Reviews

Food Of The Week

Sunday, 22 June 2008

The chef's special: a top-class meal that won't break the bank

Lovely jubbly: Jamie’s Italian, Oxford

Saturday, 21 June 2008

This is spooky. Jamie Oliver launches the first in a planned nationwide group of high street restaurants, and there's hardly any publicity about it. No TV series following the ups and downs of the recruitment process. No press release, no tie-in range at Sainsbury's, no poster campaign featuring a thumbs-aloft Jamie grinning, "I'm absolutely doolally about neighbourhood restaurants ..."

It's crunch time: Saf

Sunday, 15 June 2008

Saf, 152-154 Curtain Road, London EC2, tel: 020 7613 0007

Too posh for nosh: Iznik Kaftan

Sunday, 8 June 2008

Iznik Kaftan, 99-103 Fulham Road, London SW3, tel: 020 7581 6699

Second helpings: More Turkish delights

Sunday, 8 June 2008

Three’s a charm: Three Tuns, Hay-on-Wye

Saturday, 7 June 2008

When is a country pub a gastropub? There's a simple test. Turn up just before they close the kitchen and see what the welcome's like. At a Welsh pub with an unpronounceable name in Glasbury, we came into the bar and said, "Hi there, we'd like some dinner, please." "Sorry," said the barman. "Kitchen's closed, you see." "But the notice outside says you're serving dinner until 9pm and it's five to..." "That's right," said the barman, smiling grimly. "Kitchen's closed." Had he continued, "and the sooner you shag off back to London, the better for all of us," his meaning couldn't have been clearer.

Restaurants: Cha Cha Moon

Saturday, 31 May 2008

I've heard of fast food, but this is ridiculous. You give your side-dishes order in Cha Cha Moon, and the waiter rushes off to get them pronto, rather than wait to hear your order for main dishes. Everyone seems in a tearing hurry to sit you down, stick a napkin down your neck, take your order, ladle some won ton or ho fun down your throat, tap their feet and drum their fingers while you try to digest it, then bustle you out of the place so they can hurl two other people into your vacant spot on the bench. It's very brisk. If a restaurant could be a person, this one would be a Chinese Richard Madeley.

Wine: Something for the Weekend?

Saturday, 31 May 2008

Under a Fiver
2007 Asda Argentinian Malbec
Asda sources its malbec from the Argentinian giant Trivento, a good move since Trivento, as part of Concha y Toro, is master of everyday reds like this vivid, juicy, berry fruity wine.
£4.12, Asda