Andy Lynes

Yes, quite lovely. I'm adding that to my personal archive of all time great eGullet postings.

Not really, no. If you compare them to pure gameshows, which I happen to like a great deal, they don't compare. They suffer from having to compromise the food content with the game aspect and neither is improved by the marriage. It becomes all about the participating chefs "personality" which, when exposed to a TV camera, quickly degenerates into a series of catchphrases,verbal tics and mannerisms. Not a pretty sight.

In order to remain on topic, I will wait until I am eating and online simultaneously and then post. (I can tell you however that I am watching a rather interesting documentary about Morrissey whilst I type this if thats any help).

S'OK.

I'm not eating anything, I mean, its nearly eleven o'clock at night. Besides, I've already had dinner so I'm not hungry.

Have now eaten said lunch. The room was indeed quite, around 25 people served according to chef Demetre who came and had a chat with my wife Gill and myself at the end of another highly enjoyable meal. Canapes were as described above, followed by an excellent amuse of gazpacho with crab. Gill went for the stuffed squid dish that I had at dinner and I chose asparagus served with serrano ham, parmesan and warm egg viniagrette. This looked particularly stunning, the veg artfully arranged on a triangular glass plate with the ham draped around, a small pool of the egg and the cheese in the form of a crisp. I usually dislike "comedy crockery" but in this instance the presentation worked very well indeed. Main courses of roasted breast of Guinea Fowl with a fricasse of mushrooms, cabbage gateau and pont neuf chips and a classic veal blanquette with young veg and potato gnocchi were deeply satisfying, perfect lunch food. Seasoning for everything was absolutely bang on the money. Desserts of stawberry trifle and ile flottante were both presented in straight-sided circular glass bowels and were delicious. Service was highly professional and reassuringly authoritative, enthusiastic without being overbearing. We paid £90.00 for two people including champagne, a bottle of wine, 1 coffee and service which was great value given the quality of food on offer. Some changes may be a foot at Putney Bridge in order to make the experience more informal, a more commercial proposition, especially at lunchtime. I like it just the way it is, but had to agree with Anthony Demetre that I could well be old fashioned in my expectations of what constitues a great night out. Demetre is quite obviously the equal of the likes of Phil Howard, Marcus Wareing, Chavot et al, but appears at the moment to looking for an alternative to collecting more Michelin stars to drive his business forward. It will be interesting to see in which direction he goes.

Steve, I would be interested in your clarification of a couple of points if you have the time : Do you mean the discrepancy between what you find to be outstanding and the majority of others find outstanding, or that there is simply no consensus on what is outstanding and what is not? For me, part of the joy of eGullet is the opportunity to read a number of different views and to understand why an exactly similar meal or restaurant experience can be wonderful to one person, but dreadful or just dull to another. Why do you think anyone would dis-believe them? I would personally be very interested to hear about your recent experiences in France. I'd be interested to know in what ways do you feel you differ from other eGullet members, given the shared passion for food. I'm sure members who are sufficiently interested will have spotted the link in your sig line and clicked through to your site.

In the UK, it would appear that the networks hold a universal view that food related programming must to be pitched to the lowest common denominator, that it must revolve around big personalities or gameshow formats and that it must be produced for the least amount of money possible. As a result, most food programmes are unwatchable, although there are a few notable exceptions. Am I correct in thinking that the above description tallys to some extent with your experiences in the U.S.? If so, what changes would you like to see to improve matters?

Awbrig, I know I've asked this before, about other things, but any chance Chef Trotter would come online and tell us himself. I bet he's internet savvy isn't he?

I do this quite a bit at home. I know it's old fashioned, but I love the way tuned veggies look in a Navarin of Lamb or an Irish stew. I find the bird's beak knife essential for turning, I wouldn't attempt it without one. I don't worry too much about the seven sides though as no tutor or head chef is going to kick my butt if I get it wrong.

Please note : some of these links may require free registration to view. Matthew Norman is outback at Osia. Giles Coren joins the Khew Here's a fascinating fact for you : AA Gill visited Tom Aikens on the same night I was there. I liked it more than he did by the looks of things. Matthew Fort on the other hand, who went on a different night to me, liked it a bit more than I did. Well, it would be a boring old world if we all agreed wouldn't it, eh? Jan Moir noshes a bacon butty at Gordo's Caff. Chef Rowley Leigh loses his cherry. Heston is easy. But don't tell him I said so. Its all Greek to Jay Rayner. Nigel Slater doesn't like floppy lettuce, and who can blame him? Jill Dupleix cooks South East Asian fudge. Sorry, fudges South East Asian Cooking.

Racine is a very lively and informal restaurant, reasonably priced and they do have a table for 6 in the main room, you'd need to check if they could do 8. It might be worth giving Henry a call if you have something particular in mind to see what he can do for you. I'd tell him its a hen party, you dont want to feel as though you have to be on your best behaviour all night do you?

Uhm......thanks? I always knew I could make contact with my feminine side if I really tried.

Jon Tsengs house the other day at lunch time?

Bliss Spa Bibendum Not being a girly, a can't really vouch for these venues, except to say that Matthew is indeed the head chef at Bibendum and that it is in my opinion the lovliest dining room in the capital. The food on my last visit in autumn of last year for lunch was outstanding, as was the service which if memory serves was mostly male so you might enjoy that on a hen night I suppose.

How about the Tenth at the Royal Garden Hotel. View looks great and I believe that the restaurant has 3 AA rosettes.

Its all here.

How would you say your cooking has evolved over say the last 5 years? Has your competition work affected the way you have developed as a chef, for instance have you had to learn more in a shorter period of time than is usual because of it?

A new and very uncomfortable way.

Thats exactly what I thought about Matthew when he insisted on drinking bottles of Bud in the pub. "What the hell is wrong with pints you elitist aristocrat?" I inwardly fumed.

Matthew, that was very interesting indeed. I was getting wound up just reading about the wine service. That is a perplexing policy which must adversly affect their sales apart from hacking off their customers. Do you think you would have had a different reaction if the meal had been say half as long and with "normal" wine service?

There is a thread on this somewhere which I will try and located if the eGullet search engine feels co-operative today. I am considering organising an event at the Hotel Du Vin in Brighton which will be a meal and tutored wine tasting, so if it goes ahead and you are interested in attending we could get them to talk about decanting.

Well, sort of. What you have is an example of chef who refuses to over-dress his food or menu language. But what would you make of his signature Scallops with Lentils and Coriander? If Shaun had resolutley stuck to the classical repertoire he would not have created this dish, so again, where do you draw the line? You have also not yet provided any examples of the bad chefs who lack talent that hide behind menus you mentioned above. That is quite an accusation to make and in my view you need to back your arguement up with some evidence.

Please note : some of these links may require free registration to view. Matthew Norman is at The Savoy Grill, as is Giles Coren and Lord almightly so is AA Gill. Jan Moir reviews Benares. Chef Hywel Jones of Pharmacy restaurant prepares the puds Matthew Fort eats at another bloody gastropub for The Guardian. Happy birthday from Heston. Jay's away so Kath's at Khew. Enjoy lunch with Nigel Slater. Jill Dupleix practices her tapas dancing and Tom Conran is moorish (it says here).

Just in case Dan is not around to answer this soon, his book is called Baking With Passion and he consults for a number of restaurants in the capital and I believe around the world. Along with the two St John establishments, his most recent gig was at Locanda Locatelli and he set up the Baker and Spice cafe/bakery in Walton Street. Hopefully Dan hinself will fill in some more detail and let us know what his future plans are now that his work is done at St John Bread and Wine.