Regional Restaurant Journalism

[thom]

Morning everybody,

First things first - Hello again:

Though I'm not quite egotistical to expect that anyone actually noticed I have not been around for the last three or four months. My main excuses (always be sceptical of someone who needs more than one) are that moving house, having a baby and setting up a new company do take up one's time. Also, a virus ate my computer so I lost my log-in details. Grrrr....

Second thing - Providing context for this post:

You'll be glad to hear I am still a bitter Northerner, continually spitting bile about the London-bias in the worlds of media and restaurants. In fact, I have more of a bee in my bonnet about it then ever as since leaving Restaurant magazine I have bought 'Restaurant and Bar', the exhibition for the Northern restaurant and hospitality industry (I won't stoop to turning this post into a corporate puff piece. I'll save that for later...).

Third thing - The post itself:

So food journalism - and specifically the dark art of restaurant critic-ing - are VERY London centric. This has equally been the case with relevent food journalism gongs (Glenfiddichs etc), and I note it's the same again with the British Press Awards this year - Our own Jay and Marina (good work chaps) as well as Terry Durack, Tracey McCloud, Giles Coren and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall are all in the running for food writing gongs.

It made me think. Whether they get the recognition they deserve or not, is there anyone outside London actually doing a decent job or reviewing restaurants? Let's face it, beyond the M25/Home Counties national reviewers are thin on the ground, so if tanything here is actually a greater need for decent regional/local critics.

I imagine the Scottish papers do quite well, and there is a guy at a Birmingham restaurant website that seems quite well respected. I don't think there is much of note in Liverpool, Cheshire or Lancashire, but what about Yorkshire, the Evening Post is quite a serious journalistic paper?

In my own back yard, the MEN have just wheeled off long-time critic Ray King, and replaced him with.... no-one. It seems now that every week a different staff writer who knows how to chew food gets the job. Sad. Besides that there are a handful of guys who write for City Life (Manchester version of Time Out), but with limited space they don't get to shine, and Emma-Jean Sturgess on the Metro who actually does a pretty good job.

Anyone else fair better with their local critics?

Cheers

Thom

[endless autumn]

Christopher Gray of The Oxford Times is wonderful.

There was a particularly good review of a Harvester in Didcot, near ASDA, which he and Rosemarie very much enjoyed. Rosemarie's mother may have been present as well, but unfortunately his reviews are not available online, so I can't check.

I think he may have gone to a Beefeater last week.

[thom]

Hmmm...

A fair point Endless Autumn. I suppose the quality of reviewing is naturally going to be dicated (directly or indirectly) by the quality of restaurants in that writers locale.

So Christopher Gray liked the Didcot Harvester did he? Well, he may have uncovered another gem skimmed over by those stuffy and off-the-pace guidebooks, as I can find no reference to this restaurant in Michelin, GFG, Hardens et al.

Time to add another gold pin to my culinary map of the UK.

Ahh, it's nice to be back on here; you're a nice bunch. I see I even missed a thread on my pet subject - Manchester restaurants! So many posts, so little time...

Cheers

Thom

[Suzi Edwards]

Christopher Gray of The Oxford Times is wonderful.

There was a particularly good review of a Harvester in Didcot, near ASDA, which he and Rosemarie very much enjoyed.  Rosemarie's mother may have been present as well, but unfortunately his reviews are not available online, so I can't check.

I think he may have gone to a Beefeater last week.

←

This is the funniest post I've read here for a while. You effortlessly hit the sort of tone that I think Victor Lewis Smith tries for every week, but fails to get anywhere near.

Since I started doing the Media Round-up I've been pleasantly surprised by the amount of non-London and South East coverage. To be honest, I get a bit annoyed when a review is of a place not in London, especially when the place is a bit out of the way and you end up trying to work out if it's actually worth going out of your way to eat there, or if there is anywhere else near that you could turn it into a weekend for.

I really liked Giles Coren's trip to the Lake District and would love to see more things like that.

I've just checked with my brother as to what the food coverage in the Coventry Evening Telegraph is like and he replied "There is none. There are no restaurants in Coventry" I think he might be having a bad day though.

I would love to put more regional stuff in the Media Round up. Someone suggested the Scotsman's food critic, but I now can't find her stuff on the Scotsman portal. So, if we do find reviewers, let me know.

[Suzi Edwards]

Ahh, it's nice to be back on here; you're a nice bunch. I see I even missed a thread on my pet subject - Manchester restaurants! So many posts, so little time...

