Competitive Dining. New Critics for NYT. World's 50 Best. Critics Wrap & More.
Ellis in Vietnam. Parker Bowles in Thailand. Rayner in Lebanon. Wilson in 1875.
Hello, everyone. Welcome to this week’s update.
I’ve been in New York this week, so it’s one fitting that our first two stories come from the Big Apple.
“Strava for Restaurants” Buzzing in NY
People as old as me might remember Foursquare. It was a gamified app that allowed you to share your location with friends and comment on venues. The most frequent visitor to each spot could become the “Mayor.”
Beli, an app capturing lots of buzz in New York City, encouragers diners to track which restaurants they have visited, share what they have enjoyed, and compete to see who has been to the most places.
The Telegraph, which reported on Beli a couple of weeks ago, says it is “Strava for Restaurants.” (Note to Beli: Whoever is doing your PR deserves a raise.)
The first thing Lindsay Wimms does when she gets back to her West Village flat is rank all the bars and restaurants she has been to.
No matter how how late the hour, the 30-year-old corporate events planner will log into the restaurant rating app Beli and input every last spot.
“I do it straight away, it’s like an addiction,” Ms Wimms, who is the 123rd top user on the app’s leaderboard, said. “I treat it like a sport.”
These days, they say if you don’t log your run on Strava, or post a sunkissed holiday snap to Instagram, did it even happen
Now, if you don’t rank your meal on Beli, did you even eat?
I can totally see this catching on. Perhaps they need a category for best places for a professional lunch?
It apparently does cover London. I’ll download it when I get back and give it a try. Is this a thing you would check it out? Tell me in the Comments.
New Critics and Fresh Strategy for NYT
Speaking of the Big Apple, The New York Times restaurant critic is arguably the most visible of the genre. But the role has been vacant since Pete Wells stepped down last year.
Last week, the paper announced that they would replace Wells with two writers, Ligaya Mishan and Tejal Rao, who have both been on staff and writing about food and restaurants for some time.
Interestingly, the Times is also expanding their approach. About half of the new critics’ reviews will focus on restaurants outside of New York.
The Times has also ditched its tradition of anonymity for its critics, though this is a more an acknowledgement of the folly of trying to be anonymous in the Internet age.
thinks there’s something else involved, too:It’s the first time the identity of a NYT restaurant critic has been made known while they are still in the job. The reason? Eatingwithtod. Well, probably. Or someone like him, or TikTok and Instagram food influencers in general. While I doubt Mishan and Rao will be gurning at some stretchy cheese anytime soon, they will appear in videos on the NYT website, ‘talking about criticism, the restaurants that excite them and how they do their work’. The logic is that ‘audiences want to know who’s making their recommendations, to put faces to names, to get a sense of their tastes and who they are’ and to bring a sense of ‘transparency and immediacy’ to NYT restaurant reviews.
Indeed, they have already done their first video.
Former NYT restaurant critic and Gourmet magazine editor
weighed in as well:My guess is that with this ambitious new national strategy and the increased use of video content the New York Times will become the one voice that dominates the space, the one that really matters… I like to think that my home town paper has figured out another smart survival strategy.
We’ll see. I doubt that with just two critics and a handful of other staff that The Times will rival Eater for its national footprint and deep foodie insights from every corner of the country, but we also know that Eater struggles to monetise. And the whole economic model of digital publishers under major pressure. Will the Times prevail in the end? No idea.
UK Diners Really Are Eating Earlier
A few weeks ago, I quoted Hawksmoor founder Will Beckett who suggested that dining habits were changing and that people were eating earlier. There was considerable discussion about this in replies, comments and social media. Lots of you weren’t sure.
Well, now there’s data.
A study from Zonal, which provides technology systems for restaurants, says that the average booking in the UK is now at 6:12 p.m., and that booking times after 8:00 p.m. have declined significantly.
Interestingly, 29% of consumers say they are going out earlier because they feel safer. And this isn’t an old people thing. “22% of those in the 18-34 age bracket are going out earlier now than they were 12 months ago,” says Drinks Business in its article about the report.
And restaurant owners confirm the data. 65% of business leaders have seen late-night footfall drop year-on-year.
There’s no doubt that habits are changing. And no doubt that Will was right.
Maido in Lima Named World’s Best for 2025
This year’s list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants was announced on Thursday. Maido in Peru came top of the list.
Only two London restaurants made the Top 50 — Ikoyi, which jumped from 42 to 15, and Kol, which dropped from 17 to 49.
Kadeau, a favourite of mine in Copenhagen, entered the list at 41.
I’ve been to 6 of the Top 50.
The globalness of this list is, for me, both its virtue and its challenge. There are just a whole load of places on the list that I know I’ll never visit. Also, it’s gotten really volatile. But, as with the UK’s National Awards, it’s a bit of fun.
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.
