[rjs1]

Jun Tanaka's restaurant QC in Chancery Lane re-opened as Pearl on 23 June. I've been waiting to post a report but haven't seen a thread starting. Have I missed it, or is he such a low profile chef that no-one has noticed his re-emergence? It was reviewed in the Evening Standard.

[Andy Lynes]

Thread for QC is here.

[Gary Marshall]

i have heard some very good reports, apparently the £50 menu compares very well with what's on offer at the higher end in london.

also of interest an expensive wine preserver that allows them to offer decent wines by the glass and keep the rest of the bottle in good condition, in theory.

gary

[Scott]

I ate here when it was QC, and the food was pretty good. The space is dire, and I can't beleive that much has been done to solve the cavernous space that eats ambience.

[Hallie]

Scott, on Jul 26 2004, 08:34 AM, said:

The space is dire, and I can't beleive that much has been done to solve the cavernous space that eats ambience.

Yes, this was my general impression of the place as well.

I walked by the other day and noticed that the sign had changed and immediately peeked through the window to see if they had done something about the interior. All I could make out were what looked like colourful ribbons hanging from the ceiling. Then again, maybe I was hallucinating.

[rjs1]

Four of us ate there on the third night it was open (on a "you pay for the drinks, the food is on the house" preview deal).

They've thrown a lot of money at United Designers and the place is now warmer and more intimate, although I think it will work better at night than during the day. The lights are so low you need the staff to tell you what's written on the menu.

Overall I'd say that Jun Tanaka is now chasing the Tom Aikens and Shane Osbournes of this world, and has refined his cuisine to two-Michelin stat level; imho this isn't necessarily a good thing, as it was the gutsiness of what he was doing at QC that appealed to me.

Two dishes stood out: caramalised scallops with cavolo nero puree and crispy squid, and wild strawberry cheesecake.

The wine list offers excitement but at eye-watering prices; £44 for Ayala NV champagne, anyone?

I'm looking forward to trying it again, probably early evening when the lunchtime formula is available from 6 to 7.

[Gary Marshall]

going for lunch on friday

will report back....

gary

[Bapi]

Hard for you to do I know , but avoid the cheese young Marshall

This post has been edited by Bapi: 02 August 2004 - 08:46 AM

[Gary Marshall]

yes, i saw that.

as long as they kraft cheese slices (individually wrapped for freshness) i'll be fine

gary

This post has been edited by Gary Marshall: 02 August 2004 - 12:41 PM

[Andy Lynes]

The Giles Coren review is an example of poor restaurant criticism and is an abuse of power: English critic is chastised by French waiter, critic takes up 696 words of a 1,222 word review getting own back on waiter in print when he should have been telling his readers what they might expect if they dined at Pearl. Critic dresses up the dressing down by attempting to appear to be more of an expert on cheeses than the waiter by typing "Crottin de Chavignol" into google and cut and pasting results into review (after putting them into his own words of course, I'm not about to accuse anyone of plagerism).

[Suzi Edwards]

my sarcasm-meter is on the blink.

are you being serious?

[Andy Lynes]

The first half of the post in undeniable fact, the second half is pure guess work. My intention was to underline a serious point with humour.

[Suzi Edwards]

shouldn't you be eating a burger at the moment?

[Andy Lynes]

I thought it was tomorrow. I don't know how that happened.

[rjs1]

My wife took a colleague to lunch at Pearl the other day and after a glass of champagne he wanted one glass of wine with his meal. The head sommelier made a recommendation (which her guest accepted) but didn't mention price. When Grace got the bill, she found that the glass of wine was £18.50...

We like the food, but that sort of thing leaves an unpleasant taste in the mouth.

[Andy Lynes]

OK, no one is allowed to say "Petrus" at this point or there'll be trouble...(whoops, sorry Gordon).

[Bapi]

Just thinking the very same thing !!

[Gary Marshall]

ok haven't got much time as dinner beckons but having had lunch there today i have much sympathy with coren.

cheese was in reasonable form, it was the staff that weren't (nb not the american sommelier he was excellent)

waiter 'what cheese would you like, cows, goats, mild, strong, etc'

me 'can you tell me what you've got' (ie the names)

waiter 'well, will it make any difference?!!!!!!'

well guess what i have eaten a bit of french cheese in my time so i affirmed my desire for the names, and guess what?

