What's on the Menu? – A round-up of the latest restaurant reviews
Bloomberg, 24 October
Richard Vines at Le Bouchon Breton
Fancy a leisurely lunch with expensive dishes and fine French wines? No, I thought not. These days, people are cancelling lunches, saying they don't want to be away from their desks for hours at a time because of the markets. I suspect we are all becoming a little more price- sensitive, too, as bonuses shrink and jobs disappear. Cue Le Bouchon Breton, a new French brasserie, Champagne and shellfish bar in Spitalfields market, handy for ABN Amro Bank NV's London headquarters and as many bankers as it takes to fill a venue that can accommodate 320 drinkers and diners. There's a 2001 Petrus for 2,200 pounds ($3,413) if you are feeling lucky.
Bloomberg review in full >>
Evening Standard Magazine, 30 October
Fay Maschler at Arch One
Evening Standard magazine review in full >>
Metro, 28 October
Marina O'Loughlin at The Modern Pantry
Remember fusion? Remember those clashing tastes and menus that needed an encyclopaedia to decipher? Apart from long-standing (and excellent) The Providores in Marylebone, we saw the last of that most pilloried of culinary styles in the 1990s: too many Kevs from catering college flinging blachan into their bain-maries signalled its death knell. Or so we thought.
Anna Hansen - one of London's most highly regarded women chefs - was one of the originators of The Providores and cooked at another seminal fusion perpetrator, The Sugar Club. She clearly believes in hanging on to a formula that has worked for her.
Here are some of the ingredients in the current Providores menu: hijiki, umeboshi, cassava chips; and here are some from The Modern Pantry: hijiki, umeboshi, cassava chips. Plus krupuk, feijoa, yuzu and kalamansi limes for good measure. To be fair, the fusion clamour has been toned down here: several dishes feature an entire list of ingredients we recognise.
Metro review in full >>
By Janet Harmer
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