Andy Lynes

I think it's only just been published so you must have got an advanced copy. I've seen a story in Caterer about the high hitters and was surprised to see Heston on 8, the same score as Shaun Hill at The Merchant House. The two operations could not be more different and it posed a question in my mind as to how useful a guide who's criteria results in those sort of markings. Is Can Ramsay really be a 10 with a 2 hour time limit on his tables? What do you feel about your own markings? Are they justified do you think?

Rumours and stories abound about Mr Gallagher, but he keeps bouncing back. Given his history, having a mid-town Manhatten restaurant in which to ply his trade is pretty good going by my estimation, so maybe not so much of a shame. The luck of the Irish maybe.

Yes, please, concentrate everyone. This man has an article to research after all. (I'm putting this bit in brackets so that I can pretend it doesn't really count as yet another a comment that doesn't directly address Jay's actual question. But. Prices for 2 and 3 star menus have actually gone down compared to their early 90's level. Marco Pierre White was charging £75.00 plus supplements of say £20.00 for dishes of foie gras and sea bass at Hyde Park Hotel (3 Stars). Gordon Ramsay now charges £65.00. John Burton Race used to charge £50.00 for two courses when he had 2 stars at L'ortolan. I'm not sure what he charges in London now but The Square (2 stars) charges £55.00 for 3 courses, as does Petrus).

Simon - I believe he picked up a few things in Dublin.......(allegedly). Nick - yes, that is what we are talking about.

Given Gallaghers "problems" which are a matter of record, and the massive pool of chef talent in New York, why would anybody take such a risk with him? I don't think his name by itself is worth that many bums on seats in NY. Anybody have any idea who is bank rolling the venture?

I think you may have hit a nail (not the nail you were hoping for I don't think so sorry for the slight off topic nature of this response) on the head with this remark. £100 per head is now not out of the ordinary for a 2 or 3 star meal. And what do you get? A pretty ordinary experience by and large. Perhpas you really do need to spend £300 upwards for a truely haute cuisine meal these days.

Oh..........alright then.

From your report, there was a problem with cooking your order. That does not amount to "big problems in the kitchen", I would be more inclined to describe that as a cock up. I would repeat that your statement is presumptuous because you are extrapolating from a single failure wider problems which may lead to the closure of the restaurant. Based on my own experience, it's rapturous critical reception and what Henry has told me, Racine is already a roaring success. Its failure would be an amazing turn of events.

Mario Batali's recipe is a cracker, and apart from FG's article, Think Like A Chef by Tom Colicchio is the place to read about braising techniques I think.

In addition to anything David will tell you, I can scan an article from the Great Chefs of Europe book and e mail it over. It's 10 years old but may be of some use. Let me know. This may also be of some use, a recent Caterer article http://www.caterer.com/archive/articledeta...articleID=42291

I certainly would not presume to doubt that your experience was anything other than you have described it. I think it is unfair however to make broad brush statements and draw conclusions about the kitchen side of things on the basis of what appeared to be a problem of communication between front and back of house, and from eating fish in a London restaurant on a Sunday night (Macrosan - doesn't your wife have something to say about that as well ). Why I'm being quite so defensive about this, I don't really know, other than the fact I've always enjoyed Henry's food and think it a shame that you have not shared that experience. Right, I'm going to shut up now.

So....hold on....uhm..let me think about this..... ahhh....hey! Thats you!!!!!!!! Serious question : why? Do you not want individualism at that level. Isn't that what wins 3 stars and what you are paying the 300 Euros (bargin) for?

So I emailed the URL for this thread to Henry Harris, who has read and responded to me via e mail, but it doesn't look like he's going to respond on this thread. I've asked him if I can quote his response to me, but he hasn't come back on that, so I'm not going to. Macrosan - you said in your original review that "I was not surprised to be told that Henry Harris was not present that evening (Sunday). Racine has been open only a few months, the waiting staff are raw and poorly trained, there are obviously big problems in the kitchen, yet Harris feels he can have the night off." Racine is open 7 days a week and it would be entirely unreasonable I think to expect a family man, or anyone come to that, to be in their kitchen all the time. I do know that Henry worked 8 weeks without a break when the restaurant first opened, sufficient I would have said to get the thing launched. You say that "there are obviously big problems in the kitchen" , which is rather a presumptuous statement to make if I may say so, and they where certainly not evident on the 2 occassions I ate at Racine. It's an obvious thing to say, but a head chef relies upon his brigade to deliver whether he is there or not. Either they can cook or they can't. Henry can certainly put a rocket up their collective arse when he is working, but it really isn't as simple as "head chef in: good, head chef not in: bad" no restaurant (apart from one man bands) could survive on that basis.

Apparently the announcement made by Passard was to the effect that he would ban all meat except for the odd bit of poultry from his menus, so it appears he has stuck to that.

