Metro, 9 December
Marina O’Loughlin visits York & Albany, 127-129 Parkway, London NW1
So I finally manage to get a table at York & Albany. I've been calling the Ramsay stable's central reservations centre (an outfit I can't help but imagine looking like the nightmarish workers' co-ops in Terry Gilliam's Brazil) for weeks and each time a different charming accent says, basically, no chance. It's fair to say this Camden newcomer is a roaring success. As I've said before, I'm desperate to love a Ramsay place – although this one, like Murano, is firmly stamped with the Angela Hartnett imprimatur – and have been hoping Y&A might be The One. Pulling up outside this handsome Nash building looking on to Regent's Park, I'm feeling a little like a teenager about to have a personal moment with Zac Efron.
York & Albany - review in full >>
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Bloomberg, 5 December
Richard Vines visits Cinnamon Kitchen, 9 Devonshire Square, London EC2, and Trishna, 15-17 Blandford Street, London W1
There are differing perspectives on Indian restaurants in London: They are as good as any in the world outside India or they are Bangladeshi eateries serving an Anglicized pastiche of the complex cuisines of a subcontinent. There’s truth in both arguments. Britain has developed its own take on Indian food, with dishes such as chicken tikka masala and balti and even the use of the word curry. There are many dire eateries serving this stuff, though -- bad as they may be --you’ll find worse in other cities, from Paris to Rio de Janeiro.
Cinnamon Kitchen & Trishna – review in full >>
Evening Standard, 10 December
David Sexton visits Bull & Last, 168 Highgate Road, London NW5
You will hardly credit it, but people used to smoke in pubs, even when food was being served. It sounds like one of those urban myths, like crocodiles breeding in the sewers, but it’s true. Honest. And that meant, of course, that eating in pubs was often wretched, however good the food. The Cow in Westbourne Grove, for example, always served a fine pint of prawns but, being a favoured rendezvous of local trustafarian tossers, used to be full of smoke, as these cards demonstrated their brave insouciance of medical commonsense.
Bull & Last - review in full >>
Time Out, 11 December
Charmaine Mok visits The Exhibition Rooms, Westow Hill, Crystal Palace, London SE19
Like City boys opting for crisp white shirts over flashy Paul Smith numbers, The Exhibition Rooms’ menu represents a sobering return to the classics – at first glance, that is. We were unfazed by the daytime menu of BLTs, mushrooms on toast and chargrilled steaks; our eyebrows might have involuntarily twitched at the somewhat incongruous Moroccan lamb tagine, but it was the dinner options that piqued our interest. Executive chef David Massey offers tantalising treats that err ever so slightly from the realm of ‘playing it safe’.
The Exhibition Rooms – review in full >>
By Janet Harmer
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