The Daily Telegraph, 11 August
Belinda Richardson visits Llys Meddyg, Newport, Pembrokeshire

The bar is buzzing with banter about the dolphins in the bay, the man in the lugger who got stuck on the sandbank and the boys in the boat club who caught more than 100 mackerel in one hour. It has been another glorious day in Newport Bay and, judging by the happy faces clinking glasses of fizz downstairs in the bar of Llys Meddyg, things are shaping up well for the evening ahead. Llys Meddyg (pronounced Cleeth May Doc) translates into English as the Doctor's Court, a reference to the time when it was inhabited by the local GP. A proud, creeper-clad Georgian house, it sits at one end of the main street in Newport. Not to be confused with its namesake near Cardiff, this is Newport on the Nevern estuary in the foothills of the Preseli mountains.

The Times, 11 August
Giles Coren visits R.E.D., London NW5

You may have noticed (I’m not sure how closely you monitor these things) that I have rather given up on reviewing local restaurants of late. Local to me, that is. All restaurants are local to somebody. Except the ones in Canary Wharf, of course. And the remoter brasseries of Gordon Ramsay Holdings, the ones on artificial islands off Dubai, the planned moon units… I used to review the restaurants of Kentish Town, Highgate and Tufnell Park (or Kentish Park Gate as I hoped it might one day become) quite frequently. Partly because of the excitement that even an ordinary meal can generate when eaten within five minutes’ walk of home, and partly because I hoped to aid the area’s gentrification and boost the value of my house.
R.E.D. – The Times review in full >>

The Independent, 11 August
Tracey MacLeod visits Dean Timpson at The Compleat Angler, Marlow, Buckinghamshire

Ever wondered why some towns seem to be superserved by good restaurants, while others of similar size suffer a gastronomic drought? How come Oxford, for example, with its affluent and sophisticated population, doesn't sustain a single restaurant of note, while 30 miles away, quaint little Marlow is quietly turning itself into a foodie mecca to rival Ludlow? This picture-perfect Thames-side town has long been famous for one historic hotel, The Compleat Angler. For riverside cream teas or corporate awaydays, this was your go-to destination, but it wasn't necessarily known as a place of gastronomic pilgrimage. Marlow's food renaissance began six years ago with the arrival of the adventurous Vanilla Pod in the town centre. Then in 2005, a fine chef called Tom Kerridge and his artist wife Beth bought a run-down roadhouse on the edge of town and reopened it as the best kind of gastropub. I reviewed The Hand and Flowers and liked everything about it, as did the Michelin men who awarded it a star a few months later.
The Compleat Angler - The Independent review in full >>

The Observer, 12 August
Jay Rayner visits Bincho Yakitori, London SE1

With some restaurants it is reasonable to ask a simple question: in a city lousy with possibilities, what is its purpose? This question is all the more pointed for Bincho Yakitori, which occupies a site that has had almost as many occupants as Rod Stewart's marital bed. I have reviewed here three times since first slipping my once slender buttocks into the reviewer's seat, and I wasn't at all surprised when the previous two restaurants - River Walk, and before that Neat London - went tits up. In theory, the second floor of London's Oxo Tower is a fantastic site. It appears to float over the Thames, and offers the second-best view of St Paul's Cathedral in London. The problem is that the very best view of St Paul's is six floors above at the Oxo Tower restaurant, which gets few awards for its food, but is widely regarded as having one of the best locations in the capital.
Bincho Yakitori - The Guardian review in full >>

Are You Ready To Order?
Jan Moir visits L’Oranger, London W1

Summer in the city, and the heat is on to find a nice outside table for a lovely alfresco lunch in the London sunshine. The River Café? Divine. Except you can’t book the outside tables - though when you get there, they are all mysteriously booked. I think what they mean is that you can book them, but only if your name is Alan Yentob, Mr J Paxperson or, perhaps, Nigella El Awson. What about the courtyard at the Mirabelle? It’s pretty, but not nice enough to stomach their mediocre food and conceited attitude. Perhaps La Famiglia in Chelsea then? Oh yes, their garden is lovely! However, as S puts it, nailing a fold of skin on to a Famiglia fencepost would be preferable to asking their staff for a table outside. At least I think that’s what he said. Anyway, you are unlikely to be indulged unless you are a regular customer (fair enough) or someone famous (not fair, but we all know it happens).
L’Oranger – Are You Ready to Order? review in full >>