Reviews

Viajante's two interconnecting dining rooms feature a faux-casual mix of mid-century modern furniture and contemporary design elements

Viajante, Patriot Square, London E2

Fifteen years ago, the Independent on Sunday hired Helen Fielding as a restaurant reviewer, and I lucked into the role of regular reviewer's companion. Our first outing was to a hilariously pretentious restaurant in Bayswater's Hempel Hotel, where we were served designer Thai food by a team of off-duty supermodels in an atmosphere of utter solemnity. It was ridiculous, but enjoyable, in a mad sort of way.

Inside Reviews

The Taverners, High Street, Godshill, Isle of Wight

Sunday, 16 May 2010

A visit to the Godshill model village on the Isle of Wight leads to a pub lunch that is anything but dinky

Baumann’s Brasserie, 4-6 Stoneham Street, Coggeshall, Essex

Saturday, 15 May 2010

For three sweaty hours, we'd been crawling north in bank holiday traffic. Another two hours, at least, lay ahead of us. We would have to break our journey to eat.

Guerilla Burgers, 35 James Street, London W1

Sunday, 9 May 2010

Even fitness freaks give in to the odd craving. But is there room for another contender in the posh-burger market?

Tangerine Dream Caf�, Chelsea Physic Garden, 66 Royal Hospital Road, London

Saturday, 8 May 2010

The garden in which we're sitting this lunchtime isn't any old garden, it's London's oldest botanic garden, conceived in 1673 as a place where aspiring young apothecaries could grow and study medicinal plants, before converting them into pill and liquid form and inserting them into their patients.

Farmcaf� & Foodmarket Main Road, Marlesford, Woodbridge, Suffolk

Sunday, 2 May 2010

The drive to his in-laws is not our reviewer's favourite journey in the world – but it does have its benefits

P�trus, 1 Kinnerton Street, London

Saturday, 1 May 2010

The owners of long-established restaurants, as of newspapers, need to keep making changes to keep things fresh. A subtle redesign, some fashionable new ingredients, maybe even a shake-up of personnel. What they don't normally do is throw everything out but the name, and start again with completely new content.

Noma's ingredients and ambience are unique

Tuesday, 27 April 2010

Everyone can imagine the best restaurants in the world: incredibly luxurious surroundings, overly solicitous service, a general sense of opulence and wellbeing. Noma's model is different. The quayside warehouse is raw. As you walk in, the kitchen is in front of you. The walls are rough with age, colours are washed-out neutrals. It's a lovely space, but as spare as the cooking.

Petrus, 1 Kinnerton Street, London SW1

Sunday, 25 April 2010

It's hard to fault anything at Gordon Ramsay's relaunched Petrus – but it's still a bit rich for our reviewer's taste

Golden Day, 118-120 Shaftesbury Avenue, London

Saturday, 24 April 2010

You know how your heart sinks when you catch sight of a restaurant about which you had high hopes, and you realise that this isn't going to be fun? There was something about driving by the Golden Day in Soho that made us want to keep on driving. Was it the brash, Day-Glo colours of its double frontage on Shaftesbury Avenue? The Chinese lanterns hanging over the sign? The sickly orange light bathing the interior? Or the fact that it looked like a ghastly throwback to the Golden Egg chain, that byword in brash, cheap-eats vulgarity, that flourished in the late 1960s?