Andy Lynes

(Adopts Homer Simpson voice) Hmmm - beignets. Interested by the bay leaf pannacotta; I've just had a lemon and thyme version served with Amaretto sponge and fig ice cream at Tom's Kitchen which was exceptional. I'm not really into herbs for pudding but it was really delicious.

F**k me, even I'm not that jaded! Go to a matinee at the National or something else you might have a chance of actually enjoying instead.

Here's a link to the column from which the above post has been "adapted" click here. You may both be singing from the same press release - or in fact be the same person - but just in case, credit where its due don't you think?

Booked in for early December, will report back then. Have heard good things about the cooking but everyone seems to agree that the portions are small and that charging for extras like bread and olives comes across as mean spirited: website. Stop press: a note from the restaurant's PR company has just been forwarded to me and says that " bread and olives are now served complimentary as is our still filtered water which is available unlimited throughout the meal."

The only time I went to the Food Room was for Phillip Britten's guest menu (which was fantastic) so I can't really compare, but I reckon there's a good chance you'll be favourably impressed.

It's gone now click here.

I thought they were never going to get rid of that bloody holding page. Nice job, although Brett looks a bit like a homeless person slumped next to the Ledbury Road sign.

But do we trust someone who thinks hot bread de rigueur? ← Yes. Also, "imitation plastic banquettes padded with an inch of recycled tights" and "Ducasse has the kohlrabis, but says he’s feeling better every day." is pure comedy gold.

Tom Ilic has just reappeared at "Tom Ilic" in what was the Food Room in Queenstown Road. The cooking is as impressive as ever and the prices are almost stupidly cheap at the moment - £5.5 for the signature braised pigs cheeks and £11.95 for an assiette of pork that wouldn't look out of place in a two star restaurant. Its not the most luxurious of places to eat, but its comfortable enough. The critics are onto him already - Fay Maschler was in last night so expect a review next week I would imagine.

I can't stand Market Kitchen (actually, I could end the sentance right there) when Matt Tebutt says he's going to roast something "through the oven". What, is it going in one end and coming out the other then Matt? What is he on about?

Hang on, it's just the Connaught isn't it? Claridges, Petrus, Maze and The Savoy are all still doing pretty well aren't they? ← The Savoy closes in December for a 16 month refurbishment. Its been rumoured that Ramsay won't re-open there. San Francisco based chef Michael Mina'a name has been connected with the hotel here for example.

I nipped in on the spur of the moment a couple of months ago and had a really good meal. I can't find the menu at the moment but I had an offal starter (which I now can't remember but recall thinking was delicious at the time) then rabbit with spring veg and aioli which was lovely and French toast with strawberry jam and vanilla ice cream to finish which sounds unexciting but hit the spot. Good service, nice room, great value wine (£15 bottle of Picpoul); what more could you ask.

If you'll excuse the horrible name dropping, I recently met Barry Mcguigan who recounted a few Hell's Kitchen anecdotes. The most memorable was Marco shouting for ceps from the pass, losing his patience and running over to Mcguigan's station, scooping the still frying 'shrooms from the pan with his bare hands, rushing back to the pass and placing them accuratley on the waiting plate.

My rather flippent point was that, apparently in the wake of McGee's writings, every Tom, Dick and Harry TV cook seems to feel the need to provide some scientific explanation for what they are doing, most of which fall apart under even the most cursory examination. The "galangal, a type of ginger" remark is a seperate example of regrettable cookery TV cliche.

Food TV will eat itself - given a voice, the audience simply (that's for you Tim) repeats back what they've heard for years on the telly. (And its not just food - I recently had the misfortune to be sat next to a bunch of football supporters on a train. We're they shouting, swigging beer and beating up innocent bystanders? No, they were discussing individual performances, tactics and managers as though they were sat between Ian Wright and Alan Hansen during an outside broadcast from Anfield.)

Apologies, you're quite correct. There are many examples, but its just not a phrase that I've been particularly aware of in mainstream food writing in the UK, but I'm sure I will notice it from now on. From the google results, it does appear that flavour profile can be legitimately used in the context of food chemistry e.g. here and also when viewing a flavour from side on. (OK. I made that last bit up.)

Where have you seen the term used? Surely this is an American thing isn't? But it is horrible. And while we're on the subject... Alton Brown saying "application" on Iron Chef America when he means "cooking method". Anyone saying "flavourful" - which, roughly translated means "I have no idea how to describe what I'm eating". Every food pundit on the bloody planet using the phraseology "The sweetness of the...." or "the saltiness of the...." etc Chefs saying "caramelised" when they mean "cooked" and all the other half baked pseudo scientific cobblers they seem duty bound to come up with these days (yeah, thanks a bunch Mr Harold McGee) Yet another bloody explanation that searing meat doesn't really seal in the juices ("doesn't it? Really!? Well, f**k me old boots. Any more revelations up the sleeve of your suspiciously pristine chef's jacket? Care to explain what galangal is by any chance?).

He knows what he likes, that Mark Palmer, I'll say that for him.

It was quite a performance - from both of them. The show is available for free on 4oD. You'll need to download the software from hereif you haven't got it already and the service is only availble in the UK and Ireland at the moment.

Does anyone understand the new Evening Standard format of having a main review where no rating is awarded? So far, there's been reviews of Marco, Divo and Hibiscus all with no rating. Does that mean all three restaurants are so bad in Fay's opinion that they deserve no stars, or that its less a review and more an article? Why give ratings with the shorter reviews and not the long one? Is Fay really saying that Northbank is three stars and Hibiscus none? It just makes no sense to me.

I believe that's our own BrightonChef who was long gone by the time the Kitchen Nightmares crew arrived.

Hereford Road might fit the bill.

Nice mention for the Bosi's in the Independent on Sunday yesterday . Hibiscus is the new adopted business in Caterer and Hotelkeeper and the Bosi's are the cover stars of this week's issue.

I poked my head in the door this lunchtime just to have a nose at the dining room which looks very splendid indeed I have to say. I spotted the Bacchus restaurant mob checking the place out and Claire Bosi told me that a number of critics and catering trade types have been in or are booked already. I just hope that Messers Marshall and Friar leave some sausage rolls for the rest of us.