UK Restaurant Awards, Age Limit Controversy & Critics Round Up

Coren & Parker Bowles on refreshed Hero. Hot Dinners and LOTI on Akira Black.

After a great two week visit to California, I’m getting back to Professional Lunching this week, and hoping the weather here in the UK starts to improve.

Another Week, Another Set of Awards

The UK National Restaurant Awards are organised by the same publisher that’s behind the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. This year’s list of best spots and awards for the UK came out last week. London restaurants took seven of the top ten slots and 11 of the top 20. The Ledbury takes the top spot. Mountain, which has only been open a few months, comes in second. And the amazing team at Trivet took home a well-deserved Wine List of the Year.

Shocker: Stupid Idea Attracts Headlines

The Washington Post reports on a growing trend of restaurants banning diners under the age of 30. “Legally, restaurants have the right to impose age limits, because age is not a protected class in that context. Controversies around age restrictions usually have cropped up when restaurants have banned children.” There are lots of anecdotal tales in the story about restaurants who are making this work, and their reasons for doing so, but it’s still a dumb idea.

Critics Wrap Up

Reminder: ✍🏻 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) and Tom Parker Bowles (Mail on Sunday) both visited The Hero in Maida Vale. Context from Bowles: “A few years back, [it enjoyed] a brief renaissance when the kitchen was taken over by Henry Harris. But he left to open the splendid Bouchon Racine, and the pub, in terms of food at least, sank back into inoffensive mediocrity. It closed earlier this year and has since been taken over by Phil Winser and James Gummer, the team behind Notting Hill’s The Pelican and, in the Cotswolds, The Bull, in Charlbury.” He continues, “There’s a simplicity to the cooking here, a confidence, that feels little need to show off. The staff are lovely.” Giles agrees.

• Tanya Gold (Spectator) mourns the increasingly decrepit and sad state of Simpson’s — a favourite of my parents from their visits to London in the 1970s — and longs for its return, but adores The Quality Chop House in Farringdon as a substitute. “The four-word review would be: we couldn’t walk home.”

• 🍽️ David Ellis (Standard) seems to have taken over the restaurant beat from Jimi Famurewa, which is sad because Jimi (along with Jay Rayner) is the best writer. He tries Paulette, also in Maida Vale, and bestows his first ever five-star review.

• ✍🏻 Tim Hayward (FT) is the latest to check out Oma in Borough Market and love it. “It was unbelievably good.” And later, “Without “theming” or other cringe-inducing effort, it recaptures the easy hospitality and fun of a taverna. And it turns out that delights us, and we’re happy to pay through the nose for it.”

• Catherine Hanly (Hot Dinners) reviews Akira Black at the new Mandarin Oriental in Mayfair. It’s another big, global chef licensing his name to a restaurant that’s run by someone else. But Catherine liked it. “This is a big restuarant (room for almost 150 diners) and it needed a chef that knows how to have fun with his menu. We reckon you'll enjoy it too.” Ben from LOTI also reviews Akira Black. “The dishes might surprise you too as they’re different to what you’d expect in a modern Japanese restaurant in London.”

• Amanda David (Chatting Food) visits the Sushi Revolution in Shoreditch and enjoys its fusion-style take. Amanda also revisits Coq d’Argent in the City to try the 3-course set-lunch. “A late lunch and an early evening martini is definitely the way to go.”

• Christina (LOTI) tries the revamped Paradise for Sri Lankan in SoHo. “The restaurant is doing a take on Sri Lankan food that you won’t find anywhere else, and at £59 a head, it’s fantastic value for the experience you receive.”

• ✍🏻

  Andy Lynes
  (Smashed) reviews Josephine Bouchon through the lens of the World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards, and his perspective — on both the food and the awards — is fascinating.

• William Sitwell (Telegraph) was in Edinburgh. Grace Dent (Guardian) was in Milton Keynes. Nick Lander (jancisrobinson.com) was in Corfu. Charlotte Ivers (Sunday Times) was in Bushey.