Latest news with #JimiFamurewa
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
A good spread of food memoirs: from the sanitised to the ‘slutty'
Picky Author : Jimi Famurewa ISBN-13 : 978-1399739542 Publisher : Hodder & Stoughton Guideline Price : £20 The Jackfruit Chronicles Author : Shahnaz Ahsan ISBN-13 : 978-0008683795 Publisher : Harper North Guideline Price : £16.99 Moveable Feasts: Paris in Twenty Meals Author : Chris Newens ISBN-13 : 978-1805224204 Publisher : Profile Books Guideline Price : £18.99 Tart: Misadventures of an Anonymous Chef Author : Slutty Cheff ISBN-13 : 978-1526682697 Publisher : Bloomsbury Guideline Price : £16.99 Care and Feeding Author : Laurie Woolever ISBN-13 : 978-0063327603 Publisher : Ecco Guideline Price : £22 Strong Roots: A Ukrainian Family Story of War, Exile and Hope Author : Olia Hercules ISBN-13 : 978-1526662927 Publisher : Bloomsbury Circus Guideline Price : £20 Early on in Picky, his ode to growing up second-generation British Nigerian and 1990s junk food, restaurant critic Jimi Famurewa unmasks the illusion that is food memoir. 'Working as a food writer,' he writes, 'can have a warping effect on childhood memories ... The past becomes an editable document.' It's provocative but risks spoiling the show. There's masterful writing, as Famurewa rhapsodises about a Twix 'scraped down to a soggy, denuded girder of a shortbread', the 'wincing remnants' of Brannigans crisps. It's refreshing to read an account of a reasonably happy existence – especially when it's of a single-parent son. Picky is also a significant meditation about the 'cultural performance of immigrant life', crucial to understanding the machinations of code-switching that is instinctive to multinational children. He is wonderful at expressing the heightened sensations of childhood, such as the giddiness of travelling to the US as an unaccompanied minor, 'a continent-hopping Paddington Bear of the sky'. His paean to McDonald's enlightened this second-generation immigrant reader why the 'slender, elegant uniformity of McDonald's fries in a pillar-box-red sleeve' held not only me, but my parents, in its sway. Famurewa, whose previous book was the eloquent Settlers, about the British black African experience – is a thoughtful, thorough writer. However, in a memoir the author must be the star, and even though he studied drama at Royal Holloway, Famurewa is reluctant. Out of respect, he never really delves into the people he loves, particularly his mother. Perhaps it's his British reserve coupled with the modesty of a 'Nice Nigerian Boy' but in Famurewa's conscientious refusal to manipulate his story, he and his characters never really take flight. READ MORE Shahnaz Ahsan. Photograph: Tracey Aiston If Famurewa is diffident about showcasing his immigrant family, Shahnaz Ahsan has no qualms about bragging about hers. Her cookbook memoir, The Jackfruit Chronicles, starts with her grandfather Habib, who arrives in Manchester from what is now Bangladesh in 1953 and starts a family that thrives despite Enoch Powell, Thatcher-era racism and post-9/11 anti-Muslim sentiment. British-Bangladeshis such as Habib created what we know as the 'Indian curry house', where one pot of house gravy is tailored into different dishes with proteins, vegetables and spices. Jackfruit's 'Benglish' recipes offer an intriguing glimpse of early immigrant adaptation: cheese and Patak pickle pinwheels, crumpets swapped for the flatbread chitoi pitha. Unfortunately, Ahsan's style is prone to cliched platitudes that emphasise the wonderfulness of a clan for whom 'food is the love language which we share'. 'Thank you,' she writes, 'to Aneesa and all the other aunties who pass on their wisdom both in and out of the kitchen.' Ahsan grew up on Enid Blyton, and Winona Ryder's Little Women, and it shows in her relentlessly heartwarming prose. Her characters lack nuance; her jokes fall flat. There's a touch of preachiness to Ahsan, who as a teenager would hide 'lads' mags' such as Zoo (where Jimi Famuwera once worked) 'in the belief that if we could, somehow, limit the availability of this media, women would actually be regarded with a modicum of respect one day'. In some families there is a refrain: Someone should write about how marvellous we are. The Jackfruit Chronicles is exactly the kind of saga that your grandma would bless. Food writer Olia Hercules , from London, must stand by as the landscape and people of her idyllic Ukrainian childhood are demolished. Her parents' home, built 'to retire in, to grow weathered in, alongside the creased riverbank that stretches below' is occupied by the Russian military. However, as she realises in Strong Roots, the war opens up another past, one whose wounds had been covered over during more halcyon days. 'When I was growing up, I never questioned why we talked about certain things in half-whispers,' she writes. 