What the experts recommend

Table 11 1132 Argyle Street, Finnieston, Glasgow (0141-357 6401) If you live in Glasgow, you may be “a touch jaded by the ongoing chunter about the regeneration of Finnieston”, that corner of town between the city centre and the West End, says Marina O’loughlin in The Guardian. So sorry to add to the fuss, but one of the brilliant restaurants credited with sparking the mini-boom, Crabshakk, has just opened a sister restaurant, and it has jumped “straight onto my list of favourite restaurants in the city”. Table 11 (so-called because Crabshakk has just ten tables) has a menu that flits around the world with “giddy abandon”. “France for confit’d duck leg, Spain for paella, Malaysia for laksa, the Caribbean for fluffy little salt cod acras – like nicely fishy hush puppies. There’s a watermelon Thai green curry and Jamaican gingerbread.” Almost everything is delicious, but the specials board is spectacular. Fat, tender octopus legs are “charred into sticky smokiness and served with a nicely pugnacious aioli”; and whole plaice is slathered with Thai-style nam jim relish – salty, sour and fiery against the sweetness of the fish. “Both dazzlers.” About £25-£30 a head, plus drinks and service.

Sardine 15 Micawber Street, London N1 (020-7490 0144) I found Sardine a touch over-cosy (is it named after the party game?) but overall a delight, says Fay Maschler in the London Evening Standard. Chef Alex Jackson’s sure hand with the pastry makes onion and anchovy tart a “delectable” snack. First courses also impress: a “fragrant, agreeably dishevelled, haunting soup au pistou, and a dish of clams with peas to bob in the juices and saucisson sec”. And the meat mains are glorious. Lamb à la ficelle has been cooked dangled on a string above burning wood, the “fabulous” rare roasted meat served with green sauce and a muddle of white beans. Pork collar with a fantastic gratin of Swiss chard is just as fine. And domino potatoes, thinly sliced and baked in plenty of olive oil, are “worth ordering as a course in their own right”. On a second visit, I was less enchanted by Sardine’s fish dishes. But otherwise – yum. Meal for two with wine, about £110, including service.

The Harrow at Little Bedwyn Little Bedwyn, near Marlborough, Wiltshire (01672-870871)

The long-established Harrow at Little Bedwyn has been the proud holder of a Michelin star for the past ten years. So on a recent visit, says Nicholas Lander in the FT, I knew I was all but guaranteed a great lunch (and duly got one). But what impressed me most on this particular, rather complicated, occasion – an eightcourse feast for 24 hungry vintners – was the innovative ways they found of cutting down on the washing-up. “Arbroath smokie milkshake” was served in bottles and drunk though straws. Citrus-cured wild salmon came in glasses with a minifork. A risotto of Périgord truffle and pistachio came in individual tiny copper pans with a teaspoon. In fact, there were no plates at all until the fourth course (a sashimi of scallops and lobster), and no proper knives and forks until the fifth (pork belly with tempura of fresh shrimps). Cornish turbot came on a plate, though: this, too, was “magnificent”. Eight-course gourmet menu, £75 a head, plus wine and service.