The Guardian, 20 October
Matthew Norman visits The Elephant, Torquay, Devon

Don't mention you-know-who - this was to be the guiding principle of today's review, which concerns a catering establishment in Torquay, on the grounds that it was all a long time ago, let's hear no more about him, all forgotten now, etc, etc. Except that, far from being forgotten, he still casts such a gigantic culinary shadow over the town that when The Elephant won Torquay's first Michelin star almost two years ago, even the region's director of tourism couldn't help but mention him herself. "The Basil Fawlty image of Torquay always was just a creation," Maureen McAllister observed, "and this really puts it to bed."

The Times, 20 October
Giles Coren visits Wahaca, London WC2

This is one of those rare places which I feature in a review without having been the instigator of the visit.  I went because two very old pals of mine were off there for a mid-week lunch and though I might be interested in joining them.  “It’s a new Mexican place in Covent Garden, opened by a former winner of Masterchef , which is being rolled out as a nationwide chain,” they said, expecting me to leap at the invitation.
Wahaca – The Times review in full >>

The Independent on Sunday, 21 October
Terry Drack visits The Only Running Footman, London W1

Walking into The Only Running Footman is like coming late to an Irish wake. It's noisy and friendly, all hustle and bustle, with mouthy bartenders pulling pints of Red Squirrel and Bombardier, cheeky waitresses trading quips with punters, and a telly on the wall blaring out the news. Bare, scrubbed wooden tables are set with little tin boxes of sauces and cutlery, while a huge blackboard lists such fare as half-pints of prawns, grilled sardines, lamb's shank shepherd's pie and Bakewell tart.
The Only Running Footman – The Independent on Sunday review in full >>

The Observer, 21 October
Jay Rayner visits Vanilla Black, York

A couple of months ago I was sent by another section of this newspaper to review a vegetarian restaurant run as a collective, on its vegan night. While the Bonnington Cafe in London's Vauxhall was a rather charming place, the food - so much gritty, flavourless sludge - was an exercise in culinary incompetence on a quite magnificent scale. Naturally I said so, and naturally enough a whole bunch of vegetarians took to the blogosphere to condemn me as Satan's spawn. One argument was repeated a number of times: meat eaters ought not to be allowed to review vegetarian restaurants.
Vanilla Black – The Observer review in full >>

Areyourreadytoorder.co.uk
Jan Moir visits Hereford Road, London W2

Hereford Road restaurant is a very straightforward kind of place. It’s in Hereford Road for a start, so there’s no margin for confusion about where you are or where you’re going. At my age, I like that kind of thing. It’s reassuring. What I don’t like is, say, a restaurant called the Red Fort that is clearly not and never has been a fortified military compound built of crimson stone. That’s too confusing for government targeted, middle class, middle aged serial wine abusers such as S and I. We’re off our heads on chablis half the time. We need all the help we can get to find these restaurants, stagger in, order more Louis Jadot and throw a brick at a pensioner before the starter arrives. That’s why it’s always best to keep things simple and thankfully, here is a restaurant that does exactly that.
Hereford Road – areyoureadytoorder.co.uk review in full >>