Olympic Dining. Regency Update. Critics & More.
Picky Glutton recovers. Hayward goes American. Long considers Stalin. Preston loves house salad.
Morning, all. I hope you had an amazing weekend. The rain seems slightly less imperious somehow, but I suspect that feeling won’t last long.
I’m sorry to see the end of the Winter Olympics. They were a joy. 6 gold medals for Hoesflot Klaebo from Norway — a record that will be virtually impossible to match — was a real inspiration. Bobsled and snowboard, dining trays on ice, the mad, mad world of speed skating, and the compelling soap opera of curling — they were a pleasant escape from the wider world.
Which is why Nazgul the Czechoslovakian wolf dog, who finished third in the women’s cross country skiing qualifier, was my favourite moment — and bravo Rob Walker for his expert commentary on the BBC. (Get to know Nazgul and the backstory here.) All of that made this '“photo finish” shot of him crossing the line my favourite image from the Games.
Canine participants aside, there is a Winter Olympic question which falls well within the purview of this newsletter: What are the athletes eating, in one of the world’s best places for food?
Olympic Meals: Ultimate Professional Lunch
Food as fuel? Not for me. Not ever. But if you’re Olympic athlete, performing at elite levels, among the best in the world? Yeah. Food is fuel, and nutrition is an essential ingredient to your success.
And this Olympics was particularly interesting from a logistics perspective. The Milan-Cortina games were spread across Northern Italy. So the athletes stayed in several accommodations, the two biggest in Milan and Cortina themselves.
Danish athlete Viktor Thorup scored a Silver medal in the Men’s Mass Start speed skating event — which, if you haven’t watched, is wonderfully insane. To do so, he had to skate 6.4km in about 8 minutes… twice. (For comparison, the fastest runners in the world do 5km in about 14 minutes.)
But before he did that, he took us on a tour of the athletes dining area in the Milan Olympic Village.
The dishes in the village are necessarily global, but it’s great to see host country Italy featuring their own cuisine so well. And I was pleased that every single snowboard competitor mentioned gorging on pizza.
According to the official website, “In the Milano Olympic Village alone, the kitchens serve around 3,000 eggs and approximately 450 kilograms of pasta, reflecting both Italian culinary tradition and the energy needs of the athletes.”
And Thorup wasn’t the only athlete who loved the food. For example, South African cross country skier Matt Smith reviewed loads of dishes, including the pizza, and loved every bite.
I’m glad to see that the Milan-Cortina Games have cemented Italy’s status as the top culinary destination in the world.
New Regency Owners Think Global
Since it was sold last year, Londoners have been waiting anxiously for news on the future of the historic and iconic Regency Cafe in Westminster.
Happily, the Londoner comes through with an essential update. In short, the new owners have big plans:
Though [the new owner] assured me he’s keen to keep the original branch exactly as it is, he told me that he’s planning to open five other branches in London, and four to five in mainland Europe, starting with Amsterdam and Berlin. Elsewhere, he has told reporters that he is thinking about expanding to Dubai.
A Regency in Berlin, Amsterdam, or Dubai? Hard to imagine. But given the British culinary invasion of the U.S., I suppose anything is possible.
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.
Housekeeping note: I’ve added City AM this week, following a much-needed and dramatic improvement of their website. I also added veteran critic Ben McCormack from Wallpaper a couple of weeks ago. And I am including more reviews from beyond London by quality writers like The Bristol Sauce and Chitra Ramaswamy from The Times, especially when they cover a restaurant that feels relevant people visiting their respective areas. I have dialled back on sites that feel more promotional than critical or, like London on the Inside, that have shifted from full reviews to Timeout-like capsules. I’ll keep an eye on those sites, and if they have something interesting, I’ll include it.
✍🏻 The Picky Glutton shares a personal experience that none of us would relish — having a stroke while travelling in Nepal. And does do via reviewing the food experience in the Nepalese hospital that treated him. Take a few minutes and read it. “Reassurance also came in the form of food. As seems to be common in much of the world – especially south, east and south east Asia – food isn’t included in one’s hospital bills. The idea is that patients can depend on their loved ones for food. As I was a solo traveller, I relied on ordering from the hospital’s canteen, Spice 7.” T
Steve Dineen (City AM) visits Materia in Notting Hill, which I reviewed a couple of weeks ago. “Every dish is a minor wonder of physics and gastronomy.”
Petit Fours at Materia. Tim Hayward (Observer) does a double, reviewing Ronnie’s and Automat, American-accented places in Mayfair. “Ronnie’s is ultimately a restaurant for people who want to eat ordinary food… just not with ordinary people. Automat has the same ambition. Though it’s also good for people who don’t particularly care about the food.”
