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Copita
Smart, laid back, egalitarian, cheerful, cool. Copita is the model of modern metropolitan eating. It has a no booking policy. It draws in people who are smart, laid back, meritocratic, and cool, even...
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Pitt Cue
The night was wet and Pitt Cue was full. Full as in crowded, heaving, bulging at the seams. People were being turned away from the door. I only just squeaked in because I am very small and I was on my...
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The Sportsman
It was a slip sole, just a slip sole, slim and elegant, glistening with seaweed butter. No sauce, no veg, no micro-herbs, nothing to distract from the individual beauty of the fish. The flesh was taut...
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Dabbous
You can’t get a table at Dabbous during the week until August. If you want to go over the weekend, you’ll have to wait until October. There hasn’t been a phenomenon like it since the Fat Duck spread...
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Osteria dal Cavaliere
It’s not often you see horse and donkey on the same menu. The place in question was the aptly-named Osteria del Cavaliere in the Piazetta Scala in Verona. It’s more of a wine bar than a restaurant, its...
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Brasserie Zedel
Ou sont let plats d’antan? Gone to Zedel, every one of them. A dream of a dream, A dream of filet de hareng, pommes a l’huile,; lapin a la moutarde, baba au rhum, of celeri remoulade; choucroute...
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The Tramshed
Mark Hix’s Tramshed is a beast in every sense of the word – vast space (it really was a shed for trams); vaulting glass ceiling; bar the length of the room; 130 covers; Damien Hurst art installation of...
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Simpson’s Tavern
It’s always a pleasure to catch up with an old friend, particularly when you find they’ve hardly changed in, oooo, it must be forty years or so. Simpson’s Tavern, aka Simpson’s of Cornhill is one of...
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The greatest restaurant in the world
Dorego’s, there’s nowhere quite like it. Never has been, I dare say. One of a kind, a sort of a bar, a sort of a restaurant, seedy, louche, easy-paced, open-hearted, democratic, with the beauty of the...
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The Incredible Lightness of Being a Restaurant Critic
What is a restaurant critic but someone who a) can get a table in a restaurant when no one else can; and b) has someone else pay the bill? It’s a mystery why restaurant critics strut like peacocks and...
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Brasserie Chavot
Suddenly they’re everywhere. After years of rigorous suppression in favour of Italian/Spanish/Modern European/Contemporary British/Ersatz Japanese-effect pastiches, French brasseries and bistros (or is...
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Noma
There was the great man, Rene Redzepi, standing at the door of Noma, surrounded by what appeared to be a battalion of Noma staff. ‘We’ve met before’, I said, grasping him firmly by the mitt. ‘I know,’...
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Ristorante del Belbo da Bardon
There are rare restaurants where you know that everything is going to be all right the moment you walk in. There’s something about the manner of the greeting, calm, warm, confident. There’s something...
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Metamorphosis (temporary)
Dear Faithful Followers of this blog, I will not be continuing this blog as such for the time being. As some of you may be aware, I have embarked on a 6-month odyssey around the Italian islands. I have...
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