Steve - 300 euros each or for the pair of you? When did he abandon his veg only approach, that didn't last very long did it? As I've said in one form or another elsewhere on this site, I'm not sure I can be doing with all the sodding about, not to mention the cost, that "haute cuisine" entails anymore. Your meal sounds intruiging, but awfully clever-dickey. I mean, didn't you feel that the spinach should be accompanying something other than a blob of carrot? 3 minutes sounds like quite a long time to cook spinach for BTW. The lobster dish sounds lovely.

There's no question in my mind that Heston Blumenthal leads the way in the UK. Whether you would necessarily enjoy his food, or if he's ahead of the game on a worldwide basis is a nother matter entirely and the subject of much debate on these boards at least. There is a strong arguement for Claude Bosi at Hibiscus in Ludlow as being one of the most individualistic and interesting chefs in the UK, but his food is not really innovative as such. If I had two meals in London I would go to The Square and Loconda Locatelli (and I almost certainly will go to the latter in the next coupleof weeks). you might have to pull in a few favours to get into Locatelli though.

Jamie Oliver : Quite Good.......hmmmm. Yep, I can live with that.

I love my Babbo cookbook, it's a thing of beauty. We're having friends over for dinner on Saturday and I'm probably going to do the whole menu from it. I only recently bought it, do you have any favourite recipes you could recommend?

For those that don't know, Kevin Thornton is the big cheese on the Dublin restaurant scene. He currently holds 2 Michelin stars, and he at least is quite confident of completing the set (read his comments here)following his very recent move into the space that was Peacock Alley in the Fitzwilliam Hotel, overlooking St Stephen's Green in the city centre. What was a bright and colourful brasserie has been completely gutted and refashioned into a rather blank room filled with just 15 tables, each has 2.3 metes of space. I know this because Kevin told me when I met him at the end of the meal. He told me a minute or two before disappearing into his kitchen as I finished saying the sentence "It's interesting what happened to Conrad Gallagher though isn't it?". Over his shoulder he replied "No. It isn't. Not at all." And that was the end of that. Oh, well, you can't get on with everyone in this world can you? Especially if you are a nosey English bastard coming on like some sort of policeman or private investigator in a very Irish restaurant. So, anyway, before I managed to piss off one of Ireland's best know chefs, I had a rather nice, but really bloody expensive meal. But only because I had the brass neck to roll up on their doorstep at 7.30 on a Thursday night asking for a table when less than 90 minutes earlier they had told me on the phone they were fully booked. Maybe they had a cancellation. Dinner started with a very under seasoned but quite nice mini terrine of duck served with half a baby courgette and some raspberry coulis. The bread was a sensation and I tried some pistachio, tomato and plain white baguette during the meal. As good as Hibiscus, and that's saying something. My starter was haute cuisine as designed by Armani. or something. Roast Quail with Brioche, White Onion Puree and Morel sauce was a thing of beauty in shades of beige and brown. I didn't know whether to eat it or attempt to wear it home. The boned bird was encased in brioche with just a tiny leg bone sticking out the top of it's dough coffin, and sat on a little puddle of the rich puree, which in turn was surrounded by the powerful mushroom sauce. Whole morels and trompette de morte were strewn artfully around the plate. Fantastic. And it bloody well should have been at 28 feckin Euros. Next came another plate of entirely brown food, this time braised Suckling Pig and Trotter, Maxim Potato Glazed Turnip, Light Poitin Sauce. No green stuff, which it could desperately have done with, apart from 3 deep fried sage leaves sitting on the slightly undercooked turnip. The braised pork was in fact the loin which I though a wholly inappropriate cut to be slowed cooked, but what do I know. The plate looked a picture. A brown one, but a picture never the less. So what does the maitre'd do before I realise what is going on? Only plonks some boiled potatoes in the middle of it from one of those silly little copper pans that everyone seems to love these days. And blow me if every other main course served that night doesn't get the same treatment. What the fuck is that all about? The trotter however was dreamy. As it should have been for 48 feckin Euros. A pre dessert of strawberry sable provided more proof that the pastry section at Thorntons are the absolute dogs. Then came another plate of brown food. Now, I knew when I ordered that it was going to be brown, but I just couldn't resist the thought of a whacking great tart tatin to finish off the evening. I was therefore deeply disappointed to see that it was barely 3 inches in diameter and appeared to have been assembled on the plate i.e. some caramelised apples placed a pre cooked pastry case. I'm not totally sure of this, but the homogenisation of pastry and fruit that happens with the real thing wasn't present in this example. And it cost 20 feckin Euros. Yes, I did say 20. Service was what you'd expect a this level, with all the bowing and scraping that entails, and was faultless for what it was. A bottle of Pinot Gris from Alsace brought the final bill including coffee, service and fantastic petit four to.......wait for it.........162 feckin Euros. ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY TWO! For one person. Thornton is without question a highly skilled chef, has an eye for presentation, and runs a tight ship. But the meal was not outstanding for me in any particular way. I enjoyed The Tea Room far more, even though the cooking here was of obviously a higher level.

