Food
Fare game: life as The Spectator’s restaurant critic
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
Stop the clocks: Fortnum & Mason is still delivering hampers. I am not surprised, because this shop — or rather…
How much are people eating during lockdown?
People power Boris Johnson said that the reaction to the coronavirus crisis showed ‘There really is such a thing as…
How much food have we really been stockpiling?
Time out When did British workers start being ‘furloughed’? The word furlough is first recorded in the English language in…
Dining in the time of pandemic: takeaways reviewed
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
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
Ugly Butterfly is a zero-waste restaurant and champagne bar on the King’s Road, Chelsea. The ‘champagne bar’ addition is so…
Pangolins are being blamed for coronavirus – and I’m sorry for eating one
Is the pangolin having its revenge?
Criminally good food: The Yard at Great Scotland Yard reviewed
The Yard is a defiantly themed restaurant in Hyatt’s new Great Scotland Yard Hotel, an Edwardian red-brick block which once…
Is gluttony no longer a sin?
I’ve no interest in food. None. But for the three other journalists on our press trip, eating was a consuming…
The food is almost too superb: Wild Honey reviewed
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
Julie’s is a 50-year-old restaurant in Holland Park, London, newly emerged from three years of closure as plushly renovated as…
Eggs and hard liquor: Spectator writers on their favourite examples of meals in literature
P.J. O’Rourke I love poems but hate poetasters, love wine but detest oenophiles, love food but can’t stand foodies. Therefore…
‘Cook it like a prayer’: Bip Ling’s Christmas curry
This dish is refreshing and super yummy. It’s a recipe that Didas (my Indian grandmother) taught me. The zesty tomato…
This food needs a little less grandeur, and a little more love: Simpson’s in the Strand reviewed
Simpson’s in the Strand stopped serving breakfast in 2017, after it had been renovated to stop it smelling of cabbage.…
Sumptuous, remote – and forgettable: Locket’s reviewed
Locket’s is a new café from the owners of Wiltons in Jermyn Street. Wiltons is the restaurant that dukes visit…
Remarkable and imaginative: Fitzwilliam Museum’s The Art of Food reviewed
Eating makes us anxious. This is a feature of contemporary life: a huge amount of attention is devoted to how…
Nauseating, but I like the garlic bread: Legoland Windsor reviewed
The theme music to Legoland in Berkshire is the theme music to The Exorcist. It appears from speakers hidden in…
Back in the Babington Triangle: Roth Bar & Grill reviewed
The Roth Bar & Grill exists on an art-farm called Durslade in Bruton, Somerset, which is also the country outpost…
Stringfellows for the sex robot age: Bob Bob Cité reviewed
Bob Bob Cité is a restaurant dangling like testicles from the underside of the Leadenhall Building in the City of…
A slice of history: how did Britain’s pizza industry begin?
A slice of history Pizza Express is to undergo financial restructuring, leading to fears that it could go under. How…
I’ve had my fill of brasseries: Moncks reviewed
If you review restaurants professionally you would not think Britain wanted to leave the EU. You would think she wanted…
It’s so easy to go mad in Oxford: Chiang Mai Kitchen reviewed
Oxford is a pile of medieval buildings filled with maniacs, and is therefore one of the most interesting places on…
I wouldn’t suggest you eat here, but I doubt there’s a better place to drop acid: Camelot Castle reviewed
The Camelot Castle Hotel is a pebble-dashed late-Victorian excrescence on a cliff. It overlooks the ruins of Tintagel Castle. A…
Prue Leith: My plan to get real catering back into hospitals
Picture the scene: we are filming the opening link for The Great British Bake Off. Here I am in the…
