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Articles by Daphne Colthard

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About Daphne Colthard

After graduating at RADA but finding no roles Daphne went into magazine journalism with Good Housekeeping. Widely recognised as one of the country's leading restaurant and hotel reviewers, particularly by herself, Daphne is the author of "Bedded and Breakfasted", a light hearted chick novel and Grand Hotels DC: the Daffers Dictionary. Daphne lives in West London and is married to an investment banker Oliver. They have 2 boys Humphrey and Tarquin. More Posts

A la Colthard Chateau de Beaulieu

Organising trips abroad is all the rage at the Rust these days. Yesterday Bob Tickler, Nancy Bright-Thompson and myself went on a jaunt to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the passing of Ronnie Poulton Palmer, the Edwardian rugby player, organised by Henry Elkins. I was given the job of chef de [...]

May 5, 2015 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard: the Ritz restaurant

Twice a year I have lunch with a business magnate I have known for over 40 years. The protocol  is that he gives me lunch in the autumn and I reciprocate in January but what with his busy life the dates get delayed. So yesterday was my “winter” turn which arrived on a glorious spring [...]

April 16, 2015 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard: Utrecht

I was super-thrilled to be invited along with Nancy, our travel expert, to advise Alice on her new art venture. I thought too that Van Gogh was the right choice as he is probably the best known of the great masters and had such an interesting if flawed life. Nancy said that where you are going to [...]

March 27, 2015 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard: Gilbey’s (Eton)

I know and like Windsor. With the River Thames flowing through the town, the castle looking down on it and the scenic Thames Valley, Daffers has spent many a good time there. My hotel of choice is the Sir Christopher Wren beautifully positoned on Eton Bridge. It comprises a main building with [...]

March 25, 2015 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard: the River Cafe

The River Cafe was founded by Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray in 1987 and is still going strong. Off the top of my head I cannot think of  any restaurant that has lasted so long under the same ownership. More surprisingly is that it has done so with an unpromising location in Rainville Road, SW6 between [...]

March 19, 2015 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard / 64 Degees: lost its compass?

We critics do have the fault of once we approve or disapprove a restaurant we do not visit it again. For sometime 64 Degrees has enjoyed a stellar reputation and I have visited the Brghton branch at least 10 times and the Pimlico the once. High standards were maintained. However I visited the [...]

March 12, 2015 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard/Le Caprice

One of my recurrent themes is that enjoyable dining is not just about the food and wine. Service, ambience, value, location, value all contribute to the experience too. Integral to service and ambience is someone who is properly in charge and for more years that I can remember Jesu has been at the [...]

February 28, 2015 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard/the restaurants of Lewes

The last and only time I was in Lewes must have been 15 years ago en route to Glyndebourne. Olly and I were going to the opera with some clients of his and Daffers was on her best behaviour as we boarded a routemaster bus the men in black tie and us ladies in our finery which took us to the famous [...]

February 21, 2015 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard: Danny’s, Hove

In Paris there are essentially 3 types of restaurant: the famous establishment for serious foodies like Ducasse, the Jules Verne In the Eiffel Tower, Tour d’Argent, the well known brasseries like la Coupole, Bofinger, Closerie des Lilas and the neighbourhood restaurant which every Parisien [...]

February 13, 2015 // 0 Comments

The Colony Grill/ Beaumont Hotel

I was intrigued to see how the Corbin/King combo who brought us the Caprice and Ivy and now Wolseley and Fischers would fares in their latest venture – a hotel (the Beaumont). The short answer seems to be very well. The hotel has at first sight an unusual location in that rather anonymous [...]

January 24, 2015 // 0 Comments

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