Oma, Borough Market, London, Michelin-starred restaurant review

Someone has taken a chill pill at the Michelin Guide.

I like to think I know the types of restaurants that are generally awarded a star by the tyre people. 

And Oma isn't it.

It's a brilliant restaurant that serves flavour-packed and fairly priced modern Greek cooking. And it's a lively and informal place with down to earth service and delicious house wines that cost just over a fiver a glass.

In summary, it's everything that so many Michelin-starred restaurants in the UK aren't. 

I’m sure there's a certain breed of restaurant snob who’ll visit Oma and be disappointed by the lack of a library-like atmosphere or the absence of dishes that have been tweezered to within an inch of their lives. 

But I digress. Oma has been top of my London list of places to visit for a while, ever since a good friend said it would be right up mine and Mrs G's street. Furthermore, it's owned by the immensely talented, David Carter, the man behind the brilliant Smokestak and Manteca.

Located upstairs from its sibling restaurant, Agora, on the edge of Borough Market, Oma was buzzing on the Sunday lunchtime we visited. The menu, whilst Greek-centred, is unlike those at any of the tavernas we visit whilst on holiday. Head chef Jorge Paredes has elevated classic Greek flavour combinations and thrown in a few global influences too with dishes like tuna ceviche with citrus ponzu (£16) and salt cod XO with labneh (£6). 

Despite having a sizeable 400 bin wine list, Oma’s house wines cost a mere £5.50 a glass.  Both their white and their red from Kokos Estate were excellent, a light yet aromatic Savatiano-Roditis blend and a berry laden blend of unnamed grapes.

Having bickered over what to pick from Oma’s extensive dip selection, we compromised and ordered two. They were both as delightful as each other. 

Silkily potent taramasalata (£6) was studded with cubes of pickled cucumber and nuggets of crisp and roasty carob biscuit.

Creamy labneh (£6) was pepped up with sweet and throat warming hot honey and crispy chickpeas.

Dipping tools were just as well-considered. A super light and squidgy bagel-shaped açma verde (£3.50) was lightly soaked in garlic butter. 

Wildfarmed laffa bread (£3.50) was pleasingly soft with a slight stretchiness.

Onto the small plates, and impeccably fresh and meaty seabass crudo (£13) was dressed with ladolemono, a punchy mix of lemon juice and olive oil, as well as crispy fronds of deep-fried leek.

Oma's signature dish is their spanakopita gratin (£15) and it's a properly naughty bit of comfort food. They've taken a classic dish and turned all the dials up to artery clogging levels. A tongue scorchingly hot pot of creamed spinach, studded with nuggets of salty feta, was delicious spooned over flaky and fatty paratha-esque malawach flatbreads. The effect was unmistakeably spanakopita like. 

We ordered two of Oma’s larger plates. A whopper of a squid skewer (£28) had a lovely lick of char and vibrancy from a green herb, za’atar and confit garlic dressing. Most of the bits of squid were commendably tender but a couple were verging slightly towards the chewy side.

We followed it up with their oxtail giouvetsi (£29), another big flavoured and indulgent bit of comfort food. A clay pot of meaty orzo oozed with melted cheese and was topped with stupidly tender bits of oxtail and a crisp bone marrow crumb. 

A fragrant and fresh fennel and herb salad (£6) was an essential order to balance the giouvetsi’s richness. The crisp and citrusy dressed vegetable was tumbled with handfuls of mint, parsley, basil and dill.

We had a superb lunch at Oma and it's another fabulous Borough Market restaurant alongside two of our other recent favourites, Rambutan and Kolae. As long as the Michelin Guide are feeling chillaxed, I reckon they should crack on and hand them a star each too. 

The Details:

Address - Oma, 3 Bedale Street, London SE1 9AL
Web - https://www.oma.london/
Telephone - 020 8129 6760

Osip, Bruton, Somerset Michelin-starred restaurant review 2025

We last visited Osip at the end of January 2020.

Back then this farm-to-table restaurant, which is owned by the ridiculously talented Merlin Labron-Johnson, was based in the heart of the Somerset town of Bruton.

