Hospitality chiefs plea for fresh government support package after revenue slump: Hospitality chiefs have urged the chancellor to prepare a new financial support package for the industry even as remaining restrictions on their operations are lifted in the coming weeks. Sky News has seen a letter sent this weekend sent by Kate Nicholls, the UK Hospitality chief executive, to Rishi Sunak in which she calls on the government to provide low-interest loans to help commercial landlords and their tenants resolve outstanding rent arrears. Ms Nicholls’ letter – the latest in a flurry of pleas to ministers since the coronavirus crisis triggered the gravest crisis in the industry’s history – also warned that her body’s members were in many cases struggling to access the extent of emergency loan schemes intended to help companies through the crisis. “Government loan schemes have been received positively but there are real concerns about their rollout – there seems to be a disconnect between your statements and the interpretation and application by banks,” she told Mr Sunak. “Many of our members report that they are being denied access to the full loan schemes by their banks. In particular, very few are able to extend their [Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans] to the full ten years that is available to them [while] others are concerned about the lack of availability for the Recovery Loan Scheme. We believe the loan schemes are very helpful in practice, but government must instruct banks to ensure that loans are getting to hospitality businesses.” Pubs, restaurants and other hospitality sector companies have been left with acute concerns about tackling outstanding rent liabilities that landlords have refused to alleviate, leading to an impasse between the two sides. Ms Nicholls has suggested extending a moratorium on evictions until the end of the year, with an adjudication process set up to help resolve disputes. “Without further action, we risk structural instability that threatens to waste the substantial investment made to date by government and industry,” she told Mr Sunak. “Investing now in the revitalisation of hospitality will yield a substantial return on investment – in terms of economic growth, employment, levelling up, high street regeneration and government revenues.” (Sky News)

PM to approve plans for hotels and theatres to reopen and for pubs and restaurants to serve food and drink indoors: Boris Johnson will tomorrow give the go-ahead for Britain to take the biggest single step towards normal life. The PM will to approve plans for hotels and theatres to reopen and for pubs and restaurants to serve food and drink indoors. He is expected to sign off the move when scientists present him with fresh evidence of low infection rates and a reduced risk of easing restrictions. The final decision will be made at a meeting of the Cabinet’s Covid Operations committee tomorrow which will give business a week to prepare for step three of four unlocking stages on 17 May. An insider said: “The number of people dying or in hospital has fallen dramatically over the past few weeks and with two-thirds of adults now vaccinated, the risk of spreading the virus is also pretty low. At this stage there is nothing to suggest the PM will slam the breaks on his roadmap out of lockdown or that he will want to slow it down. But he’ll want to weight up all the evidence first before he fires the starting gun for the next step.” From Monday week, pubs and restaurants will be able to reopen fully, but previous limits on who can sit together will still apply indoors. Outside, however, the rule of six will be lifted to allow gatherings of up to 30 people. Theatres and cinemas will be back in business with social distancing measures. Indoor performances and sports events can go ahead with venues half-full with no more than 1,000 people. Outdoor events can have crowds of up to 4,000 or half-capacity and larger venues such as Wembley Stadium will be able to allow up to 10,000. Hotels and guest houses will be allowed to reopen again and people from different households will be able to enjoy a break together. (The Sun)

