Edible Reading

NEW REVIEW! This week, a lunch for the ages that reminds me what eating out and hospitality is all about, and how magical it can be when it’s done well. I hope you enjoy this one.

https://ediblereading.com/2026/02/27/restaurant-review-pompette-oxford/

At noon, the brand new ER review is of a lunch for the ages. I enjoyed writing it almost as much as I enjoyed eating it.

This week is one that is ending very differently to how it started - sorry to vaguebook, but it’s been like that. Anyway, at the start of the week before things went awry it was buffalo chicken salad week at Picnic and I rather enjoyed it.

The last archive review of the month, from last year, is of Creperie Doux Sourire, which I quite liked but which could have been so much more.

Restaurant review: Creperie Doux Sourire I’ve written before about the factors that make a restaurant perfect for solo dining: a good table that doesn’t face a wall or, worse still, the bogs; a great view to enable people watching; a menu…

From the archives, 3 years ago I did something that almost qualifies as a scoop: I reviewed and loved Bristol restaurant COR before almost anybody, from national critics to restaurant bloggers to the Michelin Guide, spotted what a special place it was. I know it's in Bristol, but many ER readers have made the pilgrimage since then and all of them have told me they loved the place.

Restaurant review: COR, Bristol For once, I turned up for lunch in Bristol moderately ahead of the curve. COR, a cosy small plates restaurant in Bedminster, has only been open since October and, so far, has mostly been Bristol fa…

Today’s archive review asks the question: would some restaurants even get reviewed in the first place if their owners weren’t so well-connected?

Restaurant review: 1 York Place, Bristol It was a brilliant plan, in theory: I was in Bristol in February visiting my friends James and Liz and I thought that the three of us could go to lunch at Bristol’s hottest new restaurant, 1 …

Last time I went to Donnington Deli and posted a picture of my chicken caesar focaccia sandwich I got a couple of comments from people absolutely convinced that I didn’t eat there. Even though I’d literally posted the photo of my lunch, and a caption saying what it was like, they thought I couldn’t possibly have eaten there because it was amazing and I hadn’t said it was amazing.

It was surreal, and short of posting a picture of the card payment on my bank statement I wasn’t sure what more I could do. It took me back to when I first reviewed Café Yolk in 2013, wasn’t impressed and people lined up in the comments to tell me I was wrong. People who happened to work for Café Yolk, but didn’t declare that.

So I went back this weekend and tried the sandwich everyone said I should have ordered, the pastrami. And it’s still okay, but not amazing. The focaccia is dense and not airy, tough with no crust and couldn’t stand up to the sauerkraut which made it soggier and soggier.

The pastrami was good but there was so much of it and that was all there was - a huge wedge of pastrami, some surprisingly bland sauerkraut and some mustard mayo. I’d have loved pickles, Swiss cheese, Thousand Island, a proper Reuben. This isn’t it. It’s a lot of filling for a lot of money, I personally would rather have something smaller, more affordable and more interesting. I still think not doing coffee is bizarre, though my ginger beer was quite nice.

I really approve of what they’re doing, it’s great to show some entrepreneurial vision and the fit out is lovely. The sandwiches still aren’t quite for me but I hope they find their audience and I will be back some time to try them again. Third time’s the charm?

I know I ask this a lot, but… is there somewhere you especially want me to review? Any of this lot? Somewhere else?

Where next? Edible Reading has always been based on feedback from readers, and the vast majority of places I review are requested or recommended by people who read and follow the blog. If you want to get invol…

Updated on the blog, the full list of open venues outside London that I've reviewed sorted by ER rating, from the great to the greatly disappointing.

The list: By rating (outside Reading) RestaurantRatingWilsons, Bristol9.6COR, Bristol9.5RAGÙ, Bristol9.5Marmo, Bristol9.4The French House, London9.4Paulette, London9.3The Three Tuns, Henley9.3Orwells, Shiplake9.3Caper and Cure, Bristol…

I was in Oxford yesterday and my day there started, as Oxford days invariably do, outside The Missing Bean. Gassing away with my friend Jerry, inhaling the first latte and savouring the second, people watching and attacking this outstanding pain au chocolat.

We had a restaurant booked that we were originally meant to visit the weekend after my accident last year, and going there now felt like righting a wrong. Review up Friday.

Spoiler alert: it’s Papa Gee and given that the article regurgitates copy from Google, TripAdvisor and the restaurant’s own website you can safely assume the Chronicle has not itself “visited this local spot”.

“I’m going to talk about all the food first and get it out of the way, because a lot of it was rather good and yet it didn’t stop it being a deeply disappointing experience. We’ll get to that.”

The Devonshire is the most hyped pub in the U.K., allegedly its best gastropub and almost impossible to get a table at, over 2 years after it opened. So, what’s it like if you do actually manage to join the exclusive club? The new review is up.

https://ediblereading.com/2026/02/20/restaurant-review-the-devonshire-soho/