Michelin Man Down. Big Mexican Miss. Spanish Hit. Critics & More.
Giles writes like Trump. Tom is fond of Fonda. Jay finds Hanoi in Islington.
Well, hello everyone! I’m really excited that we have such a fascinating, growing group of people who are interested in lunch. Thanks for being part of it.
Lots of newcomers lately, so I thought I might start with a few suggestions. This newsletter and site exist mostly as a home for my Quick Reference Guide for business eating and drinking in London. I hope you’ll find it useful. It’s arranged by occasion, so you can find what you need fast. There’s also a custom Google Map, so you can search by location.
You might enjoy my interviews with FT restaurant critic Tim Hayward, Sunday Times restaurant critic Charlotte Ivers, or former long-time FT critic Nick Lander. More of these coming soon.
I don’t go looking to write negative reviews, but my experience at High Road Social in Greenwich was so epically disastrous that it was almost comical.
And you might like this piece I wrote for the FT Weekend Magazine about the perils of dining as an American in London’s snootiest places.
There is a thought behind all of this (I hope): I believe that professional interactions are more valuable when food and drink are involved. I explore that in more detail here, and provide background about myself and my tastes.
If you like what you’re seeing, I’d be grateful if you could share Professional Lunch with your friends and colleagues, and consider doing a LinkedIn post about your views on Lunch. I’d like to hear your perspective.
My diary is crammed with interesting lunches, and there’s lots to explore this week. Let’s get started.
Sitwell Craps on Michelin
William Sitwell, the restaurant critic for the Telegraph, uses a story involving a chef in France to argue that the Michelin Guide is no good.
Attacking Michelin is not a new thing. There have been legitimate concerns that it over-represents certain kinds of restaurants and under-represents female chefs. Aggressive expansion into new markets may have diluted the quality of its recommendations. And, you know, it’s a tire company.
Sitwell argues that Michelin’s inspectors are looking for the wrong things. “Scribbling notes, prodding and pawing and delicately tasting every morsel to check for perfect textures and to identify the flavour minutiae of the listed ingredients. What they’re not doing is having any fun.”
Michelin-starred places are the standard-bearers, he says, of those “culinary emissaries of the devil, ‘fine dining’ and ‘tasting menu’.”
There’s a weird reverse snobbishness represented in this argument, one that Tim Hayward explored in detail in a series of reviews last summer.
But here’s the thing: Tasting menus provide the opportunity to try lots of interesting things in one sitting — to experience the widest range of a chef’s or kitchen’s creativity, technique, and flair. My visit to A Wong, for example, provided an introductory tour through Chinese cooking. It was delightful food and great wine in fantastic company. Our afternoon was full of laughs. At Moor Hall, we drifted through an afternoon of wondrous discoveries, enjoying moments of hilarity at our table and with the restaurant’s amazing staff. Both were the textbook definition of fun.
So, while acknowledging that “fun” is an entirely subjective concept, I think it’s a mistake to dismiss the idea that experiencing dishes prepared at the highest levels of culinary achievement can be fun.
But let’s give Sitwell a little cover: The Michelin Guide is not the end-point of restaurant recommendations. It’s a useful perspective, for sure. But with so many perspectives available, it’s not hard to find a restaurant that you’ll love and make the most of that experience.
During our recent Florence trip, we found Zeb initially through a foodie friend. Then I read its Michelin entry. We decided to go. Then my wife read some other reviews that helped us anticipate Alberto’s idiosyncrasies. Thanks to that minimal prep, which all took about 5 minutes, we had an amazing time.
In a world full of information, we each have the power to shape our experience in the way we want. I’ll keep going to Michelin-starred places. Sitwell, I suppose, will keep dismissing them. But for me, it’s a shame to cast off a whole category on the basis of a label. Hmmm. Sounds like a tip that could be applied more broadly.
Hits & Misses
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.
Hit: Barrafina (Borough Market)
Barrafina started in Soho, a project of Sam and Eddie Hart who found inspiration from the bar scene in Madrid. Today, there are five locations around London, and Barrafina is an uncontroversial choice for any professional lunch. Sam and Eddie had other ideas, too. Their Harts Group is the driving force before Quo Vadis, El Pastor, and a few others.