'My grandparents' memories were 'mined' and had to be trodden on lightly for a long time.' The irony is that the tales that Hercules gathers – horrifying, hilarious – might have been discarded were it not for the current terror. She's not alone; hordes of Ukrainians, since the war began, have been scrambling to preserve their heritage. However, such stories come with a cost, as Hercules realises when she prods her grandmother Vera for what is ancient and unendurable. '(F)rom out of her stiff body came a stiff voice ... I understood that her stiffness was a barrier, a barrier against the past, perhaps to shield her from things that she might have never discussed before.' There are some overripe moments. (For example: 'A list of occasions when I see my ancestors' smiles' that includes 'my children's eyes'.) However, Hercules knows how to mix lushness with crisp, unyielding fact; what's more, instead of explaining her characters, she describes them. Her grandmother Vera excitedly gets ready for a 'foto sessiya' with a crinoline blouse and 'huge lacquered hair'. 'I need you to be natural, grandma!' Hercules shrieks, and makes her change. The people in Hercules's book have been maturing inside her for a lifetime, gathering richness. They can be stubborn, quick to anger and vain; she conveys the way they talk over each other, and how their punchlines falter. Hercules's people may be strong, but she has also rendered them so vividly so that they will endure. They are blood, breath and bone – shut your eyes and they resound with exuberant cacophony. Slutty Cheff Slutty Cheff , the anonymous author of Tart, is a few years shy of 30. As her name suggests, she's a horny workaholic in an esteemed London restaurant, and bangs many a dish, on and off the line. She's white, socially privileged and loves her parents; she's at the sweet spot in life when things are on the cusp. In short, you'd hate her if she weren't so winningly self-deprecating. Tart is not strict memoir. As Slutty told British Vogue, 'Stories are based on my stories, and stories of my chef friends,' which makes it all the more entertaining, an updated 18th-century picaresque where the rogue hero is a woman 'who will feed your desire, like a Tesco meal deal'. Plus, although Tart has plenty of fat-and-sugar stoked steam, its author knows that the cardinal rule for both culinary and erotic writing is to stay crisp and dry. She observes, 'The other reason why I don't want people to know about my lover is far more important than gender politics: the man I'm sleeping with has a topknot.' There are darker aspects of Tart, like panic attacks and a sleazy co-worker, and Slutty confesses, 'Whenever I lose the sense of who I am or what I do, or I spin into disassociation or fall into a sense of depression I feel scared and worry that I'll never be happy again. There are two things in my life that are a constant reminder that pleasure exists: food and sex.' Anthony Bourdain. Photograph: Alex Welsh/The New York Times The kitchen, touted by many as an artistic vocation, can also be a form of self-medication, its mania an addictive panacea for people too terrified to stop. Laurie Woolever is 22 when Care and Feeding begins. She has a lot in common with Slutty, except instead of present-day London, she lives in 1996 New York. A blond Ivy League graduate who can cook and write, she will become assistant to the two chefs synonymous with that era's culinary machismo – the not-yet #MeToo'ed, evangelist of Italian cuisine Mario Batali, and Kitchen Confidential author Anthony Bourdain. Much as in Tart, what unfolds is a heady rush of alcohol, food, dirty sex and high-calibre work, proving that whoever said drink and drugs were counterproductive was wrong. Except. Let's just say that we hope Slutty doesn't suffer like Woolever in 20 years. This raw, scalding book is about what happens when one's career is ascendant while one's personal life unravels. Some events are spectacularly badly timed; shortly after Woolever gets sober, her husband leaves her and Bourdain kills himself. Woolever is briskly inventive, like when she describes a lamb tongue's salad as 'intriguing because of the truffles and provocative because of the tongue'. She's deadpan about Ferran Adria, pink limousines and a writer who 'had a revolting Humbert Humbert-ish way with wine descriptors ... bottles were 'sexy babies' and 'flirtatious teens'. Still, an attraction of the book is the two outsized men with whom she was affiliated, and on this Woolever delivers, sometimes reconfiguring their signature swaggers in unexpected ways. About Batali (who concluded a written apology about his misconduct with a recipe for cinnamon rolls) she's gentle – he's an erudite, generous monster who's a surprisingly astute observer of her spiralling behaviour. Regarding Bourdain, whose kindness she paints in many lights, Woolever gives him a remarkable send-off. 'He had,' she states, 'made the colossally stupid, but somehow wholly plausible decision to die of a broken heart.' If only she wasn't so excruciatingly hard on herself. Woolever details every embarrassing incident in her life, and reprints her journal extracts and emails with every blemish – they're broken and sloppy, the sort of thing a vainer writer would want permanently erased. However, much of Care and Feeding makes you crave reckless behaviour, such as that 'woozy punch-in-the-face feeling' of a gin-and-tonic at a Sri Lanka bar. You can't forget the brilliant accomplishments – in kitchens and elsewhere – that were fuelled by the admittedly toxic adrenaline of that time. Compare Woolever and Slutty to the more virtuous recollections of Famurewa, Ahsan, and Hercules; consider that there won't be a Batali autobiography any time