We’ve had an email from a Squidbeak reader, asking: ‘There would appear to be no bad reviews. Have they been excluded, or have you been lucky?
Well, no not lucky. We have eaten through far too many poor meals than are good for us – indeed I recently ate quite the worst sandwich I think I have ever had at Thwaites Brewery’s much vaunted, multi-million pound refurb of the Judges Lodging in York. It was supposedly a coronation chicken sandwich which amounted to a split bagette with some insipid grilled chicken, badly fried onions and a few sultanas. It was laughably bad. Where, I wondered was the sauce that turns chicken into coronation chicken? How, I wondered, could so much money be spent without getting kitchen basics right?
I could have given them a poor review, but a) I suspected it wasn’t the regular chef in the kitchen and b) Squidbeak reviews the best places to stay and eat at not the worst. If we don’t rate a place, it doesn’t get in. We want to tell you about the good guys.
As for the Judges Lodgings, we’ll be back sometime to visit anonymously and give them another go. But in no great hurry. Don’t watch this space.