LML - thanks. I will be extremely interested to learn your thoughts about The Tea Room and particularly Thornton's, as I did in fact have dinner there last week. I'm going to start another thread about it.

Yes, we're limiting his options by the day aren't we? He did mention something about coley being cheap that time of year....

Are you suggesting that Andy is likely to throw up after eating there ? I recently puked my guts up after eating in a Japanese restaurant in Dublin, and was ill for about a week after with a bad case of the runs. It was later established to be a virus and not food poisoning after my wife went down with the same thing a few days after I got back. I cannot countenance the idea of raw fish or chilli beef noodle at the moment though.

No - no pricing structure, no nothing. I was put off by the bloke at the end of the phone saying that the Grill room was for larger groups, and when I pointed out that my reservation was for a table of 2, he changed his mind and said the main restaurant was for larger groups, which is why I thought they were busking it. I suppose I will get the lower prices if I get in there early though, so I may give it a go.

Well, I have, but I don't know whether I want to go or not yet. I can't decide as it's in the Grill room and I've no idea if the menu is going to be different from that of the main room. They said not when I booked, but frankly they sounded like they were making it up as they went along. i was sort of hoping that someone would get there before me and tell me all about it so i could make up my mind. It's in their second week, anyone going the 1st week?

The Tea Room is the restaurant in the U2 owned Clarence Hotel. It's situated between the river and the dreaded Temple Bar area of the city where you can get all the fiddle-de-dee and Guinness your little heart desires. Dublin would not be my first choice city to spend 2 weeks working in, but work I did (having said that, it comes much further up the list than 3 weeks in Bedford, which I have also endured this year in the name of adequate risk management and control regimes in the company I work for). I was glad then that The Tea Room is such an excellent place in which to kill 2 or 3 hours. The space is quite lovely (have a look here and click on the image for a bigger and better one). We were given a large table for three in a corner underneath one of the balconies from which we had a measure of privacy, not that we needed it, and an excellent view of the rest of the room. Service, from the moment we were greeted to the presentation of the bill was friendly, informal, but very slick and full of good humour and enthusiasm by the bucket load. It was a quiet Tuesday night when we dined, but with sufficient trade to give the place some buzz, but I'd love to see it in full swing. The style of food and front of house is broadly reminiscent of The Square in London, which is hardly surprising when you find out that that executive chef Anthony Ely was Phil Howard's number 2 for some period of time. The cooking is a similar mix of haute cuisine with punchy flavours with all affectation and bullshit removed. Having said that, my starter was described as "A study of bacon, cabbage and potato", which I ordered because I detected some serious tongue in cheek menu writing. It was preceded by a little cup of pea soup with a mint cappuccino and a beautifully fashioned miniature cheese bread stick balanced on top of the cup. It was very nice, but had a note of heat coming from somewhere which made me glad the portion was a small one. I think someone had been slightly over enthusiastic with the pepper mill as the cabbage veloute that came as part of the study suffered to a lesser degree from the same problem. The plate was completed by a bacon crisp, a ham hock and new potato terrine wrapped in cabbage, and a potato and bacon fritter with caper sauce. It all worked well, with the terrine being the highlight. Other starters were a much enjoyed pan fried foie gras with onion tarte tatin, "wicked apple" cider sauce, and golden raisins, and a special of oxtail "stew" (my description) with a pancetta crisp and I think a horseradish cream/foam. Main courses were a real high point, too often they can be a let down after a flash-bang start to a meal. The pronounced game flavours of a roast mallard breast and confit leg were allowed to shine through a finely judged duck sauce. A small portion of very rich parsnip puree was an enjoyable hint of decadence, with only an overcooked (i.e. slightly burnt) cider fondant potato docking points from what would have been a 10 out of 10 dish. Salsify advertised on the menu was nowhere to be seen, but a few small braised onions made a not unwelcome guest appearance. An assiette of rabbit, feve and mint jus, sweetcorn pancake looked just amazing and was declared to be so by it's greedy recipient. A description which amounted to no more than "some rabbit with sweetcorn things, some more rabbit, a rabbit dim sum sort of thing and a bit of liver" didn't do the plate justice and I didn't get a look in on the tasting front so I can give you no more detail I'm afraid. Desserts included an apple and blackberry queen of puddings, but my home-made vanilla yoghurt , apple granita, rhubarb crumble and rhubarb crisp was the show stopper as far as I was concerned. A large glassful of the rich, brulee like yoghurt was topped with the refreshing apple, and a dainty crumble topped tart was served on the side. A real stunner and an idea I want to steal for the next time I cook for friends. Coffee was accompanied by home-made jammy dodgers and bourbon biscuits which were fine examples of the bakers art, and more appetising at that stage of the meal than your more usual plate of petit four. We drank a bottle of cabernet/merlot blend from South Africa at 58 euro chosen by the helpful sommelier. Menus were 49 euros a head for 3 courses which represents excellent value for cooking of this standard in what is a very expensive city to eat out in.