soon, and it seems that, at least for now, in the world of food memoir, it will still be the white girls who have the most fun. Chris Newens. Photograph: Sabine Dundure In Moveable Feasts , Chris Newens seeks, in each of Paris's arrondissements, a dish that encapsulates something of the city's soul. Methodical and charming, Newens starts his research the old-fashioned way, by talking to strangers, waylaying Sri Lankan plongeurs on a sleeper train and sniffy haute bourgeoises after church. In the world, Paris is the city most famously defined by its outsiders. As his title suggests, Newens's teenage hero was Ernest Hemingway, and he is caught between the schoolboy fancies that lured him there, and the mercurial, multinational Paris that keeps him. His city hovers between unconventional and stereotype, with diaspora dishes that are also predictably Parisian (bahn-mi in the 13th), croissants and Congolese-style malangwa fish. As a white English man with fluent French, Newens can navigate the homeless in the Bois des Vincennes and a 1993 Saint-Émilion with equanimity. More than Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, Newens recalls another culinary Paris chestnut, George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London. Like Orwell, Newens is at his best when he is observing individuals where they work, like the employees at the smoothly functioning colossus of decent-priced dining, Bouillon République. Many memoirs touch on home, that mysterious place where you belong. A Paris expat like Newens, however, decides to settle in a place where he will forever be foreign. It's not a choice all Paris immigrants make. For the Sri Lankan waiter at La Fontaine de Mars or the Peruvian-American student at the Cordon Bleu, there's a yearning for geographical and emotional permanence, to become an indelible part of the city's history. It is our sincere, if somewhat naive, hope that they will.
Daily Mail
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Picky by Jimi Famurewa: One critic's journey from mash and McDonalds to Michelin Stars
Picky by Jimi Famurewa (Hodder & Stoughton £20, 384pp) There are few more formative memories in life than the school dinner you hated. Congealed custard, brown broccoli that rather than resembling a green tree looks closer to a wizened bramble bush, and chicken so dry that the Sahara would seem an oasis. For journalist and food critic Jimi Famurewa, his primary school nemesis was smash... otherwise known as mashed potato. Cold with a 'gloopy mouthfeel', young Famurewa felt strongly that it belonged anywhere but on his plate – preferably in the bin. However, when faced by the dinner lady guarding said bin, Famurewa did what any young child faced with adversity would: wadded the starchy mixture up, shoved it in his pocket and delivered his empty tray to the expectant dinner lady. This is one of the early instances where Famurewa's 'pickiness' shines through. Charming and instantly likeable, he has the uncanny and rare ability to reflect and reminisce without the rose-tinted (and grating) impression so many memoirs have. Growing up in a traditional Nigerian household in south-east London, with a father still in Nigeria, a mother who worked full-time and two brothers, Famurewa learned pretty quickly how to make it on his own. The ingenuity seen in pocketed-potato gate was not a one-time occurrence. During a particularly influential Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle faze, Famurewa became obsessed with their favourite food, pizza. Knowing the tomato and mozzerella holy grail awaited his tastebuds in the freezer, but not knowing how to use the oven, he decided to get the family's toaster involved. The result? Billowing smoke, half blackened, half frozen dough and a surprisingly understanding mother. What stands out in this engaging memoir that spans toddlerdom to adulthood, huge Nigerian family gatherings to bustling Soho streets, is Famurewa's refreshing honesty about his Nigerian heritage. In his picky early years he had little interest in Nigerian cooking beyond the tried-and-true favourites he had enjoyed in Lagos. Instead, McDonalds, KFC and TGI Fridays were the foods he craved. Having grown up in a household that viewed 'independent' restaurants with a decree of caution and the suspicion that they might be scams, the irony of his future career as a food critic is not lost on Famurewa. Yet his love of food shines through in this book. There is a palpable hunger (pardon the pun) within the pages that expresses a love of any cuisine. Whether it is the jealousy felt towards a coworker's 'ghee-simmered onions' or the fact that on a date with his now wife, he made fish and chips from scratch… a far cry from toasted pizza, a real love for food had always been within him. Poignantly, towards the end of his book, Famurewa realises there is a wealth of knowledge to be gleaned from watching his powerhouse of a mother in the kitchen. Knowledge that can be combined, not separated as in youth, with the path his own appetites have taken, 'I am the cultural inheritance that I have been given but I am also what I have given myself.' Life and food are about finding balance: don't force something that doesn't fit and don't be afraid of the pickiness that helps you discover what is right for you.
