Category: RESTAURANT REVIEW
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The Southgate Pub, The Gower – a Narcissist’s Nightmare
Let’s start with the obvious: this is a slightly narcissistic review. A Southgate reviewing The Southgate? It’s like David Gower critiquing The Gower, or Brad Pitt doing a documentary on Big Pit. The whole thing already smacks of self-regard, so it’s a shame I have to report that the only thing this pub and I…
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The Windmill, Portishead – Pub Grub No More
There are three things in this country rarer than a competent rail replacement bus: A week of sunshine. A pub with a view worth more than a glance. A pub lunch that doesn’t taste like it was scraped off the floor of a 2008 wedding buffet in Milton Keynes. Today, by some celestial clerical error,…
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The Wheatsheaf, Combe Hay — Sunday Roast in Heaven’s Back Garden
Those of you who’ve been unwise enough to keep up with my recent reviews will know I’ve been on a bit of a German bender — bratwurst this, Bauhaus that, and enough Riesling to irrigate the Mosel. But today, back on dear old Blighty’s turf, I found myself luxuriating in something so English it could’ve…
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Gilden im Zims: Where Beer Flows, Pork Rules, and Calories Don’t Count
It has, I realise, been something of a week of cliché for anyone who’s been masochistic enough to read my recent reviews. A dreary parade of the obvious, the tried and tested, the meat-and-potatoes (and sauerkraut) of travel food writing. And I’m not about to let you off the hook just yet, because this sorry…
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Lamb, Lager and the Modern Curry House: Urban Tandoor Does It Better
I’ve never been a big fan of cliché. But, as fate would have it, on a sodden Friday night in Bristol, I found myself stumbling around the city centre with three other men of a certain vintage doing exactly that. Four middle-aged blokes looking for a curry house after one too many pints. It was…
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The Lobster Bar at The Coppa Club – A Style-Over-Substance Masterclass
Let’s be clear: The Lobster Bar at The Coppa Club is absolutely, heartbreakingly gorgeous. It’s like someone dropped a Soho House brochure into a Chelsea Flower Show and said, “Go mad.” The Thames sparkles below, the gardens are coiffed to within an inch of their chlorophyll, and the interior looks like a Nancy Meyers fever…
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Angela’s, Margate – A Seaside Sermon in Simplicity
If there’s one thing worse than a big restaurant, it’s a big restaurant that thinks it’s small. You know the ones – open kitchen clatter, faux-distressed brick, a fig tree potted in a bin, and a menu longer than War and Peace rewritten by Jamie Oliver on coke. That’s not a dining room; it’s a…
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The Metropolitan, Whiteladies Road, Bristol: Brunch, Blessedly Reborn
Brunch was made for Bank Holidays. That delicious moment in life when you are actively encouraged to surrender to inertia. It’s a meal designed for people who have nowhere better to be, no deadlines, no emails pinging, no reason at all to look at the time. It’s a rare invitation to just sit down, shut…
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Bar 44: A Reminder That Dinner Isn’t Just Dinner
The thing we often forget, and I’m as guilty of this as anyone, is that going out for food isn’t about ‘the food.’ I mean, we all need to eat, but we can do that anywhere. The real joy lies in the ‘going out.’ It’s the atmosphere, the ambiance, the sense of occasion, and—yes—the service.…
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Fattso Burger – Don’t believe the hype
One of the more joyful quirks of the modern food scene is the democratisation of dining. These days, a tattooed bloke in a shipping container can slap a patty between two buns and win more awards than Raymond Blanc. Pizza slingers, burger flippers, taco hustlers – they’ve muscled their way into the culinary conversation, and…
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The Travel Critic 