Tracey MacLeod in the Independent Magazine was put off by noisy fellow diner “City boys” boasting about their sexual exploits when she dined at Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester in London’s Park Lane.
She thought the management of this eagerly awaited new restaurant of such a well known chef should have been able to control such rowdy behaviour.
She believes such customers were attracted by the opportunity to blow their bonuses with the cheapest Australian wine on the list starting at £550.
And she reckoned if the bosses could not discipline its customers, Ducasse’s reputation as a “gastronomic Goldfinger” could hang in the balance.
Giles Coren in The Times Magazine went to Snazz Sichuan in Chalton Street, London, one of a number of regional Chinese restaurants springing up in the capital.
He found its Sichuanese cuisine too spicy for his liking and said his guest had to dip her spicy prawns in a cup of tea to “depepperise them enough to make them edible.”
He also visited Fountain at Fortnum and Mason in Piccadilly where he found the food “simple, familiar and cosmopolitan” but a bit “Ivy-lite”.
Matthew Norman in The Guardian Weekend magazine visited Hibiscus in Maddox Street, London.
Claude and Claire Bosi have brought their Michelin starred format that has worked well for them in Ludlow, Shropshire, to the capital.
Norman is not a fan. He says: “…seldom have I encountered a wider chasm between the opulence of a chef’s talent and the paucity of joy to be had from his food.” He gives it just 6 out of 10.
Mark Palmer in The Daily Telegraph Weekend section is on a mission to find good places to eat around Kensington High Street.
He finds Kensington Square Kitchen in Kensington Square not really a restaurant at all but a “pretty little café serving some pretty unimaginative little dishes of this and that”.
Clarke’s in Kensington Church Street, by contrast, offers a menu from chef Sally Clarke that is “executed with panache and accompanied by Rolls Royce service.”
Meanwhile. Timo is a sophisticated Italian where you feel you can leave your shopping bags with owner, Piero Amodio. He says the ravioli filled with guinea fowl is “stupendous” and that you won’t find a better linguine with clams in the capital.
The Independent Magazine 15/12/07 page 51
The Times Magazine 15/12/07 page 71
The Guardian Weekend magazine 15/12/07 page78
The Daily Telegraph Weekend 15/12/07 page W18
