What's on the menu – Ross Shonhan's Flesh & Buns will be 'British eating cornerstone', hopes Grace Dent

18 August 2013 by
What's on the menu – Ross Shonhan's Flesh & Buns will be 'British eating cornerstone', hopes Grace Dent

The Evening Standard's Grace Dent urges the general public to overlook the "offputting" name of Ross Shonhan's Flesh & Buns in Covent Garden, his second London restaurant after Bone Daddies. Describing it as somewhere to slide into on one's lunch-hour or with a crowd of after-work chums, Dent hopes it will turn into the "big Wagamama-style British eating cornerstone" it should rightfully be.

Giles Coren quite enjoys the food at Baiwei, a Sichuan café-style restaurant in London WC, but writing in the http://blogs.catererandhotelkeeper.co.uk/blogs/guide-girl/2013/08/what-the-critics-say--.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Times](http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/columnists/gilescoren/article3840600.ece), he is astounded at being charged for a doggy-bag. This, combined with Baiwei's decision not to fill out a Sustainable Restaurant Association survey in full, results in Coren's average score being pulled down to 4.16 out of 10.

The Observer's Jay Rayner is the latest critic to scale the heights of Hutong on the 33rd floor of the Shard in London SE1, where he says to focus on the matching lofty prices is to miss the point.

Plum + Spilt Milk fits its location and nothing it's trying to do is misguided, cynical or daft, says Emma Sturgess in the Metro, but while she finds the service exactly right, the food, for now at least, is "distinctly shaky".

Notting Hill Kitchen in London W11 is reviewed twice this week. Time Out's Guy Dimond says that carnival-goers looking to quench their thirst will be delighted to stumble across this new opening by chef Luis Baena, but suggests sticking to the more simple dishes on the menu.

Meanwhile Fay Maschler writes in the [Evening Standard](http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/restaurants/notting-hill-kitchen--restaurant-review-8760639.html) that "God knows what explains the aimless name when there is a defined cuisine", adding that ordering pesticos (Portuguese tapas) in the bar is the way to go.

AA Gill is wowed by the food at London W8 Italian restaurant Acciuga in this week's [Sunday Times](http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/Magazine/article1299638.ece), but he worries that the business might be let down in the long run by slow service that hinges on a hinge: the one that means the door leading to the kitchen opens only one-way, a "design fault that is strangling the room and could kill the business".

The Guardian's Marina O'Loughlin describes Rock Lobsta, the new restaurant by "itinerant chef" Carl Clarke inside celeb haunt nightclub Mahiki in London's Mayfair, as "shonky fun" with food that defies its rattan bar environment.

Lime Wood hotel in the New Forest, Hampshire, may well be the most rapaciously ersatz hotel in England, writes Matthew Norman in the Telegraph, but he says there is no question that Hartnett Holder & Co is the real deal.

With a tried and tested formula the brothers behind Pizza Pilgrims in London W1 knew that the faithful would receive their manna with open arms says Jasmine Gardner in the Evening Standard.

Mitch Tonks' Rockfish in Dartmouth is posh enough to have a celebrity chef and a wine list, yet it still feels like a bona fide chippy writes Susy Atkins, also in the [Telegraph](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/10230891/Rockfish-Dartmouth-restaurant-review.html).

The [Sunday Telegraph's](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/hotel/115699/The-Petersham-hotel-Richmond-Surrey-review.html)Fiona Duncan is not impressed by the service or ambience of The Petersham hotel in Richmond, Surrey, but enjoys the view and the restaurant.

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

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