17 January
Belinda Richardson discovers heaven in Monmouthshire and the Bell at Skenfrith
Actually, had the waiter not announced its arrival, nobody bar me would ever have known what lay inside my handsome pie. It reminds me of Stonehenge, with its huge pastry lid perched high above the various pillars of roasted celeriac and swede. As I cut into the pastry to reach the wonderfully lean cubes of beef and not overly large kidneys, a plume of steam escapes and it is so large it enshrouds the whole table. By the time it evaporates, my husband has gobbled up his entire pan-seared salmon fillet. It must have been good. (Dinner for two, £50 excluding drinks and service)
17 January
AA Gill is puzzled by the lack of diners at Cheyne Walk Brasserie, London
The dining room, a converted pub, is a fair size. The staff are French to a fault, as is the meat. It's medium-priced, and it's stuck in the middle of the richest residential area in London, with nary a competitor. But it's virtually empty; just a couple of shifty after-work mistress dates wanting somewhere quiet where they won't be recognized. Why isn't this place packed and humming?
18 January
Matthew Norman has the best Indian meal of his life at the Painted Heron, Cheyne Walk, London
"I never knew a lamb chop could be so incredibly tender and flavoursome," sums it up. The special brilliance of these cutlets, we agreed, was that the taste of the lamb and the taste of clay from the tandoor co-existed perfectly. This deftness was replicated in all the courses, especially the red-legged partridge (£14) - a desert island dish if ever there was one, and the sort of food you want to eat after the fashion of Henry VIII in Hollywood, tearing at the flesh with your teeth until the juices stream down your chin. Simply put, this was by far the best Indian meal any of us had eaten. (Dinner for one with coffee and half a bottle of wine, £30)
17 January
Gillian Glover, with a cold, seeks solace at the Bombay Bicycle Club, Edinburgh
After a substantial plate of mixed kebabs (the star of the show being a very tender, zingingly spiced minced lamb kebab) and some chutneys which scoured the nasal passages in a manner reminiscent of that TV ad for foaming drain cleaner, the three main courses were assembled. I started with the lamb Kathmandu - cooked with lentils, fragrant with garlic and coriander and fabulously spiced to red-alert level... This was splendid, and just what the doctor would have ordered had a nice dinner for two been an available NHS prescription.
17 January
Tracy Macleod looks for a Scottish experience at Patterson's, London W1
The amuse-bouche, a wild mushroom velout‚, started things promisingly. Then, for me, caramelised calves' sweetbreads with artichoke heart and salsify, a tricky combination of three delicate but distinctive flavours which was over-reliant on the saucing for its effect. For Harry, the house special, a smoked haddock souffl‚, with its spectacular puffy crust broken at the table and a rich chive and caviar sauce poured in. Wonderful to look at, but slightly earthbound in texture, it was still a noble end for a fine piece of Scottish fish. (£35 for three courses)