#IR4: How Sune Is Now
Welcome to the fourth edition of In Review
In Review is the paid subscriber portion of In Digestion, but the introduction and first piece of the week will always be above the paywall.If you are an existing paid subscriber who signed up due to the interviews, and don’t find this appealing, that’s all good. Please get in touch and I will sort you out.
Jay Rayner | The Observer
Bali Satay House, London (Zone 5)
Two weeks have passed since the London food writer’s favourite cliché emerged for the first time this year, and Rayner is taking it ever further by introducing another layer: the south Londoner going north.
The reason for his “journey which would be worthy of Odysseus if he owned an Oyster card” is Bali Satay House, but the review omits to clarify that this is indeed a Balinese restaurant. The clue is of course in the name and ordinarily there would be no need to mention this, but the set-up for the review is an apparent reader tip predicated on the place’s similarity to Supawan, a family-owned Thai restaurant in King’s Cross. This nod is the last thing the reader sees before the food part of the review, and there is no further mention of Bali or Indonesia in a culinary sense. Critics should trust their readers; editors should make sure they don’t get lost on the way.
This review also brings us our first BTLB (Below The Line Beef) of the year, which the more, what’s that word? Intrepid! Readers of this newsletter can seek out.
After the paywall:
How the wine bar became a stick to beat restaurants with
Two strong reviews for a hypey debut in East London
Have you read the most devastating review of the last twelve years?
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