Whisper it rather than shout it, and certainly don’t tell everyone, but something very exciting is happening in the Gredos region of Spain. Drive two hours northwest from Madrid, where diners lack no shortage of plush restaurants, to encounter a truly different experience. Three days in the region left your reviewer and his group of five dining comrades swooning for both more of its food and wine.
From its name onwards, there is knowing coolness, a certain intentionality to what COR is seeking to achieve. It’s a place to watch in an upcoming district of Bristol. And if COR is seeking to ape what is arguably the best restaurant in England (Clare Smyth’s Core in plush Kensington, London), then why not? The team at Michelin have already awarded COR a Bib Gourmand; stars may beckon.
Just moments from Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, central train station and main shopping street, diners can imagine themselves transported to Spain. Parador 44 is a wonderfully conceived venture, set up by an enterprising couple of brothers. Visitors can sip sherry, eat top Basque-influenced nosh and then sleep upstairs in a handful of boutique hotel rooms. There is every reason to do all three.
It was not the most auspicious of starts. When my dining comrade and I descended on Bellazul it was pouring with rain. We arrived soaked. Welcome to England in April. It’s about as far from the Mediterranean as one could imagine. Open only for two months, Bellazul has the laudable intention of transporting diners to the sunnier climes of southern Europe. The venture is well-intentioned but does not totally succeed.
If New Quebec Street in Marylebone were my local high street, then I would be delighted. Luckily it is close to where your reviewer both lives and works. Zayna has been a long-standing favourite for curry. There’s also a great wine shop, a fishmonger and more. In addition, Boxcar is located on this street. Open since 2017, Gourmand Gunno corrected a long-standing anomaly by visiting it recently. Billed as a ‘neighbourhood restaurant’, it certainly constitutes a wonderful addition to the street, for both food and vibe.
For those unaware, ‘bubala’ is a Yiddish term of endearment, roughly translated as darling. No surprise then that the restaurant is a homage to Levantine food, located appropriately in east London’s former Jewish quarter, yards from Petticoat Lane. Such has been the success of Bubala that its backers have recently opened a second outlet in Soho. Securing a table here is almost impossible currently, but the original venue provides a wonderful insight into what can be expected.
Think of Manteca as the love child of St John and Boca di Lupo. Take Fergus Henderson’s nose-to-tail approach, apply it to Italian cuisine and you have Manteca. After the success of its pop-up ventures, Manteca has moved on to bigger and better, opening a permanent venue in Shoreditch earlier this year. Such has been its success that diners are packed in almost cheek by jowl, but they come for a clear reason: the whole experience is very good.
It is hard not to pre-judge the Clove Club. The venue is the highest ranked British restaurant in the annual San Pelligrino top-50 list. Maybe as a result of its fame, it is necessary to reserve a table for a weekend evening three months in advance and – in a first for this country – pay for it all upfront. Against this background, I seriously expect to be wowed. What my comrade and I learned, however…
I first visited Les Trois Garcons when it opened around 15 years ago. I loved it then and I still love it now. Shoreditch has changed a lot during this time, but the evidently successful formula here has not. We all probably play the game – if you had a restaurant, how might you choose to furnish it?