Wendy’s to take on McDonald’s and Burger King with 400 outlets in Britain: American burger giant Wendy’s is turning the heat on McDonald’s and Burger King with a plan to open up to 400 outlets in Britain, just months after becoming the second-largest burger chain in the US. Wendy’s international boss Abigail Pringle said it will ‘steal market share’ in the UK from both its major rivals, starting with an outlet in Reading which opens on 2 June. It has a motto specifically for the UK market – All Beef, No Bull – which, Pringle said, would enshrine its approach to food preparation and supply, customers and staff. That includes a promise of ‘no zero-hour contracts’, she added. This will be seen as a swipe at rivals such as McDonald’s, which has come under fire for using contracts that do not guarantee working hours each week. Pringle said of the motto: ‘It’s more than a tagline – it’s what you get. We’re not going to BS you – we’re going to give you fresh beef, all British produce. And we are going to treat our people the way they should be treated. [That means] no zero-hour contracts and bonuses paid at crew level, rather than just management saying: ‘If we win, you win.’ McDonald’s currently says on its website that it offers a ‘choice of flexible or fixed contracts’ to employees, following pressure from workers and unions. Wendy’s move into the UK could ultimately create thousands of jobs and trigger a new entry into the delivery market through a partnership with Uber Eats. Pringle said there is an opportunity to open between 300 and 400 in Britain and the firm will use its team here to plan an expansion into mainland Europe. By contrast, McDonald’s has 1,300 outlets in the UK and more than 36,000 worldwide. Pringle said: ‘Putting covid aside for a moment, the overall hamburger segment and the informal eating out segment has been growing. But, even if there wasn’t significant growth, we think we can steal market share from some of the other informal eating-out burger chains – ones that come to mind are McDonald’s and Burger King – but even Five Guys and some of the other [more upmarket] brands.’ Wendy’s has credited its emphasis on quality as part of the reason it has dethroned Burger King over the past year as the number two burger company in the US. Pringle added: ‘We think the British consumer shouldn’t have to pay more than they need to and still have great quality.’ (Mail on Sunday)

Pubs will not be mandated to ask for covid vaccine passports, Boris Johnson has made clear: Two more immediate political challenges face the Prime Minister in the coming months: striking the right balance between safety and economic resurgence as the pandemic eases, and thwarting the prospect of a second Scottish independence referendum. On the first, big unknowns remain. The Prime Minister sidesteps a question about whether people with jabs will be allowed to act under different rules from the non-vaccinated, despite such a system already being up and running in America. So too a question about whether the furlough scheme should be wound up earlier than the autumn, given its cost to the economy and the low covid-19 case numbers. Both questions are met with a promise to stick to the “cautious but irreversible” reopening roadmap. But on the covid-19 vaccine passports, there is news. For the first time the Prime Minister states that he does not want to force pubs to check people’s covid-19 status when they enter, an outcome hospitality industry associations have been seeking. “I think that’s unlikely, to be frank,” Mr Johnson said at first about whether covid-19 status checks for pubs will be mandated, before adding a categorical ‘no’ when asked if that was his intention. (The Telegraph)

‘Glimmer of hope’ for breweries after pub reopenings beat expectations: An ‘unbelievable’ surge in post-lockdown demand for cask beer is offering ‘a glimmer of hope’ for the struggling UK pub industry. Production has been ramped up at breweries after some underestimated just how many pints would be sold in pubs after they reopened in last month. The demand meant that the Timothy Taylor’s brewery in Keighley, West Yorkshire, brewed on a Sunday last weekend for the first time in its 163-year history. The brewery, best known for its Landlord ale, lost £1.3m last year and had to throw away £600,000 worth of beer as the whole hospitality sector battled to survive the pandemic. Chief executive Tim Dewey told Sky News predictions across the industry were far too conservative. “The last two weeks we have done similar volumes to what we did in the same two weeks of 2019 so that is unbelievable against the forecasts that people gave us. Our bottles (sales) have gone up 50% during the lockdowns but the reality is people really want a proper pint and the only way you can get that is in a pub – you can’t replicate it at home and so there is pent up demand.” “I don’t want to sound triumphant,” he added. “It is great that we are doing the business that we are doing – but I know there are a lot of brewers that aren’t.” Bigger brewers are urgently