funnies | all about us | search reviews | links | message board | articles | submit review | rage | rave | poll | top ten requested reviews | archive | double agents | review directory | best burger in London | buy | join spy | contact us |
||
  |
||
 |
(November 2005) New Reviews: Great things expected at the Remy Martin award-winning Cabinet in Reed nr Royston in Herts. Friendly neighbourhood cafe at Pick More Daisies in Crouch End, disastrodrome at Frankie and Bennys in Tun Wells and at the Ocean Drive in Torquay. Its nice to eat at Friends in Reg's old home Pinner, waiting forever at No 3 Station Pier in Melbourne, could do better at Thai Express in Sydney, and shangri-la at the wonderful Ocean in New South Wales. Something good at last to eat in Melbourne at the Brasserie. Nells gone but La Mexican Taqueira is here in Weaverville, California. Greggs gone downhill in Sevenoaks, Kent and not a patch on the famed Karahi King at Hatch End's Rezala. England's finest at the Shad Tandoori in Herne Bay, Kent, stocktaking lessons required at Cobbles Tea Rooms in Rye and the Spuddlers clear up at the Vineyard. New openings: Excellent new wine shop in Tunbridge Wells at Five Reasons Wine. We did receive a press release from Colebrookes in Islington, London but since they sent us two fake reviews beforehand we're going to avoid them. The Shish chain of restaurants have a new Christmas menu. Explore it at Shish.com. Isis Lebanese Restaurant in Mayfair, London are offering two set meals for the price of one in November. Call for details on 020 7409 0822. Other offers here. |
Hear Sportsman interview Hear Thackeray's interview Hear Bean interview
Are you a restaurant that would like to be reviewed? Please let us know. It can cost you as little as £30/$30. Remember we come unannounced and then send our un-biased report back to HQ.
|
 |
Christmas. You know what its like. Can I have a table for fifty please, there are seven vegetarians and one dairy intolerant? Oh and can we have crackers and do you have a karaoke machine? Rip offs abound but over the next few weeks we'll feature a few worthies and not so worthies in this very space. You decide and... remember to tell us about it. | |
 |
(October 2005) 24 Hours was the difference between eating out in Bali and the horror of the bombs. Daisy Middleton reports from Melbourne. Opinions are raging about the Spice Club in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. La Brasserie at Chester's Grosvenor Hotel disappoints. Harry consults his "tourist guide to restaurants" and is delighted with Cafe bar El Congreso in Salamanca, Spain. Wildfrank finally makes it to the Port and Starboard Cafe in Cornwall. Is Tootsies the worst eating experience in Tunbridge Wells? Could be close... | |
 |
(September 2005) Dunagain at the Drunken Duck Inn, Amblesidie in Cumbria. Everything, but everything wrong at the disastrous Hare and Hounds in Bidborough, Kent, but all is well at the superb Sam's Fish and Chips in Golders Green, London. Transport cafe with style at the Old Smithy Restaurant, Gretna Green, Scotland. Bombay Bicycle Club still keeping spies happy in London. Great food but awful service at Trawlers in Seaford, East Sussex. Chatting over wine at the Mullion Cove Hotel in Cornwall. Out of the sea and onto the plate at the Regency in Brighton, good views but not much else at the Floating Restaurant in Caernarfon, £1.33 for a gnocchi at the Old Quay House Hotel in Cornwall. Modern Chinese cooking at China Chef in Whitstable, Kent. Black Bear in Eureka, California is ok and Filippos in Tunbridge Wells gets the double thumbs-up as does the Curlew in Bodiam. Rural pub bliss at the Whalebone in Essex and spend a tenner at Tanners Restaurant in Blandford Forum, Dorset. Just about alright at fatcity Houston, Texas', T'afia. Junior agent noman gives the thumbs up to Elmer Tandoori in Middleton-on-Sea. The black spot from Harry down The Blind Dog in Canterbury. | |
 |
(August 2005) Something good in Esher, Surrey at the Thai Pagoda, superb curry at Poole, Dorset in the Taj Mahal, foods good but what's up at the new Spice Club in Tunbridge Wells? Not even tipsy at the Park Restaurant in the Mandarin Hotel in Knightsbridge, London, while some of the best food ever at Eleven Madison in New York, USA. |
|
 |
(July 2005) Reviews: Essential sushi at Kitsu, classy Indian food at Junahki in Kent, sumptious nosh at the Best Beech Inn in Wadhurst, Sevenoaks' finest at the traditional Chinese that is Sun Do, while lower prices are called for at Ginseng. Onion Ring Burger, anyone? How to ruin a wonderful pub at The Compasses, Tunbridge Wells. News: Senderens Renounces Michelin Laurels, source www.gayot.com. |