We had a brilliant meal of fiercely seasonal and technically accomplished cooking in their stylish yet understated dining room.

However, as with most fancy restaurants, we hadn’t returned.

Then Osip 2.0 launched last year, and its update brought plenty of shiny new features to draw me back.

Now located in a beautifully refurbished pub in the countryside near Bruton, it’s one of the most stylish restaurants I’ve ever visited. Its standout feature, a dramatic glass-walled open kitchen that offers a constant reminder of the restaurant’s proximity to the land where its produce comes from.

In recognition of Osip's upgrade, they've been named Good Food Guide's restaurant of the year 2025, regained their Michelin star, won a Green Michelin star, and been named in Conde Nast’s best new restaurants in the World 2025. Not bad going.

The food and service have most certainly kicked up a gear since our last visit with more intricate plating and a flurry of enthusiastic front of house staff keeping a good pace to our meal.

At dinner there are ten-course non-vegetarian (£125) and vegetarian tasting menus (£125) on offer and we both opted for the former.

Our first appetiser arrived with pre-dinner drinks in the beautiful earthy-toned bar area. A selection of crudités from Osip's farm set the tone for the meal. Radishes, kohlrabi and sweet mangetout were accompanied by nutty sesame cream and herb oil.

As the inevitable designated driver, I appreciated Osip's interesting alcohol-free drink selection. Whilst Mrs G knocked back a glass of Moussé Fils Champagne (£21), I had a vivid green apple and sorrel juice (£6) that cleverly balanced fruit and herb and sweet and savoury.

A few more appetisers followed in the dining room.

A vibrantly herbal lovage broth tasted both healthy and luxurious simultaneously.

It was served alongside an excellent sharing loaf of warm fermented potato brioche with a crisp golden crust and the softest of crumbs. It was delicious on its own but even butter smothered with creamy and lightly tangy kefir cream topped with a savoury leek tapenade and fried nettles.

We were easily upsold the drinks pairings. However, it’s hard to judge their value for money with five 75ml pours of wine costing £75 and five 75ml pours of soft drink costing £45.

The first two white wines were on the natural barnyardy cider end of the spectrum. Things got a lot more exciting with an Alsace grape we hadn’t encountered before, a Pinot d'Auxerrois. A Prieuré St Christophe Savoie red with plenty of fresh fruit and a light Jurançon dessert wine with bright acidity were also both excellent.

 

My non-alcoholic pairing was even more impressive. Highlights included a beetroot, black garlic and long pepper juice that accompanied the meat course and a pine, verjus and Malawian white tea that was served with dessert. Clearly a lot of consideration and effort had gone into every pairing.

Anyway, back to the food and a comforting spring taco continued the green theme of the previous courses. A soft corn tortilla was topped with a vibrant mole verde, smoked creme fraiche, nuggets of green asparagus and crunchy braised pumpkin seeds.

A cold assembly of meaty chalk stream trout pieces, runny quail eggs, crunchy piedmont hazelnuts and sweet young leeks looked pretty as a picture with its modesty hidden beneath sorrel leaves. It was very tasty but felt quite traditional compared to the rest of the meal.

A rolled courgette dish wasn't quite at the same level as the other things we ate. Whilst its garnish of compellingly smoky whey sauce, crunchy buckwheat and intense preserved lemon were all excellent, the vegetable centrepiece was slightly bland and a little too firm in the centre.

Things really took off with the fish course. A plump Orkney scallop was dressed in a luxuriously fragrant elderflower sabayon and topped with charred white asparagus.

Osip slaughters a pig a week and serves different cuts each night. We had the privilege of eating its loin and belly with a well-caramelised exterior, deep flavour and melting fat. It was served with a slice of superb Toulouse sausage, Tokyo turnip, and homemade mustard.

On the side, a rich pig’s head croquette was given freshness by wrapping it in lettuce and shiso leaf and garnishing it with a dice of fresh and acidic cucumber and hay baked apple.

