Welcome to the weekly round-up of national restaurant critics by Oliver Thring
Jay Rayner is at l’Art du Fromage, ‘a sweet little place’ where, sadly, ‘everything isn’t really fine’. Salad was ‘underseasoned and floppy’, the signature fondue ‘a dismal affair’ with a flavour both ‘shallow and dull’. Roquefort ice cream was ‘the stuff of blood-soaked nightmares’.
Yoshi Sushi in Hammersmith is ‘always good’, says Toby Young. Tempura are ‘succulent and not too greasy’, yaki buta (pork belly with spicy vegetables) is ‘irresistibly moreish’ and maki and nigiri are both ‘full of rich, fishy flavours’. ‘Just as importantly [really?], the Diet Coke is served ice cold’.
A. A. Gill makes it to Galvin la Chapelle, just six months after everyone else. Chestnut soup with duck confit was ‘fine, as far as it went, which wasn’t very far’, while roe venison with chestnuts and chocolate was ‘bland’ and pigeon tagine merely ‘competent’. ‘The service is a bit like being frisked by lonely moles’.
Apsleys is ‘really, really comfy’, says Giles Coren, even if Heinz Beck ‘really, really can’t cook’. Roast pigeon with pearl onions and mustard seed was ‘catastrophically blackened’, and venison with crushed amaretti biscuits was like ‘a piece of raw liver rolled in Ricicles’.
John Walsh deems 36 on the Quay a ‘glamorous proposition’, its dining room ‘crowded and cosy’. Jerusalem artichoke soup was ‘scorching hot and a little too oily’, and a starter of pigeon, onion, black pudding, beetroot and pine nut compote (whatever that might be) tended to ‘confuse the palate’. ‘Mr Farthing might consider curbing his natural generosity, and trying the less-is-more approach.’
Fay Maschler: ‘Caravan is diverting, relaxing, keen on everyone having a good time and rationally priced. It will probably never get a Michelin star.’ Falafel with tahini and apple and pepper relish was ‘wonderfully light’, and a version of char siu ‘interesting’. Once again, the coffee is pronounced ‘perfect’.
Marina O’Loughlin is also Caravanning, finding the menu ‘crammed with intriguing stuff’. Avocado with toast, olive oil, lemon and chilli ‘doesn’t get easier, or nicer’, though blue cheese and peanut wonton was of ‘dubious wisdom’. The place is ‘infinitely superior’ to its predecessor, Al’s Cafe.
Matthew Norman is at the ‘transcendentally bizarre’ Bibis Italianissimo in Leeds, which ‘brings the ersatz glitz of the outsized Las Vegas cocktail lounge to a site abutting a car park’. Spaghetti with meatballs was a ‘room 101 dish’ and duck rolls with orange sauce (bleurgh) were ‘revoltini’. The place is a ‘cheap and cheerless temple to crazed vulgarity’.
Mathile Delville thinks it’s worth going to Galvin la Chapelle ‘for the quality of the food and the beauty of the place’. Crab lasagne was ‘smooth and creamy’ and pigeon tagine ‘perfectly cooked with good tenderness’. Service was ‘disappointing’, though.
And The Times is doing a nice new thing, compiling critics’ reviews of a single restaurant and offering the owners a right to reply. This week it’s More on Tooley Street. Check it.