This is our round-up of the past month’s restaurant reviews, bringing together what the critics and Square Meal had to say about the latest and hottest openings. Let us know your own thoughts by
leaving comments on our reviews, or tweeting us @SquareMeal.
City Social
Jason Atherton’s latest venture is also his first in the Square Mile, and this location reflects in the menu according to Time Out’s Tania Ballantine who notes ‘safe-as-gilts pasta dishes’ and an overall ‘conservative approach’. But City AM’s Steve Dinneen praises ‘relentlessly interesting’ and ‘decidedly Athertonian’
touches, before concluding with a nod to The Shard that ‘it sure isn’t the only restaurant in London’s sky, but it’s probably the best’.
We say: 'The food is (arguably) less fussed over than at Atherton’s flagship Pollen Street Social, with vibrant, artful presentation allowing the dishes to shine against the sombre brown and
gold furnishings.'
Read our full review of City Social here
Fera
Few restaurants have been more anticipated than Fera, the first permanent London venture for L’enclume chef Simon
Rogan. The Standard's Fay Maschler isn’t impressed with the £95
10-course tasting menu’s ‘rather boring and ultimately banal formula of a glob of protein decorated with micro foliage and a vivid green purée’. She damningly concludes that ‘I wouldn’t pay my own
money for this food’. Despite recalling ‘the brilliance of Rogan's cooking’, The Observer’s Jay Rayner agrees. ‘I'd prefer to put that money and effort into a trip to Cumbria: that way I could eat Rogan's magnificent food at source’. More positively, GQ describes Fera as ‘a place of pilgrimage if you're a foodie, a place to
celebrate a big deal, or a destination for anyone seeking a memorable, luxury culinary experience’.
We say: ‘We felt that flavours were not sustained as vividly as they are at L’Enclume... Even so, Fera is dazzling confirmation of Rogan’s arrival in gastronomy’s international big
league.’
Read our full review of Fera
here
Kurobuta Marble Arch
Billed as a ‘Japanese gastropub’, Kurobuta finally opened its doors almost six months after its preview pop-up arrived in Chelsea (that’s now gone permanent, too). In the Standard, Fay Maschler notes that ‘in a reversal of the usual trajectory of foreign cuisines in
London, Japanese has gone the route from authentic and earnest to somewhat ersatz and populist’, and finds some of the fusion dishes a step too far. She describes scallop sashimi with kimchee
butter ‘a new low in inappropriate matching’ and criticises the ‘remorseless hammering of the taste buds by strident flavours and exaggerations of salt and sweet’. On the flip side, blogger Chris
Pople of Cheese and Biscuits found that ‘a willingness to play with accepted norms produced
some very interesting results’, and acknowledged that ‘where it fails it is at least because they're trying a bit too hard’.
We say: 'Flavours aren’t for the faint-hearted, and a couple of the dishes we tried (sticky miso-grilled aubergine with candied walnuts, for example) were just too sweet. But this a restaurant
that cries out for return visits – at prices that are more or less affordable.’
Read our full review of Kurobuta
here
Lyle’s
Shoreditch High Street’s Tea Building is the home of this first restaurant from former Young Turk, James Lowe. Opinion on the forager-friendly menu is divided, with Tania Ballantine awarding it
four stars in Time Out and saying that ‘almost everything we ate was notably good’, while Fay Maschler experiences ‘wonderful’ baked Riseley cheese and a ‘blissful’ dressed salad alongside
‘frankly horrible’ squeaky leaves and ‘grittily aggressive’ charred Dover sole. The Guardian’s Marina O’Loughlin remarks on a strong likeness to St. John, and concludes that ‘steely
perfectionism is at play’, but also that it ‘could do with taking itself just a teeny bit less seriously’.
We say: ‘An eight-course daily changing dinner menu goes big on British ingredients, while Scandinavian influences abound in dishes such as vibrantly green and tangy nettle soup embellished with
melting strips of cured pig’s cheek. It’s good to report that Lowe’s first solo restaurant easily delivers on high expectations.’
Read our full review of Lyle's here
Ting
The newest and highest restaurant in The Shard is already fully booked, but Time Out’s Tania Ballantine finds dishes no
more than ‘adequate’ and is adamant that ‘you don’t come here for the food’. City AM’s Steve
Dinneen conversely describes the food as ‘very decent’, but references a very safe approach when saying ‘there is nothing to take exception to here’ and describing the restaurant as ‘the best
airport lounge in the world’. In the Standard, Rosamund Urwin goes a step further, finding some of
the food to be ‘scrape-the-plate-clean’ good as well as admitting to being in ‘open-mouthed awe’ at the views.
We say: ‘Ting is slick, sexy and safe, with flavours and views to match.’
Read our full review of Ting
here