Category Archive: Fine dining

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

Review: The Clove Club, Shoreditch

Restaurants are clearly getting sneaky. Our waiter approached us after starters were cleared to ask “so which one of you is Salty Plums?” Given that I’d booked using my proper name and email address, and neither my Twitter account or this blog give away my email address… I’m a little curious how they found out! …

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Review: Kondo, Tokyo

Kondo is a Michelin 2-star tempura restaurant in Tokyo. We all know tempura – a plate of veggies and/or prawns in a crisply light batter, to be enjoyed as part of any Japanese meal in the UK. Well, in Japan there are dedicated tempura restaurants and at those the whole deal is tempura. The head …

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Review: The White Spoon, Cheltenham

There’s a bunch of good places to eat in Cheltenham. Our nearest, a pub called The Tivoli, ain’t one. Of course we tried it as soon as we moved here; two dull starters, Maureen had a stringy bit of lamb she could have chewed all week, and I had some argumentative fish that disagreed with …

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Review: Historical Dining Rooms, Bristol

If there’s one restaurant in the UK that you should dress up for, it’s surely this one. The Historical Dining Rooms, above the Star & Dove pub, goes the whole hog in decor, service and menu to cast you back into the past. In that it trumps Heston’s Dinner, which showcases historical food but is …

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Review: Lake Road Kitchen, Ambleside

UPDATE Oct 2016 – just been back to LRK and it’s better than ever. They’ve switched to a no choice tasting menu, 5 or 8 courses, and we enjoyed snails braised in homemade grain miso, slow-cooked octopus with fresh cheese and lovage oil, best piece of guinea fowl I ever tasted with hedgehog mushrooms and …

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