Opening a "capacious, fine-dining, Michelin-striving restaurant" in an old nightclub on the fringes of Essex definitely "has elements of crazy", says Grace Dent in the London Evening Standard.
The reason for coming to this "little gem of clenched-fist gentility is the chef, Ben Murphy, who is nodded at as one of the coming names of modern British cuisine", says AA Gill in The Sunday Times.
Prepare yourself, says Dent. "This is not simple plates presented pleasurably like Rochelle Canteen or Noble Rot," she says. "It's cooking that could let its hair down."
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"Effortful, skilful, slightly overweening but absolutely well meant, Murphy has a definite talent." – Fay Maschler of the Standard
It may be "trying just a little too hard to wear its class on its sleeve", agrees Time Out, but the food is "clearly very high-quality and expertly stage managed". Witness the rare venison finished with bitter chocolate jus or cod brandade on a quinoa crisp.
It's "strikingly old-fashioned concept that celebrates lots of things that contemporary restaurants are trying to get away from" says Gill. "They make the type of food I have loved for years, with a precision I feared was vanishing".
The Woodford is at 159 High Street, South Woodford E18