At some point in the next few paragraphs, I will swoon over the memory of a rabbit and black pudding pie encased in an ornate glazed-pastry case so shiny, so golden, you could wave at your own reflection in it. I will rave about a ludicrously cheap tasting menu of uncommon thrills, a playing field-sized kebab platter and a noble globe artichoke. Because a great plate of food really is a source of happiness. But before we get to the high points of 2023, let’s deal with the low. If 2022 brought fierce economic headwinds for the hospitality sector, this year was simply worse. It was a story played out not in my reviews, but in the “news bites” that appear beneath them online.
Usually, it’s a roundup of pop-ups, charity fundraisers and openings, and there was quite a lot of that. But those news bites were dominated, sadly, by reports of closures. It started in January with the announcement that D&D group was closing Klosterhaus and East 59th in Leeds, as well as the longer-lived Blueprint Café and Avenue in London. In all they closed six businesses this year. In the summer, we lost two of the UK’s more venerable restaurants, Bully’s in Cardiff and Le Chardon d’Or in Glasgow. Both owners cited rising costs. In Worthing, former MasterChef winner Kenny Tutt closed first Bayside Social and then Pitch, and in Ramsbottom, Levanter Fine Foods went. Then the Belgian-born chain Le Pain Quotidien closed all but one of its 10 UK branches. On and on it went. If you can afford to, please support your local restaurant. You’ll miss them if they go.
