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Jay Rayner

Restaurant Critic and Feature Writer

Jay Rayner joined the Financial Times in 2025. He has covered everything from crime and politics to the arts and social affairs but for more than 25 years has been best known as a restaurant critic for the Observer, a role he continues for the FT. He has published over a dozen books and is the host of BBC Radio 4' Kitchen Cabinet. He regularly performs live, both as a jazz pianist and in one-man shows, details of which can be found on his website jayrayner.co.uk.

Follow Jay on Instagram and BlueSky​

Email Jay Rayner
  • Saturday, 31 January, 2026
    FT MagazineRestaurants
    ‘The late-night hideaway London needs’ — Jay Rayner reviews Dover St Counter in Mayfair

    A vibey little bistro from former Soho House exec Martin Kuczmarski

    An abstract illustration shows figures holding wine glasses in a softly lit bar setting
  • Saturday, 24 January, 2026
    FT MagazineRestaurants
    The pub that refused to die — Jay Rayner reviews The Highland Laddie in Leeds

    This old boozer, ringed by newbuilds, exceeds all expectations — and it’s got a mustard menu

    Surreal illustration combining seafood, animals and drink in a dense, decorative composition
  • Saturday, 17 January, 2026
    ReviewFT Magazine
    ‘Great highs and thudding lows’ — Jay Rayner reviews Poon’s, the Strand

    This kind of Chinese restaurant without stir fries feels like a joke without a punchline

    Colourful cartoonish illustration depicting an aerial view of someone eating a bowl of noodles from a patterned-china bowl: both the left and right hands are holding pairs of chopsticks, suggesting that the diner is eating quickly and voraciously.
  • Saturday, 10 January, 2026
    FT MagazineRestaurants
    A journey through the multiverse of Caribbean cooking — Jay Rayner reviews two new openings in south London 

    South London restaurants 2210 by NattyCanCook and RapChar are serving food to excite and intrigue

    Illustrated still life featuring bananas, sliced fruit, seafood and tropical birds on a vivid patterned background
  • Saturday, 3 January, 2026
    FT Magazine
    Salad bars have changed. Are they better for it?

    Jay Rayner goes for a restorative stroll down Piccadilly and is ambushed by temptation

    The image shows a variety of salads including varied ingredients such as roasted vegetables, pioneered by Yotam Ottolenghi.
  • Saturday, 27 December, 2025
    FT MagazineRestaurants
    Noodles worth getting weird about — Jay Rayner reviews Maneki Ramen, Birmingham

    A restaurant that takes the essentials seriously — and remembers the desserts

    Illustration of two babies depicted within a bowl of spaghetti
  • Saturday, 27 December, 2025
    FT SeriesThe joy of January — a food & drink special
    Is any meal worth three days’ cooking?

    Jay Rayner goes all in with a glorious menu of multi-day dishes, including his cassoulet recipe

    A rustic spread of dishes including a bowl of cassoulet, a partially sliced Basque cheesecake, stewed fruit, and a plate with bread and raw vegetables.
  • Monday, 22 December, 2025
    FT Globetrotter
    London’s best new restaurants of 2025

    The debuts that most delighted the FT’s food writers and editors this year

    Four chefs in white uniforms prepare food at a stainless steel counter in the open kitchen of Humble Chicken 3.0, London.
  • Saturday, 20 December, 2025
    FT MagazineRestaurants
    Leather tabards. Pork scratchings. Flaming desserts — Jay Rayner reviews Rosi, London

    The food of the 1970s could sing, and here it does so with indulgent flair

    Illustration of food and drink items arranged before a weathered Union Jack
  • Friday, 19 December, 2025
    Q&AAsk an Expert
    What should I cook this festive season? You asked, we answered

    The FT’s food writers replied to reader questions

  • Saturday, 13 December, 2025
    FT MagazineRestaurants
    A restaurant that restored my faith in tasting menus — Jay Rayner visits Vetch in Liverpool

    In an age of self-important philosopher-chefs, this charming and clever eatery offers multi-course dining without a hint of pomposity or pretension

    A cartoon figure wearing a crown sits on a pile of assorted foods, balancing on a single green pea
  • Saturday, 29 November, 2025
    FT SeriesFT Weekend Magazine’s Christmas issue
    Jay Rayner shares two of his best festive recipes

    A chopped liver recipe inspired by a famous New York bagel shop and a boozy Mont Blanc

  • Saturday, 29 November, 2025
    FT SeriesFT Weekend Magazine’s Christmas issue
    The experts’ guide to the Christmas food and drink that really matters — and how to get it right

