The Sunday Times
3 October
Rod Liddle on slow service and the wrong sushi at Umu, London W1
We ordered a selection from the two sushi menus, modern and traditional, to start with. In the meantime, we were brought two little bowls of tuna, radish and pickled ginger, which were superb - meaty and deliciously astringent. And then we waited. And waited. Aeons passed. Hunger gnawed at my soul. We went outside for a cigarette. And then another. We did a little light shopping. Eventually, they brought us two more bowls of the tuna and ginger because we'd waited so long and they could see we were contemplating filleting and grilling one of the PR kittens. Then we had another cigarette. And then they brought the sushi. The wrong sushi. I started to cry. (Rating: 2/5)
The Observer
3 October
Jay Rayner changes his tune about the too-fashionable E&O, London W1
Yes, there is a noisy bar full of people you would happily herd into a barb-wired enclosure. But the dining room is away from all that and, with its smart use of dark slatted wood panels on the walls and cosy booths, it is a pleasing place to be. The waiters are nice; the prices, while hardly cheap, do not feel like larceny; and the food is sensible... Black cod in sweet miso, which came apart in fine pearly flakes, was just as good as at Nobu, where the dish was made famous, but required rather less than the Kensington mortgage needed at Nobu to pay for it. (Meal for two, including wine and service, £80)
Timeout
5 October
Roopa Gulati visits the Dockland's gastropub, the Gun, London E14
Making the most of a sunny autumn afternoon, we headed for the nattily decked-out waterside terrace with views of the Dome. Lunch began with a lovely heap of crisp-fried whitebait served with scrumptious tartare sauce, studded with vinegary capers and enriched with chopped hard-boiled egg. Smooth-textured potted duck, spiked with tart green peppercorns, and contrasted by sweetly spiced pear chutney, was served with a hunk of fresh sage brioche - a wonderful seasonal marriage of flavours. Mains were stunning - succulently pink and devastatingly tender at the bone, we loved our Barnsley lamb chop and its onion-flecked mushroom topping - but it was the rich drizzle of meaty jus skirting a mound of garlicky mashed potato that had us praising head chef Scott Wade's culinary talents. (Meal for two with wine and service, about £75)
The Daily Telegraph
2 October
Belinda Richardson on chef George Marsh at the Fox Inn, Corscombe, Dorset
It is fish that is the biggest noise in Marsh's kitchen. And I'm not talking scampi-chips-and-pea-mush served in a basket and kept warm under the lights. Our eagerly awaited crayfish salad starter is a good indicator of the sort of full-frontal cooking we are in for... Fleshy chunks of crayfish are entwined with wavy shavings of cucumber, studded together by shards of mild-flavoured, crisp-textured celeriac - a perfect foil for the accompanying punchy home-made garlic mayo. Wow, this is cooking with real swagger. (Lunch for three, excluding drinks and service, £60)
The Guardian
2 October
Victor Lewis-Smith is not impressed by Club Gascon, London EC1
The south-western French province [of Gascony] has a tradition of hearty peasant food, of tripe, eels and maize-fed chicken; but what I encountered here (served on plates that resembled slabs of slate from a Lake District tourist bibelot shop) was more paltry than poultry, and much of it was portentous, overly fussy coq... I'm told that when it opened in the late nineties, this place was wonderful and doubtless it was. But now it's resting on its laurels, so pleased with itself that it's neglecting the basics that any restaurant should provide. (Dinner for three with wine, £181.97)