Theory of Lunch. Mystery of Pricing. New Michelin Listings. Meh at County Hall. Plus Critics.
Maschler loves Row on 5. Coren & Dent follow the crowd to Town. Big buzz for One Club Row. Preston sings for burritos.
I had a wonderful lunch on Friday with some new friends, working to build a really positive professional partnership. We were outdoors, enjoying a beautiful London day improved by stunning food and wine. About 2 hours in, one of them took a call and, after listening for a moment, said simply, “That’s great. Thank you. I’m still at lunch.” The call was ended. Lunch was resumed. We carried on.
Reflecting a day or two later, I’ve decided that “I’m still at lunch” may now be my favourite summary of a great day, well spent. And if I were to ever rebrand this newsletter, “I’m still at lunch” would be a great candidate for the new name.
On a separate note, last week’s update included a joke about book burning. It was intended to be a self-deprecating gag about lame protests, but a friend thought it was in poor taste, and particularly given the global climate, he was certainly right. So I have removed it from the online version and want to apologise to anyone who felt uncomfortable.
Let’s get to this week’s news and critics.
The Theory and Practice of Lunch
By the time I arrived in the UK in 2008, Keith Waterhouse was at the end of his illustrious career as a writer and columnist. The author of millions of words for the Daily Mirror and, later, the Daily Mail, he was also an accomplished playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. He passed away in 2009.
By all accounts (this one, for example), Waterhouse was a bon vivant who loved lunch. Indeed, lunch was such an important part of his life that he authored a wonderful little book called the Theory and Practice of Lunch full of advice on making the most of every lunching opportunity.
First published in 1986, it is incredibly still in print.
“Lunch is a mid-day meal taken at leisure in, usually, a public place (sometimes too public for their liking) by, ideally, two people,” Waterhouse tells us. “Lunch is a celebration, like Easter after the winter. It is a conspiracy. It is a holiday. It is euphoria made tangible, serendipity given form. Lunch at its lunchiest is the nearest it is possible to get to sheer bliss while remaining vertical.”
Lunch is crucially different than dinner, he argues. “Dine, and you are unwinding after the day’s labours. Lunch, and you are playing truant.”
And he encourages us to, “Eat and drink as if you were in the South of France. If indeed you are in the south of France, so much the better.”
The modern practice of lunch has necessarily evolved since the mid-1980s, but Waterhouse’s brilliant book provides a welcome orientation towards a lunching ideal. Perhaps it is no longer attainable — a Nirvana to which we can aspire and strive, discovering that the joy is in the effort.
Restaurant Prices are Rising. Why?
Two fantastic insider pieces on restaurant economics this week. The first is from
, who owns BANK and Lapin in Bristol. He says:For years, restaurateurs followed a neat formula: 30% food, 30% wages, 30% overheads, 10% profit. It was tidy and easy to explain. But in today’s climate, it no longer holds.
Food costs have surged. Wages, rightly, are higher. Energy bills have doubled. That 10% margin? Most would take 3% and a fridge that works.
After walking through the rising prices for food, labour, and overheads, Dan concludes that “Profit isn’t in the plate. It hides on the fringes — private bookings, business lunches, smarter contracts, better card rates.”
Our guests’ costs have increased too, which means that they probably go out a little less, or don’t spend as much when they do.
Oh, and no one goes out late any more. Before Covid a prime reservation slot was 7.30/8pm and a skilled restaurateur could turn tables in an evening. Now the prime slot is 6/6.30pm and very few people want to eat after 8. …
Restaurateurs can do one of three things to stay afloat: spend less (employ fewer people, lower ingredient costs), be busier (more bums on seats) or put prices up.
Fiona offers some concrete recommendations for diners who want to eat out, but find increasing prices harder to stomach. One is to focus more on going out for lunch. “It may not be practical to eat in the middle of the day but as I’m sure you know set price lunches are always better value,” she suggests.
In the comments to Fiona’s post, Dan pushes his view a little further. “Something I’ve endeavoured to do - counterintuitively - is to bring back some of the opulence of dining out. An abundance of wine by the glass (with a taste prior to ordering, should you want it), complimentary truffles at the end of the meal. Value is enormously important. That doesn’t mean to be cheap, but rather to exceed expectations.”
This is the heart of the matter for me. Notwithstanding all of the economics, restaurants are selling an experience as much as food. Win on that, and customers will feel the value.
Michelin Additions for May
The famous guide added eight UK restaurants this month, including four in London. Toklas finally made the cut, as did Krokodilos, Silva, and Dear Jackie in the Broadwick in Soho. I’m a bit surprised to Krokodilos, as other reviews have been surprisingly mixed. I’ll try to get there and try it this summer.
Meh: Donabe Hannah
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.
I booked Donabe Hannah mistakenly thinking that I was booking Hannah. Confused? Yes. So was I.
Hannah was a brilliantly reviewed Omakese place from Chef Daisuke Shimoyama. I’ve been eager to try it, but I learned about three days before our visit that Hannah is moving to the Stafford Hotel.
In its place, Chef Shimoyama was turning the old space in County Hall into a new concept specialising in Donabe.
The food was spectacular. Tempura lovingly prepared and technically perfect. Big bowls of Donabe — one bowl would have been enough for two people with a side or two — with delightful Japanese flavours.
Unfortunately, the space is just weird. The restaurant wasn’t very busy. The furniture and fixtures are all very tired. Everything just lacked energy.
I might try the new place, now called Kokin, at The Stafford, though it is sadly now a la carte instead of Omakese. I’m not sure I would return to its Donabe-focused sister.
Margate Guide Updated
I’ve updated the Margate guide following a visit there last week. Our go-to ice cream spot sadly closed, Snake Oil barbecue has moved on, and there are new chefs at Sete and Sargasso. But the scene is still brilliant, and Angela’s is still at the top of its game.
