Charles Campion | Articles

In tune with Antunès

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Diners with a decent memory - and sufficient miles on the clock - will recall that for four of five years in the mid 1990’s Joël Antunès cooked at Les Saveurs in Mayfair. Despite the handicap of a windowless basement dining room, this classic restaurant was highly thought of, and spangled by the Michelin men. Then Antunès left these shores and set off on a world tour which ended with him cooking in the U.S.A. Now, in an echo of Bruno Loubet’s triumphal return to London, Antunès is back and plying his trade under the banner of Kitchen Joël Antunès in a smartly refurbished ground floor dining room at the Embassy on Old Burlington Street.

Tom Aikens, new room, new menu

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Most pundits concede that it is important for any business to re-invent itself from time to time. When that business is a restaurant, the small band of regulars grizzling that things ain’t what they used to be is usually outnumbered by incomers lured in by the promise of something new. Tom Aikens shut down his flagship on Elystan Street for over 5 months – in itself a bold thing to do – and then opened with a new backer, a new room, a new menu and a new baby. It is hard to assess which of these “news” leads to the most sleepless nights but the baby is probably winning by a short head.

Meaty matters - Hawksmoor Guildhall

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

However hard you try to buy fresh, buy local and buy interesting food, the dire economic climate lays its cold hand on your shopping list. You find yourself looking for Jacob’s ladder to stew slowly in a casserole; you experiment with beans and lentils; you opt for boring, wintertime vegetables rather than fancy stuff. And you don’t have to be Chancellor of the Exchequer to pinpoint the reason

Quo Vadis Coup

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

It is a rare occasion when all the resto-biz sideliners are whole heartedly in agreement. A lifetime’s sniping from cover can result in a certain sourness of outlook, but everyone who is anyone seems delighted by Jeremy Lee’s triumphant return to Soho. What’s more you can spot the Hart brothers (with whom Jeremy has gone into partnership at the re-energised Quo Vadis) because they are the ones with wide grins as they work the room shaking hands in what is now their busy and buzzy restaurant. During his sixteen year stint looking out at Tower Bridge Jeremy Lee’s cooking has always impressed, now it can be enjoyed in a great deal handier location.

Happy new books!

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

As 2011 takes the final curtain, it’s time for one those lists much beloved by Editors everywhere. In the past a helpful list of books for purchase with your treasured Christmas Book Tokens was a regular fixture in the New Year periodicals. Now it seems people who are aware of Book Tokens are an endangered species, and you have to suspect that shortly printed books will be in an equally parlous predicament. Here are a few of my favourites from 2011, the list is in no particular order – each and every one is a good read.

Small plates, big ambitions, Ibérica and Soif

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

It is just about time to say goodbye to 2011 – and to comment on how resilient the restaurant industry has been in the face of the continuing economic gloom. If there has been a popular strategy for beleaguered restaurateurs it is the “small plates” wheeze. Offering several small dishes rather than a formal three courser means that customers can reassure themselves that they will only order a couple of dishes (and pay as little as £6 each), which adds an attractive entry point to enticing pricing. Then the dishes are so good that you eat four or more – and end up paying much the same as you would in a large plates establishment. New restaurants Soif and Ibérica Canary Wharf both flirt with this tactic.

Two old-timers get to grips with the customer

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

On the one hand we have Paris stalwart “Prunier Restaurant (depuis 1872)” and on the other we have the ”River Restaurant at the Savoy” (a relative newcomer, founded in 1889). Both these venerable restaurants have made a good job of getting under the skin of their customers during more than a century of boom and bust. They are both fighting fit and have recently brought off the difficult trick of relaunching while still retaining the feel and tone of their glory years. For those of us obsessed with food and restaurants they make an interesting case study – what kind of a menu do you write to tempt the 21st Century diner?

Alyn Williams is at the Westbury. Hurrah!

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

When he was sixteen Alyn Williams applied for a job as a luggage porter at the Westbury, thankfully he didn’t get it. Fast forward to the 28th November 2011 when the Westbury opened a new, super-slick, highly ambitious restaurant with Alyn’s name over the door - “Alyn Williams at the Westbury”. When he was sixteen Alyn Williams applied for a job as a luggage porter at the Westbury, thankfully he didn’t get it. Fast forward to the 28th November 2011 when the Westbury opened a new, super-slick, highly ambitious restaurant with Alyn’s name over the door - “Alyn Williams at the Westbury”. Both Williams, and the amiable front of house Giancarlo Princigalli, know a thing about running successful restaurants within smart hotels as they served time with Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley. The new venture seats 40 plus a couple of private dining rooms and has been completely re-designed – this may be the only restaurant in town with a glitter sparkly carpet.

Will it ever be right to mess with a mince pie?

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

This year the mince pies hit the supermarket shelves earlier than ever before. These tasty little pastries seem to have a five month season and mince pie addicts only face Cold Turkey in high summer. So when wandering around Waitrose in early November the mince pies took centre stage especially as a pack of Heston from Waitrose Puff Pastry Mince Pies with Pine Sugar Dusting had been marked down to 99p. Some bargains reach out and grab you by the throat, this packet had been reduced from £3.29 a figure that valued Heston’s mince pies at over 50p each. Time to try the professor’s mince pies and very cheaply.

Ducksoup - Rufus T Firefly’s kind of restaurant

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Given the length of time it takes to open a restaurant it is a spooky coincidence when several new places open in a short space of time with enough similarities to define a discernible trend. When the principals of these new eating places first got together and started looking for the money needed to make their dream a reality how did they all end up with the same combinations of the same key elements? Consider a small plate “tapas” approach to dishes, grungy New York style décor and “no-booking exclusivity” in some form or another. Step into the limelight Bocca di Lupa, Spuntino and now Ducksoup. It is as if there really is a mood of the moment which if understood by budding restaurateurs ensures success.

