February 2012 Archives

Dabbous, the first restaurant from former Texture head chef Ollie Dabbous, continues to impress the food critics, with Amol Rajan rating it as the most thrilling addition to the London dining scene for yonks.

Located in Fitzrovia, Dabbous is a joint venture between the chef and mixologist Oskar Kinberg, who previously managed the Cuckoo Club, with a menu of small plates with seasonal produce and light, clean flavours at its heart.

Writing in the Independent on Sunday, Rajan is hugely impressed with the delicious food and friendly service at Dabbous, scoring it a near perfect 9.5 out of 10.

The Guardian's John Lanchester finds delicious, seasonal British food and cracking value at Ffresh at the Wales Millennium Centre, where chef Kurt Fleming is aided by one of the great heroes of modern British cooking, Shaun Hill.

The famous baguettes at Kêu, a Vietnamese sandwich bar, may sell like hot cakes, but its other wares aren't terribly impressive, according to the Sunday Telegraph's Zoe Williams, while the Times' Giles Coren is so impressed with Burger & Lobster he returns for seconds the very next day.

Meanwhile filling in for AA Gill in the Sunday Times, Lucas Hollweg says the Pig in Brockenhurst, Hampshire, is a charming place that serves great, unpretentious food.

The template for Cambridge's small treasure, Fitzbillies, should be on every catering college's curriculum, says Marina O'Loughlin of the Metro, while the London Evening Standards's Fay Maschler says friendly staff and the optimistic energy of the operation at Karpo bring into reality some of that much talked about renaissance of King's Cross.

Michelin today released its new guide to its home country of France and awarded a wealth of new stars, with Flocons de Sel picking up three stars.

Housed in a chalet in the Megeve mountains in the Rhone-Alpes, Flocons de Sel is run by Emmanuel Renaud, who is known for his innovative, modern cuisine.

The restaurant's elevation brings the total of three-star establishments in France to 26, six less than Japan, which now has 32 restaurants holding the guide's top award.

The new guide awarded ten restaurants with a second star, bringing the total to 83, including Sur Mesure, the restaurant by chef Thierry Marx at the Mandarin Oriental hotel Paris; and Philippe Labbe's L'Abeille at the city's Shangri-La hotel.
 
Meanwhile Le Jardin des Sens, the former three-star restaurant run by twin brothers Jacques and Laurent Pourcel in Montpelier, was demoted from two to one-star-status.

A total of 58 restaurants celebrated their first star, taking the number of starred restaurants in France to 485.

Michelin also awarded 124 Bib Gourmands raising the total of establishments recognised for offering good quality cuisine at moderate prices to 630.

"With an expanding array of culinary trends and a constant focus on ingredients, high standards of cooking and renovated interiors, the French restaurant industry is being revitalized and transformed," Michelin said.

The 2012 Michelin guide to France goes on sale on 1 March, priced €24.

Six of the world's most celebrated female chefs are coming together for a three-night special event during which they will cook together at London's 1 Lombard Street restaurant next month.

Girls Night Out will take place from 11 to 13 March as a unique one-off collaboration seeing three pairings of top British and international female chefs.

They will each present a five course-dinner, accompanied by different wines (all made by women), in a celebration of women's achievements in the world of fine dining, in partnership with American Express.

The brainchild of the UK's Michelin-starred Angela Hartnett of Murano and food and wine writer Fiona Sims, the event will launch on 11 March with former Chef of the Year Catey winner Harnett paired up with New York chef Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune restaurant.

This will be followed on 12 March by Brazil's number one female chef, Helena Rizzo of Mani in Sao Paolo, who will cook alongside Clare Smyth, head chef at the three-Michelin-starred Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea. Finally on 13 March, Margot Janse of Le Quartier Français in Franshoek, South Africa, will cook alongside London's Anna Hansen of the Modern Pantry.

Tickets to the dinners cost £200 but Caterer and Hotelkeeper readers are entitled to a £50 discount. To book contact Elena Leva on 020 7929 9511 or el@jessen.co.uk quoting "Caterer and Hotelkeeper reader offer".

The late Santi Santamaria's Singapore restaurant Santi is to close next month.

The family of the iconic three-Michelin-starred Spanish chef, who died of a heart attack aged 53 last year, announced the restaurant at the luxury Marina Bay Sands resort would shut on 11 March.

Santi died in February last year after collapsing in the restaurant's kitchen while serving guests gathered to mark the official opening of Marina Bay Sands.

The closure of Santi, which opened in April 2010, comes as the Santamaria family aims to focus on its business in Spain.

"We want to build on my father's strengths and passion to create a success of the projects that he unfortunately had to leave halfway, many of which are happening in Spain," said his daughter Regina Santamaria, who runs Santi.

"We're sad to leave Singapore but we appreciate very much the support that diners have given to us."