increasing production and continuing to limit supplies of premium brands including Birra Moretti and Amstel. A week after the shortages were first highlighted Heineken, which owns the two brands, told Sky News they are still working hard to source extra supplies from mainland Europe. A spokesperson said: “Despite only 40% of pubs being able to open outdoor areas, we are experiencing similar levels of sales as a normal April with all pubs being open. We’ve therefore temporarily limited the amount of Birra Moretti and Amstel that pubs can order. All our breweries are working flat out brewing beer and we’re sourcing additional beer from Europe.” At the Salt Beer Factory in Saltaire, established in 2018, they are back to pre-covid levels of brewing and expect to break their sales record next week. Director Nadir Zairi told Sky News: “It’s been amazing how willing people have been to sit in the cold, the rain, even the hail last week. There’s no doubt people have been desperate to get out and see each other.” He added: “It is causing difficulties not being able to get some of the mainstream brands but it has pushed people towards our more local beers, which is good for us. I’d say it’s just a big thank you to the British public for braving the elements and returning to the pub.” (Sky News)

Growth picks up as bars and restaurants reopen: Britain’s economy is expected to have contracted during the first quarter of the year as lockdown restrictions took their toll – but the drop may be less than initially feared. Data on Wednesday is likely to show a mild second contraction in the first three months of the year. GDP is set to fall by 1.7% – less than at first expected after a milder impact than feared from the latest lockdown. Figures are also expected to show that the economy grew 1.3% in March, completing the Office for National Statistics’ first estimate for the first quarter. The economy grew by 0.4% in February, after a 2.9% drop in January. The recovery is expected to continue as bars and restaurants reopen fully and some travel restrictions are eased, but it will be slower than the record rebound after the first lockdown last year. (Sunday Times)

Al fresco Britain has been a washout. Please let us back inside pubs and restaurants: Rowan Pelling writes: “I know Samuel Johnson coined his witticism ‘the triumph of hope over experience’ for second marriages, but it’s even better suited to the British weather. As meteorologists and soothsayers know, the more keenly anticipated the event, the viler the downpour. Anyone who plans a second wedding for August is tacitly inviting a Shakespearean tempest. And this is why those of us who expressed ecstasy at the thought of pubs reopening were doomed to see our cherished pints topped with layers of hail. Two weeks ago I huddled round a table for six while an Arctic wind funneled down – and I pretended to have fun. But I couldn’t help noting a throb of earache, while my fingertips went numb with post-covid Raynaud’s Syndrome. Then it started to rain. The final straw came when our table candle (in a tall glass cylinder) was snuffed out by an almighty gust, which also crashed two glasses of red wine off the table. My first ever pair of pure white trainers – bought with heart-breaking naivety for summer escapades – looked like scarlet Jackson Pollocks. I have not ventured out since. It’s too torturous to sit freezing your bones in a beer garden when you can see a mocking sign saying ‘snug bar’, but snugness is forever denied you. And I’ve yet to find the outside heater that offers anything more than a half-metre of tepid cheers. It’s made me realise that what hardened pub-goers really pine for is warm ale and a murky interior: the kind of fug that alchemises from log fires, beer fumes, Brasso and untrammelled gossip. You’d never have dislodged Jeffrey Bernard from his bar stool, however clement the weather. You can’t imagine Patrick Hamilton – author of the drinker’s handbook, Hangover Square – catching some rays while nursing an Aperol Spritz. When I think of my parents’ pub in Kent I can’t picture any locals in the garden. They left that turf to the weekend trade: hikers in purple fleeces drinking lemonade shandy and the occasional troop of Morris dancers. And don’t you dare say I lack the kind of pluck that sees a true Brit picnic on a salad-cream sandwich on a pebble beach in a force-ten gale after a bracing near-drowning in the North Sea, or Channel. I have five decades of campaign badges in the cause. But the whole point of that exercise is you know the cure for hypothermia is minutes away, has Scotch on optic, and is filled with RNLI boatmen trained in the kiss of life. I measure my favourite beaches by the resuscitative excellence of their hostelries: the White Hart in Aldeburgh, the Zetland Arms at Kingsdown, the King’s Arms, Blakeney. We’ve done fresh air, we’re bored of benches and the weekend weather forecast is King Lear on the blasted heath. Over 35 million adults have headed NHS advice and had their jabs. We don’t want a sugar lump, or a pat on the back, or to wait until May 17th for our earthly reward. We demand the ancient drinkers’ right to park our frozen backsides on an inglenook near a roaring pub fire.” (The Telegraph)

