Tag: Restaurant
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Scott’s Richmond: Oysters, Opulence, and the Comfort of Getting It Right
Scott’s in Richmond is the sort of restaurant that makes you want to sit up a little straighter the moment you walk in, as if the building itself has opinions about posture. Oysters, opulence, and old-school service, really, what’s not to love? It is a modern throwback, which is a perfect contradiction and all the…
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The Pelican Notting Hill – Built by Gods
If the ancient gods ever convened on a cloud somewhere above W11 and announced, “Right, let’s design the world’s most implausibly perfect winter pub,” they would, naturally, bicker for a bit; Zeus insisting on thunderbolts behind the bar, Hera wanting better cushions, Dionysus demanding bottomless wine; before finally agreeing to conjure The Pelican, Notting Hill.…
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King’s Arms Oxford: Everything a Pub Should Be
Yes yes yes. A great pub. Everything a pub should be. None of your distressed brick and faux industrial nonsense, no ironic lighting or Shoreditch wankery masquerading as “authenticity”. The King’s Arms is the real thing, the sort of pub that’s been around since God was a boy and still smells faintly of ale, wood…
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The Alice, Oxford: Proof That Some Restaurants Really Are Special
For those of you who read my restaurant reviews (and, truly, I adore your stamina), you’ll know that I often talk about restaurants trying to be special. The dim lighting, the overpriced cocktails with sprigs of rosemary the size of bonsai trees, the waiter who says “awesome” when you order water; all the theatre of…
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Queens Lane Coffee House – Probably Quite Old.
I love it when venues claim to be the biggest, the best, or my personal favourite the oldest. It’s such a gloriously unverifiable boast. No one’s really going to cross-reference parish records or trawl through 17th-century shipping manifests to check whether your “since 1654” claim is true. And even if they did, what are they…
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The Ivy Oxford Brasserie — “Nice” in every possible sense
The Ivy brand holds an interesting position in the British psyche. It’s the restaurant equivalent of saying someone’s lovely. Not brilliant, not exceptional, just… nice. It exists in the nice parts of nice towns, where nice people go for a nice meal. The décor is nice, the service is nice, and the food, well, it’s…
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L’Osteria, Bristol – A Masterclass in Mediocrity (With Extra Cheese)
Oh dear God, do these sorts of places still exist? Oh dear God, do these sorts of places still exist? Apparently so, tucked into Bristol like the last Blockbuster video store stubbornly pretending Netflix was just a fad. L’Osteria is that brand of chain Italian that feels less like dining out and more like being…
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Rudy’s: Proof That Being Good Beats Being Different
Right, so Rudy’s Pizza in Bristol. Another bloody pizza joint. Or a burger place. Those are the only two things that seem to open these days. You can’t move in a British city without tripping over an “artisan” sourdough base or a “dirty” triple-stacked beef thing. And I’m not going to stand here and make…
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Aqua Brasserie: The Roast That Rules Bristol
Let’s get this out of the way straight off: Aqua in Bristol is excellent. Not “pretty good for a chain,” not “fine if you’re in the neighbourhood,” but properly, resoundingly excellent. The food, the service, the whole set up. Top notch. And yet, bafflingly, no one in Bristol seems to shout about it. Maybe it’s…
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Mangosteen, Bristol: Thai Tapas That Would Make the Spanish Spit Rioja
Right, so Mangosteen on Cotham Hill. A Thai tapas place. Which is not a thing. I mean, I’m not sure they have tapas in Thailand. I imagine the word would cause the Spanish to storm out into the streets, slapping their thighs in horror and waving jamón ibérico in protest. Because “tapas” are their thing.…
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The Travel Critic 