Cheers

Thom

←

[Conor]

I've just checked with my brother as to what the food coverage in the Coventry Evening Telegraph is like and he replied "There is none. There are no restaurants in Coventry" I think he might be having a bad day though.

No, he's right!

[thom]

I choose to accept my mission...

Of course now fellow Mancunian Culinary Bear is here you'll all actually get a balanced view instead of my own personal skew.

Dammit I'm actually going to have to do some research instead of just making this stuff up...

Cheers

Thom

[YKL]

Dammit I'm actually going to have to do some research instead of just making this stuff up...

←

Speaking as someone's whose New Year Resolution last year was to visit more and different restaurants, this turned out to be very little hardship at all!!

In Leeds, there seem to be a couple of monthly (I think?) listings magazines who often have reviews - think they're called Absolute Leeds and Leedslife. Or something like that. On the rare occasions when I buy them, I usually glance at them to see what's new rather than using them as a bible of gastronomic reference. But I suspect that's because I'm not trendy enough to be their target audience

And it's Oliver who does the reviews in the Yorkshire Evening Post. Not sure if that's his real name, or just a cover but I've often been to restaurants who frame favourable reviews from him so it would seem he has a strong local following.

Think there's also some web-based sites - one called sugarvine for Leeds? Not used it much myself - my list of places to visit is already quite long!

Cheers

Yin

Whoops - extra edit to say I forgot about Yorkshire Life - a grand old magazine that actually has restaurant / hotel awards each year so that's probably worth a mention.

Edited February 11, 2005 by YKL (log)

[Spam]

Christopher Gray of The Oxford Times is wonderful.

There was a particularly good review of a Harvester in Didcot, near ASDA, which he and Rosemarie very much enjoyed.  Rosemarie's mother may have been present as well, but unfortunately his reviews are not available online, so I can't check.

I think he may have gone to a Beefeater last week.

←

Obviously a joke ... for the benefit of those who don't live in Oxfordshire, and don't know Endless Autumn.

[apshelbourne]

Down here in South West we're blessed with a fair share of interesting and inventive restaurants & enough foodies downsizing from the rat race to make them viable. Not many Michelin stars, but then... (don't get them started on that topic!).

But the only reviews we see are when a London-based writer persuades his or her editor to stump up the exes for a long jaunt. So every few months we get a review of Rick's latest venture in Padstein, or Michael Caines in Exeter, or... that's about it really. Same old same old. They're not going to drive for five hours to eat at a place that's not already got a solid reputation or pedigree. An exception here is Jan Moir, who occasionally visits less well-known places. Her selection of Mortehoe Shellfish as one of her restaurants of the year was an eccentric and inspired choice.

As for the local press and monthly glossies: well, it's obvious they simply cannot afford to print a critical review and piss off their advertisers: the restaurant plus a dozen or so local suppliers. On the rare occasions you get a review, it's always in the advertorial style: "My partner and I chose rump steaks from the long and varied menu prepared to order by chef Ebenezer Horobin, who has an HNC in catering from Barnstaple Tech."

Which, in a nutshell, is why eGullet is invaluable.

- Tony -

[Winot]

As for the local press and monthly glossies: well, it's obvious they simply cannot afford to print a critical review and piss off their advertisers: the restaurant plus a dozen or so local suppliers. On the rare occasions you get a review, it's always in the advertorial style: "My partner and I chose rump steaks from the long and varied menu prepared to order by chef Ebenezer Horobin, who has an HNC in catering from Barnstaple Tech."

←

We have these in London too -- in my neck of the woods (Brixton) there's a wonderful publication called Living South (Living Dead) which regularly reviews local restaurants and funnily enough is always bowled over. Indeed, a glowing review once ended with the admission that the writer was looking forward to visiting the restaurant in question...

The intended result is a rise in house prices; hardly surprising as estate agent ads account for half the publication

[culinary bear]

Of course now fellow Mancunian Culinary Bear is here you'll all actually get a balanced view instead of my own personal skew.

We should hit places in tandem... :)

[BertieWooster]

In Leeds, there seem to be a couple of monthly (I think?) listings magazines who often have reviews - think they're called Absolute Leeds and Leedslife.  Or something like that.  On the rare occasions when I buy them, I usually glance at them to see what's new rather than using them as a bible of gastronomic reference.  But I suspect that's because I'm not trendy enough to be their target audience

And it's Oliver who does the reviews in the Yorkshire Evening Post.  Not sure if that's his real name, or just a cover but I've often been to restaurants who frame favourable reviews from him so it would seem he has a strong local following.