🍽️ On his Substack, Tim also reviews Osteria Vibrato in Soho. “Quite aside from the elegance of the room and the charm of the staff, the food is some of the best I’ve eaten, well… outside of Italy. And as everything else on the menu looked stupendous, sitting here and eating is precisely what I propose doing.”
Jay Rayner (FT) isn’t impressed with The Porter’s Table in the new Guinness Brewery in Covent Garden. “As ever, context really does matter, and here at the Guinness Open Gate Brewery the context is profoundly odd.”
🍽️ Grace Dent (Guardian) raves about Sông Quê Phở Bar in Shoreditch, which Rayner reviewed last week. “This is one of those places where I say: use it or lose it. Right now, they have seats going, so take a friend, or a book, and settle down to the best phở in town. What’s more, if you’re antisocial and like Vietnamese treats, well, right now, Sông Quê will feel like heaven.”
✍🏻 David Ellis (Standard) loves Cafe Kowloon in London Fields. “Here was somewhere we wanted to stay in, finish the wine, have a Japanese whisky. So we did, just the one. And then we left restored, repaired. We waited for the cab in the inevitable rain. But the gloom had gone.”
Camilla Long (Sunday Times) is the latest to try DakaDaka, the Georgian place in Heddon Street. “If I were to define the tone of the menu, it would be ‘Georgian hipster’.”
🍽️ Giles Coren (Times) is the latest to enjoy The Hart in Marylebone. “Cod and salsify was a perfect little rhombus of white fish, coppered on top from the grill, in a creamy butter sauce full of earthy nuggets of salsify and whistling chives.”
William Sitwell (Telegraph) crushes Nela in the Whiteley Hotel Bayswater, where the aubergine is not to his liking. “It has the texture of the nastiest overcooked fish you ever had, with a vacuum of taste, clasped by rubber and sitting in a sauce of alleged salsa verde which is in fact an emulsion too far of weak green slush. Oh, and there’s grass, or maybe hay, on top, which, not being a cow or horse, I had to spit out.”
✍🏻 Sam Wilson (Bald Flavours) reviews the lunch we shared at Legado in Shoreditch. (You can find my write-up here.) “Even with its flaws, Barragán is as famously passionate as her voice is husky, and Legado has such a clear sense of what it intends to be, but it’s still not quite there.”
Octopus at Legado. Bruce Dessau (Eats Dulwich) ventures into the West End to revisit L’Escargot, the Soho classic. “Eating at L’Escargot is like taking a bite out of London’s dining history.”
Dominic Preston (Braise) checks out Iberos in St. Albans, and falls in love with the house salad. “It’s dressed simply: good olive oil, perhaps a little vinegar, an appropriately heavy hand with the salt. It is simply and quietly excellent, and Iberos is much the same.”
Ari Alibhai (The Sauce) enjoys his visit to Twenty8 Nomad in Covent Garden, which I reviewed a few months ago. “Sometimes, when doing this job you just have to put your hands up and admit you got it wrong. And, with Twenty8 NoMad, I admit that my preconceptions were given a total shake-down by this brilliant restaurant. I still think I’m right about many hotel eateries. But this place has real character, individuality, bold options on the menu and, best of all, is just a total blast.”
Gavin Hanly (Hot Dinners) test drives the new Hoppers outpost in Shoreditch. “Every one of the new dishes is worth trying with the benne dosa and the salmon edging out in front. Good food, lovely room and a great vibe.”
Edible Reading finds something to dislike at The Devonshire in Soho. “All in all, from ordering my lunch to my main course arriving was twenty-five minutes at most.”
Beyond London
David Ellis (Standard) travels to Newquay to try RenMor in the Headland Hotel. “Here the intention is comfort: it is the place that will take the tightly coiled and leave them happily unwound. Londoners arriving cramped from city stresses will find themselves swiftly unfurled, shoulders loose, head clearing.”
Chitra Ramaswamy (Times) shares her take on the new branch of Sticks’n’Sushi, newly opened in Glasgow. “It has been a meal of two halves — disappointing sticks ’n’ good enough sushi. But go for the Scandi-Japanese vibes, value for money and, above all, the tataki. It’s amazing.”
Nick Lander (jancisrobinson.com) visits Barcelona.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s update. Let me know what you think in the Comments. And have a great week!
Great critics pick-n-mix!
Many, many thanks for including The Bristol Sauce! We are honoured to be in such esteemed company.