The Borough Market location is the newest outpost, and it’s gigantic. A huge area of counter-seating, a massive bar, and substantial outdoor patio are ready to welcome all comers. The space is bright and glistening, and feels new and very modern. But it’s still comfortable, and there’s space for a quiet chat with a colleague.
The food was, inevitably, excellent. We nibbled on Spanish tapas classics — ham croquetas, pimientos, grilled squid and ink sauce, and arroz negro. The wine list was well composed, offering something for any preference, and included a fantastic Rioja riserva by the glass, which added gusto to the evening.
I’m going to side-step the inevitable Barrafina vs. Brindisa debate. For now, Barrafina was great, and an excellent choice for any professional lunch, drinks, or dinner.
Miss: El Camion
In Tex Mex places from L.A. to Austin and beyond, Queso dip is a requisite, opening treat. The great examples are made from a blend of Mexican cheeses thickened with cornstarch or a roux sufficiently to cling to a house-made tortilla chip. Good queso can be made from melted American cheeses blended with peppers and a little diced tomato. Acceptable but still delicious queso starts with a “processed cheese product” called Velveeta which is mixed with tinned salsa called Rotel. Both of these products have to smuggled into the UK in hand luggage. This is what I make at home for Super Bowl Sunday.
Unacceptable, hideous queso comes from a glass jar. It’s instantly recognisable because it’s a strange colour of orange, has a weird, unnatural sheen, and a leaves a distinct metallic aftertaste. These cheese dips are available from certain food distributors in the UK.
Even for a queso lover like me, these dips-from-a-jar are foul and gross.
But that’s exactly what we were served as our first dish at El Camion in Soho.
The Mexican food scene in London has improved tremendously in recent years. El Pastor is a good example. Kol is the leading spot. Fonda sounds great.
We were hoping the improvements had reached Soho. They haven’t.
Tacos were made from bought-in tortillas, but they were badly stored, so stale, and then reheated in the wrong way so they disintegrated on contact with fingers. The chicken and pork fillings were both pretty good, and I would have been happy eating them from a roadside truck (albeit with better tortillas). But the pineapple salsa heaped on the fish tacos overwhelmed the fish flavour and made the taco unwieldy to eat.
Guacamole was dramatically over-seasoned with lime juice. Refried beans were from a can. I could identify the flavour because we order the same brand from MexGrocer.co.uk.
Margaritas were served with so much ice — presumably to cover up a fairly dramatic under-pour — that my lips couldn’t reach the rim of my glass.
Only the churros were very good, though I suspect they were frozen then fried in the kitchen. Accompanying chocolate sauce was too thin and the dulce de leche was ice cold.
Service was lovely, and I really liked our waiter. I just wish the food was better.
Sadly, El Camion isn’t for a Professional Lunch or really anything.
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) pens an otherwise very thoughtful essay about Thai cuisine to contextualise his top rating for AngloThai. But for reasons impossible for me to fathom, he has included a bizarre and gratuitous sideswipe attacking the team that ran Eater London and now runs
, and he has done it using positively Trumpian construction:“Now… we are ready for AngloThai, which is not Anglo-Thai in the ‘cultural appropriation’ sense that so upset the ‘food left’ in the early 2020s (largely through a defunct organ called Eater, which folded due to massive lack of interest, leaving the staff to peddle their ideological arseholeries in sad, forgotten corners of the dark web), but in the sense that its chef, a hippy genius of mixed English and Thai parentage, is free to mix Michelin-aspirant riffs on rare regional Thai delicacies with a solid roast pork lunch.”
I didn’t create this wrap-up to set myself up a literary critic — it’s designed to be a fast summary — so I will omit further comments, but I look forward to a more informed, developed, and I hope, typically hilarious and cynical analysis from
.🍽️ Tom Parker Bowles (Mail on Sunday) follows many of his colleagues to Fonda in Heddon Street. “Lastra is a cook of exceptional talent, and Fonda doesn’t just fly. It downright soars.”
