Any pub that employs a chef with credible restaurant CV now feels it has the right to append the prefix ‘gastro’ to its name. Many have installed josper grills or wood fires to buttress their claims. Renovate on old boozer may earn extra points. The Baring doesn’t try too hard. It doesn't need to either. This neighbourhood venue lets its quality speak for itself.
Your reviewer’s only previous visit to a Georgian restaurant was a disappointment. The passing of time and a desire to be open-minded provoked a recent visit to a new venue purveying Georgian cooking. It was well-conceived, but ultimately underwhelming.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Oxford students will take every opportunity to show off their erudition. With this maxim in mind, when your reviewer and eight of his chums returned recently to their Alma Mater for a reunion weekend, he was reminded of the famous line of Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr: “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” In simple terms, the places where we dined some thirty years ago have stood the test of time.
Harrow is famous for its school, perhaps its eponymous hill, but little else. Although it is located less than ten miles from where this reviewer grew up, he was not aware of its dining options – until recently. Step forward Jay Rayner. I have long been a fan of the restaurant critic of The Guardian and have enjoyed several of his books, including My Dining Hell. This is a summary of his most damning reviews. 19 of the 20 places subsequently have shut. Fortunately, his recent piece on the incongruously named Panda’s Kitchen was praiseworthy – and rightly so.
People love to make lists, however arbitrary they may be. KOL is one of only two UK restaurants to rank in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, placing at number 17. It must, therefore, being doing something very good. Your reviewer had written two highly praiseworthy pieces about KOL in the past (see here and here), but a recent visit to the venue demonstrated to our group of four – all of whom were previously familiar with KOL – just how much it had raised its already strong game.
From its name onwards, there is knowing coolness, a certain intentionality to what COR is seeking to achieve. It’s a place to watch in an upcoming district of Bristol. And if COR is seeking to ape what is arguably the best restaurant in England (Clare Smyth’s Core in plush Kensington, London), then why not? The team at Michelin have already awarded COR a Bib Gourmand; stars may beckon.
If anyone is going to make German food cool in Britain, then it would likely be the D&D group. Their German Gymnasium restaurant in London has become a deserved destination venue (last visited by this reviewer in December) built around the whole experience – building, food and ambience. They’ve recently taken the same formula to Bristol, where Klosterhaus represents a novel addition to the city’s burgeoning food scene.
Chandos Road, in Bristol’s Redland area, has become one of the city’s culinary destinations. Nearby Wilks boasts a Michelin star and I loved my visit to Wilsons last year. Boutique seems to be the unifying principle behind all these restaurants, working on the premise of small and intimate equals good. This is the angle pursued too by Otira, and while there were several notable positives, it was hard to escape the idea that its owners were perhaps simply just trying too hard. Thought of another way, if you asked most people – regardless of their culinary bent – what Argentinean tapas and rustic New Zealand cooking had in common – then the answer would probably be something along the lines of ‘very little.’ This hasn’t stopped the proprietors of Otira from trying to cram the above two concepts into one venue.
Bristol has seen quite a redevelopment of its dockyard area in recent years and Bertha's comprises one of a group of relatively new dining outlets located just beyond the M-Shed. Decorated in bright hues, the place sets itself up as a fun, family-friendly sort of venue. Or at least this was our view. The menu, however, suggested a severe deviation from this proposition, so much so that even the adults struggled with some of the pizza options. Message to Bertha's: keep it simple...
