Reviews

York & Albany, 127-129 Parkway, London NW1

Saturday, 18 October 2008

From outside, at the top end of Camden Parkway, standing aloof from the down-market boozers and fast-food joints of Camden Town, York & Albany looks like an exceptionally posh American bar. There's no name over the door, the bottles at the bar are gorgeously back-lit, indolent punters sprawl in fat leather armchairs, high-maintenance dames perch at the counter with their beaux and wish they could smoke. It's so cool, you feel pleased with yourself just walking in and ordering a gin and tonic. And, because it used to be a pub (dating back to 1827; it was built by John Nash of Regent's Park fame, and named after his mate, the Duke of York and Albany), some locals do drop in just for a pint. Are they crazy? Don't they realise this is the trendiest eaterie in London, that Gordon Ramsay bought it for £4m, and it deserves respect? Next thing (my dear) they'll be asking for a d-dartboard ...

Never mind the boquerones: Tierra Brindisa

Sunday, 12 October 2008

It started with a Spanish food stall, then came the shop and the tapas bar. What could Brindisa possibly do next?

Vatika, Wickham Vineyard, Botley Road, Shedfield, Southampton

Saturday, 11 October 2008

A restaurant attached to an English vineyard is normally best approached with caution, rather like a bottle of English wine. Sure, you'd try it, just to be polite, but let's be honest, wouldn't something French or Italian just be so much better? But put aside those preconceptions, because here we are in Wickham Vineyard, near Southampton, on a gorgeous sunny afternoon, and it's wonderful.

Wine: Something for the weekend?

Saturday, 11 October 2008

Plate With A View: Bellevue Brasserie. St Petersburg, Russia

Saturday, 11 October 2008

One of the newer restaurants in St Petersburg also has the best view, bar none. Bellevue sits on the ninth floor of the Kempinski Hotel.

The real fat duck: Min Jiang

Sunday, 5 October 2008

Plump, juicy, divine... the star attraction at Min Jiang truly is all it's quacked up to be

The crunch bunch: Divine dim sum

Sunday, 5 October 2008

Town Bar and Grill, 21 Kildare Street, Dublin

Saturday, 4 October 2008

There was a time, a dozen years ago, when the only place you'd find a decent meal in Dublin was in a hotel. You could traipse through Grafton Street, Dame Street, O'Connell Street and their lateral offshoots, looking in vain for an eating house that wasn't part of a burger chain. Now, after more than a decade in the jaws of the Celtic Tiger economy, the Irish capital has been transformed by oodles of cash, imagination and confidence. Around St Stephen's Green, along the quays, even on the still-grotty north side off Parnell Street, classy restaurants are busting out all over.

Wine: Something for the Weekend?

Saturday, 4 October 2008

Wine: Notes on a scandal

Saturday, 4 October 2008

News reports trailed Channel4's recent Dispatches programme on the wine industry as "disturbing". According to the TV show, many low-end wines have oak chips added to create the impression that they have been fermented in a traditional barrel; and producers use a host of additives to disguise the flavour of inferior grapes without listing them on the labels. One ex-newspaper wine writer even claimed that "many wines are no better than a sort of alcoholic cola. You get artificial yeasts, enzymes, sugar, extracts, tannins, all sorts of things added." No matter that these so-called additives are all part of the normal winemaking process.

All together now: The Modern Pantry

Sunday, 28 September 2008

The Modern Pantry, 47-48 St John's Square, London EC1, tel: 020 7250 0833

Grand illusions: St Pancras Grand, St Pancras International, London

Saturday, 27 September 2008

This week's venue is more than just a restaurant; potentially it's a national treasure. Thousands of travellers pass through St Pancras every day, entering or leaving Britain on Eurostar. The new St Pancras Grand, with its all-British menu, should be a shop window for our resurgent food culture. If ever a restaurant could be called "destination", this is it.

Smart thinking: Murano

Sunday, 21 September 2008

Murano, 20 Queen Street, London W1, tel: 020 7592 1222

The crunch bunch: Lunches for less

Sunday, 21 September 2008

Stars in his eyes: Restaurant Tristan, Horsham

Saturday, 20 September 2008

Does everybody in the restaurant business think they deserve a Michelin star? The Tristan of this new eaterie is Tristan Mason, who used to cook at the Hare in Lambourn and picked up a star for his labours. He moved to the Orrery in London, which had a Michelin star when he joined but lost it on his watch, whatever that may mean. No sooner had he put his name over the door of what used to be Stan's, in Horsham's dinky, narrow East Street, than he was telling local papers: "I want to get my star and I want my three AA rosettes. I want to make it one of the best restaurants in England." Well, I dare say you do, Tris, but in what sense is it "your" star and "your" rosettes? Do you hear actors demanding, "I want to get my Oscar and my Baftas"? Do you hear me saying, "It's about time I had my Nobel and several Pulitzers"? I don't think so. Not out loud, anyway.

A terrine dream: Bar Boulud

Sunday, 14 September 2008

Bar Boulud, 1900 Broadway, New York, tel: 00 1 212 595 0303

Global a go-go: The Modern Pantry

Saturday, 13 September 2008

At what point did the prefix "designer" stop connoting desirability, and become shorthand for pretentious and ridiculous? Would you rush to eat somewhere that described itself as a "designer restaurant"? No – you'd rightly figure it to be an over-styled place serving silly food to would-be Wags. And as for "designer food", absurdly accessorised, mismatched and overpriced (just like designer fashion) – what could be less in tune with the mood of the times?

In the line of duty: Tayyabs

Sunday, 7 September 2008

Tayyabs, 83-89 Fieldgate Street, London E1, tel: 020 7247 9543

The crunch bunch: More Pakistani for less

Sunday, 7 September 2008

Glass ceiling: Murano, London

Saturday, 6 September 2008

There's something pleasingly head-girlish about Angela Hartnett: she radiates good sense, enterprise and unsinkability. She didn't become a kitchen slave in her teens, but took a history degree instead. She learnt home cooking from her Essex-Italian granny. It says much about her strength of character that she has worked for Gordon Ramsay since 1994, without ever being driven to plunge a Sabatier carver between his shoulder blades. When she opened her own restaurant, Angela Hartnett at the Connaught, six years ago, she picked up a Michelin star inside a year.

A word to the wise: Buddha Bar

Sunday, 31 August 2008

Buddha Bar, 8 Victoria Embankment, London WC2,tel: 020 3371 7777

The crunch brunch: Around Asia on a budget

Sunday, 31 August 2008

Designer diner: Thorpeness Brasserie And Emporium

Saturday, 30 August 2008

We all know what a seaside restaurant should look like. Scrubbed wooden tables, perhaps draped with a tasteful bit of Cath Kidston lighthouse-sprigged oilcloth; old photos of grizzled fishermen; some fishing nets, driftwood or other maritime detritus; a blackboard advertising the Catch of the Day (inevitably just sold out). So what the hell was the owner of the Thorpeness Brasserie on when he dreamed up his decorative scheme?

Big fish in a small pond: The Seahorse

Sunday, 24 August 2008

The Seahorse, 5 South Embankment, Dartmouth, Devon, tel: 01803 835147
His FishWorks chain hit the rocks, but Mitch Tonks is back with a small-fry operation that's making a big splash

The crunch bunch: Fine fish, for less

Sunday, 24 August 2008