The Daily Telegraph

18 September
Jan Moir joyfully discovers Sixteen in Glasgow

To begin, a very well prepared dish of juicy mackerel, which has been rubbed with Indian spices then pan-fried and served with a kachumber salad - a refreshing mixture of thinly sliced tomatoes, onions, cucumber and coriander - and a little pot of raita. It's just the kind of thing Rick Stein might do, and I mean that as praise. I also like the quirkiness of the restaurant's savoury Eccles cake; a big, pastry puck crammed with wild mushrooms, Parmesan and pine nuts, although the sheer hefty, wodginess of it defeats one in the end. It comes with another sprightly little salad and a swirl of home-made pesto dressing; a joy.
A la carte meal for two, excluding drinks and service, £42


The Guardian

18 September
Victor Lewis-Smith returns to an old favourite, the BLACK BULL INN, Richmond, North Yorkshire

My companion and I decided to go rich with the starters, then plain with the mains, so her lavish warm salad of foie gras, lobster, pancetta and chanterelles with pineau dressing was followed by a simple, succulent grilled lobster with seafood linguine, while my warm salad of squat lobster and bacon gave way to the unpretentious honesty of good old grilled Dover sole, served in its prime (did you know that sole has the best flavour a day or two after death?). And for those of us in the know, what better way to conclude dinner here than with their sublime Black Bull crunch, a classic brown-bread-and-raisin vanilla ice-cream that's more addictive than heroin (though arguably not quite as slimming). Starters, £3.75-£14.95, mains, £14.75-£22


The Sunday Telegraph

9 September
Matthew Norman is disappointed by Sir Michael Caine's new restaurant venture, Deya, London W1

Now the thing about a posh Indian, see, is you're paying over the odds for a Ruby Murray, so if the grub ain't up to much, they're takin' a liberty. The freebies that bookended the meal - poppadoms and a chickpea amuse-bouche before; pineapple crush after - were fine. The problem was what came between. All the effort seemed to have been directed at the presentation, tiresomely prettified dishes coming on faddish square plates, leaving no energy for buying good ingredients and cooking them well.
Rating: 3/10. Dinner for one with coffee and half-a-bottle of house wine, £42


The Independent

18 September
Richard Johnson praises the Foxhunter, Avergavenny, South Wales

When we sent back the overcooked braised lamb my mother-in-law chose, a free-range chicken breast (£16.95) arrived in its place. It could have been ordinary. But it was extraordinary. It had the texture of ripe Brie, and the flavour of the countryside. The samphire, served alongside pan-fried sewin, was nicer than anything my family ever found on the Thames estuary. There's no specific thing as Welsh cuisine, but the Foxhunter is bringing the best of Welsh produce to the table. And how.


The Observer

19 September
Jay Rayner on the steep prices and lacklustre menu at Taman Gang, London W1

Why can't restaurants be built from the kitchen forward, rather than the banquettes back? It's not that the place is unattractive. The faux-Mayan brickwork walls are pretty, ditto the use of candles and throw cushions. But the food is so mediocre and in places so bad, particularly at these eye-watering prices, that a sane person can only question the reason for being there. Maybe we are short on sane people. To look really good here, you have to be young and beautiful, but you can't afford to come unless you're old and saggy. As a result, it was full of balding men wearing very expensive rimless spectacles. Meal for two, including wine and service, £130