Daily Mail
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Is this £12 toastie REALLY the best takeaway in the UK? We tried Deliveroo's most popular order to see if it's worth the hype
RAW VIDEO: RAW 3450971 MailOnline tries Deliveroo's top order to see if it's worth the hype Few meals are as universally satisfying as a good sarnie - but would you pay for £12 for one? It would appear that the answer is, overwhelmingly, yes, for many Britons - who voted a trendy toastie vendor as the Independent Restaurant of the Year UK & Ireland at the Deliveroo awards. The winners of the food delivery platform's annual accolades were announced last week, based on 160,000 customer votes and the verdict of a panel of judges; founder Will Shu, food critic Jimi Famurewa and Tilly Ramsay. Taking the crown for one of the categories was Crunch - a viral foodie spot with locations in London 's Soho and Spitalfields Market. The brioche bread pop-up shop is particularly beloved for its £12 Patty Melt, promising a filling of 'truffle beef patties, red Leicester cheese, crispy onion marmelade and black truffle mayonnaise'. I was cynical on my approach to the stall in East London, broadly feeling that the endeavour will essentially end up in me eating a glorified burger sans the soft bun. What's more, I was hesitant about the structural soundness of framing your brand around crispy slices of toast, which could so easily fall apart go soggy. Deciding to also sample a veggie options for the less carnivorously inclined, I opted to taste-test their £12 Buffalo Cauliflower sandwich, which featured 'deep-fried florets, ranch coleslaw, butter-buffalo sauce and a rich parmesan cream'. Upon first bites of both, I was quickly humbled by how incredibly well crafted a toastie could be - and deeply baffled by how anyone could achieve such witchcraft. It was about 15 minutes after me purchasing the sandwiches that I was actually able to sit down and eat them, so they were also sternly subject to 'delivery' conditions - and I was blown away by the (for lack of a better word, crunchy!) bite. Starting with the Patty Melt - a saucy endeavour that packed two juicy, well-cooked meat patties as well as other adornments - I was ready for the impact of wettened bread. Instead, the perfectly buttered brioche tasted as if it had just popped out the toaster, while still staying springy and not dry at all. The individual elements themselves all sang in harmony, never feeling too overpowering. And yet everything was tasteable, from the fragrant truffle to the sweet onion jam. It was far from a burger rip-off, but instead felt to me like what all burgers should now be doing, to deal with the consistent issue of soggy bread melting into the filling. I've paid well over £15 for over-hyped smashed, double stacked and ornately-decorated burgers in London; so £12 felt to me like a more than fair price for not just the quality of the ingredients but the craftsmanship presented. While the Patty Melt truly is a bestseller for the brand (and was the most popular dish on Deliveroo) they're also known for their creative veggie options. Tucking into my cauliflower I once again braced myself for disappointment - this time not only the bread was at risk but the frying batter could easily become too soft, covered in condiments, around an already tender vegetable. But science-defying culinary mastery won over, as I bit into a perfectly crispy concoction that had held up perfectly. What's more, unlike being a token meatless option offered at many other vendors (particularly smaller ones, like Crunch) it was not only one of a few on offer but was absolutely delicious in taste. I found myself torn between going to the Patty Melt and back to the cauliflower sarnie, finding both equally impressive. More incredulous to me as well is that the florets - which are 'marinated overnight in the same buffalo butter and a bunch of spices' - usually part of a typically bland veg on its own, were packed so full of flavour. I struggled to find a single flaw in the meal, and would happily splurge the £24 on them once again. Deliveroo last week revealed the top takeaway restaurants in the UK which along with Crunch, included high street bakery Gail's. Winners were split across five different categories including independent businesses on both national and regional levels - and a new category sponsored by darts sensation Luke Littler who uncovered the nation's best kebab. Competing against Crunch for the crown, were restaurants