[singlepic id=460 w=280 h=210 float=right]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 …
Category: Rest of UK
Outside of London
Review: Old Hall Persian, Dorrington
[singlepic id=444 w=280 h=210 float=right]Persian is one of the three “grand cuisines”, along with French and Chinese. For me it conjures up images of delicate meats cooked with perfumed spices and exotic fruits. Yet it isn’t something you see a lot of in provincial towns and cities (well, unless you want to count doner kebabs …
Review: The Unicorn, Ludlow
[singlepic id=435 w=280 h=210 float=right]I’m sometimes tempted to make allowances for duff food on the grounds that at least it was cheap. But that’s daft. I’m a half-decent home cook, no Delia but no bad either. So I can confidently state that it doesn’t cost more money to cook crunchy chips, it just requires that …
Review: Churchill Arms, Gloucestershire
[singlepic id=429 w=280 h=210 float=right]Is it fair to review a restaurant that you visited on a “special” day? In this case, New Years Day for lunch. My friend Tim was quite prescient in saying “we shouldn’t expect too much, the staff will be tired after last night.” But surely a restaurant should only open its …
Review: The Talbot, Newnham Bridge
[singlepic id=397 w=210 h=280 float=right]All over the land the same story is played out. A country pub closes, typically a tired boozer beloved of the village, and like a phoenix from the ashes it re-opens as a country hotel with cosy rooms, period features and an aspiring dining room. Some pay lip service to their …