The Daily Telegraph
11 September
Jan Moir refuses to give up on the Cook's Room, Glasgow
The stock for the soup is thin and tasteless, and the leeks are chopped far too roughly for this wan broth; the anchovies in the salad are not snipped, merely flung into the lettuce and left to fend for themselves, while the lamb for the meatballs hasn't been prepared properly, leaving the mouth coated with a slick of fat. Even the slices of haloumi, a traditional white cheese from Cyprus made with sheep's milk, have been burnt, which takes a particular kind of incompetence. Yet I still can't hate the Cook's Room, and not just because they give diners delightful little boxes of Smarties with the bill. The thing is, they've got the homely thing so right that it almost feels like having supper over at friends who aren't very good cooks; you forgive them, for they know not what they do. (Dinner for two, excluding drinks and service, £50)
The Times
11 September
Giles Coren visits the new sister restaurant to the Clerkenwell Dining Room - the Chancery, London EC4
The menu was a beauty. Descriptions like "potage of baby monkfish and oysters, summer truffle shavings", "seared scallops and braised oxtail, pea vinaigrette" and "cannelloni paysanne, braised little gems and garlic" manage to convey both imagination and robustness with adequate brevity. We get the technique without the name of the pot and the length of time and nine different languages in the sentence. There's no hand-dived, seven-hour, pan-fried, fa‡on Espanol nonsense. (Score: 6/10. Price: £100 for two with booze)
Timeout
14 September
Guy Dimond on the "jaw-dropping" prices at the Mayfair Japanese restaurant Umu, London W1
With prices this high, the food has got to be spectacular. Fortunately, it is. Good Japanese food is judged by ingredient quality and freshness, plus well-judged combinations of simple flavours. Good presentation distinguishes the best. Umu scores full marks on all these counts. Tsukuri is sashimi (raw fish) sliced wafer-thin; in the case of itozukuri, sea bream has been lightly marinated with seaweed, then arranged in a little mound and topped with translucent salmon roe. Orange-coloured sake jelly is shaped like the salmon roe and forms a ring at the base.
Even the fried dishes have a remarkable freshness to them: for example, the langoustines wrapped in a green shiso leaf and yuba (soy milk skin) prior to frying. The yuba wrappers, like most of the ingredients - such as delicate garnishes of kinome (the young leaves of the sansho pepper plant) - are specially imported. Umu is an indulgence, but the high cost reflects its uniqueness. For people who really love Japanese food, and can afford it, Umu is worth it. (Dinner for two with wine and service, about £200)
The Independent
11 September
Tracey MacLeod at John Burton-Race's restaurant, the New Angel, Dartmouth, Devon
Burton-Race is using line-caught sea bass from local boats; steamed and served with a vibrant lobster bisque sauce, it was so fresh it could have just jumped out of the harbour. My main course was a bold and brilliant combination of sweet lamb fillet and lightly curried crab mousse, formed into a kind of yin-yang symbol and served with a scattering of summer veg - shelled broad beans, diced tomatoes, peas - every element of which exploded with taste. It was almost a relief when the puddings fell short of being outrageously delicious, and were merely good. Otherwise, we'd have been forced to scrap the rest of our Devon itinerary and stay in Dartmouth until we'd eaten our way through the menu. (About £60 a head before service)