Big Trade Deal Will Change How We Eat. Hit in Peckham. Critics & More.
Giles communes with Victor. Charlotte goes to Peckham. Sam goes to Peckham. Harman heads to Brockley.
Hello, everyone. I hope you had an excellent week. I spent most of Friday and Saturday outdoors, and woke up Monday feeling much refreshed.
Although not a Catholic, I was also energised by the Conclave’s choice for Pope. I really believed that there would never be a Pope from the U.S., let alone one who might provide such a powerful counterbalance to the weight of negativism coming from U.S. political leadership these days. But Leo XIV may do just that. For the moment, there is hope.
In 2016, almost mediocre Prime Minister Theresa May said that to be a citizen of the world was to be a citizen of nowhere. Leo XIV provides yet more evidence of just how idiotic that statement really was. Born in Chicago, lived in Peru, and now resident in Vatican City, his experiences around the world give him the basis for empathy and mutual understanding — a global perspective that is surely valuable in this moment.
Spending time with people who come from and understand other societies is the best way to find common ground and to see the world as they do. It creates a basis for mutual respect, and, that established, a foundation to disagree well. I worry about people, like Mrs. May, who see the rest of the world as something to push away, rather than something to embrace and experience.
Last year, I had an amazing lunch at the Four Seasons with people from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the UK. I think about that lunch often because I learned so much. As I said at the time, “The conversation reminded me why I value these sorts of meals so highly: I always learn something unexpected and benefit from perspectives that I don’t often encounter in my London bubble. About Singaporean politics, the cultural heritage of Indonesia, eating in Japan, or making the most of a trip to Antarctica” among many other things.
Meals, it turns out, are among the best ways to build that global perspective in oneself. So, can more lunches deliver world peace? I’m not sure, but I’m willing to find out.
Transatlantic deal to impact all facets of everyday eating
No. Not that one.
U.S. food delivery giant, DoorDash, has agreed to purchase UK-based (and London-listed) Deliveroo for about £2.9 billion. That’s roughly half of Deliveroo’s valuation at its initial public offering in March 2021, according to the FT.
On the same day, DoorDash also announced its acquisition of SevenRooms, the restaurant booking website that’s a favourite of most of the UK’s higher end places and about half of London’s restaurants. After the failure of Resy in the UK last year, this previously competitive market is now dominated by SevenRooms and OpenTable, with Tok maintaining a small foothold among some fine dining spots in the UK. (Tok is much more of a player in the U.S.)
If I consider my regular interactions with food, a substantial proportion start with Deliveroo and SevenRooms. I have no idea how DoorDash will evolve the two services, and whether they will both be folded into the DoorDash brand and app — though I assume that they will.
But the notion that so much of my eating experience will be reliant on a single tech platform does not really fill me with delight. And I can’t believe that a shrinking pool of providers is good for restauranteurs, who pay fees for each delivery or booking. Less competition means further pressure on margins at precisely the worst time.
Hit: Peckham Cellars
Hits & Misses are mini-reviews of places that were either (a) good, but not quite good enough to do a full review and add to the Guide, (b) had a flaw or two, or (c) that I revisited following a prior review.
If I told you that the Michelin Guide features five restaurants from Peckham, would you be surprised? Well, if I named three of those so lauded as Artusi, Kudu, and Kudu Grill, maybe that would lessen the shock. The fourth is vegan paradise, Naifs. And the final is Peckham Cellars, a stone’s throw from the Queen’s Road Peckham station.
I caught up with an old friend there recently for wine and nibbles, my first visit for a couple of years. Happily, Peckham Cellars still delivers — great food and outstanding service that would make it a top choice in any corner of London.
An opener of Gilda — those wonderful little skewers of olive, anchovy, and guindilla pepper got everything off to a great start. Goats cheese and caramelised onion croquetas were beautifully made, rich and delicious. Mussels with a chilli kick turned up the dial. And delicious, shareable steak delivered the goods, a perfect compliment to a big, bold Rioja. A multi-flavoured mille-feuille closed with excellence.
The wine list is predictably hip, so features lots of skin-contact and over-oxidised selections that I, frankly, can’t stand. But there are also plenty of delightful, more classic selections. We got through an excellent bottle of Chardonnay and an admirable bottle of Pinot Noir through our meal.
Peckham Cellars is truly a place to spend a very comfortable afternoon or evening.
Critics Wrap-Up
✍🏻 indicates a review that you should read for the writing.
🍽️ indicates a place that sounds excellent and is probably worth a try.
