restaurant

The Mirror’s Milo Boyd went to check out a chicken and chips restaurant owned by a 80s hit maker

It seems like the celebrity world and his dog are getting in on the restaurant and pub game at the moment.

There is, of course, Ian McKellen’s The Grapes, James Blunt’s Fox and Pheasant, rugby legend Gavin Henson’s The Fox and even Bertie Blossoms, which is owned by Ed Sheeran.

The reason why stars are investing in the world of food and drink isn’t completely clear, as least from the outside. The restaurant industry is notoriously difficult to make money in, and celebrity-owned restaurants have a chequered history. Planet Hollywood launched in 1991 to great fanfare, thanks to its famous investors, including Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Sylvester Stallone. However, it filed for bankruptcy just a few years later. It was followed shortly after by Fashion Cafe, an international restaurant chain fronted by Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer.

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Gemma Krysko, co-director of Manchester-based PR agency We Are Indigo, argues that celebrities who don’t attach their names or faces to hospitality ventures have the best chance of success. Which might sound counterintuitive, given their personal brands are what they trade off.

“People like the authenticity of a restaurant being owned by a family or an independent, or someone who’s working really hard to do well in life and have some success. Sometimes, when people already have a successful background or are quite well off do something, it might feel like it’s a bit tacky,” she told Vice.

Mikkeller is a bar brand with more than 250 branches across 37 countries, so it’s far from an independent joint. However, two of its London venues are the quiet work of 80s musical icon, Rick Astley. You would be forgiven for not knowing that the ‘Never going to give you up’ hitmaker was involved if you just walked past Mikkeller Bar London in Shoreditch or its sister brewpub in Exmouth Market.

The latter looks right at home on the trendy street, with its striped yellow awning, rust-effect signage and space for beer drinkers to spill out front when the sun is shining. It was not like that when I visited in January, to shelter from the rain and to try out the 40 million record-selling artist’s fare.

The two-floor venue contains a bar and restaurant, as well as a brewery that can produce 7.5 hectoliters of beer at a time. The in-house brewery supplies the bar with completely fresh beer, as well as infusing the space with the comforting aroma of malt and hops. I appreciated dining beneath the large, chrome-brushed beer silos and the slightly dramatic towers of stacked potato sacks, which lent the place a feeling, even if the concept of an exposed, Pompidou Centre-style pub feels a little 2010s at this point.

Sadly, the menu doesn’t include any Astley-based Easter eggs (or at least not any I could find), but it does feature a wide range of delicious beers. A pint of Freshly Squeezed IPA for me, and Lucky Saint on draft for my Dry January friend, knocked us back £14.30 in total. Which is pretty much standard in this part of London.

Those with better knowledge of the Lancashire crooner’s back catalogue may be able to glean some hint of Astley in the current drinks list, which includes: Grand, Market Best, Never Enough, Jerry the Berry, Grandma’s Fridge Cake, DDH PCP, Market Weiss, Wonky Chi, Mic Drop, Common Ground, Black Pearl, Beech Life and The Golden Rule. What was conspicuously absent was the singer’s own brew, ginger-infused lager Astley’s Northern Hop.

There is not a huge amount in Astley’s working life beyond music – which includes providing a voice for The LEGO Batman Movie, as a fundraiser for cancer charity Maggie’s Centers and driving for his dad’s market-gardening business – to suggest he’d gone into the chicken and chips business. Or that he’d do it so well.

But both happen to be true. Mikkeller’s food is delicious and good value.

Three of us ate for £55 and left feeling stuffed and satisfied. This is more than I can say for my trip to James Blunt’s pub early in January, when the eye-watering prices meant I chose my bank balance over satiation. For that price in Astley’s place, we got two portions of crinkle cut fries, crispy plant nuggets, a vegan fried chick’n sandwich, and two meaty chicken sandos.

Both types of sandwich were made on a bed of brioche ‘Texas toast’ and stuffed alongside ‘Comeback Sauce’, pickles and vinegar slaw. Clearly, Mikkeller has embraced the latest advances in fake meat production technology as the chick’n had all the crisp, bounce, and tenderness you can hope for from something that has spent no time in a coop. The chicken version was similarly “excellent”, my companions informed me. Other menu options include chicken parm, Caesar salad, and fried chicken strips.

Mikkeller is unlikely to win any awards for restaurant innovation anytime soon. It’s a place that, stylistically, has more in common with Five Guys and Brew Dog than one of the cosy celebrity-owned pubs mentioned above. But what it is, is a spacious, fairly central London brewpub with a great, reasonably priced menu that’s perfect for a spot of Saturday afternoon indulgence.