Still serving – how chefs got through the pandemic: For the past year, restaurants have had to dream of creative ways to keep their business going. Many have done so by migrating to new business models. Michel Roux Jr at Le Gavroche, London: “I was taking on a young office assistant just before the first lockdown. Sadly I had to furlough him when covid-19 struck. Yet, he had a vision of what he could bring to the company. He told me that our social media was lacklustre and our website was ancient and expensive to operate. He was able to design a simple and cost-effective website and incorporate a shop selling books and items with the Le Gavroche logo. So, he got to work. I gradually took him off furlough and soon he returned full time. The shop went crazy boosted by a huge leap in followers on all our social media channels. I feel very lucky to have him.” Chris Ammerman of Caravan: “The most important thing was the decision not make anyone redundant. Ultimately, we couldn’t face laying off people with no options to find alternative jobs, and then we just hoped and prayed the government would help. It was a terrible time with sites, curfew, track and trace, and masks and santisers. We have lost a huge amount of money. But our take on 12 April is 2% more than on the same Monday in 2019, not bad for a freezing cold day in April.” Will Beckett of Hawksmoor: “I think the best decision was made by the person who started the Hawksmoor Run Club. To raise money for Hospitality Action, many people working here decided to aggregate their running miles and convert them into an imaginary sponsored run from London to New York via Manchester and Edinburgh – a fun idea that hugely bonding and healthy.” Shamil Thakrar of Dishoom: “I’m very glad we managed to retain everyone’s jobs and that we have had a high degree of focus on well-being. It certainly tested us financially, but we have managed to make it work. Getting our delivery business up and running quickly was critical for us. Although the restaurants were closed for months, the new businesses mean that we’re doing more or less half of our previous sales, and have reduced or (previously very high!) cash burn to close to zero.” Chris Galvin of Galvin Restaurants: “From day one, my brother Jeff kept us ahead of the curve. He drove the Galvin at Home service, made culinary videos, and advanced into corporate dining. We have learned too much about digital platforms, sustainable packaging, branded tapes and stickers, and the whims of a particular shipping company. Without his impetus, we wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the crushed fixed costs and rent. Not a saint, but close!” Charlie Young of Vinoteca: “We have decided to reopen Vinoteca Chiswick as a shop selling homemade sourdough, salted meat, cheese, olives, flour and pasta, as well as drinks. He also developed a ‘home-finished’ dish, which led to meal kits. Key to this were Chiswick head chef Tim Ingall and general manager Sandro Costa. Irreplaceable!” (FT Magazine)

Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn owner IHG says it’s already seeing demand pick up in China and the US: InterContinental Hotels Group, the owner of Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn, said it has seen an improvement in bookings in March and April, particularly in the US and China, but occupancy rates remain below pre-pandemic levels. The group, whose UK Holiday Inns have been used for quarantining visitors returning from abroad, said only 4% of its hotels worldwide were still closed down at the end of March – or around 220. But despite seeing an improvement during the first quarter, just 40% of all its hotel rooms were occupied in the first quarter, with occupancy rates around 80% of 2019 levels. Low occupancy means ‘revenue per available room’ – a key measure in the hotels industry – was still down more than 50% in the first quarter compared to the same quarter in 2019, before the pandemic. However, chief executive Keith Barr seemed positive, with the group opening 56 new hotels in the quarter and putting another 92 in the pipeline. ‘There was a notable pick-up in demand in March, particularly in the US and China, which continued into April,’ he said. ‘While the risk of volatility remains for the balance of the year, there is clear evidence from forward bookings data of further improvement as we look to the months ahead.’ The group said it did see an improvement in the US and China, with revenues per available room in North and South America improving from 50% below 2019 levels to 43% below. In China, the measure was down 37.7% compared with 2019, although up 78.2% compared with the first three months of last year, when the country was in a strict lockdown for large parts of the period. However in Europe, revenues per available room compared with 2019 remained very low due to ongoing restrictions. In the UK, it was down 75%, and by a larger 87% in continental Europe. (Mail on Sunday)

Gousto delivers Garrett-Cox as chair as it races towards float: Recipe box subscription service Gousto is forging ahead with plans for a stock market listing by recruiting one of Britain’s most prominent businesswomen as its next chair. The company, which will mark its tenth anniversary next year, has agreed the appointment of Katherine Garrett-Cox to steer it towards an initial public offering (IPO). Garrett-Cox became a well-known figure in the City during her tenure as chief executive of Alliance Trust, from which she was ultimately ousted by the activist investor Elliott Advisors. She now runs the UK arm of Gulf International Bank, and also spent several years on Deutsche Bank’s supervisory board. The timing of an IPO for Gousto has yet to be determined, although sources said Rothschild had been retained to work on the flotation. Gousto has benefited from a surge in demand during the coronavirus pandemic, and announced last month it aimed to double its workforce to 2,000 and open two further distribution warehouses. Gousto also said it had recorded its first full-year of profit since being founded, which insiders said provided it with a solid platform to go public. The company was founded by Timo Boldt and James Carter, two former investment bankers. Last year, it attained “unicorn” status – the term covering technology companies worth at least $1bn. The company has raised substantial sums of capital from investors, who include Joe Wicks, the celebrity fitness instructor. Garrett-Cox is replacing David Giampaolo, the founder of the elite networking and investment group Pi Capital, as Gousto’s chair (Sky News)

Marina O’Loughlin reviews the new tented restaurant at The Vineyard at Stockcross: Really, though, the top end of the hospitality market has, in its own way, been as hard hit as the rest of the industry. Sure, you might say, they have big-money backers, punters who don’t worry about ordering another bottle of marked-up Meursault. And you’d be right. But even for the toppiest, food margins aren’t vast, staff costs are high and wealthy benefactors have a tendency to bail when figures fail to tumesce. Right now an older demographic – from my visit, very much the constituency for today’s restaurant – is still wary of eating inside (or anywhere featuring masks); and the tasting menu/sommelier format doesn’t lend itself to the great outdoors in the same way as, say, burrito, bowl of pasta, burger or bao. So, apart from the tricky delivery sector – and I’m learning that haute cuisine doesn’t always travel well – what are they doing to keep their customers, these rarefied outfits? Enter the Vineyard in Stockcross. The Vineyard, obviously, is big on wine, with a reported 30,000-plus-bottle cellar spotlighting American winemakers (Michael owns a Sonoma estate). They’re not afraid of a spot of website hyperbole: the chef, Tom Scade, is an “artistic engineer”; OutSide is described as “scoffable, quaffable and sensation-able”, which I’m pretty sure is incarcerate-able. Its usual culinary offering is hyper-fine dining (“indulge-able” and “taste-sensationable”, they say, without a blush); dishes arranged in such tiny-blobs-and-tweezery ways it makes the likes of Great British Menu look dangerously slapdash. But in our huge tent they’re going for breezy and informal, sharing plates and tapas-style dishes. The menu is appealing, hitting enough contemporary notes – barbecue spring cabbage with salsa verde, burrata with blood orange – and with plenty to mollify a small-c conservative clientele: pork and tomato Cumberland-style sausages, grilled prawns with lemon mayonnaise. It’s all