What the experts recommend

Magpie 10 Heddon Street, London W1 (020-3903 9096)

“It would be hard not to love Magpie,” says Tim Hayward in the FT. This relaxed, friendly new restaurant, sitting in a cosy pedestrianised nook off Regent’s Street, is from the same pair (Sam Herlihy and James Ramsden) who brought us the excellent Pidgin in Hackney. I can give it “no more glowing recommendation than to say that it totally lacks a ‘concept’, and, in its place, has serious heart”. It also has a knack for producing innovative dishes with a “spirit of cheeky larceny”. A “cocky little starter” of sourdough and sheets of lardo topped with pickled jalapeño slices really shouldn’t work, but “God, it’s a cracking combo”. “Lovesome” cod brandade on crisp-fried polenta and topped with “honking” kimchi is “amazingly good”. And while barbecued cabbage with lime pickle vinaigrette and hazelnuts is “properly out there” – a dish from the “drunker end of the brainstorm”, perhaps – it is “still quite ravishing”. What a find. Starters from £7; mains from £16. Coombeshead Farm Lewannick, Launceston, Cornwall (01566-782009) We all have our idea of what heaven would look like, says Grace Dent in The Guardian. For me, it would be like a never-ending stay at the “exquisite” Coombeshead Farm – a “self-sufficient, gaspingly tasteful, food-forward, wunderkind-chef-led passion project”, set in 66 acres of Cornish splendour. If you’re very lucky, you might be able to secure yourself an overnight stay in one of its five rooms, so simple and chic they “make Babington House feel gauche”. But even if you can only come here to eat, you really should. Our dinner kicked off with “exemplary” sourdough, a “no-holdsbarred” porky terrine, a skewered lamb kidney with paprika, and a plate of “faultless green asparagus made devilish with brown butter”. A “whopping” Looe diver scallop was served in a “seafaring kelp-laden broth”. And the “main event” was Waterloo Farm lamb with wild garlic and spring onion. I loved this place. I didn’t want to leave. In fact, the more I think about it, I’m not entirely sure that the chef, Tom Adams, hasn’t “started a cult”. A five-course set dinner (7pm, Thursday-sunday) costs £65.

Lahpet 58 Bethnal Green Road, London E1 (020-3883 5629)

Normally I’m suspicious of virtuesignallers who order a salad as a main course when dining out, says Michael Deacon in The Daily Telegraph. But at Lahpet, an excellent (and notably healthy) Burmese restaurant in east London – its name is the Burmese word for pickled tea leaves, which is a traditional delicacy – a “terrific” tea-leaf salad was my favourite dish. Along with the tea leaves, it contained sesame seeds, tomato, broad beans and red cabbage. “So many textures. Crunchy, soft, nutty, savoury, zingy. Every mouthful was different. My tongue hardly knew whether it was coming or going.” And it was definitely much tastier than all the other fermented foods I’ve been eating recently (I’m on a “bacterial revamp”, consuming lots of kimchi, kefir and kombucha). If you fancy a more conventional main, go for the elegant hake masala served with a “gorgeous” rosti, or the “colourful and filling” coconut noodles with chicken. Three courses for two, about £55 plus drinks.