Think there's also some web-based sites - one called sugarvine for Leeds?  Not used it much myself - my list of places to visit is already quite long!

I think Leedslife has now been combined with YorkshireLife (same publishers anyway). Oliver is meant to be a cover name as opposed to a 'real' person. It seems to be one of those ad-spending related reviewers anyway. Sugarvine is basically aimed at studes and young persons-lots of reviews of curry houses.

On the subject of regional bias, it used to really wind me up that T'Grauniad Guide featured regular mini-reviews on restaurants in London, Scotland and, uhhr, Bristol. Nowhere else in the country, but John Mitchell every week would review somewhere in Bristol. Now they do Manc. as well, which helps, but Mitchell must be onto his fourth time round with some Brizzle restaurants.

I know of a very good blog site which does very bad reviews of restaurants in Ilkley. But that may be TOO regionally biased.

[thom]

On the subject of regional bias, it used to really wind me up that T'Grauniad Guide featured regular mini-reviews on restaurants in London, Scotland and, uhhr, Bristol. Nowhere else in the country, but John Mitchell every week would review somewhere in Bristol. Now they do Manc. as well, which helps, but Mitchell must be onto his fourth time round with some Brizzle restaurants.

I know of a very good blog site which does very bad reviews of restaurants in Ilkley. But that may be TOO regionally biased.

←

The Guardian is owned by Guardian Media Group who have a major presence in Manchester as they own The Manchester Evening News, City Life and it's associated guides (including Food and Drink). Therefore it's the work of an instant to port regular reviews across for the Guardian Guide.

Cheers

Thom

[Carlovski]

Here is a recent clipping from a Hampshire based review

Being cheese freaks, my companion and I both opted for the superb Mozzarella in Carozza - deep fried, plenty of runny cheese served

with a tangy pomodoro sauce - for starter.

Our main courses were equally cheesy - a perfect tropicana pizza with plenty of pineapple, ham mushrooms and more mozzarella for myself and crespolina porcini or tasty rolled crepes filled with mushrooms, parmesan and a creamy sauce.

For dessert, we chose a cheesecake and ice cream with hazelnuts and meringue from a long list of tempting treats.

'Nuff said

[jayrayner]

Morning everybody,

First things first - Hello again:

Though I'm not quite egotistical to expect that anyone actually noticed I have not been around for the last three or four months. My main excuses (always be sceptical of someone who needs more than one) are that moving house, having a baby and setting up a new company do take up one's time. Also, a virus ate my computer so I lost my log-in details. Grrrr....

Second thing - Providing context for this post:

You'll be glad to hear I am still a bitter Northerner, continually spitting bile about the London-bias in the worlds of media and restaurants. In fact, I have more of a bee in my bonnet about it then ever as since leaving Restaurant magazine I have bought 'Restaurant and Bar', the exhibition for the Northern restaurant and hospitality industry (I won't stoop to turning this post into a corporate puff piece. I'll save that for later...).

Third thing - The post itself:

So food journalism - and specifically the dark art of restaurant critic-ing - are VERY London centric. This has equally been the case with relevent food journalism gongs (Glenfiddichs etc), and I note it's the same again with the British Press Awards this year - Our own Jay and Marina (good work chaps) as well as Terry Durack, Tracey McCloud, Giles Coren and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall are all in the running for food writing gongs.

It made me think. Whether they get the recognition they deserve or not, is there anyone outside London actually doing a decent job or reviewing restaurants? Let's face it, beyond the M25/Home Counties national reviewers are thin on the ground, so if tanything here is actually a greater need for decent regional/local critics.

I imagine the Scottish papers do quite well, and there is a guy at a Birmingham restaurant website that seems quite well respected. I don't think there is much of note in Liverpool, Cheshire or Lancashire, but what about Yorkshire, the Evening Post is quite a serious journalistic paper?

In my own back yard, the MEN have just wheeled off long-time critic Ray King, and replaced him with.... no-one. It seems now that every week a different staff writer who knows how to chew food gets the job. Sad. Besides that there are a handful of guys who write for City Life (Manchester version of Time Out), but with limited space they don't get to shine, and Emma-Jean Sturgess on the Metro who actually does a pretty good job.

Anyone else fair better with their local critics?

Cheers

Thom

←

Bar Marina we are all at least national reviewers. Also Robert Cockroft of the Yorkshire Post has been shortlisted in the glenfiddichs at various times.

