Jay Rayner (born 14 September 1966) is a prominent English journalist and food critic known for his sharp, often acerbic restaurant reviews. After editing the Leeds Student newspaper at university, he worked for several major publications before joining The Observer in 1996, where he became its restaurant critic in 1999 and gained international fame for scathing reviews, including a widely shared takedown of the Paris restaurant Le Cinq. Beyond criticism, he has authored books on food, fiction, and the 1947 Star Dust aviation accident, and has presented the BBC's The Kitchen Cabinet and the podcast Out to Lunch. A familiar face on cooking shows like MasterChef, where he earned the nickname "Acid Rayner," he also founded the Jay Rayner Quartet (later Sextet) jazz band in 2012. In 2025, he transferred from The Observer to the Financial Times.