2210 by NattyCanCook’s plating is picture-perfect and Michelin-ready. The food itself sometimes meets the same bar — the pimento duck breast is glorious — but too often it feels like form triumphs over function

I’ve made no secret of loving a great many of my local restaurants, bars, and bakeries in Islington, so for this weekend’s newsletter for paid subscribers I finally listed my favourites

Last week I reviewed the Sourdough Sidekick, a starter maintenance gadget I sort of understand the thinking behind, though I think the target audience is someone who bakes rather more than me

Back at Lucky Yu for the first time in far too long. Obviously started with my staple fuyu swirl, but my favourite today was actually the red bean custard bun, which I absolutely devoured — too fast to even remember to take a photo of its innards

For today’s @ftweekend.com, marking the US 250th, I’m at Appalachia, a new counter restaurant in London’s Shoreditch which is less mountain country restaurant than Brooklyn hipster outfit, in a good way. (The forth pic is a magnificent crab and ginger omelette) www.ft.com/content/a2de...

Angel Dabang is a place to go when what you really need from the world is something that's been deep-fried. It's a need it meets with aplomb.

They're really making a feature-length ad for the worst chocolate you've had in your life

It's been a breakfast sandwich sort of morning

Finally tried the sandwiches from Logma. Both good, but I don't get the hype. Good bread, and the aubergine has a lovely tangy quality. But the kofte are a bit eh. Two good sandwiches, but (inevitably) neither worth excessive queuing

Cornelius is one of the weirder restaurants / wedding venues I’ve eaten in for some time, but don’t hold that against it

According to Google's new search statistics, this is the summer of spam hot dogs, froyo, and figuring out how to make a Hugo spritz at home trends.withgoogle.com/trends/summe...

I know less about wine than I’d probably like, as someone who writes about restaurants on the regular — here’s why I think that might be just fine, and why food critics need not be wine experts

A pretty pint at The Pocket, which it's taken me an embarrassingly long time to get to. Clearly an excellent pub for a pint and a book.

Two ways with stale bread and tomatoes: panzanella and pappa al pomodoro. Soggy bread and tomato salad, soggy bread and tomato soup. God bless the Italians.

London doesn’t have a whole lot of Appalachian food, but the best move new Shoreditch opening Appalachia pulls is resting the urge to aim for pure authenticity

On opening night, Jackson Boxer’s new restaurant Vesper showed great promise with a few rough edges, then stopped me in my tracks with the best dessert I’ve eaten all year

The Americans are going mad for British food right now, just as the Brits are slowly beginning to see another side of American cuisine. Why have we fallen for each other’s food all of a sudden?

Good escalope sandwich from Franco's Take Away in Shoreditch, one of that dying breed of British-Italian cafes with a menu that sprawls from fry-ups to lasagne, and somehow covers every sandwich under the sun along the way

Just read a review describing Brutto as Italian-American, so I'm going to go and stare at a wall and scream for a little while

I liked Tiella when it was at The Compton Arms, I absolutely love it now it’s got its own home. One of my favourite meals in a while.

This week I reviewed Café Deco, a restaurant that’s obviously not new, but is new to me, despite having spent the best part of six years meaning to visit. It did not disappoint.

It turns out Max knows sausages just as well as sandwiches; Cooking with Sausages is a wonderful romp round a world’s greatest hits of sausage-based recipes, including a few deranged creations of Max’s own

Lokal is a surprisingly rare thing for London: a Turkish restaurant with upscale ambitions

I got a little distracted by the small matter of winning the Premier League, but we smashed right past 1,000 subscribers last night! To celebrate, for the next month paid subscriptions are 50% off — just £2 a month, or £20 for the year.

Genuinely top food writing - subscribe (for free) or I'll judge your taste for life

Now would be a really good time to go ahead and sign up for this 👀

The newsletter is agonisingly close to hitting 1,000 subscribers, and I have a little something planned for when it does — if you’ve not signed up for free yet, then please do so!

Absurd that an essay bemoaning how London food critics are in bed with the PR industry also wishes that critics would stop being mean and just do PR for restaurants instead

Beautiful Malay-jun feast today courtesy of Decatur and Mambow - assam pedas crawfish boil, raw scallop, garlicky fried chicken, and a fried mango pie

Bar Etna, the newest opening from Four Legs, hasn’t fully erupted just yet, but there’s plenty of promise — and I know I’ll be back for the tomato pie on the regular

Inspired by a Canadian clam cocktail, this punchy pasta riffs on the bloody Mary and should work with any seafood you like

I really thought I would love Auguste, but it is maddeningly inconsistent. Some excellent dishes, including the arrosticini, but at least three we genuinely considered sending back to the kitchen. Hopefully just first month jitters, and there’s improvement to come.

Probably my only traditional traditional meal on this visit to Bologna, Dal Bertino was an excuse to eat the classics: tortellini in brodo, cotoletta alla bolognese, and my first ever zuppa inglese - it still gives me tremendous joy to think that some corner of Italy is obsessed with English trifle

A very pretty meal at Oltre in Bologna, but sadly it didn't live up to the looks. Overcooked pasta and rubbery beef, pretty inexcusable at over €100 a head

I forgot to share this week’s review! An unexpectedly lengthy lunch at the lovely Franceschetta 58 in Modena, a little offshoot of one of the world’s most acclaimed restaurants

Finally made it to Cafe Deco, and what a beautiful restaurant it is. British in all the right ways, unafraid not to be when needed, with some wonderfully sparse, simple cooking

These aren’t exactly my favourite restaurants, bars, and cafes in London, but they are the ones I think tourists should make a beeline for

A big, lovely, healing sandwich from Mortadella Lab in Bologna. Mortadella, squacquerone, and pistachios - simple and perfect.

Tofu Vegan isn’t new, and it might not be all that exciting any more, but it is, frankly, excellent — just don’t skip the silken tofu in savoury sauce

Italian shops and markets remain undefeated

Went to see how they make the big cheese. Smelly, but the best things in life do tend to be.

This has long been a staple recipe in this house, and inspired my own Nigel Slater-infused twist on it

Jago Rackham’s new guide to hosting is part cookbook, part instructional guide, part memoir, throughout which Rackham’s forceful personality and specific taste shine through

London doesn’t have a whole lot of Salvadoran food; luckily for me, DC does

A good weekend of eating in Pembrokeshire

After the weekend’s review of The Racine Effect, I knew I had to turn to the restaurant that inspired it

Had a tremendous time cooking from The Racine Effect, with its heady, hearty Lyonnaise recipes, but bear in mind that this is, in part, a book for the sort of person willing to track down game birds and confit their own canard

Loved Bandini's, a natural wine bar in Barcelona with a tremendous kitchen that nods to the local staples, but never feels beholden to them

I won't be making an updated hot cross bun list this year, so instead I'm making last year's list free to read until Easter, so have at it

Ultramarinos Marín was one of the finest meals I’ve ever eaten in Spain — so why don’t its Google Maps reviews agree?