🍽️ Jay Rayner (Observer) loves Dzo!, a new-ish Vietnamese place on Upper Street in Islington. “The menu is beautifully designed, which is to say, it features clean, graphic, block-colour illustrations.”
David Ellis (Standard) heads to Fantômas in Chelsea, where he finds great food, but mixed service. “Pleading with staff is, in fact, a hopeless endeavour; I suspect the many waiters do not speak to each other. Service was a gentleman thief: genial but lawless, stealing something from the evening.”
🍽️ William Sitwell (Telegraph) is the latest to try Wildflowers in Pimlico. “With its nice lighting and good service, Wildflowers is a very decent idea but just not quite two weeks in Corfu.”
Photo by the restaurant via their Instagram. Nick Lander (jancisrobinson.com) enjoys Oma in Borough Market. “The sea bass with jalapeño dressing was outstanding: creamy yet spicy, it was almost fought over.”
Marina O’Loughlin (independent critic) loved a Turkish set-lunch at Leydi in Blackfriars. “Loved the honey-soaked leek and feta borek and the muhammara, so good we ordered it twice.”
Two reviews from Hot Dinners this week:
Gavin Hanly tries the newest Santo Remedio in Marylebone. “They still serve up some of the best authentic Mexican food in town, the portions are generous and the cocktails are spot on.”
Catherine Hanly checks out Sushi Kyu in Soho. “We thought the sushi offering was particularly good for the price point.”
- (Braise) squeezes in a visit to Hill & Szrok right before its closure. “You probably can’t ever eat Will Gleave’s cooking at Hill & Szrok… I suspect that whatever comes next will be something different again. But this time I won’t wait until it’s closing to find out.”
Jules Pearson (LOTI) goes vegan at Roti in Soho. “The ingredients are top notch and even though it’s veggie the flavours are punchy.”
Alex Larman (The Arburturian) heads to Michelin-starred Kitchen in Kensington. “Now for the mains, and there was no doubt in my mind that I’d be having venison. Kempson is famous for his ways with deer.”
Chris Pople (Cheese & Biscuits) visits Tarim Uyghur in Bloomsbury. “A charming and exciting ambassador for Xinjiang food, think of Tarim Uyghur as the Silk Road of Central London, a comparison I hope they take as the huge compliment that it's intended to be.”
Jo Aspin (Chatting Food) loves Kiln in Mayfair. “Too full for dessert, damn it, we finished our wine and skipped back to the tube feeling warm and fuzzy. The verdict? Veggie nirvana found and Dry January not recommended.”
Grace Dent (Guardian) heads to Suffolk to try the Unruly Pig. “On a cold January day, we ate well and, more than that, memorably.” Charlotte Ivers (Sunday Times) travels to Manchester to check out Stow. “On my deathbed I will think not of those I love or those I have wronged, but of these long, crunchy ratte potatoes.”
✍🏻 Tim Hayward (FT) reviews plates instead of restaurants this week. “Every time you rested the [fork] on the side, it slid in. The first two times it happened, I wiped it off with the napkin. Then I asked for a new fork, then a new napkin, then another fork. It was a straight toss-up whether I or the waiter was happiest when I left.”
Thanks for reading Professional Lunch this week. I hope you have a fantastic week. Please do subscribe if you haven’t already, and let me know where you want to head for lunch next in the comments.
I have not read Sitwell’s article, but I do agree with a lot of the points that you cited in this piece. Fun is a tough one as you say but my read is that 50 Best is the list for fun seekers. The overall dining experience is more relevant in the 50 Best lists than it is in the Michelin Guide in my opinion. I’ve been to a few of the 50 Best restaurants where I thought the food was “good” and who cares, but the ambience and overall experience stood out more. GAGGAN, for example. 50 Best is more of a PR fuelled exercise in who is hot right now and “fun” often has an outsized influence, for good or for bad.
I've got something a bit different lined up for tomorrow's edition of Smashed so I may not get to Giles this week but we'll see. Thanks again for the mention. I think Professional Lunch is going from strength to strength by they way!