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.
Israeli food has become cool in recent years. Almost every middle-class household owns at least one cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi, while the Palomar has been a destination venue in London since its doors opened in 2014. Expectations are now markedly higher than a decade ago, and while Bala Baya did shows flashes of potential genius, it was left wanting in several areas.
Say foodie to many Londoners and they may respond ‘Borough Market.’ Say on-trend districts to the same audience and many might reply ‘Hackney.’ Surprise, surprise then that the two venues operating as Elliot’s appear within the confines of… Borough Market and Hackney. Food is all sourced from the former with a strong emphasis on the fashions du jour: local and seasonal. Visit the Borough venue (as we did) and you will be confronted with exposed brickwork, mismatched fittings and a sassy kind of New York vibe. There’s natural wine too. It’s almost all too achingly cool.
Do you know your egusi from your abula? This reviewer certainly didn’t and had only once previously tried anything close to Nigerian food. That was almost four years ago in an over-priced and far from authentic restaurant in St James. Fortunately, this gap in Gourmand Gunno’s culinary knowledge was recently rectified after the kind offer of a Nigerian friend to take me to his ‘local’ in the far reaches of south east London. It’s certainly worth the ten-minute train ride to Lewisham from London Bridge for a taste of what Nigeria has to offer.
Sollip promised so much on paper. Sadly the reality was markedly different. At least our experience was memorable. In eight years of regularly writing on restaurants, Sollip achieved something no other venue had previously done: straight after his meal, your reviewer went to another restaurant for a second dinner – for he had been left wanting by Sollip, in every sense of the term.
Themed restaurants rarely work. That’s the opinion of this reviewer. They just try too hard. The reality tends to be a disappointment; as the cliché goes, just as it’s hard to put lipstick on a pig, it’s equally difficult to assume that a cycling outlet can also work as a fully-fledged pizza restaurant…
Four years is a culinary lifetime, particularly in London, but I have always retained fond memories for Ma Goa, a Putney-located Indian restaurant. Finding myself in the area on a recent weekend, the opportunity to return seemed too good to pass up. In summary, the restaurant has had a make-over, but the food remains as differentiated as before.
Walk five minutes east from the tourists and Tower Bridge and you will find yourself in Shad Thames. Even to many a Londoner, there is a certain other-worldliness to this place; it speaks of history and the past, a place of secrets and undiscovered potential. Yet, it is well worth a visit. Indeed, on a sunny day in London when outside space is at a premium, a trip to the Blue Print Café (located in the London Design Museum) is a worthwhile excursion
Elephant & Castle is a depressing enough part of London to go to at the best of times. Exiting the underground station, the eye is confronted with an excess of cars and concrete. Those brave enough to navigate the roundabout can find themselves at Dragon Castle, a cavernous Chinese establishment that has been here for some time.
Our annual Christmas gathering of university chums and partners saw us in Putney on the Saturday before Christmas with Ma Goa as the venue. Modern and trendy it may not be, but in terms of food quality, this restaurant definitely deserves to be up there, ranking among some of the tastiest Indian food recently sampled in London.
