REVEL in a razor-sharp food critic's dining nightmares.

TV presenter and restaurant critic Jay Rayner will be describing his own personal dining hell when he appears at Bridport Arts Centre on Friday March 27 at 7.30pm.

The Observer restaurant critic and chair of BBC Radio 4’s Kitchen Cabinet will be examining our fascination with lousy reviews, recalling some of his worst nights out and sharing the most damning reviews his own work has received.

A restaurant critic for The Observer for more than a decade and with reviews of more than 700 establishments under his belt, if there is one thing he’s learnt it is that people like reviews of bad restaurants.

They adore them, feast upon them like starving vultures that have spotted fly-blown carrion out in the bush.

Many people will know Jay from his radio and television appearances particularly on the One Show, Masterchef and the Kitchen Cabinet.

He is always an eloquent and outspoken, sometimes rude, but always pertinent critic. During a very interesting hour he will share what motivates his writing, why we love his reviews, and all the different types of bad restaurant.

As well as examining our love affair with lousy reviews, reading from accounts of some of the most excruciating nights out he’s ever had, and looking at the worst reviews his own work has ever received, Jay invites the audience to give his performance a review in real time via Twitter.

Jay believes that after a long and stressful week filled with life’s little miseries, it’s good to sit down with the Sunday papers and witness someone being laid into. For the time it takes to read 1100 words, someone is having a much worse time than you are.

He also divulges his pet peeves, the things that immediately undermine his dining experience and attract the sharpest edge of his pen which are illustrated with brief videos starring Jay himself, acted out with an exaggerated earnestness that captures the kind of pretentiousness that he loves to undermine.

Tickets are available from Bridport Arts Centre.