PubChef's round up of what the critic's have penned recently about pub food

The Island College Road, London 0208 960 0693 Zoe Williams, The Sunday Telegraph, 21 Oct

You'll think I have something against duck eggs, which I don't, but there is only one earthly point to them: 'This isn't a fried egg, this is a posh fried egg!' they yell. 'Make up your mind Eliza Doolittle,' is what I would say, were I having a frank and open discussion with this starter... Deciding that the mackerel wasn't as big as it could be, they'd draped a sardine artfully on top of it. It was a touch overcooked and dry, and the burnt butter wasn't burnt enough. Or maybe it was too burnt. I don't actually know; I only know it lacked the eerie, inexplicable deliciousness for which burnt butter is famed.

The Devonshire Chiswick, London 0207 592 7962 Richard Vines, bloomberg.com, 19 Oct

The food and cooking, over three meals this week, was of a generally high standard, let down only by crunchy fries that appeared to have been gently cooking for some time under heat lamps, and soggy batter that made a lovely piece of hake mushy. (On the third visit, the batter and chips were fine.) Among the starters, devilled lamb's kidneys on toast (£5.50) are just superb, their richness complemented by a peppery sauce.

The Only Running Footman Mayfair, London 0207 499 2988 Terry Durack The Independent, 21 Oct

Lunch kicks off with grilled sardines (£6.50), the three of them beached on a splashy bright-red Virgin Mary sauce, with a hillock of chunky avocado salsa, and a more unusual starter of Neathercleave farm snails, laver bread and duck-fat toast (£8.50). About a dozen fat, fleshy snails come with mossy, slimy splodges of laver bread, which, as you know, is Welsh seaweed similar to Japanese nori. There is toast, but it tastes neither of duck nor fat. The snails are chewy, unlike the tender little babies I tried recently at Great Queen Street in Covent Garden.