An as-yet-unnamed Asian restaurant will replace Santi in the next few months, according Marina Bay Sands, with staff set to be redeployed across the casino complex where celebrity chefs, including Daniel Boulud, Guy Savoy and Wolfgang Puck, also operate restaurants.

Santamaria's food philosophy was founded on tradition and authenticity, seasonality and provenance. In an interview with Caterer in 2009, when Roux Scholar Daniel Cox was conducting his three-month stage at Can Fabes, Santamaria said: "Visual aesthetics are no use unless a dish delivers taste. All ingredients must be excellent, from the stock onwards."

Santamaria hit the news in recent years when he publicly described Spain's more avant-garde chefs, such as Ferran Adria, as "a gang of frauds whose work is to distract snobs". 

The line-up for the regional finals for this year's Roux Scholarship has been announced.

There will be a total of 18 young chefs competing for a place in the finals, 13 of whom are entering the competition for the first time.

The two regional finals will take place on 8 March at University College Birmingham and the University of West London.

The challenge for the first stage of the competition, now in its 29th year, was for chefs to submit a recipe for four people using spring chicken and veal heart sweetbreads accompanied by a sauce and featuring two garnishes, one of which must be cauliflower-based and the other using a green vegetable of their choice.

In the regional finals each of the contestants will have two-and-a-half hours to cook their dish along with a dessert from a bag of secret ingredients.

A total of six chefs will then go through to the national final, held in London on 2 April, with the winner offered a three-month stage at a three-Michelin starred restaurant anywhere in the world.

Judges will include TV chef James Martin; the inaugural Roux Scholar Andrew Fairlie; David Nicholls; Gary Rhodes and Brian Turner, who will be joined by brothers Albert and Michel Roux and their sons Michel Jnr and Alain.

The 18 regional finalists are:

Competing in Birmingham:
Robert Hutchins, Rudding Park Hotel Harrogate
Oliver Farrar, The Arch, London
Jing Wang, The Plough, Coton, Cambridge
Edward Attwell, Loves Restaurant, Birmingham
Christopher Rawlinson, The Red Cat Restaurant, Chorley
Vladimir Hromek, University Centre - Riverside Restaurant, Cambridge

Judges will be Alain Roux, Brian Turner CBE

Competing in London:
Adam Smith, The Ritz, London
Pramod Ghadge, Catlin Underwriting Agencies Ltd, Harbour & Jones, London
Matthew Whitfield, The Montagu Arms Hotel, Beaulieu, Hampshire
Ilias Kariotoglou, Stoke Park, The Dining Room Restaurant.
Arbinder Dugal, Le Pont De La Tour, London
Quinton Bennett, The Arch, London
Jonathan Boyd, Coco Restaurant, Belfast
Kyle Jenkins, The Square, London
Mark Charker, Ockenden Manor Hotel, Cuckfield, W Sussex
Adam Thomason, Wykeham Arms, Winchester
Andrew Smith, Thackery's Restaurant, Tunbridge Wells
Nuno Goncalves, Galvin At Windows, London

Judges will be Michel Roux Jnr, Andrew Fairlie, David Nicholls and James Martin

Matt Gillian's ambitious, sophisticated and original menu at the Pass at South Lodge near Horsham, Sussex, is let down by the lack of excitement of the open kitchen, according to John Walsh.

Former Acorn winner Gillan, who won a star in Michelin's 2012 guide, is to be congratulated on his fine, imaginative cooking says the Independent's food critic. But the lack of drama of the chefs in action ruins the dining experience.

"I have never encountered such a dismally misconceived ambience, such a chilly anti-comfort zone, such blithe indifference to diners' real needs," Walsh complains.

Writing in the Times Giles Coren has a very good dinner at the two-Michelin-starred Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles in Scotland but questions its rating in the various eating out guides. 

Meanwhile both the Guardian and the Observer's food critics are appalled by the food served at Novikov in London's Mayfair, the first UK venture from Russia's restaurateur to the rich and famous Arkady Novikov. John Lanchester and Jay Rayner agree that the food is shocking but what's truly surprising is that the restaurant also full.

The Sunday Telegraph's Zoe Williams says Loves Restaurant in Birmingham may not be a good looking restaurant but chef proprietor Steve Love's cooking is almost tear-jerkingly good.

Finally the London Evening Standard's Fay Maschler says 10 Greek Street in the West End is an independent restaurant with a gifted chef, benign service, revelatory wine lists and reasonable pricing.

I catch up with Diego Masciaga, director and general manager of the three-Michelin-starred Waterside Inn in Bray, Berkshire, who was recently awarded a Cavaliere al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, a knighthood by the Italian government.

Congratulations on your Italian knighthood. How do you feel?
I'm extremely proud. It's not an industry award but has come from the Italian Government so it's a really big honour. Normally this type of award is given to people who are much older and in fields like medicine or the church or CEOs of big corporations so it really came as such a big surprise.

