What the experts recommend
Restaurant 27 27a South Parade, Southsea, Portsmouth (023-9287 6272) There is “plenty to like” about Restaurant 27, says Keith Miller in The Daily Telegraph. The staff are “charming and patient and skilful”. And the food is imaginative and “immaculately sourced” (I loved two “spectacular” Isle of Wight cheeses). We enjoyed an amuse-bouche of smoky little red pepper croquetas with burnt onion mayonnaise, then a “prestarter” of a “sweetish, nurturing white onion soup”. Blackened sea bass fillet came with burnt apple sauce and “dribbles of verjus”. But the real “showstopper” was dessert, or rather The Dessert, as it is “boosterishly billed”. As it turned out, The Dessert was three or four rather good desserts, “artfully strewn” across a big ceramic tile, surrounded by fruit coulis and “chocolate soil” – and with a cup full of dry ice pellets at its centre that drew “animated oohs and aahs” when activated at the table by a “sploosh” of fragrant rose tea. Wildly over the top and a bit ridiculous? Possibly. But it was splendid nonetheless. Dinner for two around £150.
Prawn on the Lawn 292-294 St Paul’s Road, London N1 (020-3302 8668) I had always overlooked Prawn on the Lawn – a Highbury fishmonger and restaurant which moved in April to its current home from an even tinier spot round the corner – because I hated its name, says Marina O’loughlin in The Guardian. Still do, I’m afraid. The food, however, is a marvel. Ruby-red tuna, the “steak of the sea”, is just-seared like tataki, scattered with fresh red chilli and spring onion and served with a soy-mirin dip. Large whole prawns are “given a thorough rattling around in a hot pan with the lipnumbing tingle of Sichuan spicing”, and plated with nothing more than a wedge of lime. White crabmeat stirred through crunchy spiralised noodles of mooli, then flecked with seaweed and lubricated with sesame oil, is a “genius little dish” – bracing and luxurious at the same time. Yes, I loved this “temple to the piscine” – a calming oasis that offers a “small slice of the seaside in the city”. If you fancied, you could “sit for hours just slurping oysters, dismembering whole Devon crabs and swigging magnums of Provençal rosé, which is exactly what I plan to do the next time”. £30 a head plus drinks and service.
A chef’s guide to Birmingham
Birmingham, where I have lived all my life, used to be “the worst place in the country for food” but is now one of the finest, says chef Glynn Purnell in the FT. For culinary inspiration and sourcing great ingredients, I would suggest heading to Wing Yip oriental grocers, which sells everything from “dehydrated squid to mooli”, and to the Bull Ring Indoor Market. “We turn up at George Smith’s shellfish stall first thing and wait for the van to arrive from the coast.” For street food, I’d recommend the Digbeth Dining Club, each Friday and Saturday night. My favourite stall is Andy Stubbs’ Low ‘n’ Slow, specialising in slowcooked meats: the brisket and ribs are consistently superb. For dining out, my very favourite place to eat in Birmingham is Sushi Passion. And University College Birmingham has two “award-winning restaurants that are close to my heart”; under the guidance of lecturers and food experts, the student-run Atrium and Brasserie offer “creative flair, topquality seasonal produce and outstanding value for money.”