beef is being auctioned to raise funds for Action on Hunger. Owner Andy Le […]
