The Meat Liquor's queue holds it back, says Giles Coren

While the food at Meat Liquor - the permanent outpost from the team behind the hugely popular Meat Wagon - is great, the queue outside prevents it from ever being a real restaurant, according to Giles Coren.

The Times food critic says although the burgers are fantastic and the staff are friendly, you can never be friends with Meat Liquor.

"You can live upstairs, you can go every night, you can tip big, kiss everybody, recommend it to your friends and have five children with the front of house, but show up at teatime on a wet Thursday in the mood for a burger and you can get to the back of the queue, son, like everybody else."

The Delaunay, the latest restaurant from Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, gets a warm welcome from both John Walsh of The Independent and The Guardian's John Lanchester.

Walsh says the Delaunay is a restaurant he looks forward to visiting again and again: "It's lovely just to hang out there. The waiting staff are friendly and attentive. The prices aren't astronomical. You can't help feel it's your kinda place."

Lanchester adds that, although not quite there, the Delaunay will certainly become a huge success. "I'm sure the Delaunay is going to keep improving... and it's clearly going to be a massive hit," he says.

The Sunday Times's AA Gill enjoys the food at Novikov, the giant Mayfair venture from Russian restaurateur Arkady Novikov, while The Metro's Marina O'Loughlin says that Stravaigin continues to lead the way among restaurants in Glasgow.

And although Anna Hansen is a real talent, Lisa Markwell, writing in the Independent on Sunday, says her recent visit to the Modern Pantry was ill-fated.

For these reviews in full and more, see What's on the menu? Visit Guide Girl for the latest gossip from the fine-dining world.

By Kerstin Kühn

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