Few clichés in food criticism are as vacuous as this observation commonly applied to exotic cuisines: Not all dishes will be to all tastes… The last to use it was Matthew Norman of The Guardian in his Weekend magazine review of the London Szechuan restaurant My Old Place. I challenge him or anyone else who’s ever shared [...]

In his review of The Wine Theatre on London’s South Bank, the Guardian’s Matthew Norman quotes the expert opinion of his dining companion, who says the squid salad “was like eating a well lubricated Durex.” Is Norman overestimating his readers? The analogy is of limited value to those lacking the worldly knowledge of his companion, [...]

Subsequent to the naming of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, awards judge and Guardian food critic Jay Rayner makes a courageous case for haute cuisine in down times: …just as with the very highest of high fashion, the highest of haute gastronomy eventually filters down to what we all eat on a regular basis and [...]

My first objection to Norman’s review of The Crown Inn in the London commuter county of Buckinghamshire may sound like a quibble, but it does illustrate his propensity to base his pronouncements on thin evidence. He samples but two of the mains on offer (6 on the menu + daily specials), yet claims to have backed “the main course [...]