Recently in Restaurants Category

Despite a limited wine list and an extortionate bill at £115.10 for two at lunch, Jasper Gerard enjoys the Japanese tapas style menu at ex-Nobu chef Tomonari Chiba's restaurant Dinings in London. 

"The chef is uncompromising in his use of quality ingredients (truffle, bass, lobster, oyster, crab, duck)," the The Daily Telegraph's food critic says as he tucks into a wide selection of dishes.

In Glasgow, Tracey MacLeod of The Independent visits Crabshakk and finds that a pleasingly mixed clientele, crisp but friendly service and decent prices make the seafood restaurant a winning operation.

Meanwhile other reviewers are not so fortunate in their choice of restaurant. Giles Coren, writing in The Times, describes Babbo in London as "one of the new breed of Italian restaurants in Mayfair (Cipriani set the trend, Dolada followed most recently) that serve competent food at ridiculous prices and make you feel ill to the bottom of your mortal soul".

And in Manchester, The Observer's Jay Rayner finds that Glamorous, a Chinese restaurant with a seating capacity of 600 set in a business centre next to a multi-storey car park, is anything but glamorous. While he admits the experience at times is entertaining, the food itself is either odd or weird.

The Guardian's Matthew Norman is forced to have lunch twice after ending up at the wrong restaurant but is impressed with the food and service at Chinese restaurant Ba Shan in London in the end.

Last week, Italian chef Francesco Mazzei, co-owner of L'Anima in the City of London (which is closing for an extension this summer), went on a mission to find the perfect potato for gnocchi.

Mazzei and his team of chefs set out to test three different varieties of potatoes to see which one would make the best base for the Italian staple, with iconic French chef Pierre Koffmann testing the final product.

The varieties of potatoes on the menu were: Markies, Ramos and Sierra Gold which were supplied by QV Foods.

After boiling, peeling and ricing the potatoes, the chefs added flower and egg yolk to make the gnocchi dough, which they rolled out into strips, cut into pieces and shaped with a ridged, wooden gnocchi board.

First up was the Markies potato, which Mazzei mixed with dried spinach to give the gnocchi a vivid green colour. Markies are the new rival of the ever popular Maris Piper; they are a good all-round kitchen potato with a floury texture and mild flavour.

Mazzei served the Markies gnocchi with basil pesto and the result was a bright green plate of food made up of gorgeous, light and fluffy gnocchi perfectly balanced by the sweet basil sauce. "A definite winner," judge Koffmann declared.  

Two-Michelin-starred chef Phil Howard's latest restaurant, Kitchen W8 in London, is a must-consider for anyone in Kensington with something to celebrate, says restaurant critic John Walsh.

Writing in The Independent, Walsh is impressed by both the food and the service at Kitchen W8, which is a joint venture between Howard and restaurateur Rebecca Mascarenhas.

However, he is less keen on the prices. "With most starters costing £8.50 and main courses mostly north of £15 (rib-eye steak is £19.50) it's hardly snack territory," he says.

Meanwhile, The Guardian's Matthew Norman is effusive in his review of the Dean Street Townhouse, which is the first new joint offering from Nick Jones' Soho House Group and Richard Caring, owner of Caprice Holdings.  

"It mingles the bustle and slickness of the grand, all-day Parisian brasserie with a determinedly anti-Michelin English menu and a room cunningly designed (distressed mirrors, grand bar, wood panelling) for that ultra-voguish, modern media Soho clubland feel," Norman says. 

Meanwhile the new head chef at Gilpin Lodge in Windemere, Cumbria, received the seal of approval from Jasper Gerard in The Daily Telegraph. Despite fearing the place might be all cream teas and doilies, he is delighted to find that, as well as being friendly, informal and full, the food prepared by Russell Plowman is top notch.

In The Times, Giles Coren says his visit to new Japanese restaurant Aqua Kyoto atop the former Dickins & Jones building on London's Regent Street, was a fun experience. As well as consuming great cocktails and good sushi, he also enjoys the stunning night views.

Jay Rayner of The Observer finds a far better-than-average local restaurant in Maison Bleue in Bury St Edmonds, Suffolk. Efficient, friendly service and perfectly judged fish cookery makes the town "a very nice place to be".

Rose Gray, the founder of the acclaimed River Café in London, with partner Ruthie Rogers, died yesterday aged 71 after a prolonged battle with cancer.

The restaurant, which has held a Michelin star since 1998 and has been the launch pad for the careers of Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Theo Randall among other chefs, is closed today as a mark of respect.

Gray and Rogers were recently awarded MBEs in the 2010 New year's Honours List and Gray was bowled over by the news. "It's really fantastic. We love the fact that we head the women's honour's list," she told Caterer in January.

Gray was a keen home cook and a designer before launching the River Café with Rogers in Hammersmith in 1987. It immediately hit the headlines as being the place to find beautifully prepared simple, seasonal and carefully sourced Italian food - a total antidote to the nouvelle cuisine that was still prevalent throughout London at the time.

The River Café has spawned a host of imitators, but Gray and Rogers were never tempted to expand elsewhere. They became known as always being personally devoted to the restaurant.

In her last interview with Caterer, she said that it was always her intention to make the restaurant more special and even more interesting

"It's a restaurant run by two women and we're always there. That gives us the chance to make sure our personal vision is integrated into all we do. I think that's what makes the River Café so special."

Chris Horridge is to leave his role of executive head chef at Cliveden in Berkshire after just one year.

Following industry rumours last week, hotel group Von Essen has confirmed the chef's departure and announced plans for a restructure and refurbishment of the property.

