Tag: Restaurant
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Vivat Bacchus, Farringdon – A Lunch Upgrade Worth Logging Back Into Teams For
There’s nothing quite like an impromptu business lunch to lift the spirits and recalibrate your day. One minute you’re weighing up whether to endure another Super Green Falafel from Pret or gamble on that egg mayo baguette that’s been sweating quietly in the chiller since 8 a.m., and the next—you’re in a real restaurant. With…
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Sushi Saki, Barcelona – iPad Sushi and the Death of the Buffet
There was a time, not so very long ago, when the words buffet and Japanese together in a sentence meant only one thing: a heroic bout of salmonella, followed by 48 hours writhing in a Barcelona Airbnb praying to the porcelain gods and whispering promises to never, ever, eat again. You remember the scene: a…
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CiaoCiao, Barcelona – A Midnight Slice of Sanity
The great thing about arriving late into Spain — the only great thing about arriving late into Spain — is that the Spanish eat late. I have no idea why. I’ve asked them, often and earnestly, and they simply can’t tell me. They shrug, they gesture, they smoke, they look at me like I’ve asked…
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Prime by Pasture: A Burger Worth the Existential Guilt
So this was a little hello and goodbye sort of lunch. Hello to Prime, Pasture’s buzzy burger offshoot in Bristol. Goodbye to a wonderful colleague, though I won’t dwell on that part, mainly as there was a moment — as I was leaning in to the milkshake like a man doing something dirty in a…
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Gohan Dubai – Japanese Joy with a Side of Marital Discord
It came to my attention—because everything comes to my attention, particularly if it relates to food or travel or the steady erosion of my sanity—that in the ritualistic nightly conversation of “Where shall we go for dinner?”, there exists a subtle, psychological warfare between myself and the current Mrs Travel Critic (aka my long-suffering wife…
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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 Riverstation, Bristol – As Close to an Institution as It Gets (and Yes, I Know There Are Loads of Institutions in Bristol)
There’s a thing that happens when you live in or around Bristol long enough. You start throwing around the word institution like it’s seasoning. The Lido this, The Ivy that. But when it comes to food – proper, grown-up food that doesn’t come with a side of TikTok – there is one place that quietly,…
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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 Travel Critic 