Welcome to the first instalment of After Dinner Conversation. This is Table for Two’s reflection on the month just gone: five interesting stories related to London’s restaurant and dining culture, what’s stayed with me and what I’ll be sharing with my table next time I’m out for dinner
June was a very strange and very full month. There’s been no shortage of great food, but it was complicated offline, and I’m grateful for the people I’ve been able to sit across a table from this month to talk, to laugh, to cry.
I’m grateful too for this small, growing community on Substack. June was my first full month posting and we’re at 35 subscribers. I mean it when I say thank you for being here.
The peak of the month: James and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary. I can’t quite believe it’s been a year since we got married in San Sebastián surrounded by the people we love most. We marked it with a food filled weekend with dinner at Bonheur, then lunch the next day at The Bull in Charlbury, in the Cotswolds. It was the perfect mix of what we love most in meals: precision and ambition at Bonheur, then my first ever pie at The Bull the next day. Eight and a half years living in this country and I'd never had one. My English husband has claimed it as the best pie he's ever eaten, and says that I'm ruined for pies forever now.
National Restaurant Awards 2026: A Year of Surprises
The National Restaurant Awards list was released earlier this month, voted on by an academy of over 300 chefs, restaurateurs and food writers, each casting votes for the best meals they've personally eaten in the UK this year. It's a different model to Michelin's anonymous inspectors. Less mystery, more insiders judging insiders. I still don't know which one I trust more.
The list was full of surprises this year. The top three alone have had me thinking since it was announced.
Bouchon Racine jumped from #5 in 2025 to the top spot in 2026, unseating The Ritz as the UK’s #1 restaurant. I’ve never been to Bouchon Racine (good luck to all of us trying to get a reservation now), but it has gotten me thinking about what this says about dining culture in the UK. Look at the winners from the five years prior: The Ritz (2025), The Ledbury (2024), Ynyshir (2023), Ynyshir (2022), Moor Hall (2021). All of them fine dining establishments with set tasting menus, priced between £215 and £450 per head, before drinks.
Bouchon Racine is a French bistro with an à la carte menu that changes daily, written on a blackboard with items crossed out as the kitchen runs out. That’s a real shift from what we’ve seen these past few years, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence.
The list is reflecting a shift in the culture. People still crave exceptional food, formal technique and time around the table. They just want it without the pretension (or the price tag).
Osip and The Ritz tied for second place, a first in the awards’ history. Second place carries real weight and two restaurants sharing it feels almost like an “everybody’s a winner” in a list that’s supposed to draw sharp lines.
Plenty of people have opinions on whether Dorian deserves the #3 spot. I’m not adding to the discourse. What I do want to talk about is Dorian’s co-owner and executive chef, Max Coen, who announced he’s stepping down from the restaurant just days after the result. No word yet on why, or what’s next but I’m watching this one. And wondering who will Dorian bring in as their next head chef?
Why does eating out cost so much?
I really enjoyed this piece by Dan O'Regan, a Bristol restaurateur behind BANK and Lapin, who broke down the real numbers behind running a restaurant on his Substack.
He walked through a £227 dinner for two: HMRC takes nearly £34 of it, staff wages another £25, and once every other cost runs through, the restaurant is left with about £7. It’s worth the read in full, and I’ll be trying Lapin if I find myself in Bristol.
And whilst we’re on the topic: if you haven’t already, sign the live VAT’s the Problem petition, pushing to reduce hospitality VAT from 20% to 10%. Led by Tom Kerridge and UKHospitality, the goal is one million signatures to persuade the government to bring UK VAT in line with the rest of Europe.
Hospitality has been hit hard these past few years, between rising National Insurance and minimum wage increases, and the UK’s rate is extremely high by comparison. Ireland just cut its VAT rate for hospitality to 9% this week. Germany sits at 7%. France, 10%.
Whilst reducing VAT might not mean lower menu prices, it gives your favourite restaurant the margin to run sustainably and hopefully some room to grow.
Would you eat Paxo Stuffing flavoured ice cream?
With the heatwave last week, and the one looming next week (oof), the only things I want to eat on the hottest days are either sushi or ice cream.
Which brings me to Anya Hindmarch's Ice Cream Project. Returning to 11 Pont Street in Belgravia for its fifth year, this year's flavours lean further into pantry cupboard territory: Paxo Stuffing, OXO stock cube, Kikkoman soy sauce and Jacob’s Mini Cheddar amongst them.
The Paxo Stuffing tasted exactly like the real thing, just cold and creamy instead of hot and crumbed. Not bad, but it does confuse the senses with the flavour of one food arriving in the texture and temperature of another. A few "what's going on here" pings straight to the brain.
I’ve sampled six flavours so far across two visits (I’m calling it research) and my favourites were the Jacob’s Mini Cheddar and Paxo Stuffing.
The pop-up is around until 16th August, and I hear queues are quite long on the weekends, so try to go during the week if you can.
Restaurateur Mario Carbone says Michelin stars are decided by an algorithm
Well, this was a clip that got me to stop mid scroll. New York restaurateur Mario Carbone of Major Food Group (Carbone, Torrisi, Dirty French, and more), says he couldn’t care less about the Michelin star. He says he finds it hard to believe Michelin is what they claim to be, and that it seems inconceivable, in this day and age, that inspectors are still anonymous and still visiting every restaurant in person. His theory: it’s an algorithm, like everything else.
My initial instinct was that he might feel differently if Carbone’s New York location hadn’t lost its Michelin star in 2022, after holding it for eight years (though Major Food Group still holds a star for Torrisi).
He goes on to ask the question: think about the payroll it would take for Michelin to sustain that many in person reviews across that many cities, just by selling guides.
I’m not saying I agree (to be clear, I don’t), The Michelin Guide is funded primarily through partnerships with tourism boards. But I do keep thinking about this clip. The full podcast episode is worth a listen, and they cover other insightful topics like the business of running a restaurant.
Either way, I’m still not going to Carbone London.
You Cook, She Draws: The chefs favourite food illustrator
Food illustrator kai (@nomkakaii on Instagram) has spent the past month sitting inside some of London's best kitchens for a series she calls You Cook I Draw. She sketches a Michelin starred chef's dish whilst they cook it in real time. Watching how fast she works and the kitchens she's chosen are proof of a sharp eye: Akoko, Evelyn's Table, Mauro Colagreco at Raffles, Trinity, Helene Darroze at The Connaught, amongst others.
At the end of each clip, she turns the sketchbook around and shows the chef, or the restaurant staff, what she's made.
So much of the restaurant content on my Instagram looks the same, this is the first new format I’ve actually enjoyed in a while. A wholseome 60ish second watch. Clip below.
That’s June. Five things I can’t stop thinking about, and at least one I’ll be bringing up at the dinner table this month.
July is my birthday month. I’ll be staying in the UK for it this year, but making the most of it with a few reservations I’ve been trying to get into for a while, including The Fat Duck Restaurant, by Heston Blumenthal. More soon!
Table for Two lives at the intersection of food and culture, not simply recommendations, but a considered point of view on why dining matters, and where to find the best of London's table culture. If this piece resonated, please support us by subscribing.
Cant wait for the fat duck and as always excellent read!
Bonheur followed by the Bull is a mighty duo.
And what a nice surprise to see my piece mentioned as I was reading! Thanks for the mention.