Terry Durack reviews

Sunday, November 16, 2008 - It was not my intention to review L'Anima. When Francesco Mazzei opened in June, I was desperate to find restaurants where two could eat for less than £80, not more high-end Italians of the calibre of Locanda Locatelli or the River Café. But in spite of its pre-crunch prices, L'Anima has been hard to ignore: reviews have been practically evangelical, and it was recently named best new restaurant of the year in both Square Meal and the Harden's UK Restaurant Guide.

Sunday, November 02, 2008 - Marianna Hadjigeorgiou and Achilleas Agridiotis have knitted together an idyllic little tearoom on a sunny riverside street corner in villagey Barnes, south-west London. Walls are lined with glossy tea canisters, while a marble-topped wooden counter is laden with cake stands and glorious-looking Konditor & Cook creations under a romantic chandelier. Tucked in behind are three little rooms with white brick walls, wooden tables, kitsch tea cosies and darling little floral cups and saucers set on wooden panels as if caught mid-throw.

Sunday, October 26, 2008 - France has never been able to do a British pub, and it appears Britain still can't do the French brasserie of our dreams, especially not on a charmless mezzanine floor of what appears to be a deserted aircraft hangar when the market is not in full swing. Le Bouchon is busy, and could be handy in this restaurant chain-heavy area, but it is too new to yet have that lovely contented brasserie buzziness.

Sunday, October 12, 2008 - Tierra Brindisa still serves up simple platters of jamon, bowls of almonds and unadorned cheese boards, but Spanish-born head chef, José Pizarro is smart enough to know when to just toss something on a plate, and when to do something with it. He stops short of lab experiments, preferring to tease your appetite than play with your head.

Sunday, October 05, 2008 - Like its two sister restaurants in Singapore, London's newly opened Min Jiang is dedicated to the art of Beijing duck (get used to it – the Olympics weren't held in Peking). They will ask if you want to pre-order it when you ring, and ask again when you arrive. It could get annoying, but for one thing: the duck is very, very good.

Sunday, September 28, 2008 - "Confit duck leg, roast sweet potato, beetroot, black bean, licorice and ginger salsa, £12.50." Says it all, really. At The Modern Pantry, you get bits and pieces of French bistro cooking with a touch of the Antipodean and some far-flung exotica at a modest price. Some will see this as a breath of fresh air. Others will curl their lips at what they see as a mishmash of magpie pickings from the global floor.

Sunday, September 21, 2008 - Murano's dress code is clearly stated: "Smart, with jackets preferred for gentlemen. Jeans, T-shirts or sportswear not accepted." Hang on, is this not 2008? … are they really terrified that Mayfair diners will turn up in filthy jeans and fat white trainers?

Sunday, September 14, 2008 - Bar Boulud has nailed the way people like to eat, by pairing charcuterie excellence with wine-bar buzz. Handy for the Lincoln Centre and The Met, it is built for a fast turnover…I'd go back to cover the table with charcuterie and salads, then cover it again with cheese, dispensing with the yawny main courses altogether. What's a bet that turns into the next hot trend?

Sunday, September 07, 2008 - Tayyabs is more rough-and-tumble than refined, but it has something magical that makes it 10 times better than committing hurry-curry in Brick Lane. It simply does an excellent job of keeping everyone happy. Though unlicensed, you can take a bottle and the waiter will toss you a corkscrew.

Sunday, August 24, 2008 - It is not at all what I thought it would be. Instead of a happy-go-lucky seaside caff, it feels more like The Ivy by the Sea. The 40-seat interior borders on the sumptuous with its studded mustard leather banquettes, pressed white tablecloths, monogrammed plates and library-shelf wall of wine. Through a large window, Prowse is doing a fine impression of a whirling dervish over his pots and pans and the kitchen's pride and joy, the smart new Spanish Josper charcoal grill/oven.

Sunday, August 17, 2008 - That Magli and Pili named their restaurant not for the most momentous period of social, political and cultural upheaval in Italian history, but for a simple little runabout, now seems perfectly right. The tiny Cinquecento is functional, unpretentious and good value. It isn't trying to change the world, just be a vehicle in which people can enjoy themselves.

Sunday, August 10, 2008 - Like everything else tonight, it is exactly what I felt like eating, making Quo Vadis pretty close to my ideal modern British restaurant. The Soho thing makes it artier, edgier (and louder) than The Ivy or The Wolseley, and the old-style, hands-on hospitality is a refreshing return to how things used to be. I think we are lucky to have Quo Vadis... for as long as it knows how lucky it is to have us.

Sunday, July 27, 2008 - The girl at the door tries to give me a credit card. "No thanks," I sigh. "I'm trying to give them up." She insists I take it. Without it, you won't be able to eat or drink, she says. Tell me about it.

Sunday, July 20, 2008 - Princess Victoria hasn't looked this good for a long time. Honestly, she doesn't look a day over 150, and I know she's been around since 1828, when she was a "dram shop", before graduating into a gin palace in 1829, and a proper pub in 1872.

Sunday, July 13, 2008 - Forget the ice disappearing from the North Pole; it's the hand towels you should be worried about. Those piles of neatly folded face-washers that upmarket restaurants give you in the loos are vanishing, credit-crunched out of existence. And thank heavens for that.

Sunday, January 06, 2008 - Sake No Hana is undoubtedly a class act, impressively designed as a conduit for some very fine talents. It remains to be seen if it has what most of us want from a Japanese restaurant. But then, I'm not entirely convinced it is interested in most of us in the first place.

Sunday, December 02, 2007 - This is not Monsieur Ducasse's best restaurant (that is in Monte Carlo), but it is still a marvellous manifestation of the French meaning of the term savoir-faire, literally, "to have the knowledge of what to do". Pure craft. *

Sunday, June 24, 2007 - The grape - half a grape, actually - has been caramelised with cognac and a little sugar, before being finished with sherry vinegar and Sauternes. It's a lot of work, just for a grape - half a grape - that is going to perch on a button of foie gras on a crisp slip of fine gingerbread. And that's just one of the appetisers.

Sunday, July 23, 2006 - It is time restaurants instituted a pay-per-view system, in which you pay for the view you get. A modest basement restaurant with no outlook would therefore be cheaper than a skyscraper penthouse.

Sunday, October 24, 2004 - Real Eating is something that most restaurants in Britain are not - it is modern. It belongs to today, instead of yesterday. The restaurant industry has a real choice: to stay mired in the dated and overly detailed French style of dining, or to seize the day and redefine itself, with a serious commitment to quality produce presented without fuss or bother in a uniquely British manner. At the moment, the gastropub movement is the closest intimation of how great real British dining could be, with rare treasures such as Real Eating providing further refinement and definition.