What's on the menu – Mark Sargeant's Plum + Spilt Milk the 'best place to eat in King's Cross Station'

Mark Sargeant's Plum + Spilt Milk at the Great Northern Hotel in King's Cross should be back on track now that the former Gordon Ramsay chef is in charge of the kitchen months after the dining room opened, says Time Out's Guy Dimond. "Flawed or not, it's still the best place to eat at King's Cross station," he adds.

Tom's Kitchen in London's Canary Wharf receives a visit from Metro's Andy Lynes this week, who says that the third outpost of Tom Aikens' restaurant concept has cracked the high-quality casual dining formula.

While classical cooking as a spectator sport has all but died out, the Observer'sJay Rayner finds it is part of an epic dining experience at Otto's, London WC1. "Have I sold it to you? Do you want to go? No?" he asks. "Then clearly you have no soul."

The Telegraph's Zoe Williams heads north to Yorkshire for a meal at Van Zeller in Harrogate, where she is charmed by the cooking, its quality and the demands it made for concentration. She says: "By the end I felt really worthy, as though I'd read a slim volume of poetry, and not been out for a ‘five'-course lunch on a Friday afternoon at all."

Joe Warwick is the latest restaurant critic to do the double, with visits to both the latest US burger imports in Covent Garden: Shake Shack and Five Guys. Writing in the http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/aug/02/queens-hotel-st-ives-cornwall-review" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Metro](http://metro.co.uk/2013/08/01/five-guys-and-shake-shack-add-to-the-quality-burger-market-but-who-needs-them-3906804/), it's clear he is also the latest to find them unimpressive, scoring them two out of five and a particularly damning zero out of five respectively.

Picture in Marylebone, the new venture by former Arbutus and Wild Honey group chefs Alan Christie and Colin Kelly and manager Tom Slegg, is the "restaurant equivalent of BBC Four - upmarket but quirky", says the [Independent's Tracey Macleod](http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/reviews/restaurant-review-picture-110-).

[The Guardian's Marina O'Loughlin](http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/aug/03/restaurant-fleet-street-kitchen-birmingham) finds evidence of fine produce beneath the "cackhandedness" and "lumpen crowd pleasing" at Fleet Street Kitchen, Birmingham, but says it simply doesn't stand a chance against the force of the concept.

Amol Rajan finds near-perfection at Sunday in Islington, London N1. [The Independent's](http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/reviews/restaurant-review-sunday-169-) editor struggles to find fault with the brunch-and-dinner establishment, awarding it a near perfect 9.5 out of ten.

Casse-Croûte in London SE1, is a perfect little bistro of the sort you hope to come across in France and nowadays never ever do, says Fay Maschler in the [Evening Standard](http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/restaurants/cassecrote--restaurant-review-8738933.html).

AA Gill visits the Fish and Chip Shop in Islington, London N1, for the Sunday Times, where he finds a satisfyingly traditional menu.

Cabbages & Condoms, a peculiarly-named Thai restaurant in Bicester, Oxfordshire, receives the Matthew Norman for a three course meal. The Telegraph critic tips his hat to the company's work in Thailand, where it reinvests profits into family planning and sexual health, but scores the food a disappointing 1.5 out of five.

The Headland Hotel, in Cornwall, is a Newquay hotel offering good food, cosy cottages and spectacular views of Fistral Beach, says Fiona Duncan in the [Sunday Telegraph](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/hotel/114836/The-Headland-Hotel-Newquay-Cornwall-review.html). She describes the diner as "super" and "just right for the setting".

The Times' Tom Chesshyre finds an excellent spa, unpretentious service and decent value at Stobo Castle, Peeblesshire, but warns that it can be crowded with hen groups.

With stripped beams, friendly staff and homemade butterscotch ice-cream, the Queen's Hotel in St Ives, Cornwall is affordable and exactly what you want after a day on the beach says Sally Shalam in the [Guardian.

* Visit Guide Girl for a round up of UK restaurant and hotel reviews from the last seven days