This husband-and-wife establishment on Mersea Island, Essex, is about as "independent" as a restaurant can get, said Grace Dent in The Guardian. A "reprise" of Ben and Sophie Crittenden's acclaimed restaurant of the same name in Broadstairs, it is located in what feels like a "glorified" summer house. "There is no reception desk or cloakroom, no art installations, wine cave, private dining mezzanine or other such frippery." There is just Ben working "solo" in the kitchen, and Sophie out front, serving. While some might "scoff at its lack of airs and graces", I found it to be a refreshing "lesson in simplicity". And if the setting is homespun, Ben's cooking isn't: the original Stark earned a Michelin star, which this has retained. The six-course menu is emphatically no choice: "please note", the website states, "we are unable to cater for any dietary requirements, dislikes or allergies". I liked everything Ben cooked – from a "perfectly judged" plate of cod with mussels to a superb chocolate crème with candied artichoke, praline truffle and chopped hazelnut. Operating entirely on its owners' terms, Stark is "a gem".
Dove
Until recently, this site in London's Notting Hill was home to Orasay, Jackson Boxer's "paean to Great British fish", said Tom Parker Bowles in The Mail on Sunday. It did everything "beautifully", and was always packed. But "serious fish costs serious money", and Orasay struggled to turn a profit. So Boxer has renamed it Dove, and switched to cooking "elevated comfort food" – the sort, he says, that you "always want to eat, but can't be arsed to cook at home". The results are impressive. Our meal starts with a crisp square of truffle-scented deep-fried lasagne – an early contender for dish of the year. This is followed by ricotta dumplings "bathed in a lusciously throaty lobster bisque"; a "quietly joyous" tomato salad, "slicked in sour cream and crisp chilli oil"; and a "splendidly succulent" half roast chicken, wallowing in Café de Paris sauce. "This is proper food, albeit with a gently sophisticated burr"; and the service is warm and friendly too. "It's sad to see Orasay go. But this Dove has wings."
Skof
From a casual glance, you might mistake Skof for an "upmarket small plates and natural wine bar", said Charlotte Ivers in The Sunday Times. But don't imagine you can walk in to this restaurant in Manchester and ask for a "glass of pét-nat": this is the first solo effort from chef Tom Barnes, who spent years working with Simon Rogan at the three-Michelin-starred L'Enclume in Cumbria – and it may be the "most exciting new restaurant in the country". The 12-course menu is "deeply serious", and every dish displays "astonishing" technical precision. A "sliver of duck" accompanied by a rich sweet sauce containing tapioca balls, and with black pudding and bone marrow "droplet" on the side, is "absurd and perfect in its decadence". A "lightly set miso custard" has hen-of-the-woods mushrooms piled on top, plus "earthy matchsticks of truffle". Barnes's cooking owes much to Rogan's, but Skof is by no means a copy of L'Enclume: it's "younger, trendier, made for the city and not the Lakes". Eating here isn't easy – tables are booked up weeks in advance – but an experience like this is not to be missed.
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Tucked away in a private room inside Los Mochis London City, Luna Omakase is a sensory Japanese dining experience for those with adventurous palates, writes The Week's Deeya Sonalkar. Its chef-selected nut and gluten-free menu has 12 courses inspired by the rhythm of the moon, and changes as the lunar cycle shifts. The 12-seat counter is designed to allow diners to immerse themselves in the preparation of the dishes and learn about the ingredients selected for the day. The venue has low lighting, to mimic moonlight, and the courses are served on wood or stone plates. Each course is intricately crafted, and every ingredient plays a crucial role. The chef's take on the onigiri was one of the best courses, with a single bite offering a world of flavour. A good number of dishes featured caviar, an ingredient that can sometimes overpower others, or taco maki, a Japanese-Mexican fusion of tacos and maki sushi, with avocado, jalapeno salsa and coriander. Simple, fresh and unique: every dish offered something new. If you love traditional Japanese cuisine but want to enjoy an experimental menu, this is a must-visit.