David Ellis (Standard) finds a new, great Vietnamese place in Peckham. “Lai Rai comes in two guises: ‘Ca phe by day, bia ho’i by night’ is a motto.” … “Among the dilapidation of Peckham, it stands as an oasis.”
✍🏻
(Bald Flavours) visits Sweetings in the City with Ellis. “Sweetings feels more like an immortal organism.” … “‘When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life,’ as Samuel Johnson quipped — places like Sweetings ensure you can maintain your energy levels.”
Grace Dent (Guardian) complains that Duchy, which I reviewed favourably two weeks ago, has fallen behind. “Yes, 10 years have passed, but very little in the pared-back, pan-European anchovies-on-a-plate-for-£12 dining scene has moved on.”
Jay Rayner (FT) spotlights Berut Bistro in Marylebone. “This is a family’s lifetime transported to the newly painted dining room.”
Giles Coren (Times) heads to Belsize Park to try Von Crumb, “a brand new, single-dish schnitzel joint named after a fictional sausage dog.” … “The ‘tangy’ chicken schnitzel challah sandwich, which was the best thing on the menu, except maybe the aubergine.”
Adam Kay fills in for Charlotte Ivers at the Sunday Times, offering a review of the third branch of Bubala. “With slight regret, I present another cautionary tale of overexpansion.” … “I will forgive them for calling hash brown cubes ‘latkes’, but I can’t forgive them for the potato being grey.”
🍽️ Gavin Hanly (Hot Dinners) test drives Twenty8 in the Nomad in Covent Garden. “A brasserie-style affair done extremely well, phenomenal steak and very friendly staff, it's an easy recommendation.”
Jules Pearson (LOTI) also tries Twenty8. “The food at Twenty8 NoMad was really impressive, with well executed and thoughtful twists on the classics.”
Tom Parker Bowles (Mail on Sunday) raves about the Thai cooking at Supawan in King’s Cross. “‘Eat well, live well, be happy’ says a note at the bottom of the bill. After dinner at Supawan, I’m nothing short of ecstatic.”
Catherine Hanly (Hot Dinners) heads to Straits Kitchen at the Pan Pacific Hotel in the City. “Chef Adam is just over a year into his tenure here and his clever balancing of producing a menu to suit the audience here that also takes culinary inspiration from Pan Pacific's roots is starting to pay dividends.”
Jonathan Nunn (Vittles) digs into rotisserie chicken and pizza via reviews of Norbert’s and Spring Street Pizza. “If Norbert’s and Spring Street have any flaws it’s that each could do with leaning into their cheffiness a bit more, not less.”
Lily Cotton (Chatting Food) is also on the rotisserie chicken beat, with a review of Cocotte in Shoreditch. “My verdict is that Cocotte is doing what so many Londoners want these days — a simple menu done well.”
- (Braise) checks out Tamila in Islington, the sibling of The Tamil Crown and The Tamil Prince. “There are five curries on the menu, three of them vegetarian or vegan. That chicken is a standout, its sauce thick and certainly not subtle.”
- (Cheese & Biscuits) tries Uncle Hon’s Barbecue in Hackney Wick. “With a bit more thought and skill it could have been, well, if not completely worth that awful journey but at least some compensation for your efforts. But after having paid £50pp for what is an only fairly mediocre tray of food plus 3 small extra pork ribs, we were left feeling fairly unhappy, not very satisfied and more than a little ripped off.”
Andy Hayler (independent critic) reviews Brilliant Gastro, a new Indian spot in Southall, adapted from a previous, long-standing place. “It is good to see the Brilliant name being retained, a Southall institution for fifty year that has now changed into a new format.”
Toby ‘Lawrence’ White (The Arbuturian) reviews Villa Mamas, a Bahrain-focused place in Chelsea. “Villa Mamas is more than a restaurant — it’s a celebration of Arab hospitality.”
🍽️ The Observer’s celebrity reviewer this week is Sheila Hancock, an actual celebrity, which is nice. She reviews Wilton’s in St. James. “Rumour has it they were offered two Michelin stars but politely declined being judged by people that make tyres. I hope that is true.”
Beyond London
William Sitwell (Telegraph) travels to Bath to eat Upstairs at Landrace. “Next time my life is laboured by a tasting menu where various clean-looking but lonely bits of protein and veg stand to attention on a plate before a sauce is introduced in an attempt at unity, I’ll show them these dishes.”
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Lai Rai is definitely on my must-visit-soon list. Not sure if Peckham has been as delapidated as that snippet suggests since 1989.
I take your point about Eater and I wouldn't be surprised if it is a point of reference for the NYT critics. However, Eater has always struck me as a 'hipster' guide (I know no one says hipster any more but it seems like the easiest shorthand to describe it) and I've found less practically useful than the NYT in planning trips. Maybe that's just a reflection of my age. I don't think NYT will be able to match Eater for volume of reviews wise but as a curated guide to dining in North America it might be more appealing.