who'd already picked up regional awards, including a Leeds cake shop and Bristolian fast-food chain. Each were judged by the panel on brand personality, food quality and value, packaging and presentation, customer reviews and loyalty, innovation, and going the extra mile. After being crowned the International Restaurant of the Year for Greater London, Crunch went on to battle against the other regional winners before winning the national category too. The self-described 'experimental' eatery, which opened in 2022, amassed a cult following on social media, with the trendy bap makers were praised for their string of five star reviews, and by judges 'for creating a new era of game-changing sandwiches and their fearless approach to cooking'. Regional categories were won by a mixture of pizza, cake and salad outlets. In Belfast, health food restaurant and burrito bar, Seed, won the Independent Restaurant of the Year for Ireland. Serving acai bowls, superfood salads, burritos and smoothies, health conscious Seed won the hearts of the Irish. Scotland preferred pizza over salad, with the nation nominating Big Manny's Pizza as their winner. The Aberdeen-based eatery serves a range of decadent cheesy pies and is famed for their unrivalled meat specials and 18-inch pizzas, available by collection only. Bristol won on burger and chips with the city's Oowee Diner located on North Street, winning the area for its burgers, tasty dips and loaded dirty fries. Get Baked, a cake shop and bakery located in Leeds, took home the crown for Manchester and Leeds. The eatery has amassed a cult following online, in particular for its Bertha cake, a huge layered chocolate cake that was inspired by the Roald Dahl tale Matilda. Leeds was also the destination for the winner of the Luke Littler x Deliveroo Best Kebab Award, with the city's Sqew Shawarma Bar nabbing the title. The darts prodigy shortlisted ten 'Litter-approved' venues, all of which went to a public vote with Sqew Shawarma Bar, coming out top. Sqew's Khobez kebab with chicken, salad and sauce, was a notable mention. Additional awards were granted in acknowledgment of other hospitality strengths, including Deliveroo's Above and Beyond awards. Divisive high-street bakery, Gail's, was also given a Heart of the Community award across the nation, a win that will no doubt come as a surprise to those who have accused the chain of 'gentrification'. The bakery was at the heart of fierce debate last year, as locals in a number of locations, including Worthing and Wandsworth, fought back against plans to build new outlets on their high-streets. Others in the category included the Environmentally Sustainability award, given to Bujo in Dublin, the Customer Obsession award, which went to Burger Me Up in Birmingham, and the Rider Love award given to Thunderbirds, a chicken restaurant with various outlets across London. The Icon awards also showcased the talents of UK restaurant owners, with Naeem Aslam, Director of Aagrah Leeds winning the Lifetime Achievement, and Rich Myers, Founder of Get Baked scoring the Changing the Game award. The Rising Star award went to Enrico Pinna, Co-Founder of Ad Maiora, in Manchester. The Role Model award was given to Tim Vasilakis, Founder of The Athenian, which boasts multiple locations across the UK, including in London, Bristol and Sheffield. Reflecting on the overall winner of this year's Deliveroo awards, Jimi Famurewa, food critic and Deliveroo restaurant awards judge, said: 'It's an honour to be a returning judge for Deliveroo's UK & Ireland restaurant awards, and I was blown away by the passion and talent on display at the Independent Restaurant of the Year cook-off. 'Each finalist brought something unique and delicious to the table, making the final decision incredibly tough for us. 'However, Crunch from London stood out amongst the fierce competition, showcasing immense creativity, fine dining-level technique and mindblowing flavour that impressed us all.' Michael Medovnikov, Co-founder of Crunch said: 'From our humble beginnings in a Shoreditch pub to winning Independent Restaurant of the Year for UK & Ireland with Deliveroo in just a few years – it's an absolutely surreal and incredible feeling. We poured our hearts into every single sandwich we've made for our customers, so this award is for our amazing team and all the customers who've supported us from the start of this wild journey. Thank you to Deliveroo and everyone who voted for us to receive this amazing recognition!'
