The Daily Telegraph, 13 September
Belinda Richardson visits The Canteen at River Cottage, Axminster, Devon
Originally nicknamed Hugh Fearlessly Eatsitall - owing to his habit of picking up road-kill, eating the hedgerows and once flambéing a human placenta before serving it up as pâté - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has become a name so familiar that most of us even know how to spell it. Just as David Bellamy protects plants, Prince Charles pronounces on climate change and Swampy protests about roads, so Old Etonian Hugh raises glasses, and the odd eyebrow, crusading for the organic food movement. As well as rearing livestock and making TV shows, he writes books, runs a cookery school and has his own shop and restaurant.
The Canteen at River Cottage – review in full>>
The Independent, 13 September
Tracey MacLeod visits The Modern Pantry, London EC1
At what point did the prefix "designer" stop connoting desirability, and become shorthand for pretentious and ridiculous? Would you rush to eat somewhere that described itself as a "designer restaurant"? No – you'd rightly figure it to be an over-styled place serving silly food to would-be Wags. And as for "designer food", absurdly accessorised, mismatched and overpriced (just like designer fashion) – what could be less in tune with the mood of the times?
The Modern Pantry – review in full>>
The Guardian, 13 September
Matthew Norman visits The Three Horseshoes, Madingley, Cambridgeshire
Only the most gracious souls observe the vertical ascent of one they reared with purely pride and pleasure, but from what little I know of them, Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray are two of those rarities. Let's hope so, anyway, because the rise of their River Cafe babies becomes an ever more relentless feature of food life in Britain. A while ago I had no choice but to praise Jamie Oliver for the first of his planned mid-market chain of Italian Kitchens in Oxford, while one Theo Randall last week won Best Italian at a restaurant awards I helped judge, for his gaff at the InterContinental Hotel. Today's alumnus, Richard Stokes, is not a culinary superstar, but he certainly would be were his restaurant miraculously airlifted into central London from the picturesque village of Madingley a few miles outside Cambridge.
The Three Horseshoes – review in full>>
The Observer, 14 September
Jay Rayner visits The Ginger Fox, Albourne, Hassocks, West Sussex
Ben McKellar likes animal fats. If he were a cardiologist, this would be a cause for concern. As it happens, he's a chef, so we can put it in the column headed Very Good Things. A few years ago I ate at his Brighton restaurant, the Gingerman at Drakes hotel, where he served a plate of cold rare roast beef with 'duck fat fried toast' - four words that were born to snuggle up next to one another. Since then his West Sussex empire has expanded and now includes a thatched pub near Hassocks called the Ginger Fox - McKellar is a redhead, and damned proud of it. This time the menu word that caught my eye was dripping, as in 'dripping chips'.
The Ginger Fox - review in full>>
areyoureadytoorder.co.uk
Jan Moir visits St Pancras Grand, London NW1
Initial impressions? Not bad! St Pancras Grand is housed in a large room with a gilt-edged ceiling and a confident sense of its own importance. Golden lights suffuse the well-spaced tables while comfortable banquettes, smart napery and the presence on the menu of English lobster and potted salmon almost evoke the halcyon days of gracious rail travel. I say almost. Inside the muffling restaurant on the upper concourse, there is no proper view of the soaring splendour of St Pancras station, which is one of the joys of going to St Pancras station in the first place. Big mistake. Big shame.
St Pancras Grand– review in full>>