Latest news with #bistro
The Independent
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Margaret's, Cambridge: A quietly brilliant neighbourhood bistro worth travelling for
You get the sense that Margaret's wants to look after you. The restaurant is named after a regular – a long-time guest of its older sibling next door, Restaurant 22 – which says something about the kind of place this is: personal, thoughtful, quietly confident. Restaurant 22, of course, is one of Cambridge 's most prestigious addresses, sitting alongside Midsummer House in the local fine dining hierarchy, complete with its Michelin star. With Margaret's being the younger, more relaxed offshoot, expectations are naturally high. Cambridge isn't exactly a food destination – not yet, anyway – but Margaret's makes a convincing case for venturing north of the city centre, beyond the buzz of Mill Road's independents, for something more grown-up. It's a bistro, technically, though that term doesn't quite do justice to the experience. This is more like being invited to a particularly elegant, slightly formal dinner party – one that costs £65 on weekdays and £75 at the weekend, and where the hosts are serious about seasonal cooking. The menu is tight and set: four courses, with a choice of fish, meat or veg for the main, and a final decision between sweet or savoury. Picky eaters should probably stay home. For the rest of us – especially those who hate trying to make small talk while weighing up three kinds of pasta – it's a welcome relief. Margaret's puts fresh produce ahead of variety, changing the menu often depending on what their suppliers bring through the door. When we visited, they'd only been open five days and were already tweaking dishes. It's the kind of flexibility that makes you want to become a regular – as Margaret herself clearly has (she'd already been in twice, according to our waitress). The space, like the menu, is understated but carefully composed. Cream walls, brown leather chairs, bare marble tables, a whisper of floral perfume in the air. There's an open kitchen at the back and candlelight flickering at each table. It's intimate, not precious – the kind of place where you can turn your head and see what the chef's up to, while still sinking into your seat with a glass of wine. We began with olives, and not just any: plump, glossy, meaty green beauties, easily the best I've had. A promising start, followed by soft focaccia with broad bean pesto and hummus – all very good – but it was the sweet, pickled pepper paste pooled in our olive oil that made me quietly emotional. Even the wine felt thoughtful. A Sauvignon Blanc with a surprising tropical note added depth to the usually dry classic – a small but telling detail. Lamb with cumin might not be radical, but I've only ever had it in stir-fry form. Here, the combination arrived more artfully: juicy, blushing lamb over a pool of orange-flecked cream, finished with streaks of balsamic. It's a bold, confident plate – the kind that tells you the chef knows exactly what they're doing. There's a sense of balance to the food. It feels light without being stingy, and healthy without preaching. The radishes were improbably long, the butter on the new potatoes smelled gloriously excessive, and a tempura monkfish cheek dipped in lemon, ginger and seaweed was the sort of thing you wish would never end. I could have eaten a dozen. I shouldn't have. Yes, portions are small, but there are enough of them, and served on deep-set little plates that keep you happily fed. The whole experience is paced to make you stop thinking – just sit back and let the glow of the candlelight and the hum of the kitchen lull you into submission. I even checked that my larger dining partner was satisfied. He was. The night ended, as all good meals should, with excellent dessert and even better dessert wine. Lancashire bomb cheese with caramelised onions on malt loaf was so rich and sweet it flirted with pudding territory. Its partner, a 10-year Sandeman Tawny Port, sealed the deal. Meanwhile, a spiced treacle tart with Chateau Villefranche Sauternes had that rare mix of depth and lightness – fresh, fruity, and just a little bit festive. It's easy to see why Margaret keeps coming back – I suspect I will too.
CTV News
18-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
This bistro owner lost half of the summer season to fighting for a patio permit
Toronto Watch City Councillor Brad Bradford is calling for easier patio permit applications as a bistro owner says she waited for six to seven months to get her permit.
CTV News
04-07-2025
- General
- CTV News
‘We don't cause any trouble': Beaches brunch bistro still waiting on patio permit on hold at City Hall
An East-End brunch bistro is missing prime patio season as it waits on a permit being held up at City Hall. CTV's Natalie Johnson reports.