pleasant enough in a VIP catering at Wimbledon kind of way. We’re not in nitpicking mode these days, so I won’t drone on too much about a Flintstones-like wing rib of fine beef with chimichurri that’s on the greyer side of medium rare. Or how flatbread “Catalan style” is a bit corner-shop pitta slathered with an undistinguished pulp of tomatoes. How that cabbage is floppy and drowning in oil. How presentation is less punctilious and more perfunctory: a sliver of hot smoked salmon with a dollop of herbed sour cream isn’t likely to trouble any #artofplating hashtags. Pleasant again: what’s described as “slow cooked lamb with cucumber and yoghurt” and turns out to be just that, the cucumber lightly pickled, a small corn tortilla underneath, not much else by way of spicing or garnish. It’s Mexican via Berkshire: Berks-Mex. Strawberry and almond tart is so impeccable – thinnest, crispest crust, frangipane of the plushest delicacy, a judicious dod of vanilla mascarpone – it seems to have escaped from a different kitchen. And the wine is, unsurprisingly, luscious: I love a J Lohr Wildflower Valdiguié from Monterey that’s like inhaling fresh, pepper-scented cherries. So no, this isn’t my usual beat, not the sort of place I’m drawn to. I’m irritated by the astonishing speed with which food arrives, by the timorous seasoning (first time I’ve been happy to find sachets of salt at the table). And by Olivia Newton-John warbling Hopelessly Devoted to You from speakers above our heads. But my late mother-in-law would have thought it sheer restaurant perfection. And there’s plenty to admire: Pino, the diminutive chap who serves us – “I’ve worked here nearly 20 years. I was a lot taller back then” – is heaven. The sensation of being properly warm in a restaurant for the first time in weeks. The bliss of feeling like the youngest in the room. Fire-blackened new potatoes, wrinkly and nutty with a scattering of salty feta and pungent fresh oregano. The fact that a glass of the champagne bar fizz or cocktail is included in the set price (with supplements) menu. And, most important, its diners are loving it – I mean, really loving it. They plan to keep it open throughout summer, and why not? If a dining room full of happy, affluent older people could be said to be raving, this is where it’s at. All things considered, when it comes to keeping customers on board and adapting from a core offering under the most challenging conditions, this is a heroic example of how it’s done. (Sunday Times Magazine)

Tom Parker Bowles reviews Bottega Caruso in Margate: A bitter wind cuts through the Margate seafront, cruel as cold steel, slicing through scarves, gloves and hats alike. But as we wander down from the station, past shuttered amusement arcades, busy chippies and hibernating Chair-O-Planes, we don’t feel the cold. Because the skies are blue, the sun is beaming and we’re off for our first lunch in a real restaurant since the dark days of December. Margate is a strange but endearing mixture of the hip and the hip replacement, a place where the whiff of stale lager is mixed with the scent of moustache wax. But there are some good restaurants here, Angela’s in particular. As well as Bottega Caruso, tucked away from the main drag, which specialises in the food of Campania in Southern Italy. We sit outside, as per the regulations, but are sheltered from the worst of the wind. Get here early, as tables fill fast. There are home-marinated anchovies, garlic heavy, but silvery sweet. And chunks of octopus, soft as wine-splashed resolve, sitting atop a chunk of homemade sourdough and bathed in a tomato sauce with olives and capers that seems the very essence of Neapolitan delight. Bread and tomatoes are big in the south. And big here. More bread is mixed with egg, herbs and parmesan and transformed into vast but ethereally light polpette, wallowing in more of that sauce. Or deep fried to a brittle crisp, and mixed in among the heartily sustaining beans and greens of verdura e fagioli. Pasta is fresh made, and universally excellent; spaghetti with colatura di alici, a modern equivalent of the Roman garum or fish sauce. But it’s subtle, not strident, adding gentle umami depth to this most simple of chilli, garlic and cherry tomato-spiked sauces. Rather more rich and regal is lamb ragu, tenaciously clinging to beautifully silken pappardelle, with whispers of orange and saffron. An edible reminder of ancient conquerors. The wine flows, the sun shines and all seems well. Which is exactly what good restaurants should always do. Lift the mood, put faith back in our fellow man, add joy and merriment to one’s day. Simple, unpretentious yet utterly confident in the quality of its ingredients and cooking, Bottega Caruso does just that. We need restaurants, as much as restaurants need us. (Mail on Sunday)

