What the experts recommend
Angkor Soul 12 Stockport Road, Marple, Stockport (0161-222 0707) This is one of only two Cambodian restaurants in Britain – and it’s “a little diamond”, says Jay Rayner in The Observer. Its founder and chef, Y Sok, found her way to Marple – a leafy village on the edge of Greater Manchester – via emigration to the US and marriage to an Englishman. (He runs a record shop in the basement, hence the “Soul” bit of the restaurant’s name.) Her “sweetly understated” café-restaurant, which opened two years ago, is the kind of place that would be welcome on any high street. Highlights of the “vivid, extremely fresh Cambodian cooking” include crisp-shelled chicken wings with a chilli-spiked sweet-savoury glaze; a spiced noodle broth you “could get lost in”; the sort of “flavour bomb” sandwiches that make all well with the world; and a Cambodian kari of beef in a “thick and powerful” sweet coconutbased sauce. The other Cambodian restaurant, by the way, is Lemongrass in Camden Town; I haven’t eaten there, but people I trust say that it’s a cracker, too. Lunch for two £30; dinner £60.
Ella Canta One Hamilton Place, Park Lane, London W1 (020-7318 8715) Drab hotel restaurants that jazz themselves up by bringing in celebrity chefs are usually my idea of hell, says Grace Dent in the London Evening Standard. So I was sceptical when I heard that Martha Ortiz was taking over a space in the Intercontinental Hotel Park Lane. The acclaimed Mexican chef’s culinary shtick is a “breathless blend” of high drama, wildhearted swagger and magical realism; the Intercontinental “is a loveless carbuncle on a roundabout”. I am thrilled to say, though, that by some strange miracle the marriage is a triumph. After a large, stiff margarita with Patrón Silver and guava marmalade, it makes perfect sense to be “perched in a Frida Kahlo cacti-strewn dreamscape, eating a bowl of nacionalista guacamole topped with a gold-embossed grasshopper”. A vampiro sea bass ceviche in a mango-sangrita sorbet is wonderfully “zingy”. A slab of black cod on a “vivid puddle” of ajillo guajillo is “sumptuous”, and a take on Michoacán pork carnitas is just as “enticing”. We paid £103 for a large meal, not including drinks.
Where to eat in Hong Kong
When in Hong Kong, says chef Andrew Wong in the FT, I like to head out in the morning for some congee (savoury rice porridge). There are plenty of options but Tasty Congee and Noodle is always good. Otherwise, I’ll find a cha chaan teng (tea restaurant) for dishes such as French toast with condensed milk, or toasted buns with a massive knob of butter. Alternatively, the “brilliant” Shanghai Hong Kong Noodle Shop in Causeway Bay serves deep-fried dough sticks with pork floss and sticky rice, with soya milk on the side. For traditional dim sum, I’d recommend Lin Heung Tea House; it has a dim sum cart and guests just take what they want. But for “the most innovative dim sum in the world”, take the 40-mile ferry ride to Macau, and head to The Eight. Back in Hong Kong, for a seafood dinner I would dine at Cheung Kee, where you choose your meal from the huge fish tank. Afterwards, I might go and have a drink at Ozone on the top floor of the Ritz-carlton. If still hungry after that, I’d probably visit Mott 32: it does the most incredible Peking duck.