The River Cafe Cafe
For 37 years, The River Cafe in Hammersmith has been one of Britain's most celebrated restaurants, said William Sitwell in The Telegraph. And for virtually all of that time it has resisted the urge to expand. Last summer, it finally did, but in its own way: by "opening a small version" of itself opposite, called The River Cafe Cafe ("they don't use the accent"). There, in a "bright, tall space" hung with Damien Hirst paintings, diners can experience the same "affable professionalism" as in the "mothership", for a "considerably" cheaper price. The menu – cooked by the same chefs – includes bread and bruschetta, starter plates and veggie dishes, salumi e formaggi, a plate of anchovies. The cooking, while simple, exudes "serious quality". A dish of lentils – unadorned – allows you to relish their "earthy purity". Tagliatelle with lemon and crème fraîche is a "masterpiece of pasta cookery". For "balance, flavour" and a "lesson in getting it right", this is nigh-on perfect.
Yemen Heaven
Muna Al-Maflehi – the owner of Yemen Heaven – was born in Taiz, in the highlands of southwestern Yemen, said Jay Rayner in The Observer. Aged seven, she moved with her family from that war-torn region to Saudi Arabia. As an adult, she had a spell in Austria before relocating to York in 2017. Through all this, the dishes her father taught her have been her "way of keeping alive a connection" to the culture she left as a child. Now, she cooks many of them at her restaurant. It works not because it's a "gastronomic temple", but because it gives customers a lovely feeling of "being properly looked after". The excellent cooking "draws on the domestic". Fahsa, or lamb stew, consists of "nothing other than shredded lamb and a deep, generous" fenugreek-scented broth: "it tastes as you hope every meaty broth will, but too often doesn't". Chicken mandi is seemingly "just a plate of chicken and rice", but the rice has a delicious "buttery separation", and the intensely flavourful chicken is "falling apart" on the bone. For dessert, there's Um Ali ("Ali's mother") – a creamy pudding of coconut, nuts and dried rose petals – followed by beakers of sweet Yemeni tea. The product of "one woman's determination to maintain her family's traditions", Yemen Heaven is "very hard not to like".
Stow
Good restaurants produce a feeling that's the "opposite of Fomo", said Charlotte Ivers in The Sunday Times. Entering them, you know "you are in the most interesting place in the city". Stow, in Manchester, is such a place. Despite having only been open for a few weeks, it is "packed" on a freezing Thursday in January. And no wonder, because the food – most of it cooked in front of you on a coal-fired grill – is hugely "exciting". A plate of ricotta and honey is piled with beetroots, which have a "wonderful, almost sticky jamminess". Brined chicken in tarragon sauce has "blackened skin" that contrasts with the "absurdly juicy meat below". And "on my deathbed, I will think not of those I love or those I have wronged", but of Stow's "crunchy" la ratte potatoes, topped with "fat slices of garlic", shavings of corra linn cheese, and "enough butter to throw your health indicators off for a year".
The Barbary
This Notting Hill restaurant, an offshoot of one in Covent Garden, takes its name from the section of North Africa's coast that was "settled by those wandering polytheists, the Berbers", said William Sitwell in The Telegraph. Although the dishes on the menu are not wholly unfamiliar, they are made distinctive by their "informal, generous flavour". Flatbreads are "deliciously charred", and are served with hummus, spinach and yoghurt, and a "tasty mush of peppers and garlic" called kaha kaha. Skewers of pata negra pluma (Spanish pig) are "tender and tasty"; octopus comes with its "tentacles charred and its flesh soft and delicious". Lamb chops are "beautifully fatty and tender", while sea bass crudo is "more elegant". Housed in a suitably stylish space – all polished dark wood and cosy banquettes – The Barbary "is, frankly, very good". Lunch for two: £175 (excluding drinks and service).