We shared an optional cheese course and what a blinder it was - toasted malt loaf soaked in cider brandy was topped with a slice of funky and oozy Bath soft cheese. Based on the success of this dish I’m planning to toast some Soreen and serve it with Camembert.

The transition between sweet and savoury was deftly handled with a peppery and verdant rocket sorbet bathed in sharp gooseberry juice and distinctive pistachio oil.

Dessert, a showcase of honey from Osip’s own hives, was bloody brilliant. A warm honey tart, which combined burnt sugar, floral custard and the thinnest of pastry cases, was a wicked hybrid between a pastel de nata and a creme brûlée.

It was served alongside a scoop of cleansing crème fraiche ice cream, Italian meringue made with honey, and a drizzle of honey cut with the acidity of verjus.

After a reassuringly lengthy wait in the lounge, petit fours arrived. A warm madeleine with toasty sesame seeds (a birthday extra), zingy bergamot and earl grey pate de fruit, and a remarkably good Pump Street chocolate and blackcurrant jam macaron rounded off the meal.

We had a fabulous meal at Osip and its great to see its evolution to become a top tier destination restaurant whilst still retaining what made its original incarnation so special. I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if they get a second Michelin star to match their second version.

The Details:

Address - Osip, 25 Kingsettle Hill, Hardway, Bruton BA10 0LN
Web - https://osiprestaurant.com/

Telephone - 01749 987277

Gorse, Cardiff Michelin-starred restaurant review, 2025

Stop the clocks. Ring the church bells. Launch the confetti canons. Mint the limited-edition coins. Publish the commemorative blogpost.

Cardiff has its first ever Michelin-starred restaurant.

Repeat, Cardiff has its first ever Michelin-starred restaurant.

For many of you this won’t be news. After all, Pontcanna’s Gorse was awarded the accolade back in February 2025.

However, I’ve only just got around to visiting since they’ve been awarded the star. And after years of questioning if and when Cardiff would ever be recognised by the tyre people, the time has finally come.

Whilst the Michelin Guide and its brand of fayne dayning has become increasingly irrelevant to many. For certain hospitality professionals, journalists and ‘foodies’, it’s still the benchmark accolade for recognising the highest standards of hospitality.

Having followed Gorse since its initial pop-up days in 2022, I’m very glad to see it become Cardiff’s first ever Michelin-starred restaurant.

Tom Waters’ cooking feels modern, distinctly Welsh, and refined yet approachable.

If this is Cardiff’s destination restaurant then I’m sure it will leave a very good impression for visitors to the city.

So, what’s changed since our visit to Gorse in June last year?

Well, it’s a case of evolution rather than revolution with marginal gains in the standard of cooking. Desserts felt particularly strong this time around when perhaps they’ve been less memorable than the savoury dishes.

It looks like there might be another member of staff or two to share the load. It's a lot harder to bag a reservation. And there’s been an almost inevitable increase in the price of the tasting menus. The seven-course menu now costs £95 instead of £75 whilst the ten courser costs £125 instead of £100. Still, Gorse’s tasting menus compare very favourably pricewise with others in Wales.

This time around we went for the seven-course tasting menu with paired wines (£75).

It’s hard to say exactly how good value the smaller tasting pours of wine represent compared to drinking by the glass or bottle, but it was an excellent selection that matched well with each dish. The standouts were a trio of whites, a herby Thymioloulos Malagouzia and Assyrtiko blend, a crisp Loimer Gruner Veltiner, and a lemony and slightly buttery Restless River Chardonnay. The only disappointment was a White Castle 1581 port style wine that lacked the richness and punch of fruit of the style it emulated.

But first, a bowl of cold spring vegetable tonic - a palate livening cold broth full of fragrant fresh veggies with bright acidity.

Then, a trio of snacks, the standout for me a crisp cornet filled with thick and earthy preserved mushroom puree with pickled juniper.

Both a rye cracker topped with roasted yeast cream and a dollop of smoky pike perch roe...

and a buckwheat tart filled with raw trout and salty pearls of trout roe very much hit the mark too.

