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28 November
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Jay Rayner warms to the grown-up Thyme, which has moved from the suburbs to London WC2...The original Thyme had so many USPs: there was the tapas-style menu, full of myriad little dishes, which showcased brilliantly their mastery of simplicity... All of that has gone. Now it's a straightforward three courses. It's £45 for food, which is not exorbitant at this level but also not £23.50. There's almost nothing below £20 on the wine list, and it's up in the big city. It no longer distinguishes itself by being both unusual and good. Now it can only distinguish itself by being good. Happily, in matters of cooking, it is. Very... So a starter of "cauliflower" brought shards of caramelised cauliflower, tubes of al dente macaroni and a very generous shaving of truffle in a light cream sauce. It was the kind of satisfying dish the word "lush" was invented for. (Meal for two, including wine and service, £140)
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| 27 November |
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... but Richard Johnson is less impressed
At Thyme they have adopted an old-fashioned type of British butler service. Maybe they think it befits their new status. But the complicated exchange of plates took for ever. My truffle risotto hung around five minutes before the right grouping of waiters was available to deliver it. When it finally did arrive at the table, the soft poached egg was cold. The cauliflower macaroni and Parmesan was disappointing. The macaroni was undercooked, and the autumn truffles lent the dish no deep savour of the farmyard... I can only imagine they were a cheap bulk buy. The tortellini of Scottish lobster was more successful. (Three-course meal without wine, £45. Food 2/5 stars; ambience 3/5 stars; service 2/5 stars)
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27 November
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Victor Lewis-Smith finds former celebrity haunt Biagi's in London W1 stuck in a time warp
As I sat down at my reserved table 9, I realised that, 16 years after [Kenneth] Williams's death, Biagi's is still stuck in the 1980's, serving ersatz Italian dishes that should have died out a generation ago... even I know that pappardelle should not remind one of a student chow mein cooked on a Baby Belling. The spaghetti alle vongole was lacklustre (was some of the seafood from a can?), while the insipid suprema di pollo al parmigiano was surely a joke, as though somebody had sat on a chicken, then shat béchamel sauce on to the flattened corpse. (First courses £3.80-£7.50; mains £7.50-£22.50)
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30 November
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Guy Dimond checks out Matilda, Battersea's newest Tuscan gastropub
As our meal unfolded - main dishes of grilled swordfish and chicken, and not much to choose from in the way of desserts - it became clear that the strength of this place is its simplicity. Better to do something simple and do it well than to botch an overly ambitious menu. And Matilda does "simple" very well indeed. (Meal for two with wine and service, about £70)
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27 November
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Gillian Glover and her posh boys gives the thumbs up to Hewat's in Edinburgh
The menu sails a middle-to-upmarket route through modern favourites, offering haggis wrapped in Savoy cabbage with a Glayva sauce as a starter, along with carpaccio of venison, fish chowder, and avocado wrapped in filo pastry, while the Aberdeen Angus beef fillet, grilled halibut and rack of lamb lead the main courses... The chef must have been working with a top hat and wand in the kitchen, because the rack of lamb had turned into a duck and the sea bass into scallops - which is quite a conjuring trick. So I ordered the duck (£12.95) to check that sorcery does not impinge on flavour. And it doesn't. (Dinner for three, excluding drinks, £65.15)