Bloomberg, 23 January
Richard Vines visits Albion and Boundary, 2-4 Boundary Street, London EC2
People were lining up for tables last Saturday at Albion, the restaurateur Terence Conran’s new casual eatery in London’s Shoreditch. I know. I was one of them, and I’ll happily do it again if that’s what it takes to get a table. It probably will, because I keep hearing about the crowds at Conran’s “caff,” which forms part of the Boundary, a hotel, bakery, restaurant and bar housed in a Victorian warehouse over the road from Shoreditch House, a fashionable private club.
Albion and Boundary >>
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Evening Standard, 28 January
Fay Maschler visits Kai Mayfair, 65 South Audley Street, London SW7
It is, as of yesterday, the Year of the Ox. What do we know about an ox? It is stubborn. What do we know about the Michelin Guide to Great Britain? It must have been launched in a Year of the Ox. Having not been particularly impressed by the judgments of the Michelin Guide over the years, the recently published 2009 edition has dragged from me grudging respect. To go on and on blithely ignoring the way the world is going, to, as it were, not notice or acknowledge what customers want from restaurants, and to reward the branded links in the chains owned by big-cheese French chefs because, well, because they are big-cheese French chefs: respect!
Kai Mayfair - review in full >>
Time Out, 28 January
Guy Dimond highlights Bocca di Lupo, 12 Archer Street, London W1, as the number one restaurant amongst London’s Top 50 Restaurants
Putting a brand new restaurant at number one in this list was a gamble, but there’s no doubt about it: Bocca di Lupo is the food-lovers’ restaurant of the moment. Chef Jacob Kenedy was previously chef at Moro, and has created a very similar approach of interesting, varied, daily-changing small dishes to share at his own restaurant. The feel is similar too: casual and a bit too loud perhaps, but it certainly has a buzz to it. The big difference when compared to Moro is the origin of the cuisine: Kenedy has plucked classic plus more innovative ingredient combinations from every region of Italy, and presents them simply; ingredient quality is to the fore.
Bocca di Lupo – review in full >>
By Janet Harmer
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