What the experts recommend
Cabotte 48 Gresham Street, London EC2 (020-7600 1616)
If you love Burgundy wines as much as I do, then get along to Cabotte, says Fay Maschler in the London Evening Standard. This warm and friendly French restaurant is named after the word for the stone huts that provide shelter for vineyard workers. The blokes behind the venture are two master sommeliers; a dozen Burgundy vintners have backed it, and “all the staff seem to possess the soul” of a wine expert and are keen to advise. I’m a lover of white Burgundies in particular, and was much taken with the Puligny-montrachet we went for. But Cabotte is not just notable for its great wine list; the food is first-rate, too. Confit veal breast with squash purée, sweet and sour cabbage, and shiitake mushrooms was vividly colourful and full of flavour. Potato gnocchi with lobster, pak choi and lime “dances skittishly away from the land of boeuf bourguignon”, but was delectable nonetheless. And a dessert of crumbly pear sponge cake with almonds was perfect (and, as a bonus, “calls out for a glass of Burgundian pinot noir”). Meal for two about £140, with wine and service.
Paco Tapas 3a The General, Lower Guinea Street, Bristol (0117-925 7021) This “little slice of Andalucía” is part of the Sanchez-iglesias family’s small empire of three restaurants perched in a row on Bristol’s waterside, says Marina O’loughlin in The Guardian. There’s the Michelin-starred Casamia, the “permanently rammed” Pi Shop pizzeria, and now this fabulous tapas bar – a “wholly successful return” to the family’s roots. This is Spanish food as cooked by “perfectionists”. The “proletarian patatas bravas, for instance, is here elevated to aristocracy”, the spuds double-fried until “hypnotically crisp”, the chilli sauce sweet and ripe, the aioli yellow with good egg yolks and “pugnacious” with garlic. The cazon en adobo – meaty dogfish in the lightest of batters, and just touched with herbs and a sprightly vinegar – “whisks me straight to a summer’s day in Sanlúcar de Barrameda”, that beautiful coastal town not far from Jerez. And calçots, those “recherché Catalan alliums, come beautifully blackened from the grill with the best romesco I’ve ever tasted”. About £40 a head, plus drinks and service.
Frank’s Restaurant and Mussel Bar 53-57 High Street, West Malling, Kent (01732-843247)
At one point during my hearty dinner at Frank’s, says Michael Deacon in The Daily Telegraph, a waitress asked the couple at the next table whether they had room for pudding. “She was met with little wails of anguished protest. The pair of them looked a breadcrumb away from spontaneous combustion.” Still, I soldiered nobly on, and ordered the toffee and ice cream waffle – an “obscenely sweet wodge of heart-stopping, arteryclogging wickedness”. I loved it, but the minor tragedy of this place is that most diners will never get to try this “stupendous” waffle, because they’re so stuffed after their starter and main. I had breaded Brie, a “luscious, rich conglomerate of hot melting goo”. And then a gut-bustingly vast “cauldron” of mussels, with a sauce of “succulent and fat” bacon, wine, cream and blue cheese. Don’t come to Frank’s for small portions and fine-dining pretension. Come here for “top grub”. Lots of it. Three-course meal for two, about £55, plus drinks.