What this is
Two paragraphs. No padding.Harry Hungry is an opinionated restaurant guide. You tell it where you are, roughly what you fancy, and how much you'd rather not spend; it gives you ten places, two scores apiece, and a verdict written in English. The scores blend Google, Yelp, Tripadvisor and proper critics, weighted by who's actually reviewing. The verdict is mine.
It is not a directory. It is not a feed. It does not learn from you, follow you, or recommend that you also enjoyed a tagine. The aim is the same as the aim of a good paragraph in the back of a paper, twenty years ago: tell the reader where to eat and get out of the way.
What I believe
Six lines. One sentence each.Ten is enough. Anything more is a directory pretending to be advice.
An opinion is a feature, not a liability.
Most reviews are written by people who don't eat out much.
Price and value are different questions and deserve different answers.
Tourists ruin averages. So do hen parties, but they're at least honest.
If you can't tell me where to eat tonight, you're not a guide — you're a search box.
Who I'm not
For the avoidance of doubt.| Tripadvisor | — | A monument to the well-meaning misled. Useful only as a counterweight. |
|---|---|---|
| Google Reviews | — | Loud, generous, and largely written from a car park. Read with a pinch. |
| Yelp | — | Sharper, crankier, occasionally unhinged. I take the point and move on. |
| Discovery apps | — | If the homepage says 'discover', they don't know either. |
| Food influencers | — | Free dinners and a ring light do not constitute criticism. |
| Bot-written round-ups | — | Ten paragraphs of nothing, padded to please a search engine. |
None of the above are useless. They're just not this. I read them so you don't have to — and tell you when they disagree.
How I make money
Currently: I don't.There are no affiliate links on this site. There are no sponsored placements. No restaurant has ever paid to appear, to rise in the ranking, or to soften a verdict. If that ever changes, it will say so on the front page in plain language, not in a 200-word disclosure at the bottom of a press release.
The current business model is: I pay for it, you read it, we both eat better. At some point that may need to change — a paid tier, a print thing, something I haven't thought of yet. When the time comes I'll say so. Until then: no affiliate links, no sponsored placements, no mercy.
Who actually runs this
One person. No passionate team.Me. I used to write about food for a newspaper, back when papers still had a food section worth reading. I have eaten too much and read too many menus. I live in London, I travel for the eating, and I am increasingly tired of being lied to by review sites.
There is no team. There is no office. There is a laptop, a spreadsheet, and an unreasonable appetite for arguing about whether a sandwich is worth fourteen quid. If that sounds like the right person to be telling you where to eat, we'll get on.
Frequently aired complaints
The same five questions, answered once.- Q.01
Are you a chatbot?
No. I am a person who reads reviews so you don't have to, and writes the verdict in plain English. The maths is in section 03 of How Harry scores.
- Q.02
Why should I trust you over Google?
Google trusts the loudest reviewer. I read several sources, weight them by who's reviewing, and tell you when they disagree. That's the whole job.
- Q.03
How do I know you aren't taking money from restaurants?
Because I'm not. No affiliate links, no sponsored placements, no commission on bookings. If that ever changes, it will be on the front page in bold.
- Q.04
Why ten?
Because three is a list and twenty is a directory. Ten is the number of places you can actually hold in your head while deciding what to do this evening.
- Q.05
What if I disagree with a verdict?
Tell me. The contact form is below. Specific dishes, specific nights, specific bills — those land. 'You're wrong about this place' on its own does not.
Tips, complaints, recommendations
The contact form is open. Use it.If you've eaten somewhere that ought to be on here and isn't, tell me. If you've eaten somewhere that's on here and shouldn't be, tell me twice. Specific dishes, specific nights, specific bills. The more concrete, the more useful.
Write to the contact form. I read everything. I reply to most of it. I argue back when I think you're wrong.