The evolution of a familiar dish saw meaty raw bass accompanied by a creamy, sinus tickling horseradish cream, discs of cleansing apple and herby lovage oil.

It was great to see celeriac on Gorse’s menu. One of my favourite vegetables, it only ever seems to crop up as a remoulade or the occasional soup. Here, a spoonably soft wheel of the celery-fragranced root vegetable was bathed in a creamy and lightly tangy buttermilk sauce pocked with chervil oil.

A delicately cooked, meaty piece of turbot was treated with the love it deserves. Bathed in an oregano scented buttery sauce and accompanied asparagus, it was a corker of a fish dish.

Gorse’s signature Bum Bread™ inevitably showed up at some point. With a loaf of the warm, glossy, light-crumbed and slightly sweet bread served per person, it ensured there was no fighting. This time it was accompanied by a plain cultured butter. I think it was an improvement on their seaweed butter, allowing the excellent bread to take centre stage.

Welsh mountain mutton, a protein which features far too infrequently on restaurant menus, had a superb depth of flavour, tenderness and layer of melting fat. A glossy sauce dotted with pickled mustard seeds, a clever morel mushroom stuffed with mutton sausage meat, silky wild garlic puree and asparagus completed the excellent plate.

Dessert felt like it came around too quickly. And I perhaps had a pang of regret that we hadn’t opted for ten courses.

First up was a riff on strawberries and cream. Creamy chamomile custard hid a layer of thick strawberry puree and was topped with a quenelle of strawberry sorbet. The scent of preserved rose came in somewhere but I’m doubting the details after all the booze.

The star of the sweet courses was a glossy, toasty and wobbly set oat custard with a lightly smoked raspberry jam and apple caramel. Crème caramel is one of my favourite desserts in the world, so this was right up my street.

Finally familiar treats came in the form of a squidgy brown butter cake topped with blueberry puree...

and a cube of clever carrot jelly with lemon verbena sugar.

This was another excellent meal at Gorse and it’s great to see Tom and the team win the accolade they fully deserve. In a way, the star is also a recognition of Cardiff’s hospitality scene as a whole, which has improved immeasurably over the last fourteen years that I’ve been writing this blog.

If you’re looking for a special meal in Cardiff, then you won’t go wrong with a visit to Gorse.

The Details:

Address - Gorse, 186-188 Kings Rd, Cardiff, CF11 9DF
Web - https://www.gorserestaurant.co.uk/
Telephone - 02920 372055

Gorse, Pontcanna fine dining restaurant review

Tom, Pontcanna; Thomas, Pontcanna; Tommy, Pontcanna.

It’s surely a glitch in the Matrix that three of Cardiff’s very best chefs all have a variation of the same name and own restaurants within 200m of each other.

Tom Waters and his restaurant Gorse is the newest member of this illustrious trio. Recently shortlisted as Chef to Watch at the National Restaurant Awards, Tom's impressive CV includes stints as sous chef at the now closed Michelin-starred Bonhams in Mayfair and junior sous chef at Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck. 

Tom has been operating Gorse as a pop-up for the last couple of years and our visit in November 2022 was a late contender for meal of the year.

In another coup for Pontcanna, Gorse finally opened its permanent home in May on the former site of Kemi’s. 

It’s a bright, modern and intimate space with an understated element of luxury, very much in keeping with Tom’s style of cooking.

There’s a relaxed atmosphere too, in part due to the open kitchen where the team calmly work away and in part due to the friendly front of house team.

I’m already prepared to award Gorse my Cardiff restaurant of the year based on the fact they serve The Kernel’s Table Beer (£5.50), a 3% easy drinker that has bags more flavour and body than many higher ABV beers.

There’s plenty of interest on the wine by the glass too, with highlights including a thick Rijckaert Arbois Savignan (£18) from the Jura, brioche-y Geminae Champagne (£12), and a spice-twanged Bulgarian natural Merlot (£9.50) without any barnyard funk.