Cliveden will undergo a "culinary team restructure" across its three restaurants Waldo's, the Terrace Dining Room and the Cliveden Club Restaurant, the group said.

Horridge, who has been overseeing Waldo's, will leave the hotel next month.

Von Essen has also unveiled plans for an £8m refurbishment programme of Cliveden, which will comprise the revamp of its 38 bedrooms as well as all public areas including the restaurants. The company also hopes to introduce a new spa which is currently subject to planning permission.

Nick Romano, chief executive officer at Von Essen, said the company "would like to thank Chris for his hard work and wish him all the very best for the future".

Horridge joined Cliveden last spring from the Bath Priory, where he held a Michelin star. He replaced former executive chef Robert Thompson who had left Cliveden after just eight months to set up his own restaurant on the Isle of Wight.

A Great British Menu contestant Horridge has garnered critical acclaim for his health-conscious approach to fine dining without the use of sugar, dairy or wheat.

Spanish celebrity chef Ferran Adrià has denied weekend reports that he is to permanently close his three-Michelin-starred restaurant El Bulli.

Adrià announced plans to temporarily close the iconic restaurant for two years in 2012 and 2013 at Spanish chef conference Madrid Fusion last month.

But an article in the New York Times over the weekend quoted the famous chef saying that he would close El Bulli for good replacing it with an academy for advanced culinary studies.

The report claimed that Adrià had made the decision to shut El Bulli permanently because he and his partner, Juli Soler, had been losing €500,000 (£435,000) a year on the restaurant and their cooking workshop in Barcelona.

However, Adrià has now denied the report in a Spanish newspaper saying the New York Times had misquoted him. 

"Nothing has changed with respect to the announcement I made in Madrid in January," he said.

"El Bulli will close its doors in 2012 and 2013, and will reopen in 2014."

Luxury hotel group Von Essen is considering a restructure of the restaurant offering at Cliveden in Berkshire. 

The company confirmed that it was looking to potentially reshuffle the operation at the hotel following industry rumours that Chris Horridge, head chef at the property's Waldo's restaurant, was leaving. 

"We are considering a possible restructure at Cliveden and have no further details," a spokeswoman for Von Essen said. 

A restructure of the operation at Cliveden could see the closure of Waldo's restaurant, where Horridge, who declined to comment, has been head chef for just under a year. 

He joined the property last spring from the Bath Priory, where he held a Michelin star, replacing Robert Thompson, who had left after just eight months to set up his own restaurant on the Isle of Wight. 

A Great British Menu contestant Horridge has garnered critical acclaim for his health-conscious approach to fine dining. At Waldo's he offers a nutritionally-balanced tasting menu which contains no sugar, dairy or wheat. 

Matthew Norman of The Guardian is keen to find out why Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester recently achieved Michelin's top accolade of three stars. But having enjoyed a meal that was good and sporadically brilliant, he suspects it may be something to do with the name.

"Then again, perfection is a subjective concept, and I wouldn't wish to discourage any of you who have at least £110 a head to spare," he says.

Meanwhile The Times' Giles Coren declares the Galvin brother's latest restaurant Galvin La Chapelle in east London one of the capital's grandest restaurants.

"They have opened in a bleak financial time and are doing what looks like raging business regardless, because brilliant, original, top-end restaurants that look immediately as if they have always been there are what the Galvin brothers do best," Coren enthuses.

The Observer's Jay Rayner says that if the menu at Cabbage Hall in Little Budworth, Cheshire, wasn't so pretentious, he might have enjoyed his meal there a lot more.

Lisa Markwell, writing in The Independent on Sunday, describes The Artichoke in Old Amersham, Buckinghamshire, as a great neighbourhood restaurant which diners should visit before it becomes difficult to get a table. Having recently reopened following a fire, she says the redesign by Claire Nelson is exactly right, while chef Laurie Gear's food is accomplished.

AA Gill readily admits in The Sunday Times that he has ignored rural restaurants in the past because most of them wouldn't last a week in Putney. After eating a Milan in Wooler, Northumberland, he says that while this is true of the restaurant, the experience also showed him that he needs to eat his words. "Most Putney restaurants wouldn't last a week in Wooler," he says.

The Royal Oak, a tenanted pub run by David Rhys-Jones, the brother-in-law of Prince Edward, in Romney Marsh, Kent, receives a vote of confidence from the Daily Telegraph's food critic, Jasper Gerard.

Restaurants are always thinking of romantic ways to lure loved up couples on Valentine's Day but one operator has taken things a tad too far.

A Canadian restaurant plans to celebrate Valentine's Day weekend by calling on diners to have sex in the toilets. From 12-15 February, Mildred's Temple Kitchen in Toronto is asking its customers to get up close and personal in its unisex loos.

"Have you given any thought to moving beyond the bedroom?" asks its website. "Check out Mildred's Sexy Bathrooms throughout the weekend of Big Love. You get the picture."

It's up to the couples to decide whether they'd like to get down to business before during or after their meal and a special Valentine's Day cleaner has been hired by the restaurant. (Isn't that a dream job?!?)

"We've always had little trysts in our bathrooms. We're taking it to the next level on Valentine's weekend," chef and co-owner Donna Dooher told the Toronto Star, adding she was encouraging customers to bring their own condoms.

And as far as any legal or hygiene concerns go, Toronto Public Health insisted that as long as there's no sex in the kitchen and the loos are being kept clean and sanitised, there was no problem.

And whoever called Canadians boring?!?

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.