    If you could only choose one festive treat, what would it be? Nigella Lawson, Jay Rayner, Jancis Robinson and more share their non-negotiables 

    A table laid with a white cloth, with a glass vase of red flowers to the right, is laid with a selection of food: smoked salmon with a slice of lemon, a slice of panettone, a whole glazed ham carved to show the interior, and a large chunk of gorgonzola cheese with a bunch of grapes next to it
  • Saturday, 22 November, 2025
    Restaurants
    Nigella and Tucci are right to love Ratanà — Jay Rayner reviews a cult restaurant in Milan

    Hip London wine bars are awash with Italian regional cuisine, but they can’t match the real thing for atmosphere

    A colourful illustration featuring saffron flowers, pasta shapes and trams surrounding a cathedral-like structure
  • Saturday, 15 November, 2025
    FT MagazineRestaurants
    A thrilling introduction to the food of Hunan — Jay Rayner reviews Fiery Flavors in Southwark

    A chilli-doused Chinese culinary adventure in the shadow of Canary Wharf

    Illustration of a fish surrounded by red chillies and chopsticks on a fiery background
  • Saturday, 8 November, 2025
    FT MagazineRestaurants
    ‘Camp, chaotic, Queen-themed . . . and potentially very good — Jay Rayner reviews Lilibet’s, Mayfair’

    This silly, spendy seafood restaurant has the potential to be an awful lot of fun

    Colourful illustration of fish interspersed with flowers and their stems
  • Saturday, 1 November, 2025
    Restaurants
    ‘One of my picks of the year’ — Jay Rayner reviews Starling in Surrey

    ‘Great British Menu’ winner Nick Beardshaw has created that rare thing: a restaurant that gets everything right

    Illustration of surreal figures and flowers surrounding a person lying on a food dish in red sauce.
  • Wednesday, 29 October, 2025
    ReviewFT Books Essay
    It’s not about the food — Jay Rayner on the secret of a great restaurant

    Is entrepreneurship plus celebrity a recipe for success? Our critic savours a clutch of memoirs by restaurateurs, from The Ivy’s Jeremy King to Drew Nieporent’s venture with Robert De Niro

    A montage of three images shows two men in suits at a restaurant table with a vase of flowers and posters behind them; a dark-bearded man in a suit studying plans in a restaurant; a grey-bearded man wearing a blue top standing in a kitchen with a set of chef’s knives and a bowl of fruit.
  • Saturday, 25 October, 2025
    Restaurants
    It takes two specialist Japanese restaurants – Jay Rayner reviews Katsuro and Hinaga, London

    First a proper katsu then a venue change for afters

    Illustration of two people using chopsticks to hold small fantastical creatures in a swirl of colours
  • Saturday, 18 October, 2025
    Restaurants
    A reassuringly good Anglo-French neighbourhood restaurant — Jay Rayner reviews Brasserie Constance, Fulham

    Hidden within Fulham FC is a dining experience overseen by chef Adam Byatt

    Colourful collage with a rooster, fish, and artichoke set before abstract structures
  • Saturday, 11 October, 2025
    Restaurants
    ‘Sublime, transcendent . . . and morally complex?’ Jay Rayner reviews Legado, Shoreditch

    Beautiful suckling pig served with a side of existential crisis

    Illustration of winged pigs with halos flying above a person at a table
  • Saturday, 11 October, 2025
    The Weekend Essay
    How high-end restaurants went global

    As a new generation sets out in the footsteps of Nobu and Zuma, Jay Rayner examines the rise of ‘luxe’ food chains — and whether it has come at a cost

  • Saturday, 4 October, 2025
    Restaurants
    Italian food for hedgies to talk over, not about — Jay Rayner reviews Campanelle in the City

    Have you ever dreamt of splitting a bistecca while gazing out on an office atrium? 

    An illustration of a squid, crab, tiger, fairy-like girl, and seashell creature gathered together on a sandy surface shaped like a plate.
  • Saturday, 27 September, 2025
    Restaurants
    ‘A cheery slap about the chops’ — Jay Rayner reviews Island, King’s Cross

    Tom Brown and Brad Carter’s new venture thoroughly reinvents surf ’n’ turf

    Illustration of three surreal cocktail garnishes featuring marine and bird motifs
  • Saturday, 20 September, 2025
    Restaurants
    Doesn’t this grande dame of a hotel deserve better? — Jay Rayner reviews The Nettlefold at Burgh Island

    Come for the dreamy art deco and Agatha Christie lore, not the food

    Illustration of two chefs in a swirling current surrounded by vegetables
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