I’ve written about Jay Rayner before, using that very line or similar [see here] and so it must be true.

But he has been away for a while. Not from his weekly restaurant reviews in Sunday’s The Observer Magazine, but having stopped for some time – as far as I recall – being critical of the places he has visited.

That’s good news for those restaurants. And Rayner is a fine writer whether praising or the opposite. Yet I do enjoy reading the more questioning.

In this Sunday’s Seabird review, he does have a number of positive things to say about some of the food. However, this was my favourite section,

‘People complain when I criticise waiters, given the dismal pay and the misery of dealing with people in general and me in particular. I sympathise. We all hate people and I hate me. But service is a part of the deal and if it’s administered with all the grace of an unlubricated colonoscopy, it has to be mentioned.’  © Jay Rayner