The Guardian, 29 September
Matthew Norman visits Skylon at the Royal Festival Hall, London SE1

When the Royal Festival Hall opened in 1951, at a pivotal halfway point in our social history, midway between the outbreak of war in 1939 and the invention of sex in 1963, food was still rationed in Britain. Optimism was heavily rationed, too, in a country that was economically paralysed by warfare and by Washington's disdain about bailing it out, and this elegantly modernistic building and the Festival of Britain it housed were designed to project a sense of hope about a gleaming future of peace, prosperity, democratised high culture, chocolate and bananas.
Skylon – The Guardian review in full >>

By definition, a signature dish is something unique, indelibly linked with a particular chef or restaurant. Sometimes it is an inadvertent icon, becoming a "signature" through the sheer number of times it is written on the order pad. The London dining scene is graffiti'd with such signatures: St John's roasted bone marrow, Nobu's black cod and miso, Gordon's cappuccino of white beans with grated truffles, McDonald's Big Mac.  At Angelus, a new French brasserie from Thierry Tomasin, best known from his days as sommelier at Le Gavroche and general manager of Aubergine, the "foie gras crème brûlée with toasted bread, £7" looks set to make its mark. The light, whippy foie gras mousse is set in the well of a shallow white bowl, encrusted with a crunchy sugar topping, dramatically flecked with poppy seeds.
Angelus - The Independent review in full >>

The Observer, 30 September
Jay Rayner visits Haozhan, London W1

Haozhan is a pleasant restaurant staffed by nice waiters, with an interesting menu of well-prepared dishes. And most remarkably, it is on Gerrard Street, the main drag of London's Chinatown. Nice waiters? Interesting menu? Well-prepared dishes? Nobody goes to Gerrard Street for that these days. They go there to be shouted at by aggressive staff with personality disorders, and to eat food that will make them wake up the next morning feeling like a cat has slept in their mouth. True, the service in Chinatown always left something to be desired. I remember, nearly 20 years ago, eating a meal on Gerrard Street where the food took so long to arrive the sizzling dishes had gone sizzleless before reaching us.
Haozhan – The Observer review in full >>

The Sunday Times, 30 September
AA Gill visits Dinings, London W1

This is traditionally the week when I give northern food a famished kicking, more in sorrow than in hunger. I find no good reason to break with tradition this year. I drove to the northwest Highlands for a week’s stalking and I drove back. The journey takes 10 or 11 hours each way – and after Bray (or before), there’s really nowhere you would want to stop and open your mouth. My abiding gastro memory this year is of a granary bap that had the consistency of gritty candyfloss and was filled with finely minced, bright-yellow cheese from the rootless international pandemic of cheddar. It came with the addition of chutney, either sweet or hot. I don’t know which I got, but it tasted like hotel-breakfast jam into which someone had tipped vinegar.
Dinings – The Sunday Times review in full >>

Are You Ready To Order?
Jan Moir visits The Fountain Restaurant, London W1

Dining in-store is a concept that is always fraught with danger. Quite often there’s a lack of intent and even the most brutish of basics – like a kitchen or a competent chef, for example. My dears, have you tried the coquilles de crevettes at Primark? I suggest you don’t even go there. Fortnum & Mason are not the only department store in the capital to have endured mixed fortunes with their catering outlets over the years, but throughout it all their ground floor Fountain Restaurant has endured. Generations have come here for afternoon crumpets with their aunts, for tip-top sundaes or a fortifying Welsh rarebit before a Christmas panto treat. Now The Fountain has been refurbished and relaunched as a brasserie, with a nicely tailored seasonal menu. A certain cosiness and comfort has gone, replaced by the gilt-edged chill of another David Collins design, complete with ice blue upholstery and a horseshoe-shaped dining bar boasting diverting views of Jermyn Street. 
The Fountain Restaurant – Are You Ready to Order? review in full >>