When you go all-out for flavour and innovation, you won’t hit perfection every single time. Some dishes will be a bit OTT or just plain weird. For me, that’s part of the joy. I’d rather have food I can talk about and maybe a couple of dishes I can absolutely rave about, than several courses …
The Lake District is bloody glorious. It’s without doubt the most beautiful corner of England (and I’ve been to all the corners) and more and more it’s also got plenty of fantastic places to eat. But food aside, you need to get up into the fells. You can head up onto mighty Helvellyn or Scafell …
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about dining experiences, and how must expectation feeds into your enjoyment of a meal. I’ll be honest: I went to Core with so much buzz and hype about Clare Smyth’s restaurant having passed before my eyes that I was perhaps doomed to go “meh?” when I was treated …
Is “disappointment” meant to be the opposite of “appointment”? If so, my dining experiences in 2018 included a bunch of great appointments and a handful of disappointments. Here they are… Best meal Too easy. The pass bench at Ynyshir. This is the best restaurant in the UK right now (for my money) and I harumphed …
Core is proper fine dining. The elegant room filled with soft lighting on white linen, the miracle thin glassware, the shimmying clusters of waiters bearing the next remove, it’s all there. This is not “casual fine dining” or “modern fine dining”. And that’s lovely. This is exactly the place to come if you want to …