Category Archive: Michelin

Those with stars, seeking stars, or deserving of stars

Review: Le Cercle, Bourges

What is it with French fine dining and puddings? Sorry, desserts. Are there other food writers out there properly bemoaning the complete lack of decent pastry chefs in French provincial 1 Michelin star restaurants? Or am I just dismally unlucky to have had crap desserts in the last five French provincial 1 Michelin star restaurants …

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Review: Hambleton Hall, Oakham

Fine dining has evolved a lot. And so it’s lovely sometimes to rock up at a country house hotel in the middle of nowhere, be settled by the fire and brought champagne, then taken through to a high-ceilinged dining room, seated at a white linen clad table, and served superb food and good wine by …

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Review: Whatley Manor, Easton Grey

The infusion of Japanese and east Asian ingredients and techniques into modern British high-end dining is in full swing, and the work of chef Niall Keating at Whatley Manor is a pretty spiffy example. Lime and parmesan crackers were a great start: two ingredients I don’t think I’ve ever seen listed together, but the perfumed …

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Review: The Raby Hunt, Darlington

TL;DR: We enjoyed something like fifteen courses of splendid fine dining at the Raby Hunt. There were no dishes we didn’t love, and some we loved a lot! It looks like the old drovers’ inn has had a thorough makeover recently, with a sharp modern display kitchen and edgy touches like the silver skull that …

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Review: Bibendum, London

Our meal at Bibendum was quite an example of what a difference menu choices can make. Left to my own devices, I’d have probably given an unambiguously glowing review. But it was very clear that of the four of us I’d definitely made the best selections from the a la carte menu at Claude Bosi’s …

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