What the experts recommend
Kohinoor of Kerala 2 The Broadway, Portswood Road, Southampton (023-8058 2770) When I heard that the Kohinoor – a late curry house of blessed memory in my home town of Southampton – had been reincarnated with a Keralan twist, I was there like a shot, says Keith Miller in The Daily Telegraph. Trouble is, so were lots of other people. The first time I turned up “the queue was snaking out of the door at 9pm”, so I trudged away. The second time, I found out what all the fuss was about. All the traditional joys of the British curry house are present and correct: dodgy wallpaper, pints of Cobra, pungent aromas and rich flavours. But the southern dishes we order are not of the usual order, having a “luminous clarity and lightness of touch”. There are smoky curry leaves, fruity chilli, sweet coconut; a “suggestion of fermentation here and there”. Aleppey fish curry is “beautifully balanced”. Deep-fried “Chicken 65” is “crisp, greaseless and lip-tinglingly spicy”. And a masala dosa “the size of a cricket bat” is simply perfect. Dinner for two, £60.
Sibarita 7 Maiden Lane, London WC2 (020-7497 0999) If you have ever dreamt of a “secret, blissful Covent Garden bolthole for the civilised” – somewhere you can take refuge from the jugglers, string quintets and marauding hordes of tourists – then here it is, says Grace Dent in the London Evening Standard. Sibarita, a “warmhearted, gorgeously priced” little Catalan tapas place, which “takes reservations and offers brisk, cheerful service”, will get you tipsy, feed you fabulously, and make you feel as though you’re on holiday (even if it’s a miserably rainy August day in London and you’re actually there to work). It positions itself as a place for wine, cheese and charcuterie, but “everything off piste from that is very good too”. We eat an “excellent spicy slant” on a tuna tostada, then a plate of chicken chilindron (stew) marinated and spliced with a serrano ham salpicon. Spinach croquetas with a smooth béchamel make me purr with pleasure, and my toes “curl joyously”. And dark chocolate ice cream is “spothitting and sprinkled with sea salt”. This is “tapas worth trekking across town for”. We had eight dishes and six glasses of wine for around £80.
Where to eat in Lyon
Lyon is famed as the gastronomic capital of France. But where are the best places to eat and food-shop in the city? My perfect day, says Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud in the FT, would start at Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse, where you can sample oysters for breakfast, followed by sea urchin, tripe, offal or even tête de veau, and perhaps a glass of wine. For picnics, go to Charcuterie Sibilia for meats and La Mère Richard for cheeses. For eating out, head to the historic Croix-rousse area. Its best restaurants include Balthaz’art, a great retro-chic bistro with a creative Montbéliarde beef tartare mixed with black olives, capers and candied lemon; and Daniel & Denise – an “authentic bouchon complete with red chequered tablecloths”. My other top picks are La Meunière and Le Suprême. And “no trip to Lyon is complete without a meal at L’auberge du Pont de Collonges, a temple of gastronomy” right on the Saône.