Tag: 5*****
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The Eagle, Cambridge: A Pint of History, Please
Some pubs you visit for a pint. Others you visit for the history. And then there are places like The Eagle in Cambridge, where you arrive for a Guinness and suddenly find yourself quite happy to write off the rest of the afternoon. This pub was chosen by my father-in-law, who certainly knows his way…
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The Great House, Sonning: A Hotel With a Soul
There is, of course, a tried-and-tested modern formula for establishing a luxury hotel. A sort of hospitality paint-by-numbers for the property developer who wants five stars without the inconvenience of anything resembling a soul. Step 1. Find a beautiful old building with some actual history. Ideally, one with wonky floors, original beams, a few stories…
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Bravas, Bristol: The Greatest Hits and One Hell of a New Track
There is a particular moment at a concert when a mega-famous rock band, having spent two hours rattling through their greatest hits in front of 50,000 people, announces that they’re going to play something new. The crowd goes quiet. Someone goes to the toilet. A bloke at the bar orders another pint. It’s not that…
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Flat Iron, Bristol: Less Choice, More Steak
I know Flat Iron is a chain. I know. You don’t need to email me. But what they do is very, very good. And I’m slightly surprised more restaurants haven’t figured this out. Because your average restaurant menu these days is basically a small novel. It wants to be all things to all people. Fish.…
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Ständige Vertretung, Berlin: Pork, Politics & a Very Large Lump of Germany
Helmut Kohl and Angela Merkel are probably the only German politicians I can name without having to Google them. Well, I mean, there are others, obviously, but let’s not make this a political science essay. The important thing is that neither of them, particularly, makes me think: lovely, I could murder a schnitzel. And yet…
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The Albion: A Pub With Soul
You can open a pub. You can make it look nice. You can put some decent beer behind the bar, employ some friendly people, cook some food and persuade people to come in, drink it, eat it and have a lovely time. All of which is relatively straightforward. The problem is that none of this…
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Ofou to lo – An Outrageously Perfect Greek Taverna
If the gods of Olympus ever tired of ambrosia and decided to open a taverna, they would build something very like this. The sea beyond the tables is so extravagantly blue it looks as though someone has turned up the saturation on reality itself. The fish arrives with such startling freshness that you half expect…
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Hotel Port 7 – Substance is hard to achieve
I didn’t stay at Hotel Port 7. I can’t tell you whether the pillows are plump, the showers powerful, or whether the housekeeping folds the loo paper into little triangles that make people feel they’ve entered a higher social class. What I can tell you is that I stopped for a drink on the terrace,…
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Amoodi – The Best Thing on the Beach Isn’t the View
We’ve all been there. You trek down a glorious stretch of coastline, lured by turquoise water and the promise of a lazy afternoon, only to find the same tired formula waiting at the end of it. A beach shack at the back. Sunbeds at the front priced somewhere between “luxury experience” and “small family hatchback”.…
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Moxy Barcelona Gets the Modern Hotel Just Right
I’m starting to develop a worrying affection for the Moxy brand. Worrying because, on paper, it ought to annoy me. It’s a hotel concept apparently devised by a committee of people who own trainers costing more than my first car. There’s the inevitable industrial-chic aesthetic, the communal tables, the mood lighting, the sense that someone…
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