Food

A magical field hospital for vegetables: Turnips reviewed

5 December 2020 9:00 am

Turnips is an haute cuisine restaurant inside a greengrocer in Borough Market in London. I suspect others will try this…

Me, myself and Thai: my cooking lesson from Cher Thai Eatery

21 November 2020 9:00 am

Lockdown is hurting everyone except the chickens. I have bought them a conservatory because Philippa, a Light Sussex, looks like…

Winning a knife fight with a fish: Newlyn Fresh Fish reviewed

7 November 2020 9:00 am

It’s a good day to stab something and tear out its heart. Elaine Lorys is the only female master fishmonger…

This replica is better than the original: The Ivy Oxford Brasserie reviewed

24 October 2020 9:00 am

Oxford is not an easy city to homogenise; but that doesn’t mean you can’t try. I found a vast shopping…

The best food Italy can offer: Giannino Mayfair reviewed

10 October 2020 9:00 am

Pity the gilded restaurants of Mayfair, if you can: they are dying. Some have reopened; they ache on like men…

Social distancing in Soho: The French House reviewed

26 September 2020 9:00 am

London is gasping — so where to go but Soho, which is so good at despair? It is often necrotic…

The apex of civilisation: the Connaught Grill reviewed

12 September 2020 9:00 am

A ghost review, now, of a ghost restaurant: the Connaught Grill, which is yet to reopen after pandemic shuttered its…

My steak cooking lesson turned into a sitcom

29 August 2020 9:00 am

Pandemic has brought many truths, the most minor of which is: I can’t cook steak. I thought I could. I…

A great Dane: Snaps + Rye reviewed

15 August 2020 9:00 am

Snaps + Rye is a Nordic-themed restaurant and delicatessen on the Golborne Road, at the shabby and thrilling edges of…

Stringfellows with fish instead of women: Sexy Fish reviewed

1 August 2020 9:00 am

Sexy Fish is an Asian fusion barn in Berkeley Square, near the car dealerships and the nightingales, if they are…

Returning to what makes us happy: Brasserie Zedel reviewed

18 July 2020 9:00 am

Brasserie Zédel is a grand salon under Piccadilly Circus and the only place I desired when lockdown (or lock-in) ceased…

Can a chef teach me to cook over Zoom?

4 July 2020 9:00 am

We cannot bear more drive-through or take-out or near-fatal snack. I am convinced of the boredom of my female ancestors,…

More drug than nutrient: KFC drive-through reviewed

20 June 2020 9:00 am

Drive-through restaurants were invented so Americans could spend more time in their cars. I don’t blame them. American cars are…

Repulsive, depraved and oddly political: Monster Munch crisps reviewed

6 June 2020 9:00 am

Now that I have considered Monster Munch I decide to eat one mindfully. I put it in my mouth, and…

The horror of socially distanced restaurants

23 May 2020 9:00 am

What does a critic do when her genre collapses? Mostly I panic. I speak to restaurateurs who believe that without…

Hope in a takeaway bag: Mackerel Sky reviewed

9 May 2020 9:00 am

You don’t dine in the age of pandemic: you scuttle about in the wreckage. If you can afford food, and…

Fare game: life as The Spectator’s restaurant critic

24 April 2020 11:00 pm

A fictional Spectator restaurant critic called Forbes McAllister appeared on Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge. He was played…

Much of it is pointless, but that only adds to its charm: Fortnum & Mason hampers reviewed

11 April 2020 9:00 am

Stop the clocks: Fortnum & Mason is still delivering hampers. I am not surprised, because this shop — or rather…

Dining in the time of pandemic: takeaways reviewed

28 March 2020 9:00 am

I love eating while watching bad films like Battleship, so I love takeaway food from local restaurants. I am not…

A tax on intellectuals: Terrace Cafe at the British Library reviewed

14 March 2020 9:00 am

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and it sits like a red-brick crab on the…

I have always liked angry food: Ugly Butterfly reviewed

29 February 2020 9:00 am

Ugly Butterfly is a zero-waste restaurant and champagne bar on the King’s Road, Chelsea. The ‘champagne bar’ addition is so…

Criminally good food: The Yard at Great Scotland Yard reviewed

15 February 2020 9:00 am

The Yard is a defiantly themed restaurant in Hyatt’s new Great Scotland Yard Hotel, an Edwardian red-brick block which once…

The food is almost too superb: Wild Honey reviewed

1 February 2020 9:00 am

Wild Honey is a ludicrous name for this restaurant: there is nothing wild about it, and I do not think…

Fairy food for fairy wives: Julie’s Restaurant reviewed

18 January 2020 9:00 am

Julie’s is a 50-year-old restaurant in Holland Park, London, newly emerged from three years of closure as plushly renovated as…

This food needs a little less grandeur, and a little more love: Simpson’s in the Strand reviewed

21 December 2019 9:00 am

Simpson’s in the Strand stopped serving breakfast in 2017, after it had been renovated to stop it smelling of cabbage.…