On the food front, Gorse offers a set lunch (£35) as well as seven course (£75) and ten course tasting menus (£100). We went big, and then went home.

The meal kicked off with a deeply savoury Pembrokeshire seaweed broth. A light yet mammoth flavoured showcase of Welsh ingredients, it was most certainly a statement of intent.

A slice of sweet bara brith was fried to give it golden crispy edges before being topped with salty and creamy Dolwerdd sheep’s brie. It was a corker of a combination. I’d love to say that shavings of summer truffle brought something extra to the party, but they were rather recessive in their fragrance and flavour.

The final snack was a crisp tart filled with a layer of rich smoked cod’s roe and pearls of cleansing salty trout roe. It pushed its seasoning to the limit but stayed just on the right side of saltiness.

Our first dish proper saw slices of clean-flavoured raw gurnard that were balanced by a creamy horseradish sauce that delivered a good nose-tingling hit of warmth. It was an excellent plate. 

A hearty bowl of silky smooth and rich bone marrow set custard was topped with a roasted kelp sauce, and earthy morel mushrooms. It was all seriously meaty and addictive, with the occasional preserved wild garlic seed providing little pops of top note fragrance and acidity.

Beautifully sweet white spider crab meat was topped with a judicious quantity of decadent caviar. It was joined by a compellingly complex smoked butter and vermouth sauce topped with the savoury hit of kelp oil.

Apparently, most of Pembrokshire’s spider crab heads to France and Tom has used his powers of persuasion to get a fisherman to regularly send him a few. It means we can have some of the good stuff too.

Hear me out, but the next dish reminded me of a McDonald’s hamburger, in a very very good way. A creamy, rich and deeply savoury barley risotto (there was roasted yeast in there somewhere too) with a lovely bite was topped with the crunch of hazelnut and pickled spruce, which had a dill pickle kind of vibe going on. The dish’s deep savouriness and contrasting pickle fragrance transported me straight to the Golden Arches at 1am on a Saturday night.

Gorse’s bread course needs no introduction by now – fresh out the oven, a beautifully light, soft, and delicately sweet bum cheek-esque loaf was mesmerising on its own. But the addition of whipped sea-twanged laver butter took it up another gear.

A wedge of tender charred pointed cabbage was accompanied by a kick ass light-bodied yet luxurious onion bearnaise, the tarragon replaced by a clever allium hit. Mrs G had saved a bit of her bread from the previous course for mopping up some of the sauce. Fortunately, she let me have a bit too.

A flaky fillet of delicately cooked hake sat on top of a mound of sweet leeks in a pool of vivid green little gem lettuce sauce. It was a clean yet also decadent dish.

A big-flavoured piece of Huntsham beef rib had a good bit of texture yet remained tender. On the side, a glossy sauce was spiked with pickled mustard seeds, silky smooth carrot puree and roasted carrot provided sweetness, and a little pile of crispy cabbage was pleasingly reminiscent of Chinese takeaway crispy seaweed.

Onto the sweet courses, and a couple of florally fragrant apple marigold syrup steeped strawberries were hollowed out and filled with cream. We were provided with spoons, but there was only one way to eat these, with our hands.

A sweet and malty crunchy golden crumb and a scoop of silky-smooth brown butter ice cream had the uncanny likeness of eating a lux bowl of cereal. Even more so because it appeared to have been served in a retro glass cereal bowl.

Finally, a trio of treats were all corkers: a gorgeously toasty, warming spice infused, custardy canelé; a soft crumbed lemon thyme cake spiced with coriander seed; and a fragrant slice of apple and chamomile jelly.

We had a cracking meal at Gorse. With its generous, big-flavoured modern Welsh cooking, it’s a brilliant addition to the swankier end of Cardiff’s restaurant scene and I’m sure there will be plenty of accolades coming its way soon. I'd expect nothing less from a restaurant owned by someone called Tom in Pontcanna. 

The Details:

Address - Gorse, 186-188 Kings Rd, Cardiff, CF11 9DF

Web - https://www.gorserestaurant.co.uk/

Telephone - 02920 372055