Torode’s new venture “blah verging on inept”, says critic

Masterchef judge John Torode’s new venture The Luxe has been described by the Metro’s restaurant critic Marina O’Loughlin as “blah verging on inept.”

O’Loughlin said that the restaurant on London’s Commercial Street, which has taken chef John Torode more than a year to create, “lacks everything you might reasonably expect from hospitality: generosity; warmth; a damn good feed” and that the culinary experience “falls very short indeed.”

Elsewhere Fay Maschler finds Mark Hix’s new opening Hix on London’s Brewer Street is a hit and mix affair. Though she praises the menu for its “admirable embrace of seasonal, regional, small virtuous suppliers and so forth”, she finds the main course of hanger steak “a bit dull.”

Meanwhile, Charmaine Mok of Time Out finds the “lack of real wow-factor in terms of the food” at Pierre Koffmann’s pop-up restaurant on the roof of Selfridges is disappointing. Overall though she maintains that “every morsel was delicious” and concludes that the “hospitality, bonhomie and laughter  – not to mention the thought of Pierre Koffmann smiling behind the stove, back in his element” makes the pop-up worth a visit.

To read more about the reviews see What’s on the Menu >>

By Rosie Birkett

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