Evening Standard, 7 May
Fay Maschler is impressed with Mark Hix’s Oyster & Chop House
Actors want their name in lights. Most chefs are happy just to see
it above a restaurant door. Seeing HIX in large letters on the façade of what was formerly Rudland & Stubbs, near Smithfield Market, made me think what a long time it has been in coming. Mark Hix may not be a name that London restaurant-goers necessarily conjure with but they have almost certainly eaten his food.
Oyster & Chop House – Evening Standard review in full>>
Metro, 7 May
Marina O’Loughlin finds the perfect pizza at Franco Manca
There's a lot of hot air spouted about pizza and who invented it. Votes have been cast for Ancient Greece, Babylon and India (tomato-topped naan, why, of course!). Hell, even the Americans have attempted to stake a claim, blustering that it was nothing until they bloated its base, stuffed its crust and anointed it with everything from sweetcorn and spare ribs to caviar and chocolate.
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Franco Manca – Metro review in full>>
Bloomberg, 2 May
Hix Oyster & Chop House ticks all of Richard Vines’s boxes
Mark Hix former chef-director of the Ivy, Le Caprice, Scott's and other London celebrity hangouts, stands at the entrance of his new Smithfield restaurant and greets his friends, admirers, suppliers, neighbors and fellow chefs. Fergus Henderson, whose nearby St. John eatery was last week voted No. 16 in the world, is enjoying lunch, and he's only one of the people Hix is chatting with. The place appears filled with his mates as he works the room, not like a seasoned pro but as someone who has serendipitously found himself surrounded by chums.
Oyster & Chop House – Bloomberg review in full>>
Time Out, 8 May
Guy Dimond finds the food at Maze Grill hit-and-miss
Jason Atherton is a chef possessed of rare brilliance; his witty tapas-sized dishes at the next-door Maze restaurant are among the best you'll find in London. So what he's doing with this overpriced steak joint is anyone's guess. Perhaps Maze restaurant's new moniker - 'Maze Gordon Ramsay' - might be the answer, as Gordon Ramsay Holdings (which owns chef Atherton's restaurant) is in expansive mode and wants lebensraum. It has annexed even more space in the adjoining Marriott hotel, and (rather misleadingly) put a huge Gordon Ramsay photo on the Maze Grill website homepage.
Maze Grill – Time Out review in full>>