What was the award in recognition of?
I've worked in this industry for 35 years and for the past 25 years at the Waterside Inn, I have helped a lot of young people from all over Europe. We train them not only in service and how to be professional but we also provide them with vital life skills like attitude and respect.

How did you find out about it?
In Italy they don't send letters and instead they sent a telegraph to the local police station in the little village where my parents live. Two police officers then went to my parents' house to deliver it and naturally my mother got the shock of her life when they arrived. When she called me to tell me she could hardly speak.

Did you have to be nominated to get this award?
Yes but I have no idea who nominated me. It couldn't have been someone from the hospitality industry but would have had to have been someone from within the Italian Government. Perhaps it was a guest from the Waterside Inn, I really don't know. But I'm hoping to find out when I go for my award ceremony in Italy.

Why would you encourage young people to choose a career in service?
It's really important for young people to understand that service is not just a job, it's a profession. It's about so much more than clearing plates and you can have some amazing opportunities in this industry. I once spent a few nights inside the Kremlin when Michel Roux was asked to cook for Boris Jelzin; I have met members of the Royal family and all sorts of celebrities doing my job.

What do you think needs to be done to improve service in this country?
Michel Roux Jr's programme the Art of Service did a lot to raise awareness but it seems like it's fading again now. I think there's too much focus on chefs but as Heston Blumenthal said, good service can repair bad food but good food can't repair bad service. Managers have a responsibility to be visible on the floor, lead by example and train their staff. Too many of them are holed up inside an office.

The hot and spicy burgers at Meat Liquor in central London may be brilliant; but its 90-minute, freezing-cold queue is not, says Zoe Williams.

The restaurant proper from the owners of the hugely popular Meat Wagon food van may offer great value but making people queue just isn't a functional way to deal with customers, according to the Sunday Telegraph's food critic.

"There probably isn't a better burger to be had in London for £6.50," Williams says. "However - and this is a huge however - there are burgers just as good to be had for a couple of quid more. So you've got to factor in how much you value your time."

Meanwhile the Observer's Jay Rayner is impressed with food van Pitt Cue's now permanent home in Soho, which offers delicious meat dishes that are executed with commitment, wit and serious attention to detail.

Writing in the Independent on Sunday Amol Rajan says the name aside, few country inns live up to the delight that is the Nobody Inn in Doddiscombsleigh, Exeter, Devon, while the Sunday Times' AA Gill finds the Riding House Café in London not bad but adds it's not good; it's boring and whatever.

Finally new tapas joint Copita in Soho, the second restaurant from the owner of nearby Barrica, offers all the thrills and sophistication of San Sebastian, according to the Metro's Marina O'Loughlin.

The Michelin-starred Petersham Nurseries Café in Richmond, Surrey, has denied industry rumours that head chef Skye Gyngell has left.

The restaurant and garden centre, which first opened in 2004, insisted Gyngell was on a sabbatical but would be returning.

A spokeswoman for the Petersham Nurseries Café said: "Skye is currently on a sabbatical, such as she takes every year. However, she has not left."

Gyngell has been head chef at Petersham Nurseries Café since it first opened and last year gained a Michelin star for her cooking. She has published three books and is a regular contributor to the Independent on Sunday, Vogue and Delicious.

In 2009, Petersham Nurseries was granted a mixed-use planning application, after it won a four-year dispute with Richmond Council over parking and the level of traffic around the site.

Dabbous, the first restaurant from former Texture head chef Ollie Dabbous, has wowed the London food critics, with both the Evening Standard and Time Out scoring it a perfect five.

Located in Fitzrovia, Dabbous is a joint venture between the chef and mixologist Oskar Kinberg, who previously managed the Cuckoo Club, with a menu of small plates with seasonal produce and light, clean flavours at its heart.

The Evening Standard's Fay Maschler loved her experience at the restaurant saying Dabbous really understands eating pleasure and claiming it is a restaurant that changes the game.

Meanwhile Time Out's Guy Dimond says thanks to its stark design it is not an immediately lovable restaurant, the food is as cutting-edge as you'll find anywhere.

Writing in the Sunday Times, AA Gill visits Chinatown in London's West End hoping to find a decent restaurant. But after eating at Manchurian Legends, he leaves spectacularly disappointed.

"I haven't actually been defeated by a restaurant for ages. It was spectacularly, triumphantly awful," he says.

The Observer's food critic Jay Rayner has a hit-and-miss experience at Viajante, where he says deliciousness is too often forced to give way to cleverness 

The Independent on Sunday's Lisa Markwell says Soho institution Quo Vadis, where former Blueprint Café chef Jeremy Lee has just taken over the kitchen, is a foodie favourite for a reason.

Finally the Metro's Marina O'Loughlin says the food at 34, the latest addition to the Caprice Holdings' stable, is almost excellent but adds that it is a restaurant designed for the privileged.