The Guardian, 22 March
Matthew Norman visits The Walnut Tree, Llnaddewi Skirrid, Abergavenny
Being one of the smuggest and most boastful people even this industry has to offer, I love to draw attention to my infallible instincts. Where so-called rivals sometimes claim to know what to expect within seconds of entering a place, I can sense what's coming hours before arrival. "Brace yourself," I warned my cousin, Nick, as we hit the M4 en route to Wales, "this one has calamity written all over it in italicised block capitals." He clutched the roadmap and winced. The last time we went to the Abergavenny area for lunch, it took us two hours to reach a point 500 yards from the restaurant; and, thanks largely to the directions of a malign and demented postman, another two hours to close the deal. But my pessimism about this trip had less to do with the memory of that fiasco than appreciating the extreme danger when two much admired institutions collide.

The Independent, 22 March
John Walsh visits Bord’eaux, Grosvenor House Hotel, London W1

What's with the apostrophe? The new French restaurant at the Grosvenor House Hotel comes with a mid-name hiccup, that calls to mind with a shudder the band Hear'Say. It doesn't make much sense: Bord'eaux sort-of means "on the edge of waters", but there's no water nearer here than the Serpentine. But it's clear that the chef Ollie Couillaud (who used to be at La Trompette, and has wielded a mean cleaver at Tom's Kitchen and the revamped Dorchester Grill) is keen to bring a garlicky whiff of the Aquitaine coast to this venerable Park Lane temple.
Bord’eaux –  Independent review in full >>

The Sunday Telegraph, 23 March
Zoe Williams visits The Stapleton Arms, Buckhorn Weston, Dorset
I promise you, I have no pretension to be Gordon Ramsay in any other respect, I don't even like swearing that much, but there are times when I want to march into a kitchen and say, 'Matey, I can double your profits right here and now. Put half as much food on the plates. Will anybody complain? No, because they'll still be full.' We walked in full of hope and warm feelings; we weren't lost, and it wasn't midnight, and the fire was roaring, and the décor was traditional and woody, but very new, and there was a sign up saying, a pint and a pie, three quid like the joke about the Scotsman, only without... actually, never mind.
The Stapleton Arms – Sunday Telegraph review in full >>

The Sunday Times, 23 March
Rod Liddle visits The Harrow at Little Bedwyn, Wiltshire

There’s a local delicacy they serve during the summer months at the Bell in Ramsbury, Wiltshire. Huge, moist, pink piles of River Kennet crayfish steaming on a plate, boiled for five minutes and tossed in olive oil with shallots, parsley and maybe some garlic. You can feel good about eating these crayfish, too, because they’re the large, right-wing, pro-Bush American crayfish that are taking over our southern rivers; murderous robo-crayfish introduced by accident and now apparently wreaking destruction from the Tamar to the Trent.
The Harrow – Sunday Times review in full >>

areyoureadytoorder.co.uk
Jan Moir visits Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria. I know. It is not exactly the chic sud de France. Style is thin on the volcanic ground. Yet if you want dependable, cheap winter sunshine and to eat your own bodyweight in garlicky clams, then you could do a lot worse. On the southern coast of the island, the ocean booms and the sand dunes mass along the beaches in an undulating cordon of gold. At this time of year down here the heat hits the mercury at a steady 21c or so,the sunshine is damn near perpetual, the mosquitoes are noticeable by their absence and amid the high rise hotels and Irish pubs that clutter some of the busier streets, you can find backwater peace, solace and the occasional nice restaurant.
Gran Canaria – areyoureadytoorder.co.uk review in full >>


By Janet Harmer