What the experts recommend
Wild Artichokes Unit 1, Centurion Works, Lower Union Road, Kingsbridge, Devon (07976-814530) The meal I was served at Wild Artichokes – eight dishes, plus pudding, for only £30 – would have been “giddy-makingly good value at twice the price”, says Tony Turnbull in The Times. But it is not a treat available every night: Wild Artichokes is a catering company run by Samantha Miller and the “exceptional cook” Jane Baxter – and they only do this pop-up at their HQ twice a week. On my visit, we ate wafers of crisp aubergine topped with jam-like caponata, and a loin of tuna, slow-cooked in a chilli-spiked tomato sauce and “given extra crackle from coriander”. There was a range of salads, focaccia barese, panzarotti with salami and cheese, shredded courgette with mint and pecorino, and a sardine spaghetti – with pine nuts, sultanas, saffron, fried breadcrumbs and bottarga – that was as good as anything I’ve ever eaten. Frankly “anyone within a 30-mile radius of Kingsbridge who doesn’t get online and book up right now has clearly spent too long in the midday sun”. £30 for a feast; bring your own wine, £5 corkage.
Bancone 39 William IV Street, London WC2 (020-7240 8786) Italian newcomer Bancone “solves so many West End dining problems”, says Grace Dent in The Guardian. It’s spacious, it takes reservations, it’s “nonchainy-special” enough for an occasion and there’s a small private room if you like that sort of thing. Oh, and the superb food is so “majestically straightforward” and all-round splendid – and the prices so reasonable – that you can “eat like a Russian art dealer or a Knightsbridge lunching mummy” without remortgaging. A pile of charred hispi cabbage with olive oil, garlic and chilli is “truly great”, and only £4.50. A “casually orgasmic” plate of fresh fazzoletti (“silk handkerchiefs”) with “heavenly” walnut butter is a steal at £8. Other delights include oxtail ragu pappardelle, Gressingham duck ravioli, and fried polenta balls perched on pureed portobello mushrooms. This is what happens when chef Louis Korovilas, formerly of the “absurdly chic” Locanda Locatelli, quietly sets up shop in an “unhip touristy nook” near Trafalgar Square. “Lovely” cooking at affordable prices. About £25 a head.
Where to eat in Reykjavík
The Nordic food scene has exploded over the past eight to ten years, says chef Richard Bainbridge in the FT. However, one of the best places to eat in Reykjavík is a simple food truck called Lobster Hut (on the corner of Hverfisgata and Lækjargata) serving lobster soup and an “epic” lobster sandwich. “If you can cope with the long queue, you won’t be disappointed.” For traditional Icelandic cooking – such as grilled puffin – try Grillmarkaðurinn (The Grill Market) in the Nýja Bíó, which was originally a cinema. In an old salt fish factory in the harbour area, Matur og Drykkur offers “an amazing menu of beautiful Icelandic dishes featuring local produce”. And at the top end, Dill Restaurant, which won the country’s first Michelin star, remains a “classy” highlight. Ragnar Eiríksson, its head chef, has recently opened a sister restaurant, Holt, in the Hotel Holt, which I haven’t tried but suggest you do.