Metro, 12 November
Marina O’Loughlin visits Le Bouchon Breton, 8 Horner Square, Spitalfields Market, London E1
Abouchon is native to Lyons, a dark, snug, smoky place – well, until the ban – that smells seductively of garlic, wine and roasting meats. Le Bouchon Breton is nothing of the sort. Of course, it's not in Lyons or even France but in a new development of 'Old' Spitalfields market, all glass and steel and concrete blockiness. There's a wide terrace for 'alfresco' dining (naturally you're still in the market) and I imagine that on a sunny day with the market in full swing, this will be a brilliant place to be. On a miserable evening, however, looking on to the skeletons of unused stalls, it conveys little other than a sense of melancholy. Thank goodness the welcome is so full of chaleur.
Le Bouchon Breton - review in full >>
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Evening Standard, 12 November
Fay Maschler visits Corrigan’s Mayfair, 28 Upper Grosvenor Street, London W1
The first person I ran into at Richard Corrigan’s new restaurant was Rowley Leigh, chef/proprietor of Le Café Anglais and, to my mind, author of the most alluring menu in London. “I saw Corrigan’s menu and I had to come,” said Rowley. It is indeed a work of art. And artlessness. Corrigan was raised, one of seven, on a small farm in the middle of bog land in County Meath. He describes it as the last gasp of a rural area that in most places in Ireland had disappeared 20 to 30 years before.
Corrigan’s Mayfair - review in full >>
Time Out, 6 November
Charmaine Mok visits Min Jiang, Royal Garden Hotel, 2-4 Kensington High Street, London W8
What can we say about Min Jiang, the new Chinese restaurant on the tenth floor of Kensington's Royal Garden Hotel? It's perfectly nice, in the way that vanilla is. The decor was positively inoffensive – a cream colour scheme with the occasional splash of red and handsome dark wood accents. And it has a spectacular view of Kensington Park, though only seen by day; by night, our view was rather more narcissistic as we peered at reflections of ourselves. The food, too, was nice. Xiao long bao were well made, the thin dumpling skins encasing a wonderfully aromatic broth – an auspicious start.
Min Jiang – review in full >>
By Janet Harmer
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