What's on the menu: Richard Caring's Jackson + Rye divides the critics
Jackson + Rye, the new Soho venture by Richard Caring, splits the critics in this week's reviews, with the http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/travel/wheretostay/southwest/article3963027.ece" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Guardian's](http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jan/11/jackson-and-rye-restaurant-review) Marina O'Loughlin and [Metro's](http://metro.co.uk/2014/01/09/jackson-rye-is-like-tgi-fridays-with-attitude-4254758/) Andy Lynes describing differing experiences.
O'Loughlin visit and finds a "shameless derivative" New York experience but without the generosity that this implies. Despite this, she remains convinced it will be a hit, concluding: "Whatever I say, it's going to be a smash."
Meanwhile Lynes describes Jackson + Rye, led by Mark Askew and Hannah Bass, as being like TGI Fridays with attitude. "We can't stop London's restaurant scene turning into a carbon copy of New York's five boroughs," he says. "So why not wallow in the ersatz US pleasures afforded by the latest offering from the people that brought you Grillshack."
Indian restaurant Kayal was in the news for all the wrong reasons last year, when a work night out for 10 health inspectors saw the whole party take ill after a visit to the Leicester restaurant - but don't be put off visiting, says Matthew Norman in the [Telegraph](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/restaurants/10547248/Kayal-Leicester-restaurant-review.html), describing the food as imaginative and vibrant.
Flesh & Buns in London WC2, by former Zuma chef Ross Shonhan and the team behind Bone Daddies, serves high-class Asian junk food in a noisy London basement, and it's a lot more fun than you'd think, says the [Observer's](http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jan/12/flesh-and-buns-asian-restaurant-review-jay-rayner) Jay Rayner.
With their pig-provoked menu, Allegra McEvedy and Tom Ward have introduced to Exmouth Market a cleverly constructed, reasonably priced mix of indulgence and rigour with Blackfoot, says Fay Maschler in the [Evening Standard](http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/restaurants/fay-maschler-reviews-blackfoot-9046488.html).
Joe Warwick visits Ryans Giggs and Gary Neville's Café Football at Westfield Stratford, London E20, for the Metro and finds comfort food with a bit of class.
There's never a dull mouthful at Andina, the Shoreditch sister restaurant to Martin Morales' Ceviche. [Time Out's](http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/andina) Guy Dimond says it "charms your tastebuds with its Peruvian-inspired ceviches, street food, cocktails and colourful smoothies".
Grace Dent describes Foxlow in London EC1M as "cosy, dimly lit and elegant, yet also buzzy and youthful" in the [Evening Standard](http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/restaurants/grace-dent-reviews-foxlow-9046983.html).
Rod Liddle visits East Coast Dining Room in Whitstable, Kent, for the [Sunday Times](http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/Magazine/article1360088.ece) and finds "uniformly excellent" food at a remarkably reasonable price.
Amol Rajan visits Ballaro in London NW3 for the [Independent](http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/reviews/restaurant-review-ballaro--an-offer-you-cant-refuse-9047095.html) and asks if it could be the capital's best Sicilian.
HOTELS
The [Sunday Telegraph's](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/hotel/125272/The-Airds-Hotel-near-Oban-Argyll-review.html) Fiona Duncan finds professional, but overly formal service in the beautifully located Airds hotel in Port Appin, Argyll.
The Promenade hotel in Cheltenham is highly imaginative and fun, says Tom Chesshyre in the [Times, but rooms rates are high and parking is tricky.
