Andy Lynes

The press release came with the full menu, so I've picked out the odd sounding stuff. The design comes after the food on the release. Here's a short review on Square Meal

I think thats a tad unfair Simon. Although I haven't eaten Gordon's food, I have cooked some of it from his book and found it to be well constructed and very edible indeed, although hI must admit to having to omit some of the more outre ingredients.

What a story. From the way the case is presented by Private Eye, this sounds like a terrible injustice. Has this had any coverage in other press or on the tele?

Thats not all one dish I should point out. The menu includes more mainstream stuff like "beef fillet, braised oxtail, celeriac puree and cabbage" but it's all quite wacky.

Maureen Mills at Network London has sent me a press release about Osia restaurant 11 Haymarket, London. Apparently it "brings a new sense of Australian flavours to the UK" and is owned by Aussie chef Scott Webster (anyone know anything about this chap?) in partnership with Raymond de Fazio who owns the Cafe Med group. Design "features a mix of olive green leather banquettes and oatmeal linen covered chaors, teak tables, limestone-coloured concrete bar with bronze mirror backdrop" amongst other things. The menu is notable for its inclusion of "food cocktails" such as chilled beetroot and caraway or chilled mango, honey and banana. I'm guessing these may be smoothies by another name, although I am slightly confused by the blue swimmer crab cocktail with cucmber and flying fish roe, I don't think you'd want to whiz up that lot in a blender. Other than that, the food all sounds a bit Sugar Club, with totally baffling items such as akudjura cheese crisps, dorrigo herbed spring lamb with kumara mash and pork with orange quandong glaze (that's a joke. Surely?) popping up all over the shop. Desserts include a roast granny smith apple tart, eucalyptus rosemary butter, honey ginger ice cream. Starters range from £5 - £12 (for skewered prawns) mains £15 - £22 (which gets you veal with tuna) and all desserts are £7.00. Telephone number for the restaurant is 0207 976 1919

I was trying to make you feel bad about not inviting me along, I'm willing to believe it's improved in the 14 months or so since I was there, although I have to say word on the grapevine to not great.

You must also disclose your bank account number, your inside leg measurement and the name of the last cd you purchased, otherwise we won't be able to trust a word you say. Your honesty is much appreciated. (I bet you are dead popular at Lola's now).

Jay rayner has reviewed Seven Dials in the Observer today : click In his review, he poses the question "where the hell were the rest of you? Brighton is full of Observer readers. Some of you even have a little taste. But plainly not enough to get you up to Sevendials. We went on a Friday lunchtime and we were the only people there. " Well Jay, I can't speak the whole population of the town, but I know that on the day you were there, one Brighton based "Observer reader with a little taste" was almost certainly sat in his office, bored out of his mind and no doubt more than a little peckish.

I am yet to make it to Foliage so I can't comment, but I heard nothing but good reports about it on these boards and from chefs I spoke to who ate there during Jones' residence.

Having eaten at Lola's I simply couldn't understand why Maschler felt it was worth 3 stars, an award she hardly ever bestows. 1 star would seem more appropriate, but I am yet to try Pharmacy.

For me, humour is always welcome in food and drink writing. It's what makes much of it readable. Tony B is a very good example and our own Mamster employs humour very well (his Storage piece made me laugh out loud more than once). I usually need to find the humorous angle before I can get my teeth into writing something food and drink related. That said, I love Michael Ruhlman's work for it's serious and scholarly approach.

Note to self : do not leave Martin alone in the kitchen on Ripert day.

It's a bit like concentrated Fairy Liquid isn't it? That doesn't seem to last much longer than the normal stuff.

There, now doesn't that feel better!

Very good point. I'm sure wild horses will not keep the critics away from that one. As an aside, I read that Aikens has lined up Pierre Gagnaire's ex-sommelier to work for him.

We passed the Tupperware HQ in Orlando just about everyday whilst on holiday last year. It's a pretty impressive place. I somehow never connected those little plastic boxes gathering dust on my shelves with a $1billion dollar business and palatial offices.

Tupperware - is that what rams suffer from during mating season?

I've been waiting with baited breath for that one to open I must say. I think Jay's reply does illustrate my point to some degree, restaurant reviewers are different from theatre or cinema critics because they can choose to review established restaurants as well as new places, those outside the capital as well as within (true for theatre as well to a certain extent but limited to a few places like Sheffield where they are producing new work).

My point is that this only happens from time to time and only with certain restaurants, the criteria for which is unclear, to me at least. I'm not sure how many restaurants are opening a week, but enough for someone like Fay Maschler to be eating out 6 days a week, sometimes twice a day either at new places, places she wants to visit a second or third time and those that she missed out on first time around.

But surely all London restaurant's employ PR's? It seems to me that not all of them get the sort of blanket coverage that somewhere like "Fino" has.

There is a noticiable trend, in the UK press at least, for certain newly opened restaurants to get reviewed by every major critic in a very short space of time. The latest example of this is "Fino" in Charlotte Street London, a sort of upscale tapas bar. In the last few weeks, it has been reviewed by the Guardian, The Observer, The Independent, The Times, Evening Standard and Metro to my knowledge, there may be others. This is understandable when a big name like Gordon Ramsay is involved, but in this case we are talkng about first time restauranteurs (albeit from an established family of hoteliers and restauranteurs). Reviews have been favourable, but not ecstatic. So why the critical stampede for some places and not others?

Yes, eggs always require salt.

Sitting next to me. Afraid I'm never going to let you forget it v Oh I remember, it was when my hyper-sensitive senses of smell and vision alerted me to the fact that there was inadequate salt on the food, or was it because I'd had far too much to drink and forgot what I was doing?

Never!! When did I do that?

Underseasoning is one of the worst crimes you can commit in a restaurant kitchen. The ability to season correctly is the mark of a good cook. It really annoys and disappoints me if I have to add salt at the table.