BL-24 - Flipbook - Page 96
FOOD & DRINK
and the hedge funders stayed in Mayfair. Rag trade mogulturned-restaurateur Richard Caring did his best to keep
them happy, buying the nightclub Annabel’s and (dof昀椀ng
his cap to the Instagram crowd), opening Sexy Fish.
“The pandemic was a terrible time for
restaurants, of course, but we’re over that now.
We’re returning to sanity. Well, some of us. I,
meanwhile, have gone mad.”
But Caring was canny enough to realise London wasn’t the
only city where the cash was 昀氀ashed. He opened branches
of the Ivy across the UK and even, in 2023, opening a
branch of Sexy Fish in Manchester.
As it has been my pleasure to discover over the past 25
years, some of the most exciting dining experiences in
the UK are outside London. I’ve had the best Indian I can
remember at Khai Khai in Newcastle; Scof in Manchester
was one of the most exciting city openings in recent years;
and one of the UK’s 昀椀nest restaurants is a little place called
Juliet in Stroud, Gloucestershire.
Juliet does what I’ve always loved, with a menu that
wanders around the Mediterranean: no experimentation, no
fripperies, just properly sourced ingredients, great service
and a fabulous wine list.
The pandemic was a terrible time for restaurants, of course,
but we’re over that now. We’re returning to sanity. Well,
some of us. I, meanwhile, have gone mad.
I’ve written about restaurants for a quarter of a century
and watched how the business, currently battling several
economic headwinds, mesmerises people, af昀氀icting with
them with the disease of restaurateur-itis. It’s a virus that
grabs holds of you and convinces you that the best thing
they could do with their life is to open a restaurant.
By the time you read this, I should be presiding over The
White Hart in the West Somerset town of Wiveliscombe.
And I have had plenty of advice, not all of it positive:
dining at a new place in Folkestone called Pomus recently,
the owner told me “Don’t open a restaurant unless you have
to.”
The White Hart Hotel, Wiveliscombe, William’s new venture
As I’m slowing realising, it is not a choice: there are some
things in life you just have to do. But there will be no
dragée pans or water baths. This critic is a sucker for the
simple things in food, as long as they’re done perfectly.
I’ll continue my journey eating in, and writing about,
restaurants, but now with a foot (or perhaps my whole
body) in the quicksand of the hospitality business.
Inside the new restaurant
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BOISDALELIFE.COM
ISSUE 24
