Restaurants: Transatlantic crossing
A new crop of restaurants is showing that the US has more to offer than burgers. By Nikki Spencer
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Your support makes all the difference.Mention American food and most people automatically conjure up images of burgers and Tex-Mex. But with Thanksgiving looming, there's a growing number of places in the UK offering something a little finer than the ubiquitous quarter pounder or ribs.
Banana leaf-wrapped king snapper, Merida clam broth and pasilla-dusted root- vegetable pastada are the kinds of dishes offered at Canyon (right), a new restaurant in Richmond, Surrey, that's run by the same people who already operate the critically acclaimed Montana and Dakota restaurants in the capital.
The trend for south-western American cuisine started in the US in the late 1980s and was introduced here by Brits returning from working abroad. Christopher Gilmour set up Christopher's in Covent Garden because he wanted to offer the kind of cuisine he'd been used to eating while working in Chicago. Similarly, Kevin Finch opened Montana after working in the States. "I always thought that the kind of colourful and bold-flavoured food that they were serving in America would be particularly attractive to British people."
It certainly seems to be the case. Montana has been joined by Cactus Blue in Fulham - run by Maxwells Restaurants, who also run Navajo Joe.
Another Montana is also due to open in Highgate in February, although it's not just south-western American cuisine that's gaining in popularity in the capital. Kevin Finch is also opening a private dining club in Westminster at the beginning of next year, but this time the cuisine will be New England.
"I think there's a growing interest in all kinds of American food - as with American wines.
"People are coming back from America and realising that there are quite different regional cuisines in existence and they want to try them here," he explains.
Montana, 125/129 Dawes Rd, London SW6 (0171-385 9500)
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