Matthew Norman in the Guardian Weekend magazine lunches at Tom’s Place, a Chelsea version of a fish and chip restaurant launched by Tom Aitkens.
Norman’s wife “raved about her pollack and fat chips” while the reviewer himself was put off by Aitkens lecturing about sustainable fishing on a loop on a flat-screened TV.
He found the décor a “pastiche of 50s seaside chippie” and “American diner.”
He also questioned whether a plate of cod was ever worth £12 and “who on earth” would want to go to Chelsea for it.
Tracey MacLeod set out to observe the Delia effect at the Yellows, the restaurant at Norwich City’s Carrow Road ground.
She found her late lunch at the brasserie with the look of an “American sports bar” a “game of two halves”, with the Cincinnati Five Ways chilli better than the flavourless Caribbean chicken.
Although there is a vodka-based cocktail on offer called “Sex on the Pitch” she wonders why there isn’t one with everything thrown in called “Let’s be ‘Aving You” as “a tribute to her legendary half-time appearance.”
Overall, she concludes that while Yellows is “pretty spectacular” compared to the standards of catering at most football grounds, “it needs a bit more work to earn promotion to the Premier League.”
Joe Joseph in The Times Magazine dispensed with the need to book well in advance and secured a table at The Landau, in The Langham Hotel, 20 minutes after phoning from leaving a Barenboim concert at the Royal Festival Hall.
When he arrived he wondered whether the need to book in advance was something of a myth since only 4 of the 30 tables were occupied.
The staff treated him and his wife as though they had “just arrived from crossing the desert” with Voss water served before they had lowered themselves on to their chairs.
He went for the “tasting menu” which had examples of five courses while his wife “cooed” over her crab and Dover sole.
He concluded that you are only likely to get away with £150 for a la carte dining for two “if you are dieting” and that the restaurant is for those who like fine dining “who are beyond being impressed by anything that’s put on their plate.”
Jasper Gerard in The Daily Telegraph’s Weekend section visits The Castle at Taunton, which has won back its Michelin star under head chef Richard Guest.
The reviewer was keen to see whether it lived up to its reputation as being “one of the first country restaurants to make a virtue of rusticity.”
Its pork supplier is none other than Rosie Boycott, “feminist leader and editor turned one of Britain’s less likely farming champions.”
Gerard opted for the steamed lamb neck pudding which was “almost worth the drive to Taunton.”
He felt the half empty restaurant felt “a bit dead”, like the 144 men on who Judge Jeffries passed sentence from the hall next door.
The Guardian 15/03/08 page 92 (Weekend)
The Independent 15/03/08 page 47 (Magazine)
The Times 15/03/08 page 71 (Magazine)
The Daily Telegraph 15/03/08 page 20 (Weekend)