It is considered by foodies to be one of the top restaurants in London and rated 35th best in Britain. So why does Mangal II in Dalston carry a measly 4.1 star rating on Google, down from the “gloriously mediocre” 4.3 it recently held? Ferhat Dirik, one of the brothers who runs the restaurant, writes in an excoriating newsletter to customers that he’s “had sleepless nights” stressing about bad reviews online and says every negative verdict is “an embarrassing public fart”.
It’s the changing character of London that he blames. “Gone were many of the locals and regulars. In were food tourists, creatives, big celeb names, ITK food people and, essentially, ‘the cool crowd’,” he writes. “Now, if I know anything, it’s that anyone who falls under the category above does not bother writing Google reviews.” Instead, they post Instagram stories, which are nice, but don’t help the star rating.
The restaurant has always had celebrity guests. The local artist duo Gilbert and George once dined there every evening but, after they started playing music through a sound system, defected to the nearby restaurant Mangal I. But most celebs won’t write a Google review. When she recently claimed that London cuisine was going down the toilet, Lily Allen named Mangal II as one of the “only good” restaurants left in London. But did she leave a Google review?
The man who defined the art of punk
Musicians and multi-billionaires have been mourning the death of Jamie Reid, the punk artist famous for designing the collaged record cover of the Sex Pistols’ album and the flag on their God Save The Queen single, pictured. Reid also joined the band as they bothered Queen Elizabeth II on the Thames during the 1977 Silver Jubilee celebrations.British band Massive Attack remember Reidas an “iconic iconoclast”, while post-punk duo Sleaford Mods commented: “Nobody evermade Boredom look so good”.
Billionaire Sir Richard Branson described Croydon-born Reid as a “great artist with a neon legacy”. He may now be the head of a massive multinational conglomerate and an aspiring space traveller, but in the Seventies it was Branson’s indie label Virgin Records which signed the Sex Pistols, after they were dropped by their previous record label days after signing.
Keir-mongering
What’s in a name? Last night Labour chose another Keir, Keir Cozens, as a parliamentary candidate, this time in Great Yarmouth. Last month Keir Mather won for the party in Selby and Ainsty. Like party leader Sir Keir Starmer, these rising stars seem to have been named after Keir Hardie, a founder of Labour. Some have suggested vanity from Starmer in selecting candidates with his own name. To be fair, when Tony Blair became Prime Minister in 1997, 11 other Tonys were elected to parliament. This went totally unremarked.