Jay Rayner on Mr Ji’s in Soho: In these disfigured times, a trip to the loo can also remind you that a restaurant is not a gazebo, which is an exotic word for a tent that’s trying to overcompensate for its inadequacies. Right now Mr Ji, the relaunch of a Taiwanese-inspired restaurant in London’s Soho, is housed in an open-sided gazebo on Old Compton Street, which at key times is being shut off to traffic. From my brief walk through the bricks-and-mortar dining area, I can tell you that when Mr Ji is finally allowed to welcome people inside, they will find a space of modishly distressed plaster walls, with a big counter running down the middle. It works as a bar at one end and communal eating area at the other. I can well imagine – by which I mean fantasise about – sneaking in here by myself for one of their invigorating margaritas made with lime leaf cordial and citrus oils alongside the tequila, and a seriously messy Sichuan burger: a shattering double-fried chicken thigh, with cucumber salad and Sichuan chilli oil which makes your lips go both slightly numb and a little fizzy at the same time. That’s a good day out by anybody’s standards. The restaurant started life here in 2019 as a grab-and-go shop selling Taiwanese-style fried chicken, generally deep-fried in a potato starch batter and tossed in salt and pepper. The founder, Samuel Haim, has now got together with Ana Gonçalves and Zijun Meng, the couple behind Tā Tā Eatery, to offer a wider menu. They describe Mr Ji as a “modern Taiwanese eatery”, which feels like a bear trap for a man like me who has never been anywhere near Taiwan. The short menu at Mr Ji represents a more restless, cosmopolitan take on the world. Some of it is witty. A small plate called “prawns in toast” brings a sturdy rectangle of the sort of deep-fried white bread that is usually used for classic prawn toast. Here, however, the rectangle has been hollowed out and then filled with prawns and sweetcorn in a luscious béchamel sauce. It’s rich and messy and, being housed in a block of golden, deep-fried bread, terrifyingly delicious. A block of daikon cake, threaded with chopped shiitake mushrooms then glazed with a garlic soy paste, recalls the classic turnip cake dim sum served just across Shaftesbury Avenue in Chinatown. It’s an impressive and classy turn from a radish generally prized for its texture. There is what feels like an especially well-mannered take on kimchi, for those used to the punch and shin-kick of the strident Korean variety. This version comes in shades of sunset yellow and has the mellow aromatics of sesame. There’s a sprightly salad of shredded papaya, carrot and daikon with a citrus chilli dressing, a noodle salad and chips smothered in chilli oil and Sichuan spices. These dishes, priced between £3.95 and £6, are the sort of bright lights and sparkly thrills you would hope to find here in the heart of Soho, where the streets currently throng with young people aggressively determined to have a good time. The rest of the menu is dedicated to chicken. The whole chicken. One dish, a salad of braised chicken gizzards with smoked cream cheese and Doritos, reads like something you might conjure up while drunk, by ferreting about in empty fridges and cupboards the night before the big shop comes in. I say this admiringly. That one we don’t order. But I’m very taken by panko-crusted fried chicken hearts with a dollop of sweet curry sauce, tucked into individual canoe-shaped lettuce leaves. It’s a lettuce wrap, tap dancing out into the limelight. A breast is opened out, flattened, battered, deep-fried and seasoned with chilli flakes. It’s served with a pair of scissors so it can be chopped up into pieces. We love a chicken-based take on that old stager crispy chilli beef, utilising double-cooked thigh. Then there’s a whole soy-braised breast, with shiny, amber skin, served at room temperature. As my companion points out, it’s the kind of thing Nigella Lawson would describe as temple food: both satisfying and restorative and, while I don’t subscribe to anybody else’s notions of goodness, it does bestow a certain virtuous glow. The menu at Mr Ji manages a smart trick: it’s short without leaving you feeling robbed of choice. It’s fun, reasonably priced and well-executed. The whole place is great now. In a couple of weeks when it has innovations like walls and central heating it will be fabulous. (The Observer)