THE ritualistic hullabaloo about Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers's River Cafe CookBook Two (Ebury Press, £25) has subsided somewhat, which gives us breathing space to actually look critically at the book.
It's basically more of the same as their first venture: a stupendous design by the Senate design house, which deserves every award it will win, lots of lovely photographs - including the seemingly compulsory Lord Rogers (Ruth Rogers's architect husband) study, and lots of recipes which one can find in many other books on Italian cooking.
The recipes follow the same functional pattern as before, being merely a recital of the ingredients and then an exposition of the technique. Cynics might suggest that this is because the authors don't fully understand the philosophy of the food, but merely love its peasant chicness. So, full marks for style, but the brilliant, philosophically rich works of Ada Boni and Marcella Hazan will continue to be the books I will consult.