As Veeraswamy prepares to celebrate its centenary this month, there’s a big question mark hanging over its survival. A noteworthy fixture on London’s Regent Street and a unique piece of London’s multicultural history, the restaurant is facing potential closure as owner Ranjit Mathrani takes the Crown Estate to court to get the lease extended. We explore its history in The Good Food Guide archives.
Pip Lacey announces solo venture, James Cochran moves on from EC3 and a new opening from Tom Kitchin
Tom Kitchin opens Southside Scran in Edinburgh, Aiden Byrne returns to Manchester House after a year, Stevie Parle launches street food version of Pastaio at Canary Wharf and Tamarind in Mayfair relaunches with new chefs next month
Camellia Panjabi has always been an agent of change. Along with her sister and brother-in-law, she is responsible for igniting a shift in the perception of Indian food in the UK from low-cost, one-flavour-fits-all, post-pub curry to an exciting, nuanced cuisine, inflected with the scope of flavours of the sub-continent, and deserving of the same respect as the finest classical cookery. This year’s Lifetime Achievement recipient in CODE Hospitality’s annual Women of the Year Awards, tells Tessa Allingham about a drive to innovate that has defined a game-changing career.
On the evening of November 17th, 1873, two decades before Eros pitched up, Piccadilly Circus welcomed a glittering newcomer into its midst. Designed by architect Thomas Verity, who had a hand in both the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) and the Royal Albert Hall, The Criterion was an ornate, five-storey building with the Marble Hall and a grand, American-style Long Bar on the ground floor, and a theatre in its basement; not to be upstaged, the floors above featured several dining rooms and a ballroom.
