Tag: 5*****
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BrewDog Dubai; Pints, Palms and Punk IPA in the Desert
The joys of international travel, we are told, lie in the chance to immerse oneself in other cultures: to haggle for spices in a sun-bleached souk, to ride a camel over sand dunes at sunset, to hear the haunting call to prayer echo off the minarets of an ancient city as you sip mint tea…
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La Cantine at The Delano – A Lifestyle Destination (Whatever That Means)
There’s a category of modern establishment that sets off the klaxon in my head before I’ve even seen the menu. You know the sort: places described not as restaurants or bars, but as “lifestyle destinations.” La Cantine bills itself as “a vibrant all-encompassing lifestyle destination with Mediterranean dining.” Which, translated from the marketing guff, means:…
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Demon Duck Dubai: Ducking Hell – A Tale of Culinary Regret
I didn’t have the duck. Let me just get that out of the way before we go any further. I went to a restaurant called Demon Duck and I didn’t order the duck. What was I thinking? I love duck. I’ve always loved duck. Crispy duck pancakes, duck à l’orange, duck confit, duck fat potatoes,…
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The Clifton Sausage: A Banger of a Staple
There are some places that aren’t so much part of the food scene as they are part of the actual scenery. Places so ingrained in the local fabric, you’re not sure whether they serve sausages or hold up the street itself. The Clifton Sausage is one of those places. A fixture. A stalwart. A culinary…
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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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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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The Travel Critic 