|
 |
(June 2005) Another new corporate in Tunbridge Wells, but this time its Prezzo. Daisy far from the sea at La Veramente, Hove, overwhelmed by Rosemary at Cape Fish, Berkhamsted, squeezed at Meson Don Felipe in London but saved at Bodegas Mezquita in Andalucia. Three cheers for Chester...or is it jeers? Chris Hammer reports from Alfresco, Duttons and Loaf. Triumph for the Spice Club in Sevenoaks, but tweaks required at the Bull in Otford. It IS possible to have top-notch takeaway as Flaming Nora in Islington, London proves. A spy secret at the wonderful Mount Edgcumbe Hotel, Straw Dogs at the Huntsman in Eridge and a business lunch too far at Giorgio's in Margate, Kent. The newest of the new openings in Tunbridge Wells at Indochina. The Great British Transport Cafe - flags out for the mighty Little Chef! Snazzy nosh at Liverpool's Tavern & Co. A trip round the world's cuisines at the Waterloo Fire Station in London. Barely enough for one atTatyans in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. Waiting for goddamn anything at the Lavender in Clapham, London. Revenge of the Country Pub - The George Inn in Frant shows it doesn't have to be all blackboards and shaggy dogs. | |
 |
(May 2005) Tucked behind the historic Pantiles in Tunbridge Wells is The Sussex Arms - needs to do much much better. While lavishocity abounds at the Middle House in Mayfield, East Sussex. Also: The first ever gastropub in London still cuts it at the Portobello Gold, while La Tasca in Liverpool just about makes it. Knife throwing and hair flicking at Islington's Ottolenghi. | |
 |
(April 2005) Tom Aikens in London is superb - the best bargain lunch in town. At £30 it might not be a snip but miss it at your peril. It doesn't have to look good.... but don't tell anybody about the food at Filippo's in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. It's our secret. At last, the perfect country pub at the Five Bells Inn in Devon and under-age drinking at the Ginger Garden in Tunbridge Wells. "The best burger you've ever eaten" - the boast of Tootsies chain restaurant. As believable as Dustin Hoffman dressing up as a woman. | |
 |
(March 2005) Only in America - a Spy special report by Perry Stalsis. Plus - keep em peeled - your favourite Red Rage day coming soon, only on your beloved Restaurant Spy. Is this the way to Monterrey? Fanny lives on in Luisiana. | |
 |
(February 2005) Good food without a word of a lie at Pinocchios in Canterbury, bad food and impressions in the ghetto that is Gracelands Palace in Tunbridge Wells, Brighton's finest at Casa Don Carlos, a touch of class at the Georgian Restaurant in Harrods, London and something needs to change at Matthews Bistro in Ambleside, Cumbria. Dave Prowse needed badly at the Green Cross Inn in Kent, Bankers Fish Restaurant needs to pull their socks up in Brighton, while sshh - a Restaurant Spy secret at Chop Chop Noodle House in London's unfathomable Kings Cross. At the unlikely sounding Pishill, the Crown Inn is darned near perfect. Its empty half the time, the food is as expensive as a Michelin-starred restaurant - how do they keep open? TheLa investigates the mystery that is The Sicilian in Tunbridge Wells. | |
 |
(January 2005) Lentil-ridden loveliness at Food For Friends, Brighton. The jewel in the crown of Pizza Express at Kettners in London. More than a few of Harry's favourite things at the New Diamond Chinese Restaurant in London's Soho. Sweet and sour stones in Soho's HK Diner in London. Chequers Inn an oasis in the desert of South East Kent, while The Fox does the biz in Harpenden. Meanwhile, is it really necessary to write phoney reviews on a number of websites to get your restaurant known? Ask the Tutti Tuscan Grille in Braintree, Essex. Hot, delicious and sometimes pissed in City type Szechuan Ming Court in London. Mexican Food - cuisine or not? Never found the fascination myself. A"depreciation" by Daisy Middleton. Have a heart and give the Gerbera a chance in Ottery St Mary, Devon. New directory page for Tunbridge Wells. | |
Special articles by our top writers |
||
Perry Stalsis |
||
Daisy Middleton |
||
Stephen A. Shaw |
||
M |
||
King Mob |
||
PARTNERS |
   |
|
our fabulous logo created with the technology of :
Free JavaScripts provided
|
more in our archive search, links, disclaimer, contact us all articles © restaurant spy 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 reproduction only by permission
|
|