HE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THEY ALL WERE!

what a ************* what part of waiter training says look down on the customer, when you don't know the answers yourself?!

we didn't get stiffed on the champagne because i c hecked the list firsy, they do deutz for £9.75 a glass, and i gave the sommelier full reign on many of the drinks without the menu and he did us proud.

if you go, check the list and speak to the american and you should be fine. food was good, as was the room.

more to follow.....

[Andy Lynes]

Gary Marshall, on Aug 6 2004, 08:16 PM, said:

waiter 'what cheese would you like, cows, goats, mild, strong, etc'

me 'can you tell me what you've got' (ie the names)

waiter 'well, will it make any difference?!!!!!!'

That is such a gloriously inappropriate response as to be almost poetic.

(Now, if you can spin 600 words of relentless vitriol out of it, you too could be a restaurant critic for a national newspaper.)

[Marlyn4k]

To be honest I've not read a Giles Coren review before but Andy's post prompted me to do so...I see one suspiciously technical cheese paragraph, from someone who DEFINATELY DID NOT get their job through nepotism The ranting afterwards is quite unfortunate and I'm surprised it made the edit.

That said, I finished reading the article thinking that I can't wait to go there!

This post has been edited by Marlyn4k: 07 August 2004 - 04:36 PM

[rjs1]

Gary Marshall, on Aug 6 2004, 12:16 PM, said:

we didn't get stiffed on the champagne because i c hecked the list firsy, they do deutz for £9.75 a glass, and  i gave the sommelier full reign on many of the drinks without the menu and he did us proud.

if you go, check the list and speak to the american and you should be fine. food was good, as was the room.

Sorry, but it was the American sommelier (Michael Davis) who landed my wife with an £18.50 glass of wine for her guest without telling her what it cost when suggesting it. I've got a lot of time for the man in general, but that is completely out of order by any standards of restuarant service and I'll tell him so next time I see him.

[Gary Marshall]

rjs1, on Aug 8 2004, 07:09 PM, said:

Gary Marshall, on Aug 6 2004, 12:16 PM, said:

we didn't get stiffed on the champagne because i c hecked the list firsy, they do deutz for £9.75 a glass, and  i gave the sommelier full reign on many of the drinks without the menu and he did us proud.

if you go, check the list and speak to the american and you should be fine. food was good, as was the room.

Sorry, but it was the American sommelier (Michael Davis) who landed my wife with an £18.50 glass of wine for her guest without telling her what it cost when suggesting it. I've got a lot of time for the man in general, but that is completely out of order by any standards of restuarant service and I'll tell him so next time I see him.

in that case please disregard my advice.

it would be nice to think that there was at least one member of staff that didn't view the customers with disdain.

actually thinking about it he did first mention a wine that was £20 a glass but i had the menu so didn't bite, after that we stuck in the £11- £15 range.

it was quite an expensive lunch, given the menu is £24.95 for 3 courses, we paid £10 for the cheese.

gary

[magnolia]

Gary Marshall, on Aug 2 2004, 12:40 PM, said:

yes, i saw that.

as long as they kraft cheese slices (individually wrapped for freshness) i'll be fine

gary

I would respect a restaurant that served Kraft slices (individually wrapped for freshness, of course) more than one that charges £10 for a plate of grizzly, badly stored cheese-plate-worthy cheese...

I'm still keen to go but have been fairly warned about cheese, room and possibly overbearing service...

[Gary Marshall]

the first bit of tomme i tried did smell, well to paraphrase coren, 'like a little boys toilet'.

tasted fine though!

gary

[magnolia]

Gary Marshall, on Aug 9 2004, 03:08 AM, said:

the first bit of tomme i tried did smell, well to paraphrase coren, 'like a little boys toilet'.

tasted fine though!

gary

Tomme shouldn't smell like that, although Brie sometimes does (but shouldn't either)

[Gary Marshall]

i thought that but as it tasted ok, i didn't complain.

i was trying to keep my interaction with our waiter to a minimum by this point

gary

[Suzi Edwards]

Terry Durak sent the cheese cart away for not being "appealing" enough. review from the Independant

[Andy Lynes]

tarka, on Aug 16 2004, 04:47 PM, said:

Terry Durak sent the cheese cart away for not being "appealing" enough

... and manages to say so in 14 words. That's what I call a restaurant review.

[Suzi Edwards]

that's what i called haiku.

[Andy Lynes]

Thats what I call music vol 58.

(its been a long day.)