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. …
Category Archive: Michelin
Those with stars, seeking stars, or deserving of stars
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 …
Review: The Felin Fach Griffin, Brecon
We saw an otter while kayaking on the River Wye, just downstream from the little town of Hay-on-Wye. This was the high point of our weekend treat on the river which began with a good supper and a cosy night’s sleep at the Felin Fach Griffin, near Brecon. Which isn’t to say that our stay …
Review: Noma, Copenhagen
Noma is all about ideas, playing with convention, with ingredients, with presentation. With an objective eye I would have to say that the results are not always conventionally delicious. Those more challenging dishes become delicious through the medium of a palate that is hungry for new experiences, possibly even slightly jaded by a thousand prior …