The Herald Scotland
01-06-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Coishi in Southampton wins prize at Deliveroo Awards 2025
First launched in 2018, Deliveroo's Restaurant Awards celebrate and recognise the very best and most-loved restaurants across the country. This ranges from local independent burger joints to neighbourhood sushi restaurants and "all the dishes, cuisines, and flavours in between". This year saw a total of 65 awards up for grabs, with more than 160,000 votes cast by fans keen to show support for their favourite local restaurants. A judging panel formed by Deliveroo's CEO and founder, Will Shu, food critic and journalist Jimi Famurewa, and TV Chef and personality Tilly Ramsay also helped decide the winners. In the South of England and Wales region, Coishi picked up the award for Best Japanese Restaurant. The full list of winners at the 2025 Deliveroo Restaurant Awards can be found on the website here. Coishi named best Japanese restaurant in the South of England and Wales Located on Above Bar Street, Coishi offers a mix of sushi and bento dishes for diners. According to the Visit Southampton website, it also has a range of "meticulously cooked hot dishes" and "refreshing bubble tea crafted with care". It adds: "Coishi delivers a range of delectable, nutritious fare and top-notch beverages at accessible prices. "Embraced by the Southampton community, Coishi stands out for its modern comfort food and unparalleled fusion flavours, inviting guests to savour a truly memorable culinary journey." It has overall been well-received by diners, with it earning a 4.4/5 score on Google Reviews from 439 ratings. One person wrote: "Pretty authentic Asian food, the Bento Boxes were excellent, the sushi is great. The menu has a lot of choice, all the food looked good. "Service was good, order and pay at the counter, the place has the usual cheap looking white plastic tables and chairs & doesn't look like anything special, but the food is great, certainly worth trying." Recommended reading: Another said: "Been coming here for years now and it never fails to always be amazing! The staff are lovely here and the food is great, I would say one of the best sushi places in Southampton." A third shared: "This time I ordered stewed beef brisket and Japanese curry chicken rice, which was really delicious. The chicken and beef were very tender, the sauce was super fragrant, and the rice was also very soft and sticky. "I highly recommend this restaurant, the environment is very clean, and the staff are very enthusiastic."
Glasgow Times
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
Why this independent London restaurant is the best in the UK
CRUNCH in Soho received the most coveted award, after being named the Independent Restaurant of the Year UK & Ireland 2025 at the Deliveroo 2025 Restaurant Awards. The awards aim to celebrate the best and most loved local restaurants across the UK and Ireland. They were judged by Deliveroo's CEO and founder, Will Shu, food critic and journalist Jimi Famurewa and TV Chef and personality Tilly Ramsay. All finalists had forty-five minutes to cook their most popular dish on Deliveroo for the panels. Each restaurant was assessed against criteria including brand personality, food quality and value, packaging and presentation, customer reviews and loyalty, innovation, and going the extra mile. Independent London restaurant, CRUNCH, named best in the UK Winning the award, CRUNCH cooked its most popular Deliveroo dish, "the "Patty Melt", which judges described as "next level". The dish features truffle beef, red Leicester, and black truffle mayonnaise on golden brioche. Describing their win, Michael Medovnikov, Co-founder of CRUNCH, said: "From our humble beginnings in a Shoreditch pub to winning Independent Restaurant of the Year for UK & Ireland with Deliveroo in just a few years – it's an absolutely surreal and incredible feeling! "We poured our hearts into every single sandwich we've made for our customers, so this award is for our amazing team and all the customers who've supported us from the start of this wild journey." It's not just Deliveroo judges who praise CRUNCH, as guests have also taken to the online review platform Tripadvisor to share their thoughts. Recommended Reading One happy guest said: "I had the 'Michaels Chicken' and 'Patty Melt'. I enjoyed every single mouthful. Really high-quality ingredients and assembled beautifully." Another happy guest said: "Absolutely enjoyed their Patty Melt, made it extra saucy as I'm a big fan of Truffle Mayonnaise. "The toasts on the outside were crunchy and the beef patty was tender and juicy."
