Daniel Clifford was amongst a trio of Michelin-starred-chefs who came under the microscope of the restaurant critics this weekend.
Matthew Norman of The Guardian was surprised to find that his much lauded restaurant Midsummer House in Cambridge is being run for the benefit of its customers rather than inspectors. "So it bloody well should be, you might say on noting the price, but it has been a long time since I paid a bill nudging £80 a head (we had just two glasses of house wine between us) without a rush of psychotic resentment," he said.
However, at the Bingham restaurant in Richmond, John Walsh of The Independent experienced the results of a Michelin-starred chef - Shay Cooper - who is has allowed his creativity to run away with itself. "By the end, we were a tad irritated by that common phenomenon: the chef who disregards what you want and gives you what he thinks may impress you," he complained.
Meanwhile Brett Graham, who has just been awarded a second star at the Ledbury, impressed Jasper Gerard in The Daily Telegraph who said the Australian chef was producing some brilliant food.
The Times' Giles Coren and The Observer's Jay Rayner have different views on the Dean Street Townhouse, the latest venture from Soho House Group. While Coren goes overboard in his enthusiasm for the venue, Rayner is disappointed with its traditional British menu. "There is absolutely no excuse for taking peasant food and gussying it up to such a degree that it loses all sense of purpose," Rayner laments.
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