Category Archive: Fine dining

White linen, silver service, but not in Mr Michelin's book

Review: &samhoud places, Amsterdam

Some people just want to watch the world burn. Why else would you start the name of your restaurant with a piece of punctuation? There’s a word for that, and it begins with “pre-” and ends in “-tentious”. I was actually amazed that websites like Google Maps and Trip Advisor were quite happy with the …

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Review: The Plough, Kingham

Our latest destination for a Sunday lunch. Since autumn had properly begun, and the day was moist and grey with dazzlingly red and gold leaves on the ground, it felt like the right kind of Sunday to find a really proper wellies-by-the-door fire-in-the-grate kind of country pub. So the Kingham Plough was a great choice, …

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Review: Two Cats Kitchen, Birmingham

What is “New Baltic Cuisine”? Well, one answer is: it’s the tag line that’s meant to intrigue you into eating at Two Cats Kitchen. Another answer might be: it’s a themed menu that sticks pretty rigidly to the idea of only using things grown or found in northern Europe, with a couple of nods towards …

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Review: The Man Behind The Curtain, Leeds

Okay, look, if your tasting menu is described as “12 courses” and two of those courses are the petit fours, you’re actually grasping a bit. I’m just saying. Felt a bit silly ordering a second glass of dessert wine in anticipation of another dessert, only to have it put in front of us and then …

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Review: Castle Terrace, Edinburgh

At some point I just got bored and stopped eating my skate. Which is, really, one of the worst things you can say about a restaurant when you’re forking out over a hundred per person. This was my main course, “seared skate grenobloise with crushed pink fir apple potatoes and sea kale”. Seared implies flame-kissed, …

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