The book was well received by reviewers. Elizabeth Nicholas, writing for "The Sunday Times", thought David a "gastronome of rare integrity" who "refuses ... to make any ignoble compromises with expediency". Although John Chandos, writing in "The Observer", pointed out that "Let no one eating in London—with whatever abandon—imagine that he is eating Mediterranean food in the absence of Mediterranean earth and air", he finished his review by saying that the book "deserves to become the familiar companion of all who seek uninhibited excitement in the kitchen".