Fonda
The Mexican chef Santiago Lastra launched his ambitious restaurant Kol, near Marble Arch in London, "amid the crashing waves of Covid", said Jay Rayner in The Observer. Its "reimagined" Mexican dishes have since earned it a Michelin star. Now Lastra has opened a second venture, which presents itself as a "more relaxed affair": fonda means "humble family-run restaurant" in Spanish. In truth, with its bespoke plates and "Ziploc insulation bags" for the tortillas, "this is only a fonda in the way the River Café is a café, which is to say, not at all". But don't let that put you off: the food here is "conversation-stopping". A Baja taco of deep-fried cod fillet – served with shredded cabbage and a "bright green" sauce of blitzed pistachio – turns out to be a "veritable supermodel of the fish finger sandwich world". Long-simmered short-rib beef is smothered in "insanely delicious" mole poblano – a thick and glossy sauce with a "sultry, dark-chocolate sweetness". Encouraged by our waiter, we use the "purée-soft" refried beans to "butter" our tortillas, and also "splodge" liberally from the three pots of salsa on our table: one made from fermented gooseberries, a second from scotch bonnet and árbol chillies, and the third from cascabel chillies and sunflower seeds. With its imaginative cooking and sense of "understated theatre", Fonda is "exuberantly good". Starters and small plates £7-£14; larger plates £23-£29.
Juliet
Despite being a "magnet for the Cotswolds arts scene", Stroud has never had an especially foodie reputation, said Grace Dent in The Guardian. But the opening of Juliet suggests this could change. Its owner is sculptor Daniel Chadwick, who is also behind "the Woolpack, a much-loved hostelry in Slad just up the road". He is "my favourite type of hospitality character": his vision is "distinctly non-corporate and propelled by an urge to take old things and re-love them". In Stroud, he has turned a former music venue into a "stylish", atmospheric all-day bistro. The food is in keeping with the decor: it's grown-up and beautifully "precise". There are bowls of clams, chickpeas and girolles. Oeufs mayonnaise comes with a delightfully "thick and fresh mustardy mayo". Mousse de canard is rich and earthy, with a "translucent layer of glorious fat" that makes it perfect to spread on a fresh baguette. Homemade cavatelli are served with a "pleasantly unrefined duck stew". The tarte tatin is "breathtaking" and "one of the best I have ever demolished". Juliet is definitely "worth a schlep to Stroud", though you'd better book well in advance, because it's proving popular with the locals. About £40 a head, plus drinks and service.
Chapel Market Kitchen
The Israeli chef Maoz Alonim is best known for Basta, his restaurant in Tel Aviv, which is in the city's Carmel Market. When he expanded to London, he decided to try to "replicate the original", said Charlotte Ivers in The Sunday Times – hence this place's location on the "slightly ratty Islington backstreet" of Chapel Market. But while the restaurant's exterior has been "artfully distressed", making it look as if it's been here for years, inside it's "modern yet cosy". The menu, based on sharing plates, promises a "sweeping tour of the Med: calamari to taramasalata, labneh to ibérico ham". Everything on it "looks worth ordering" – and the dishes, when they arrive, do not disappoint. Ingredients are high quality, the combinations "exciting": anchovies and vanilla butter make for an "unnerving" but "delicious" pairing; roasted Brussels sprouts with shaved Comté and chilli are a "crispy masterclass". For the brave, there's veal brain on toast, with caper, salt and lemon: a "salty and silky" treat. I left Chapel Market Kitchen feeling "warm and fuzzy": this is a "gorgeous restaurant". Around £64 a head, with drinks and service.
The Elder Restaurant
This restaurant, on Bath's South Parade, has the intimate "feeling of a club", said William Sitwell in The Telegraph. Taking up several rooms of a "handsome" Georgian building, it is one of a number of venues owned by Mike Robinson, a talented chef and a "flag-waver for venison". Our set menu begins with a cup of "game tea", which is warming, rich and remarkably tasty, like "Bovril on acid". Next comes a "perfect portion" of mallard, its flesh "ruby-blood red" and its skin crisp, onto which is poured "cubes of trompette mushroom and some rich jus". Then – of course – comes the venison, in "neat little slices", and a crisp little pastilla made of braised shoulder and turnip. It's a dish to make you "wonder why you ever bother with beef". On a chilly winter's day, The Elder is the place to come if you want to "rest weary legs" and feel "properly cosseted".
Sachi
Discreetly hidden on the second floor of the Pantechnicon building, Sachi is one of Belgravia's swankiest sushi spots, writes The Week's Irenie Forshaw. The kappo-style (cut and cook) Japanese restaurant reopened in November after an extensive revamp, adding a moodily lit rooftop bar. Expect minimalist interiors with flowing cream-coloured drapes, plenty of teak and lush potted plants springing from every corner. For a buzzy atmosphere, book a table upstairs in the bar or escape the after-work crowd by requesting a quieter spot downstairs.
