It’s unboxing time as I get my hands on beautiful Burgundy-bound copies of my new baby, Nights Out In The Kitchen, a sequel to Nights Out At Home. Published Sep 3. Find a link to preorder in my Linktree in bio.

Ah, my favourite PR approach: the one suggesting I review the restaurant to which I gave an absolute slating less than a year ago, because a quick google is far too much trouble.

I was about to do the washing up when I came across this email from the economist and decided to read it instead.

To mark the release of the Anthony Bourdain origin story biopic Tony, I’ve written about his legacy for @ftweekend.com. Link to the piece below for FT subscribers but here are a few paras. www.ft.com/content/6daf...

Bolero is an extraordinary piece of music: a soloist’s piece, for orchestra; a rhythmic exercise; a vibe. But right now I just keep thinking about the percussionist on the snare, and how Ravel must just have hated drummers.

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Jay Rayner@jayrayner1.bsky.social · 4d ago

At the start of 2026 there were two print outlets at Brixton tube. The kiosk inside the station closed in January due to tfl rent rises. Now what was WH Smith’s is going. Yes ‘old man shakes fist at clouds’ vibe. But also it’s sad. Buys sub to @privateeyenews.bsky.social and @thefence.bsky.social

At the start of 2026 there were two print outlets at Brixton tube. The kiosk inside the station closed in January due to tfl rent rises. Now what was WH Smith’s is going. Yes ‘old man shakes fist at clouds’ vibe. But also it’s sad. Buys sub to @privateeyenews.bsky.social and @thefence.bsky.social

For today’s @ftweekend.com I am at Oudh 1722, a new London restaurant from Aktar Islam of award-garlanded Opheem in Birmingham. And oh it’s good: chargrilled shrimp the length of a baby’s arm, a beef cheek nihari of endless depth, mango soft serve. www.ft.com/content/9b6a...

A little smoked fish curry (plus clams and mussels) for the last night in Devon.

For today’s @ftweekend.com I am at Banquet 88 in st Katherine’s Dock celebrating the joys of the functionally designed Chinese restaurant, where the big light is on and the stars are the superb dim sum and roast Cantonese meats. www.ft.com/content/eca8...

Not much to add to the words in the image except some people are arseholes.

I’m in a bar and the bar man has just said they serve an “alternate universe margarita’. I don’t want to find out.

From now until Friday Waterstones are offering 25% off preorders of Nights Out In The Kitchen pink sep 3. And there’s loads in it: not just recipes incl home made baklava, bbq sauce chicken wings, and smoked fish curry but all the stories to go with them. www.waterstones.com/book/nights-...

Oh. Okay.

I have a second piece in @ftweekend.com in which, as I approach my 60th, I celebrate all the things I will not apologise for hating. It was very therapeutic to write. www.ft.com/content/6bdd...

Have some pics to go with this. The crab and avocado salad presented as a baffled girl in a bonnet, the £13 tarama with the £9 bread basket (bought in from elsewhere), the broccoli with dessert sweet praline and the Guinness madeleine looking like a gift from my cat. More info in alt text.

Jay Rayner@jayrayner1.bsky.social · 3w ago

For today’s @ftweekend.com I went to Jul’s, a frankly weird, charmless, over priced calamity of a restaurant in st james’s. I did this so you wouldn’t have to. Have the first paragraph and a link. www.ft.com/content/b5eb...

For today’s @ftweekend.com I went to Jul’s, a frankly weird, charmless, over priced calamity of a restaurant in st james’s. I did this so you wouldn’t have to. Have the first paragraph and a link. www.ft.com/content/b5eb...

So did Farage def get his nomination papers in then?

Leaving a hotel bar an American woman says “it’s you isn’t it”. I nod politely and move on before, curious, turning on my heels and asking who exactly she thinks I am. “Penn Jillette?” Look. It’s better than Gadaffi.

A quick head's up for anyone coming to tomorrow nights Kitchen Cabinet record in London's Chelsea. You will have received an email but just in case, we have pulled the recording time forward to 6.30pm because of the England game.

A confected fear for his “personal security” is going to be the excuse Farage gives for withdrawing from the by-election isn’t it.

On August 25 I’m doing a one off Work in Progress performance of my new Nights Out In The Kitchen show before it goes on tour, at the Circle & Star in Hampstead. There are just 20 tickets left. jayrayner.circleandstar.live

Jay Rayner: Nights Out in the Kitchen — Circle & Star

See it in Hampstead before it tours nationally. Fane’s national tour starts early — a room of 55, Tue 25 Aug 2026 · Doors 7:00pm. Circle & Star presents a Fane tour with Jay Rayner.

jayrayner.circleandstar.live

Some of the reporting today both by journalists and across social media suggests too many people either don’t understand common law contempt of court or simply don’t care.

For today’s @ftweekend.com I am in Cambridge at the lovely Margaret’s, which offers a mixture of à la carte and set menu and it all works: gazpacho, asparagus and canapés to start; pork loin or monkfish for mains; strawberry or chocolate for dessert. www.ft.com/content/dcba...

A fun thread from @mitchbenn.bsky.social which proposes a scenario re Farage which, well, read for yourself.

Mitch Benn@mitchbenn.bsky.social · 4w ago

GUYS - I’ve just realised what Farage is going to do… The thing is he now has NO WAY to proceed which doesn’t humiliate him. If he wins, he is, as Rachel Reeves put it, The Man Who Spent His Summer Arguing With A Bin. If he bails, he’s The Man Who Fled From A Bin. And if he LOSES…

In these circs, if there is a by-election, it strikes me there’s a strong chance that Count Binface might just win.

In 2015 while staying at the four seasons in New York (for some thing or other) the hotel sent this up to my room. But to be clear it wasn’t an expression of jazz through food; it was just a chocolate piano.

Jay Rayner@jayrayner1.bsky.social · last mo.

Just received a breathless press release from a Danish restaurant which says the kitchen decided to apply the principles of jazz to cooking. As someone with a size 12 foot firmly inserted deep in both camps, my conclusion, having read it all, is: they are not musicians.

Just received a breathless press release from a Danish restaurant which says the kitchen decided to apply the principles of jazz to cooking. As someone with a size 12 foot firmly inserted deep in both camps, my conclusion, having read it all, is: they are not musicians.

There has been some speculation as to why I haven’t been seen in and around Madison Square Garden for Taylor and Travis’s wedding. I just want to clear the air. No beef. No drama. I just don’t know them and so wasn’t invited. Please respect my privacy at this difficult time.

For today’s @ftweekend.com, marking the US 250th, I’m at Appalachia, a new counter restaurant in London’s Shoreditch which is less mountain country restaurant than Brooklyn hipster outfit, in a good way. (The forth pic is a magnificent crab and ginger omelette) www.ft.com/content/a2de...