Andy Lynes

Ring number, get engaged tone, press 5 on your keypad, wait for the ring back acceptance announcement, replace the handset. Wait for your phone to ring, pick up and you are through. You may have to repeat this several times, but it does work (sorry if this is teaching you to suck eggs BTW).

Mass produced lagers make life worth living. However, I avoid Bud and the UK version of Miller as they go straight through me for some reason (you really wanted to know that didn't you?). Any below around 4.8% are also to be avoided as you might as well be drinking lime cordial for all the difference it makes on your outlook on life. Favourites are any that are on offer at the supermarket, which seems to be Grolsch at the moment.

Jan Moir has reviewed The Castle here. She didn't exactly like it.

Thats a very true statement. I had an excellent birthaday celebration meal there soon after they opened. Then there was the bust up with Damien Hirst, the reversion to an Italian menu and the introduction of "affordable glamour" which well and truely put the nail in the coffin. What a shame.

Lunch and dinner again! This is turning into a bad habit. Very nice review, thanks for taking the time to write it up in detail. Just one question : did dried vanilla pods make an appearance as a garnish at any point?

I was on the kitchen of a rather nice hotel and bistro over the last couple of days and they made their mash in a bloody great food mixer and reheated to order, which is pretty standard kitchen practice and the texture was just perfect. Mash will hold quite well at home, but it does get a little stale tasting if left too long. I'm sure Heston has something to say about that somewhere.

The best fondant is made with potato and butter only. Slice the potato into inch or so thick slices (you can cut them into rounds with a scone cutter if you must), pack into a oven proof pan with an awful lot of cold diced butter, enough to completely immerse the potato when melted, and cook at a very low heat until tender. If you have a hot top, do them on the very edge where it is least hot. They should brown up rather nicely, but if for some reason they dont you can always fry them at the last moment to get some colour. Expensive, but worth it.

Fergus, thank you on behalf of eGullet.com for taking time out of what I know is a particularly hectic schedule at the moment to join us in this event. I have greatly enjoyed reading your responses to some really thoughtful questions, hope you have had fun answering them. Winners of the 6 St John t shirts will be advised via PM shortly.

How important was the idea of the in house bakery to the initial concept of St John? Was it something you knew you wanted to do and make a feature of when you thought about setting up your own restaurant, or did it arise when you settled on the premises?

I just looked that up in my Dictinary of Etiquette, and it says that means you're paying ? That is just soooo generous, Andy, and on behalf of the 24 of us, we accept with thanks. Munificent with my company, wit and wisdom only, the lock stays firmly closed on the wallet I'm afraid.

Although I have been beaten to the punch on organising this, I won't sulk in a corner but will bless you with my munificent presence.

Has your training as an architect in any way informed your work as a chef/restauranteur.

I know, it's moving isn't it?

It wasn't easy, there only so much enjoyment a man can bear. But I want you to know that I did it for you and all the eGullet.com members out there. (God, I'm just so selfless!).

Fergus Henderson joins us for a Q and A next week, 26 and 27 March. Full announcement will be posted by the end of the day.

Look forward to reading the article, good going Nick.

I ate there when Henry Harris was head chef and as he's now moved on, my opinion is not going to count for a great deal. However, I didn't like the space, the upstairs restaurant is open to a bloody great noisy bar, you get the feeling that the food is not top of the agenda there. Maybe that's why Henry didn't last very long there (although he refuses to talk about it. To me at least!). http://www.hush.co.uk

Patrick, welcome to eGullet. Thanks for your informed opinion, look forward to more of it.

"Passion For Flavour" was published in 1997 I think so that's way back in the day when he was a mere 21 year old.

Well, I do my best to be interesting...... Care to elaborate?

I had dinner at The Castle last November I think it was. Richard Guest is a talented chef who knows his own mind, a very nice man but I don't believe his talents are being best served at the Castle. Althougth the restaurant has a Michelin star, it doesn't really feel like a star experience. Front of house is very young, the service has an amatuer feel to it, there is no sommelier and a short wine list. The dining room, although comfortable enough is decorated in a very busy fashion, with losts of patterned fabrics. Perhaps it was just not to my taste, but I didn't enjoy the surroundings. The room was less than half full and lacked atmosphere the night I dined. The food is well concieved but I got the feeling that the kitchen wasn't quite up to executing it (Richard was not in the kitchen the night I dined). An example would be crab lasagne with shellfish sauce : too thick pasta, an underpowered sauce and not vast amounts of crab, not a patch on Philip Howard's original version or indeed Jun Tanaka's take on it at QC restaurant. A vacherin of rhubarb was the highlight of the meal, a take on Eton Mess which worked very well.

Nice to see Dan Lepard get an Outstanding Contribution To London Restaurants award. (Dan is a longtime eGullet lurker BTW).

And the puddings are so cheap - just £4.00 each! (What......it was a typo? Not in the Guardian, shurly shome mishtake!).

Could you elaborate on why that was, the connection between JO, Paul Kitching and Adria is not an obvious one to me. Nice report, look forward to more.

I would beg to differ. I went for the first time last week and had a nice enough time but was not blown away. Bill for 3 courses for 2 people with a £30 bottle of Dolcetta D'Alba, dessert wine, 3 coffees water and a couple of beers came to £142 including service. I'm going to write a full review for my site soon so will go into detail then but didn't feel that we had full value for money, although I really enjoyed my main course of rabbit with parma ham and polenta.