The Times - 12 July
GILES COREN finds little taste for AZIZ, London SW6
The menu at Aziz offered dozens of exciting dishes from the great Eurafroasian melting pot, none of which was done well. The baba ganoush had no smoky zing, hummus was unalloyed chickpea mash (no lemon, no garlic, no tahini), there was a sludgy almond soup, a Brobdingnagian borek was full of far too much fatty goat's cheese (like a goat-flavoured deep-fried cream horn), the tabouleh was just a ball of wet wheat, the corn and tulum fritters were as gacky as they sound, and even the liver kebab had a suspiciously toothpasty texture. There was no spice, no lift, no joy. Every dish had the same taste and texture as the next.
(Food, 1; Atmosphere, 4; Service, 6; Price, £80 a couple, with grog)
The Guardian - 12 July
MATTHEW FORT experiences "comfortable pleasure" at SEASALT in Newcastle, County Down
Food may be cheap but it is only good value if it is good, too. The food at Seasalt was good, some of it very good. It is a long time since I have had such a fine piece of turbot, as taut as a drumskin, the flesh close-knit, with a sweet, clean flavour. The cumulus of mash on which it rested was properly mashed, not refined and pur‚ed, and was full of butter. The reduction carried the fruity flavours of shallot. The salad was similarly well made, assembled from high-grade ingredients and topped with a perfectly poached egg. (Rating: 14.5/20)
The Sunday Times - 13 July
AA GILL has a mediocre time at WILTONS, London SW1
Wiltons is an old Establishment restaurant - perhaps the old Establishment restaurant. And that's its blessing and its curse. The old Establishment is losing its teeth and nobody really wants to kiss it any more... But the bill, without wine or service, was £150 - and that's absurd for this basic, no-better-than-mediocre club food. Wiltons is caught between a rock salmon and a hard plaice. It needs to change to attract customers who are younger and have teeth. But, if it does, its old gents will all have strokes. (Rating: two stars out of five)
The Daily Telegraph - 12 July
JAN MOIR samples some "amazing local produce" at Loch Torridon Hotel, Achnasheen, Wester Ross
The £39 set menu features a choice of six in both the starter and main-course sections, and features lots of lovely Scottish produce, garnished with garden bounty and served with an inventive twist. There's a tortellini of Loch Torridon smoked salmon and chives, served with summer truffle in a bouillon flavoured with spring vegetables, ginger and lemon grass... Chef (Kevin John) Broome - who gained a Michelin star at Shai and another at Broomes, where he worked in Jersey in the 1990s - also does a special vegetarian menu, and it looks very interesting indeed. (Dinner for two, excluding drinks and service: £78)
The Observer - 13 July
JAY RAYNER finds the greasy spoon has come of age at the S&M CAFE in Islington, London N1
At first glance, one might assume that a new chain of S&M Caf‚s - which stands for "sausage and mash" rather than "please nail my genitals to the wall, Vicar" - is a celebration of the greasy spoon... The S&M Café is a celebration of how far we've come, rather than where we've been. There are starters of goat's cheese or smoked salmon salads, at £4. Sausages come in more than half-a-dozen varieties, from London traditional pork through steak and Guinness to pork chilli and spices. There's mash, without a lump in sight, and, to go with it, red onion or Madeira and thyme gravy. (Meal for two, including wine and service: £30)