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Times
22-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- Times
LeftField restaurant review — delicious decor, even better food
There are restaurants that are talking points — those flashy, impossible-to-get-a-table-at-the-weekend ones that come up every time someone's on the hunt for a relaxed, chic, cosy, not too fancy restaurant. And someone is always on the hunt for that. Trust me, I know. The question a restaurant critic gets asked the most is always: 'Where should I go for a good dinner?' Then there are the ones that have been quietly plugging away at it for years. The family-run neighbourhood bistros away from the main drags of our spreading cities. Here, the staff are as loyal as the diners, the produce is not too fussily handled, and the menus are as short and satisfying as a one-pot pasta recipe (not the Meghan one, please).
New York Times
19-05-2025
- General
- New York Times
‘Such a Great, Easy, Feel-Good Weeknight Dinner'
One of the unexpectedly satisfying things I've been doing as interim restaurant critic is cooking dinner in the morning. Before I start my day, I make that night's dinner for my husband and teenager. They're both quite capable of making their own meals, of course. But I really miss cooking, and the acts of mincing, sautéing and simmering give me a meditative minute before the workday staccato strikes up. If I can't be with the fam at dinnertime because I'm running from restaurant to restaurant, at least I can send, say, a panful of homemade spicy skillet ground turkey and snap peas in my stead. This skillet dish, which was inspired by Thai larb, is an especially good thing to make early in the day because it holds up well, thanks to the sturdiness of sugar snap peas. I hold off adding the fresh mint, basil, scallion and chopped nuts until just before serving — or rather, I leave a note saying to do so. This keeps the textures as bright and snappy as the dinner conversation I'll miss. Once I'm back to eating dinners at home, I may even use the make-ahead routine to ease the evening rush and keep myself bright and snappy at dinnertime. Featured Recipe View Recipe → Pasta primavera: Dan Pelosi's classic pasta isn't just for springtime. Use whatever vegetables are at hand to make this robustly creamy, Parmesan-rich beauty whenever the craving hits. It's just as good in summer, when zucchini, yellow squash and red peppers are abundant and inexpensive. Thai-style coconut curry chicken tacos: This brilliantly unexpected hybrid, courtesy of the brilliant Kay Chun, features chicken thighs cooked with toasted Thai curry paste and coconut milk, then served in tortillas with tangy pico de gallo and a squeeze or two of lime. Untraditional? Yes! But this easy crowd-pleaser earns its five stars with old-fashioned virtuosity. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