National Post
30-06-2025
- Business
- National Post
Ivison: After the inferno, Jasper is on the rebound
Rachel Bailey finally saw a future for herself running a fine dining restaurant in the Rocky Mountain paradise of Jasper, Alberta. Article content The native of Manchester, England, was drawn to the snowy peaks and turquoise lakes in 2013, and spent much of the next decade struggling to realize her dream of Canadian citizenship. Her plan was to use her British law degree to become accredited in Canada, but she found herself working part-time in a Jasper bistro and at a local law firm. Article content Article content Article content By the end of 2023, she'd become a Canadian citizen, and the owners of the bistro where she worked had asked her to use her sommelier skills to open a new concept that paired wines with fresh local game and produce. Bailey was invited to become part-owner, and the idea for Peacock Cork and Fork was born. Article content Article content Bailey and her partners purchased an upper-level space on Patricia Street in Jasper's downtown, and on June 12th, the restaurant opened to great fanfare. Article content TripAdvisor featured 30 reviews, all of which were glowing about the food and the hostess who curated the wines. Article content Just 40 nights after opening — on July 22nd last year — the Peacock was so badly damaged by the wildfire that nearly swept away the entire town that it had to be condemned. Bailey lost not only her livelihood but also the house she rented further up Patricia Street. Article content Article content Article content My wife and I met Bailey — Rachel — when she served us in one of the bustling restaurants that survived the fire, Harvest, just downstairs from where the Peacock was located. Article content Eleven months after the fire that destroyed one-third of Jasper's 1,113 buildings and burned an area nearly the size of the island of Montreal in the surrounding national park, it feels like a town that is just getting by. Article content Gazing towards the town from the Maligne Canyon look-out, the landscape looks like Mordor, scorched earth, pockmarked by thousands of blackened tree stumps. No one knows how much wildlife was lost, though it was recorded that elk and grizzly bears wandered the main streets of the town in the days after the fire, looking for an escape route. Article content Today, there are shoots of green grass sprouting between the dead trees, but any recovery will take decades, if the forest even grows back in the warmer, drier climate. Article content On the surface, Jasper is rebounding well. The restaurants and hotels are full; the Journey Through the Clouds glass-domed Rocky Mountaineer train is running again; and construction crews are rebuilding burned-down neighbourhoods to strict development codes (wood siding and roofing are outlawed).
The Sun
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Channel 4 star & award-winning chef closes city centre restaurant after 6 years – as he admits ‘we weren't busy enough'
KITCHEN CLOSED The celeb chef was forced to close another bistro earlier this year Published: 10:36, AN AWARD-winning chef has been forced to shut another of his restaurants after a drastic drop-off in bookings. Gary Usher, who starred in Channel 4's documentary "The Rebel Chef: My Restaurant Revolution", took to Instagram to announce the closure. 4 4 Kala, on King Street in Manchester, has now shuttered its doors after six years of service. Billed as "Manchester's neighbour bistro", the city centre restaurant marketed itself towards the theatre and opera crowd. But with bookings falling to half their previous level, Gary said he was left with no choice but to close. He added that any customers concerned about any vouchers they may have for the restaurant could use it at any other of the chef's sites. In a statement on Instagram the chef said: 'It's with a heavy heart that I announce the immediate closure of Kala. "I'm not really sure how to explain why we've closed other than we weren't busy enough to cover our costs. "I really really want to blame the economy & the pandemic. I really want to say the rising costs have made it impossible. 'All those factors haven't helped but we are 50% down in trade at Kala & that is the killer. "It goes without saying our business rates increasing substantially & the hike in NIC contributions only works against us. "This was not planned but neither was us being this quiet in June. All the Kala team will be paid up to date, our rent & suppliers too. If you have a voucher with us, as always it can be used in the wider group. Moment McDonald's worker SLAPS yob across head before brawl breaks out as group storm restaurant 'It was always a dream to have a restaurant on King Street in Manchester. I just wish it had lasted longer than six years.' The fate of the Manchester restaurant follows closely on the heels of the closure of another restaurant in Usher's Elite Bistros portfolio in January this year. The famed chef opened Burnt Truffle in July 2015 in Heswall, Merseyside. But at the start of this year Usher said the lease of the restaurant had ended and described the closure as a "sad day". The cooking star added that he had chosen to not renew the lease as the "honest truth" was that they had "never been able to make it work" at the site. The closure of Kala leaves Usher with four restaurants remaining in his northern restaurant empire. Hispi in trendy Didsbury means Usher still has a presence in England's second city. The other three survivors are Wreck in Liverpool, The Sticky Walnut in Hoole, Cheshire and The White Horse in Churton, Cheshire. 4 Usher founded the award-winning Elite Bistros group in 2011 before opening up a string of successful restaurants in the North West. In 2019, he was the subject of the Channel 4 show The Rebel Chef: My Restaurant Revolution. The hour-long documentary witnessed Gary's quest to crowdfund £50,000 to build a French-style bistro in Prescot, Merseyside. That same year he was shortlisted for the coveted Best Restaurateur accolade at the GQ Food and Drink awards.
