My five favourite restaurants of 2015

Bocca de Lupo

Radish and truffle salad Bocca di Lupo

Radish and truffle salad Bocca di Lupo

I’ve been eating here, irregularly , since it first opened and the food never fails to thrill. The service is excellent, the wines delicious and I can think of few places I’d rather spend a Friday evening than sitting at the counter here waiting for a fried artichoke or meltingly tender squid with fried lemon slices.

 

 


Bentley’s

Oysters at the counter Bentley's

Oysters at the counter Bentley’s

Another old establish favourite which, in this town where new restaurant openings are legion, I return to again and again. Both my daughters have learned to love oysters sitting at the counter and the dressed crab is one of my “last supper” dishes.

 

 

 

Zedel 

Floating Islands  Brasserie Zedel

Floating Islands
Brasserie Zedel

I eat here more regularly than almost anywhere else apart from my own kitchen table. Every month a group of women with whom I trained gather for lunch. We talk, laugh often but not always, drink wine and leave having had a splendid time in this glamorous restaurant for little more than £20 a head. We nurses are keen on a good price point.

 

 

Piquet

Mulled pear Tarte Tatin Piquet

Mulled pear Tarte Tatin
Piquet

A newer restaurant but one I have no hesitation in suggesting will be around in the years to come. Alan Pickett cooks British ingredients in the French style with a lightness of touch that is admirable. I love to watch his brigade work, the carving trolly makes me smile and the mulled pear Tart Tatin is a dish of great joy.

 

 

 

Bellanger Fischers The Wolseley Colbert

Gateau Tropezienne Bellanger

Gateau Tropezienne
Bellanger

This is really a combined tribute to the Corbin and King group who have taken the concept of the local restaurant and brought to it the level of service and sophistication of the grand european brasseries. Real grown up places, cleverly thought through, where I can eat in well designed, comfortable style, being served by staff who understand the  meaning of hospitality. Some argue the food doesn’t excite, well it thrills me, and now to have one so very close to home makes for the prospect of a very Happy New Year.

 

 

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