iStarvin Blog
Aug
Weekly round-up of national critics’ restaurant reviews by @OliverThring, 23/08
Welcome to the weekly round-up of the national restaurant critics by Oliver Thring
Sedap is 'rightly popular' according to Fay Maschler, though it can also be 'extremely noisy'. 'Service is utterly charming' at this no-frills Old Street Malaysian. Char kway teow (flat rice noodles) was 'one of those dishes I might give as an answer to "What would you like for your last meal on earth?"'. 'There is considerable scope for vegetarians', too.
Allan Jenkins is at the legendary (and, in my opinion, really not all that good) Chilli Cool. Sea spicy shredded pork was 'a wonderfully complex and accomplished plate of food' and vegetarian dry fried beans 'didn't disappoint'. 'Chilli Cool offers real cooking at near-café prices.'
Aug
Weekly round-up of national critics’ restaurant reviews by @OliverThring, 16/08
Welcome to the weekly round-up of national critics' restaurant reviews by Oliver Thring
'Expectations couldn't help but be disappointed by the hype and the pricing', says John Walsh at the Waterside Inn, Bray. Foie gras terrine was 'slimy' and lobster in port sauce was 'delicious and welll-cooked', but 'a £50 dish should be more than tasty' and 'a melon ball is a melon ball'.
Richard Johnson is at Tempo in Mayfair. Sea bass sashimi with fennel and grapefruit was 'one of those mouthfuls I will remember for ever'. A pork belly was 'overdone', however, and crab tagliolini was 'too damn mean on the crab'. '[Yoshi] Yamada is breaking a few rules of Italian classicism ... He just needs to make sure he gets the classics right too.'
Aug
Weekly round-up of national critics’ restaurant reviews by @OliverThring, 9/08
Welcome to the weekly round-up of national critics' restaurant reviews.
Marina O'Loughlin is at the Phene Arms, with its 'chaotic' menu. Sauce gribiche with ham hock tasted 'suspiciously of salad cream', while a burger was 'like the Amanda Holden of meat patties'. But 'there's a charm' to the place.
Lisa Markwell for the Sindy: 'Koffmann's food doesn't disappoint', though this is 'the kind of hearty French fare that lends itself best to chilly evenings'. Tuna carpaccio with celeriac remoulade was 'dazzling' and snails with girolles 'delivered ... taste bombs'. With the lunch deal, 'you'd be struggling to find a better deal in Knightbridge, or anywhere else.'
Aug
Weekly round-up of national critics’ restaurant reviews by @OliverThring, 02/08
Welcome to the weekly round-up of the national critics' restaurant reviews by Oliver Thring
Amol Rajan isn't keen on the split-levelled Hind's Head in Bray. 'Downstairs is a glorious English pub' but upstairs feels like 'a reunion for the East Devon Conservative Association'. Duck and guinea fowl terrine was 'dazzlingly smooth' and a venison cheeseburger 'beautifully cooked'. But the atmosphere at Heston's gastropub is 'pseudo-Soviet'.
'The lack of effort was astonishing,' says Matthew Norman at Ognisko Polish Club in South Ken. Staff were 'mooching morosely' in this 'joke cliche of Polishness'. Guinea fowl was 'overcooked [and] overcharged' and barzcz was 'coloured dishwater'. Coffee was 'revolting', too.
Jul
Weekly round-up of national critics’ restaurant reviews by @OliverThring, 26/07
Welcome to the weekly round-up of national restaurant critics by Oliver Thring
Marina O'Loughlin samples some London sandwich bars, including Mooli's ('where I’d happily grab lunch for the rest of my days'), the 'disappointing' Banh Mi Bay and the Bountiful Cow in Holborn, which sells 'arguably the biggest burger in town'.
Giles Coren is at Field and Fork in Chichester, whose 'food was very good'. Ceviche of trout and scallop was also 'very good', and though rabbit tagine was 'a little wan', raspberry and chocolate soufflé was 'the most exciting thing I've had in years'. 'This is lovely, folksy-cum-hoity-toity cooking'.