Josef Centeno, who once dominated the corner of 4th and Main streets in downtown L.A. with his “Centenoplex” of restaurants, all centered around cozy Bäco Mercat, closed his Tex-Mex-ish restaurant Bar Amá in December to open Le Dräq, which brings the most popular dishes from the two restaurants onto one menu, including cheesy bäco bread, a mushroom coca made with vegan dough and green chicken enchiladas. Expect the menu to rotate often but to consistently feature eight dishes from Bäco Mercat, eight from Bar Amá and eight from Takoria, a new market-driven concept. The house burger is a standout, with pillowy milk bread from Centeno’s Orsa & Winston restaurant next door, a thick beef patty, Havarti cheese, and iceberg lettuce and raw red onion for crunch.

The Queen of Pop has been visiting the seaside town and raved about its arts scene and favourite Italian restaurant to her 20million Instagram followers.

Madonna has stunned residents in a British seaside town after spending time discovering its attractions. The pop icon typically travels between major cities such as New York, Los Angeles and London.

Yet she broke from tradition this weekend by choosing to visit the coastal town of Margate in Kent. She mixed with residents at a free arts festival and spent time with acclaimed artist Tracey Emin.

Margate clearly made an impression on Madonna, as she gushed about the town to her 20 million Instagram followers.

Margate has experienced a revival in recent years due to its thriving arts and culture scene. Growing numbers of visitors have descended on the town to enjoy its sandy beach, vintage fairground and numerous restaurants.

The town has a population of just over 60,000 and sits roughly 80 miles from London. Frequently described as England’s trendiest seaside destination, Margate could see an even bigger surge following Madonna’s seal of approval, reports the Express.

The Hung Up singer praised friend Tracey Emin and her contributions to Margate. Madonna said: “I have known Tracey for over 25 years and I’ve always been a fan of her extremely personal and provocative work.

“But what she has created in this community by the sea is quite remarkable.”

She highlighted Tracey’s artist residency programme, which offers emerging artists from across the globe the opportunity to live and create in Margate for several months.

Madonna disclosed she has visited Margate “a few times now” and has been impressed by the “commitment and passion” displayed by local artists.

She added: “Not only that, but the whole town seems to be inhabited and energized by creativity. Writers and performance artists, photographers, and painters. This is my idea of heaven.”

The music icon described her personal connection to Margate: “Whenever I go there, I feel like I’ve entered a dream.

“On top of all of that, I get to eat at my favourite Italian restaurant which I’m not giving anyone the name of because then everyone’s going to go there and it only has one table! !”.

L.A.’s coastal and canyon communities are resilient and rebuilding since the Palisades fire destroyed nearly 7,000 structures, including some of the city’s most locally beloved and iconic restaurants. Those that survived the blaze have become even more vital as communal linchpins and gathering places of Palisades, Topanga and Malibu residents.

In the Palisades, Sunset Boulevard snakes past swaths of burned-out lots, some punctuated by scaffolding and excavators beginning the rebuilding process. It winds past signs for road closures, park closures, business closures, and past signs that declare “REBUILDING TOGETHER” and “THEY LET US BURN.”

Neighboring Topanga Canyon saw fewer destroyed structures than the Palisades but faces its own extended rebuilding. Powerline repairs and landslides blocked the canyon’s PCH entry for much of 2025, and this access point, when open, is often whittled down to a single lane. Restaurants, the weekly farmers market and other businesses regularly post to social media to raise awareness that “Topanga is open.”

Farther north along PCH, Malibu restaurants are just beginning to recover. The scenic highway closed to nonresidents for the first five months of 2025. In the time since, business has gradually returned — but chefs, restaurateurs and staff say it still feels far more depleted than before the fire. Even toward the northern edge of the city, where Lily Castro sells burritos far from the Palisades fire’s reach, the popular restaurateur says business fell as much as 50% last year.

Some online listings and maps still mark destroyed restaurants as currently open, misrepresenting how affected many of these businesses remain.

A few restaurants managed to relocate and reopen, such as Flour Pizzeria in Brentwood and Cinque Terre West in Venice, both previously in the Palisades. Others already had additional locations, such as Cholada Thai’s Long Beach outpost or Cafe Vida’s in Culver City and El Segundo. Some are gradually rebuilding and readying to reopen, such as Duke’s, which survived the fire but suffered more than a year of closure due to the ensuing mudslides and flooding. Some, like the Reel Inn, are navigating an arduous rebuilding process rife with red tape and mixed messages.

You can help by visiting and supporting local dining spots. Here’s how to eat your way through some of the best restaurants of the coast and Topanga Canyon, including new Malibu destinations for sake, sushi and oysters; one of L.A.’s most scenic farmers markets; some of the city’s best burritos; and the sibling restaurant to the iconic Moonshadows.