For being the fourth city of England, Bristol hasn’t done well for top class restaurants. However it does at last seem to have a gem in its midst, and it’s a home-cultured pearl because before Casamia’s reinvention as a fine dining restaurant under the brothers Sanchez-Iglesias it was their parents’ Italian trattoria for a number …
Category Archive: Michelin
Those with stars, seeking stars, or deserving of stars
Review: The Walnut Tree, Abergavenny
I can’t resist examples of the insanity of TripAdvisor. Shaun Hill’s Walnut Tree rocks in at a mighty number 7, while Stephen Terry’s Hardwick squeaks in at number 10. Gosh, Abergavenny must be a veritable culinary mecca if these top-drawer chefs are that far down the list. Well, if the food I enjoyed last night …
Review: Purnell’s, Birmingham
I struggle to love Birmingham. It’s handsome in parts, ugly in others, and sits in that uneasy size bracket where a city is too large to be friendly but too small to be metropolitan. Someone give me a list of reasons to love Birmingham and I’ll check them all out next time I visit, promise. …
Review: The Checkers, Montgomery
One thing a restaurant really can’t be blamed for is having to share a dining room with a big party of cheerfully noisy people. Indeed, as they’re likely to have a storming drinks bill it’s only to be expected that restaurants would actively court such parties. The Checkers is a cosy, friendly restaurant in the …
Review: La Trompette, Chiswick
It does get difficult reviewing restaurants that are very good but not explosively brilliant. Unless something interesting happened on the way to the restaurant, or there’s something on my mind I’d like to moan about, it’s hard to decide how to make the review interesting. As you’ll have spotted, my reviewing style is not to …