[postcode]

The worst of the bunch is Alison Davidson at the Birmingham Post. She also has her own website here. She's vegetarian! A veggie food critic, I ask you! God, give me strength...

[Andy Lynes]

Why does the Peter Cook and Dudley Moore one legged Tarzan sketch spring to mind at this point?

[postcode]

Oh, and there's Paul Fulford at The Birmingham Evening Mail, who's known for booking under his own name and reminding them on arrival, what he does for a living. Him and Miss Davidson (or better known as 'Gravel Drive Girl' for her penchance to review remote hotels in places that are so far out of Birmingham and in the country, that you'd never be bothered to make the effort to visit)

Don't get me started on Belfast, where they send you their 'copy' to amend, should you not like what they've written and are about to publish.

[KaffirLime]

Oh, and there's Paul Fulford at The Birmingham Evening Mail, who's known for booking under his own name and reminding them on arrival, what he does for a living. Him and Miss Davidson (or better known as 'Gravel Drive Girl' for her penchance to review remote hotels in places that are so far out of Birmingham and in the country, that you'd never be bothered to make the effort to visit)

Don't get me started on Belfast, where they send you their 'copy' to amend, should you not like what they've written and are about to publish.

←

Surprised you forgot sk8erboy, AKA Chris Beanland, who has landed the job of restaurant reviewer for the Birmingham Metro a mere nappy change after being weaned off Farley's

[postcode]

Now, that is a very familiar avatar...

[KaffirLime]

Now, that is a very familiar avatar...

←

That's a very familiar lighthouse! Dad....?

[postcode]

Now, that is a very familiar avatar...

←

That's a very familiar lighthouse! Dad....?

←

Son?

[KaffirLime]

Part of the problem in Birmingham is not so much the dearth of good reviewers but the lack of importance attached to reviewing restaurants by the media (which in Birmingham's case equates to Trinity Mirror who have a monopoly). The Birmingham Evening Mail (main evening paper) relegates Paul Fulford's column to the Saturday edition when their readership is about 12 if all the staff buy one and Joe public have already decided where to eat that weekend. The Birmingham Post buy their reviews in off a freelancer (the aforementioned veggie who normally tries to squeeze the sentence "my friend said the steak was very good" into all reviews) and until recently the Sunday Mercury didn't have a dedicated critic - rather you got the impression that the job was given over to any staffer who ate out the previous week. The Sunday Mercury now have someone called Lorne Jackson who I think does the job to pay the rent whilst waiting to break into stand-up. He had this to say about Bank in yesterday's edition:

"All sleek, slippery surfaces, this bar-dinner is big, bold and most definitely bling. If Bank were a necklace you just know pop star Beyonce would be wearing it. Bank may look the part, but Riki and i still had to discover if the food was as juicy and ripe as another part of Beyonce's fabled package".

I'm sure I don't need to go on but I can't resist his comments on the seabass:

"My scaly seabass scaled the heights of perfection. Crunch-crisp on the outside, its flesh, flaky middle was as light and fluffy as a joke on children's TV".

I should perhaps mention that the average readership age of the Sunday Mercury is 45+. Their readers must be scratching their heads wondering what the hell this guy is talking about but what are the Sunday Mercury playing at by printing this stuff? It strikes me that they don't care and just want to fill column inches.

But did Lorne Like Bank? You betcha - Over to you Lorne:

"Both our palates had been plunged into a pleasing pit of pleasure and passion".

Well, what's a review without a good 'andful of alliteration!

[Andy Lynes]

From "latest 7 - the free weekly whats' on and jobs magazine for sussex" dated March 02-08. Andrew Kay's Food and Drink column "Sole Trader", a review of Brighton restaurant Due South:

"To start, I readily fell on a plate of excellent potted shrimps....They were set in just the right amount of clarified butter and I was in piggy heaven. I was also delighted that they did not arrive fridge cold. I know the health and safety laws make problems regarding the temperature of cold foods but ice cold shrimps taste of nothing. Due South managed to get them to the table at exactly the right temperature. Jo started with the scallops, local of course, and very tasty indeed and a decent portion too."

"My lemon sole....was really fresh and delightfully plain. My only complaint would be that while Jo's lamb came with potatoes and vegetables, my sole did not..."

"Now normally James leaps on pannacotta...Monica makes a pannacotta of sublime wibbliness. Not wobbly, wobbly would suggest too much gelatine, wibbly is that strange stage just before wobble where the merest touch induces gentle rippling. I have to say that the Due South pannacotta wibbled wonderfully...