Bao Noodle Shop review – the best noodle soup you’ve never heard of
★★★★★ / Chinese / Chinese Noodles / Taiwanese

Bao Noodle Shop review – the best noodle soup you’ve never heard of

That difficult fifth album restaurant is nonetheless a hit Disclosure: on one of my visits, a single dish was offered for free. This offer was not solicited and was accepted out of politeness. Like albums and movies, restaurant sequels are tricky to pull off without flopping like an orca ejected from a plane. A successful … Continue reading →

Bala Baya review – the outside terrace with a crowd-pleasing menu
★★★☆☆ / Lebanese/Jordanian/Levantine

Bala Baya review – the outside terrace with a crowd-pleasing menu

A Middle Eastern sharing menu with some charm, here and there. A curious thing happened in medieval Europe following the apocalyptic devastation of the Black Death. With workers fewer in number, those that remained were able to command better wages and working conditions from their titular overlords – an imbalance in the supply-and-demand of the … Continue reading →

Mackerel Sky review – this seafood bar achieves lift-off, but doesn’t quite soar
★★★☆☆ / Seafood

Mackerel Sky review – this seafood bar achieves lift-off, but doesn’t quite soar

This review of a Newlyn/Penzance restaurant is a break from The Picky Glutton’s usual London-based coverage. For an island nation, the UK is collectively quite neurotic about what it does and doesn’t eat. Despite the prominence of fisheries in the UK’s increasingly bitter relations with its continental neighbours, we’re a surprisingly seafood-averse bunch. In 2017, … Continue reading →

Nando’s vs Roosters Piri Piri review – cheap and cheeky chicken comparison
★★★☆☆ / Steak/chophouse

Nando’s vs Roosters Piri Piri review – cheap and cheeky chicken comparison

With lockdown, I have fewer respites from the amateurish tedium of my own cooking. It was this, combined with the need to run errands for an ill dining companion, that led me to pucker up for a cheeky Nando’s for the first time in years. At the same time, the existence of a notable competitor in the form of Roosters Piri Piri, a franchised chain with branches in London as well as farther afield, piqued my curiosity. There’s only one thing for it – a takeaway piri piri chicken-and-chips comparison. Continue reading →