Gregg Wallace’s debut as a restaurateur with the opening of Wallace & Co in Putney would not make it past the first round of Masterchef, the BBC TV show he presents, according to Guardian food critic Matthew Norman.
While he praised the service for being willing, he slammed the food for being rough and amateurish.
His wife’s steak, mushroom and ale pie , with “gravy being more watery than the soup, and the crust brittle and ¬paper-thin” was typical of the whole sorry experience.
John Walsh of the Independent paid a return visit to Rick Stein’s Seafood Restaurant in Padstow, Cornwall, and was delighted to find that a refurbishment had refreshed the place and some new exotic dishes – such as shangurro (crab stuffed in the Basque style with tomato, garlic and olive oil baked on the shell) given breadth to the menu.
But, he described the prices as “idiotic”, with local cod and chips at £17.50 being the cheapest dishes on the menu.
In the Observer, Jay Rayner said his experience of the Goring’s menu, which is currently reflecting the hotel’s centenary, was disappointing.
His dishes of soused herring, steamed oxtail pudding and jam roly poly and custard were not of a standard he would expect from a grand hotel like the Goring, although his companion did enjoy his lobster omelette, calf’s liver and apple tart with walnut ice cream.
AA Gill of the Sunday Times also experienced a bygone age when dining at the French Horn in Sonning-on-Thames, Berkshire.
He described the location as a classy spot for a really poignant, leering date and the food as “Frenchish, francophilic”.
“It is what good English food aimed to be for 100 years,” he said. “It isn’t necessarily the best you’ll eat, but it is authentic.”
For this review in full and more, see What’s on the menu? To book a table, see Caterer Eats Out. Visit Guide Girl for the latest gossip from the fine dining world.
Marco protégé Tim Payne to open café-greengrocer with MasterChef’s Gregg Wallace >>
Rick Stein reveals more about Falmouth fish and chip restaurant >>
The Goring – the Independent Hotel of the Year in the Cateys 2009 >>
Review of the reviews >>
By Janet Harmer
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