Who is popular today?

During this grim, hopefully fairly brief time when it’s impossible to go out to eat, Jay ponders what it is that the really great places have in common
Throughout a childhood sugar-glazed with comfort, I ate in restaurants that had been there seemingly forever. There was a swish café called the Mad Hatter in Harrow, London, where they served a killer croque monsieur. There was a hamburger joint in South Kensington called the Great American Disaster, founded by Peter Morton as a trial run at the Hard Rock, and a trattoria called Giovanni’s, off St Martin’s Lane, where I celebrated my eighth birthday with plates of pasta that smeared my cheeks red with sauce.
I love restaurants. I always have. The best ones are a special kind of theatre Continue reading...