Jul
Weekly round-up of the national restaurant critics by @OliverThring, 19/07
Welcome to the weekly round-up of national critics' restaurant reviews by Oliver Thring
Abu Zaad is a 'beauty', says Matthew Norman, 'one of Britain's tiny handful of Syrian restaurants'. 'The food is immaculately fresh': fatoush was 'superb' and minced lamb with aubergine and yoghurt 'delicious and aesthetically pleasing'. This is a 'truly great neighbourhood restaurant'.
AA Gill 'ate almost everything' at Gauthier Soho, but the food was 'very neat and polite, and exceedingly bland'. Broad beans 'tasted of soap' and a tiny bit of john dory was 'like a mermaid's lip'. 'It all seemed exhausted, small, timid and neat, without being attractive, like eating sighs and sniffles.'
Jul
Weekly round-up of the national restaurant critics by @OliverThring, 12/07
Welcome to the weekly round-up of national restaurant critics by Oliver Thring.
After several weeks' absence, AA Gill reviews the Mount Street Deli in Mayfair. A beef sandwich was 'a miserable little pile that you might find on an Intercity trolley'. A lobster wasn't fresh and a lemon meringue was like 'an egg poached in Jif'. 'This place has been designed ... by someone who has never, ever been to another sandwich bar or cafe in the world'.
Giles Coren is at the Daylesford Organic Farmshop Café in Gloucestershire, 'the countryside for Londoners'. A plate of salads was 'in the rudest of health' and a ploughman's was 'grade A'. 'It's all a teeny bit wanky' but Coren 'won't hear a word said against it'.
Jul
Weekly round-up of the national restaurant critics by @OliverThring, 04/07
Welcome to the weekly round-up of national restaurant critics by Oliver Thring
Marina O'Loughlin: Roux at Parliament Square is 'about as much fun as a day spent transcribing John Redwood interviews'. '[Daniel] Cox is an assured cook': sea trout was 'flawlessly cooked' but a serving of pork belly was 'parsimonious'. 'The whole thing simply makes me want to have a bit of a snooze.'
John Walsh rather enjoys the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. 'The decor is a neutral cream-grey'. Smoked eel with carrot and sesame was 'tender, moist and yummy' and slow-roast pork belly (the innovation!) was 'dark, intense, mysterious and delicious'. It's 'superior, perfectly judged, confidently flavoured cooking'.
Jun
Weekly round-up of the national restaurant critics by @OliverThring, 21 06
Welcome to the weekly round-up of national restaurant critics by Oliver Thring.
'Tawdry' is Jay Rayner's verdict on Tom's Terrace. The menu is 'a crap wedding buffet in Basildon'. A chicken salad was 'an edible cure for insomnia'; only a foie gras parfait and a lemon curd and blueberry pavlova were better than awful.
Martin Ivens takes the Sunday Times to Roux at Parliament Square: 'very comfortable, if a bit posh French morgue.' Asparagus with duck egg and morel sauce was 'crunchy and rich', and pork belly with carrots was 'charming' if 'on the dry side'. 'Despite a few misgivings about its formal atmosphere and conservative cuisine, Roux is an oasis in the desert of Westminster.'
Jun
Weekly round-up of the national restaurant critics by @OliverThring, 15/06
Welcome to the weekly round-up of national restaurant critics by Oliver Thring.
Matthew Norman's last review for the Guardian is of the Warehouse in Southport, a brasserie owned by Steven Gerrard, of all people. The review is an ironic masterclass, and I don't want to spoil it for you by hiving off the best lines. Do read it.
Giles Coren is at Bar Boulud, with its 'ersatz New Yorky buzz'. After 'exemplary' charcuterie he enjoyed rillons croustillants of 'high piggy thickitude'. 'This was all really robust, really honest, true and spanking French meat-making'.