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.
✍🏻 🍽️ Fay Maschler (Tatler), “Queen Empress” of the UK’s restaurant critics, reviews Row on 5, which I visited a while back. “This is not a place to attempt to woo, screw or sue – too many interruptions – but a provocative addition to London’s fine dining. If you can afford it.”
✍🏻 Tom Parker Bowles (Mail on Sunday) lunches with Maschler at Nina, an Italian place in Marylebone. “This is a kitchen that knows its cipolle. But would we come back? No. What Nina lacks is that all-essential, oh-so-elusive heart and soul. A quality that is made, not bought. Lunch is a joy not because of the food but the company. We skip pudding, gulp an espresso and make haste out the door. Nina is not a place for those who want to linger.”
🍽️ Giles Coren (Times) adores Town in Covent Garden, which is officially the hottest place in London for the moment. “At nights, says [Tom Parker Bowles], the vibes are banging. But that’s long past my bedtime, and I don’t really bang any more. So I’ll just have to go in the day. Every day, if that’s all right with them.”
Grace Dent (Guardian) also raves all about Town. “Town’s menu, I should warn you, is not for anyone with a meek appetite, or those hoping for a Slimming World Body Magic award by the summer.”
Charlotte Ivers (Sunday Times) files a glowing report from One Club Row in Shoreditch. “There’s something ineffable about this place that just lends itself to abandon. It makes you want to flirt with strangers, stay for five hours, throw your life up in the air and move to New York.”
Nick Lander (jancisrobinson.com) likewise enjoys One Club Row. “I will above all recall the setting: the energy, the people-watching, the friendliness of the service, and especially the exuberance of the room.”
- (Cheese & Biscuits) checks in from downstairs at Knave of Clubs. “We absolutely demolished the chicken then spent many happy minutes mopping up the chermoula cooking juices with the slices of baguette, and for a while, all was well with the world.”
✍🏻 Hester van Hensbergen (Vittles) also covers One Club Row, along with several other NYC-inspired spots. “By the end of the evening, I’d enjoyed myself so much, I’d forgotten any initial misgivings.”
David Ellis (Standard) tries Song He Lou, a spot in Chinatown. “Jiangnan is new, unfamiliar territory to me, and perhaps this is how it’s meant to be. But, well, only the noodles delighted; the rest disappointed”
🍽️ Catherine Hanly (Hot Dinners) test drives Luna, a new Omakase spot in 100 Broadgate in the City. “The chefs and sommelier worked together brilliantly to deliver a fully theatrical experience.”
Jules Pearson (LOTI) is also on Omakase, trying HIMI in Carnaby Street. “Simply put, HIMI is one of London’s best Japanese restaurants. If you have any interest at all in Japanese food, it’s an essential visit.”
Alex Larman (The Arbuturian) revisits Sael, which seems to have corrected some early missteps. “The menu has been tweaked and massaged since our first visit, and it was gratifying to see that the dishes that worked well the first time have been kept on, while many of the ones that didn’t have been quietly jettisoned.”
✍🏻 🍽️
(Braise) celebrates breakfast burritos from Bad Manners in Shoreditch. “This is not a healthsome take on the breakfast burrito — no fresh tomatoes or the bright green pop of avocado to make you feel good about yourself — but it’s salty, satisfying, restorative, the sort of breakfast that makes you wish you had just a little bit of a hangover in order to truly enjoy it.”✍🏻 🍽️
(Bald Flavours) tries Rake at the Compton Arms in Islington. “This residency is, without a doubt, one of the most exciting to date, anywhere in London; the menu is hard-coded with the sense of satisfaction that comes with creating dishes on your own terms. … They are masters of under-promising and over-delivering.”Salty Plums visits Robata in Soho. “I’ll be heading to Flesh & Buns when I want an izakaya, and will be giving Robata a miss.”
Beyond London
✍🏻 In addition to his regular review, David Ellis (Standard) suggests a day trip to Le Clarence in Paris. “Pelé is a monster talent; his two Michelin stars are hard-earned but still, perhaps, one too few. He and his team have an astonishing, arresting way with food. Theirs is French fine dining almost untouched by outside influence.”
Jay Rayner (FT) heads to Leeds to try Bavette. “Bavette, in Horsforth on Leeds’s northern edge, is a great local restaurant. There’s a plaque on the wall outside saying so.”
William Sitwell (Telegraph) enjoys Roots from Chef Tommy Banks in York. “The whole place feels like a modern-courthouse-cum-registry-office.”
Edible Reading reviews Lapin (mentioned above) in Bristol. “The pomme purée – no hint of hyperbole here I promise – was one of the best things I’ve eaten in years. Loaded with butter until it could take no more, than bathed in more brown butter, it took on a taste and texture that transcended savoury or sweet, almost with a note of toffee, or fudge.”
Poet Simon Armitage is the guest reviewer for the Observer this week, and visits Forest Side in Cumbria. “I wonder what Wordsworth would have said, one laureate to another, seeing me guzzling this lot while sucking on a boiled daffodil stalk. I scribble 7¾ out of 10 in my notebook, with maybe a bonus quarter point for the wifi, which is lush and allows for the Googling of esoteric ingredients under the table.”
Thanks so much for reading this week’s update. Let me know what you think in the Comments, and please subscribe if you haven’t already.
Thanks for the Waterhouse tip. I’ve ordered it and ‘Soho’ from Abe. I’ve spent the last 50 years eating and drinking around the streets of Soho. Never tire of it.
Thanks for the mention. And yes, am rather taken with the renaming of your Substack “I’m still at lunch”. Go for it!