✍🏻 Giles Coren (Times) loves Victor Garvey at the Midland Grand. “I enjoyed Victor’s deep, chilled voice filling me in on the years since we last spoke. His puckish humour. His undimmed love of the business. He could do anything. Has done most things. And now he has chosen to do these dishes, in this room, for these reasons, and if that is what he wants to do, then I’m right behind him.” My review is here.
Andy Hayler (independent critic) also visits, and is similarly impressed. “This was an excellent meal, featuring high quality ingredients and classy technical skills. This is a positive transformation from the previous two incarnations on these premises and deserves to prosper.”
✍🏻 Peter Sullivan (
) praises Jeremy King and adores his experience at The Arlington. “A wondrous Lobster Thermidor soufflé is the Elizabeth Taylor of iconic seafood dishes; rich, wobbly and decadent.”Catherine Hanly (Hot Dinners) checks out Josephine Marylebone, the new outpost from Claude Bossi. “Whether you're opting for a budget or blowout meal, there's plenty to enjoy.” I’ve got a booking there in two weeks. Meantime, here’s my review of its sister spot in Hammersmith.
Charlotte Ivers (Sunday Times) delights in Janda Diner, a Malaysian place in Peckham. “Butterflied sea bass, fresh and grilled to the sweet point of crispy skin and flaky flesh, in a spicy tamarind juice.”
Grace Dent (Guardian) reviews Song He Lou in Chinatown. “After the best part of three centuries in China, this new London branch is Song He Lou’s first overseas flagship.” … “Order some tea, enjoy the comforting noodles and leave the rumpus behind.”
Jasper Conran (Standard) is the latest to review The Lavery in Kensington. “I am not normally a fan of tortelli, finding it a doughy mouthful. My prejudice has now vanished, gone, flown away. The nettle tortelli stuffed with ricotta with cultured butter and pine nuts was the star of the show, the pasta as light as a feather and the flavour of the nettle absolutely and miraculously in evidence.” David Ellis was off this week.
✍🏻
(Braise) heaps praise on the De Beauvoir Deli in Islington. The sausage roll, for example, “is rightly famous, though firmly back in the deli’s bougie streak.”🍽️
(Bald Flavours) checks out Cafe Mondo in Peckham. “The standout is the ‘Patty Melt’. Roughly hewn slices of grilled bread packed with a coarse, caramelised jumble of beef mince, all welded together with an ooze of Big Mac-esque sauce, Swiss and the blessed American cheese.”Marina O’Loughlin (FT via Instagram) returns to Soho stalwart Andrew Edmunds. “I'd like to apologise to other diners for our loudness and sweariness - it was one of those lunches.”
Her FT column focuses on the dining delights she discovered crossing Europe via Interrail.
Nick Harman (Foodepedia) tries TAI in Brockley. “Tasty Thai food at knock down prices is a winner in anyone’s book and if I was local I’d be summoning those scooters at least once a week.”
Daniela Toporek (Palate) reviews The Whistling Oyster in Chiswick. “This is why we’re here, what we’re looking for: slimey, slurpy seduction.”
Author Jeannette Winterston takes the celeb guest slot in the Observer with a review of the Market Coffee House, “a family-run restaurant where the menu changes and the values don’t.”
Beyond London
✍🏻 Jay Rayner (FT) crosses Paris to book Bistrot Paul Bert. “Booking into Bistrot Paul Bert genuinely can be frustrating. Then you get there, and the tables are full, and the air is warm, and the food is right, and the wines flow, and the world steadies on its axis. It is all the things you hoped it would be. It sits at the apex of that hierarchy of small differences.”
William Sitwell (Telegraph) heads to Manchester to try Pip. “I was worried my Lancashire hot pot would leave me struggling to rise from my chair... But instead came a dainty oval pot of braised shoulder with a small spoon of cabbage and an oyster shell filled with salty sauce.”
Tom Parker Bowles (Mail on Sunday) tries Amari, a new Spanish place in Brighton. “Laid-back, unpretentious and sensibly priced, Amari may not exactly be hidden – but it’s an absolute Iberian gem.”
Nick Lander (jancisrobinson.com) writes about French influences on Japanese dining.
Edible Reading has an excellent Friday lunch at Gee’s in Oxford, but the “pricey and middling” food had little to do with it.
Follow-up: Paternoster Farm, which Charlotte Ivers reviewed positively for the Sunday Times only last week, has announced that it is closing. Founder Michelle Evans told The Caterer that Pembrokeshire County Council has leased the spaced to a new tenant.
Thanks for reading this week’s update. I hope you found something that tempted you. Please do subscribe if you haven’t already. And let me know what you think about the DoorDash acquisitions in the comments.
I agree on the timing of the Papal appointment. I can imagine this was going through the minds of the Conclave during the votes.