Medlar - hurry on down!

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0100

The World’s End stretch of the Kings Road is a strange locale, smart Indian restaurant Vama never quite made a go of it. 808 - a Pan-Asian-Eclectic from the Will Ricker stable - enjoyed some success but hasn’t blown anyone away. With the arrival of Medlar, however, things are looking up. Joe Mercer Nairne (chef) and David O'Connor (front of house) have an enviable pedigree: Joe has cooked at Neil Perry’s Rockpool in Sydney and then Chez Bruce, while David has served his time at the Square, the Ledbury and Chez Bruce. If we were talking racehorses the bookies would be shortening the price and chalking up a new favourite. Even without all the background the Medlar menu screams Chez Bruce. This is a very good thing indeed.

Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

There are two things about Raymond Blanc that would puzzle anyone, firstly how has he managed to spend over forty years in England without losing his impenetrable French accent? And secondly, how can it be that Le Manoir has held two Michelin stars for 27 years without either gaining the third or being demoted to a one star? For me this is yet another reason to query the judgement of the tyre people. It seems highly implausible that a restaurant could be knocking on the door of the ultimate accolade for over a quarter of a century without getting better or worse. It’s even more puzzling as Le Manoir is undeniably a class act…

Launching and Lunching - the Slow Food Chef Alliance

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

It is always good fun to eat out with chefs. At the risk of generalisation, when they are on our side of the pass wielding a knife and fork chefs generally concentrate hard and apply themselves vigorously. They also have formidable appetites, pipe cleaner thin men full of nervous bounce will sit down and biff their way through three starters and a couple of mains without flinching. My kind of d

Hereford Road, bargain alert!

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Imagine you are setting out to find a restaurant that is quiet at lunch time, (so that you can get a table at short notice); where they cook really well and serve beguiling, deceptively simple, ingredient led dishes. Add in comfortable service and a softly priced drinks list. You have arrived at Hereford Road where the set lunch is the bargain of the age - two courses £13 or three courses £15.50. And if those prices seem to rich for your blood (ie if you lunch at McDonald's or KFC) there is the Express Lunch at £9.50: roast quail, watercress and aioli + glass of Pegões Tinto 2009 + coffee.

Saints preserve us!

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

It’s been a fabulous year for plums, like the apples (Discovery was ripe by mid-August) everything has been remarkably early. A fluke combination of perfect weather at blossom time to help the pollinators, wet weather when required and sun during the ripening season has meant that there is plenty of everything. Some years we get to complain that come preserving time there is too little fruit to work with and sometimes we get to complain that there is too much. This state of perennial dis-satisfaction must be what makes farmers seem so grumpy. But the problem remains, the hedges are dripping with sloes; the paths are stained purple by the fallen damsons; and the weight of apples are in danger of breaking the boughs.

Sweet potato musings

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

There’s a good argument for saying that the sweet potato is not a potato at all but when it comes to names this tuber is frequently taken in vain – in America it is called a yam but strictly speaking it is not one of those either. The Maoris have got things right, they call sweet potatoes “kūmara” which is a bit handier than the biologist’s formal name, Ipomoea batatas. Potatoes, sweet potatoes and tomatoes are all cousins and share the Convolvulacea (the Morning Glories) on their family trees. For most Brits sweet potatoes are seen as a rather American vegetable, a bit too sweet, cloying, fibrous – candidates for the masher or the chip pan. Felice Tocchini, the Tuscan born, head chef at Fusion Brasserie in Worcestershire thinks differently.

Picking a fresh Quince in Mayfair

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

With some telly time and a couple of pretty decent cookery books under her belt, Silvena Rowe has been talking about opening her own restaurant for several years. At the beginning of August she finally got her wish, as she opened Quince which you’ll find in the “Langan’s” end of the May Fair Hotel. This is a hotel with a strange aura that combines chav-glossy with expensive and a clientel

In Sydney, checking out the rockpools

Sun, 07 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Armed with the trusty Food Programme recording machine, and after a very good lunch at Rockpool Bar & Grill, I managed to get Neil Perry to say a few words about Australian cuisine. Truth to tell I was a little in awe of Mr Perry whose “Balance and Harmony: Asian Food” is something of a favourite. It’s one of those books that seems to be packed with good sense and interesting ideas, but I confess that I have never actually cooked any of the recipes within it. While trying to get the little lights on the Nagra recorder into the right zone I casually asked Neil how long he had been cheffing for and he replied “about 35 years”….

The thrill of the grill

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Each year Jody Scheckter holds a kind of monster sprawly open weekend called the Field to Fork Festival at his farm near Overton Hampshire incorporating the British Barbecue Championships. This year it was on the 30th and 31st July and the weather was magnificent. Crowds turned out to enjoy the demos and the attractions and feast at the DIY barbecue – buy some meat or sausages and take them over to the “social barbecue area” where there were serried ranks of barbecues to grill them on. Plus helpful advice, if needed, from the guys at Weber. On the Saturday James Martin headed up a team of judges to assess the Amateur barbecuers and on the Sunday I joined Nigel Barden from Radio Two,

Shopping Centre food - Becasse, Westfield, Sydney

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0100

In Britain a small number of elite chefs have bitten the bullet and moved their restaurants into hotels. The chefs benefit from sympathetic rents and overheads, the hotels benefit from having a destination restaurant within the building, and sometimes a few much sought after tables available exclusively for their guests. This kind of symbiotic approach is also to be found in Sydney – Tony Bilson