The plaudit for the outstanding restaurant review of the week goes to The Sportsman, a gastropub in Seasalter, near Whitstable, Kent. Writing in The Guardian, John Lanchester said he loves the fact that the business concentrates on producing sensationally good food and leaves aside poncery, unnecessary expense on marble loos, grovelling maitre d's and arrogant sommeliers.
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at London's Mandarin Oriental hotel once again featured in the weekend's restaurant reviews - this time in Jay Rayner's column in The Observer. While Rayner recognised that the big, boisterous flavours of the food are a hit, he did warn that it comes at a huge price - £180 for three courses and one glass of wine for two people.
However, other reviews were not so flattering. In The Daily Telegraph, Matthew Norman took two friends to one of the UK's best-known Chinese restaurants, Yang Sing in Manchester, having assured them they were in for a treat. Two hours later, after indifferent service and mediocre food, all three diners left the restaurant deeply disappointed.
Tracey MacLeod of The Independent visited Amaranto, the Italian restaurant at the newly opened Four Seasons London hotel on Park Lane. While she enjoyed the food, she found the service either extraordinarily slow or mega-fast and was left confused by the cultural confusion of the decor. "We could be in Hong Kong, the Bahamas or, most plausibly, Las Vegas," she explained.
In The Sunday Times, AA Gill risked the wrath of all Norfolk inhabitants by calling it "the hernia on the end of England" before venting his spleen on the Rose and Crown in Snettisham. He described it as "a fine specimen of the old English pub that has been artificially inflated and surgically enhanced to cater to the needs of modern hospitality". Co-owner of The Rose and Crown, Jeannette Goodrich, took the review in good heart, saying that it was great to be featured in The Sunday Times.
"We knew we were in for a pasting when we heard AA was on our case," she said. "Talking about the food, he was on his normal acerbic form - he didn't like it, loads more do, food is a personal thing. The twist of the microwave was a bit harsh - all the dishes at the Rose and Crown are cooked from fresh, and the back-handed compliment of the last line was a bit snide."
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