The pared-back menu features an assortment of dishes from tempura and sashimi to decadent sushi platters and oscietra caviar. Everything is simply yet elegantly plated allowing the quality ingredients to shine. The wagyu, eringi mushroom and yuzu maki rolls are perhaps the most inventive dish; topped with a sliver of marbled Japanese beef, each morsel tastes like a bite-size burger. But the real highlight is the bluefin tuna: both the truffle-dusted carpaccio and the maki rolls are delicious. There's also a drinks list filled with Japanese whiskies and enticing cocktails, as well as a collection of sakes. Be sure to enlist the help of the knowledgeable sake sommelier for perfect pairings with every dish.
Patri
(Image credit: @zodeemedia)
You might miss Patri on the street outside, but once you step inside, it is like being transported to a train in New Delhi, writes The Week's Rebekah Evans. With its shutters, dark wood interiors and multi-coloured hanging light bulbs, you'll be cocooned in this intimate setting. But once the food starts to arrive the last thing diners will be thinking about is their surroundings. Patri offers The Grand Thali, a unique experience allowing a group to sample two starters alongside 26 authentic Indian street-food dishes, with rice and garlic naan. Patience is a virtue, and you should be prepared for a wait, but it's certainly worthwhile. With so much to choose from, it's difficult to pick a stand-out dish. Surprisingly, the vegan chatpati aloo tikki chaat starter is perhaps one of the best – comprising fragrant spicy potato patties and chickpeas, tossed in a chutney bursting with flavour. In the Grand Thali, the dishes that really sing are those you can tell are truly cooked with soul. The butter chicken has a rich, creamy, and so moreish, sauce, while the paneer curry is soft and delicious. Be sure to wear trousers with an expandable waistline. You'll certainly need them.
Lyle's
I first went to Lyle's shortly after it opened, says The Week's Neil Davey. One bite in, three of us looked at each other, nodded and ordered every item on the menu. What followed was a celebration of quality ingredients, sometimes tweaked and combined to show them off, sometimes left well alone to shine. Somehow, I didn't make it back until recently, in what is Lyle's 10th anniversary year. Given that chef James Lowe and his talented team have held a Michelin Star since 2015, it seemed a safe bet that standards were still high, but, even so, from opening snacks to post-pudding raspberry choux bun, this was one of the year's best meals.
A well-paced tasting menu brought treat after treat. Highlights included seasonal vegetables, cod's roe, absolute peak-of-the-season greenery in varied forms; a Carlingford oyster dressed with apple which was a salt / crisp / sweet / savoury joy; and Bluefin tuna with girolles, which sounds odd on paper but triumphs on the plate. Even better, arguably, is their non-alcoholic pairing. There are wines (some very good wines, in fact) but their zero-alcohol options are made in house, frequently with leftovers and waste elements turned into kombuchas. They're clever, delicious, refreshing and sustainable. Like everything else at Lyle's, what's not to like?
Mauby
My meal at Mauby began with the "sausage of my dreams", says Jay Rayner in The Observer. On a plate sat a "single, fat smoked sausage with exactly the right crisp-skinned snap and the correct smooth, juicy interior". Served with pickles and a yellow Bajan pepper sauce, it banished the "bad memories" of the dire hot dog I'd recently eaten at Harrods. This wine bar and bistro in Brockley celebrates the food of Jamaica and Barbados. But before coming here, you should "park your assumptions about what must be available at such a place". The menu consists of "impressively cheap" small plates, plus a "few well-chosen wines and cocktails". Jerk chicken isn't always on the menu: it features one week, but not the next. There are salads – one of heritage tomatoes topped with "meaty sardines"; another of cucumber, Scotch bonnet and herbs – and several delicious vegetable dishes, including "homestyle" beans in a "thumping gravy" There are few frills at Mauby – the decor is defiantly plain – but it serves interesting, well-judged food, and "feels like a new business that has worked out what it needs to be from the very start".
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