The Observer
Jay Rayner
San Carlo Leeds 6-7 South Parade, Leeds (0113 246 1500).
Jay's up north this week, and fellow readers, when you click through to his article in the Observer, please do take a minute to read the comments that have been posted by Guardian readers.
So what of San Carlo then, well Jay would have us believe that this is a regular haunt of footballers, Jimmy Carr and John Prescott, my tip here readers is, if it's an all you can eat buffet be sure to be ahead of John in the queue!
Leeds is, according to Jay, a city that needs more choice, outside of the Flynn family, and he finds himself hearing good things of San Carlo, from people he respects.
Turning to the food dear friends, and Jay questions the addition of "escargot bourguignon", on the "Italian classics" and the somewhat strange long and almost origami style menu.
When the frittura di pesce Portofino for two arrived it was so large, so volumous, that I became suspicious I had been rumbled and they had decided to deep fry the entirety of the day's catch just for me
The same was true of ribbons of good tagliolini in a ripe tomato sauce with a hint of chilli and the contents of half a lobster at under £17, the whole rested prettily on the emptied shell. Calves' liver, with the smokey char of a proper grill, came in an unfinishable trio of thick slices with a butter and sage sauce
We ordered dessert, a classic cassata of layered ice cream with a smear of forest fruits jam
San Carlo is according to Jay a restaurant "That knows what it's doing"
The Independent on Sunday
Lisa Markwell
Mya Lacarte 5 Prospect Street, Caversham, Reading, Berkshire 6/10
It doesn't start well Lisa is less than impressed by the name, the difficult location, the entrance, which is up a side alley and lastly a shelf that runs just below the ceiling with pillows on it, is labelled as daft, I think I agree, it's the same as pillows on a bed, why?
The restaurant is the brain child of former Lord Sugar apprentice winner Yasmina Siadatanin
Beef terrine. Hampshire-bred meat is admirable, and the piccalilli offers a polite punch, but it's a grimly brown dish in every way.
Cerney goat's cheese mousse with beetroot carpaccio and purée, gingerbread crisp and raspberry dressing is as much of a mouthful as its title - a curious mingling of gingery tang, creamy cheese and earthy vegetable, but it works
Catch of the day is haddock, served with parsnips, leeks and a Fowey mussel sauce, and is quickly deemed the best of the mains - gleamingly fresh fish, a soft, piquant sauce and lovely winter veggies. Ashampstead venison loin with confit red cabbage, spinach-and-juniper berry sauce is, in contrast, a muddle. The meat is correctly pink but underpowered and not helped by an insipid, not very junipery sauce. The spinach is - bizarrely - uncooked. Unpeeled, still bite-y squash as a side order isn't helping much
Sadly no dessert for Lisa, as a consequence of Reading one way system alas!
The Sunday Telegraph
Zoe Williams
Dishoom 12 Upper St Martin's Lane, London WC2H 9FB 7.5/10
Zoe seems positively hooked by the decor, from her opening paragraph, Iconic, beautiful ethnic central-London-young-lunch-brigade all used to describe the Dishoom and set the scene This week, Zoe is dining with P "I'll have a P please Bob!!!"
So what's on the menu then, well cheese on toast with chilli and spring onions £2.90 lamb samosas (£3.90) calamari (£4.50) The babiest of baby squid arrived, simply done - breadcrumbs, squidge of lime, exquisite and a bit festive, like grown-up Hula Hoops.
spicy lamb chops (£9.70) - black pepper, chilli, cumin and coriander, garlic for sure, salt in a pleasing amount, everything perfectly balanced.
rack of lamb - charred on the outside, pink in the middle, totally lamby. I ordered the chicken tikka (£6.50), the grilled vegetables (£6.50), some naan (£1.90), some funny stretchy pancake bread (roti, £1.70) and some black dal (£4.50).
Despite being full and this being an Indian, which regular readers will know that Indians are not the place for desserts, Zoe in the name being a true professional, opts for pistachio kulfi on a stick (£2.50). This was very good, though quite creamy and I couldn't put my hand on my heart and tell you why it was 'kulfi' and not 'ice cream'
P had the vanilla yogurt on fresh mango (£4.50), and this was not, as the yoot say, all that. I don't like the softness of vanilla against tangy yogurt anyway, unless it's at the smoothest, Greekest end of the yog-genus. This wasn't. The mango wasn't the season's finest (a rash claim on the menu - you'll never be able to prove it is the case, but everybody can tell when it isn't).
So if you're looking for 1960 fusions and perhaps hark back for all things colonial, then Dishoom readers is a must.
