Andy Lynes

Isn't it fantastic? Hope you caught the Spider-Man ride as well. Astonishing technical achievement. Did Spiderman twice, very impressed. The Hulk was really amazing, but once a holiday was enough.

Orlando. I think the Incredible Hulk rollercoaster must have scrambled by brain.

What the hell is going on ........? http://www.therestaurantgame.com/trgp02/tr...9&p_caller=more http://www.caterer.com/news/articledetail....articleID=43897

Leslie, just finished the book and enjoyed it greatly, made me want to hop on a plane and go to the restaurant. I was wondering how many days approximately did you spend out of your year in the restaurant, and also did you get to actually sit down and interview anyone or was it all done real time during the normal business of the day?

Thanks! Just the capers were fried, which were the tiny ones. Does work better with the slightly larger variety which open out into flowers when deep fried. Deep fried parsley works, but I haven't tried chives which I guess wouldn't.

A walk across the footbridge brings you out at St Pauls. You are then a hop and a skip from Clerkenwell and the likes of St John, The Clerkenwell, Smiths of Smithfield, Maison Novelli, Club Gascon etc.

Lightly salted cod, pan fried served with cannelini beans in a bacon and garlic cream, spinach and a salad of deep fried capers parsley and chives.

Fresh herbs make an appearance in many sauces - butter sauces like bearnaise, mayonnasie based sauces like tartar, viniagrette style sauces like gribiche and ravigote, tomato sauces (basil being a good example). Salsa Verda is full of them, corinader is essential to hot salsas. You can add them to soups and stews, roast meat with them make salads with them. They are basically everywhere in French and Italian cuisines so it's quite difficult to know where to start to give specific examples.

.....but in fact its restaurant consultation by virtual committee, for free. Only eGullet can do this.

Bunny, my comments on your menu are in italics. Please bear in mind this is purely from a consumers point of view, just one persons opinion and to be accepted or dismissed as you see fit : duo of duck: asian marinated duck with scallions, ginger, red pepper and calintro layered over pototoe gurfets with an orange glaze. bbq spiced duck served over a grilled marscapone polenta cake with a sweet corn sauce. This dish would work as one or the other but not both. Also replace gufrettes with potato tuiles, lose the orange glaze and just serve the duck with the veg and the marinating liquid made into a sauce. frog legs nantucket: frog legs sauteed with shallots,garlic and shittake mushrooms served w/ a brandy demi and granished oven roasted plum tom. Just the legs with the shallots, garlic and mushrooms and maybe some white wine would be great grilled calamari: served w/a wasabi watercress sauce and garnished w/grilled cherry tom. Just the calamari and sauce would work well. Maybe on a salad of some sort. grilled apple and raspberry salad w/walnuts and mixed greens I would not order this, it does not appeal to me . salad of artcokes cucumber and tom. I am not sure about the combination of artichokes and cucumber. How about stuffing the artichoke heart with a tomato and fava bean salsa and serving a barigoule viniagrette with it? entree herb crusted black bass: panseared served over saffron rissito w/grilled yellow squash and zuccini with a roasted veg demi-glace garnished w/3 shrimp Lose the squash, zuccini and shrimp. Wild mushrooms instead? mandarin salmon: marinated in a trio of oranges then char-grilled over an open flame served over a bed of cucumbers and carrots w/blood orange sauce garnished with micro-greens. I would substitute the cucumber and carrot for something else, perhaps a shaved fennel and microgreen salad. I would omit the marination and serve with sauce maltaise (is this what you mean by blood orange sauce?) broiled rack of lamb: cardamon crusted and served w/celric puree and hircot verts I am not a fan of cardamon. Cumin goes really well with lamb. veal t-bone: marinated and grilled w/provencal roasted tom. I wouldn't want to eat tomatos with my veal. Maybe just a potato gratin and some greens of some sort with a veal and maderia jus. roasted saddle of rabbit served w/root veg. Sounds nice, how would you sauce the dish and what roots would you use. Hailbut: sauteed w/citrus beurre blanc garnished w/julienne veg. If you are serving orange with the salmon, you may need to re think this. How about a clam ragu made with a classic beurre blanc, the veg and loads of soft herbs.

Bunny, this is really interesting and fun. I will give the menu somne consideration and post something later today. At a first glance though the menu did seem to have a bit too much going on and was quite eclectic, which can be a good thing if handled really, really well.

I had dinner at Nougatine about 3 years ago and Jean Georges was in the house. As I was dining alone, I appreciated the excellent view of the open kitchen and seeing the comings and goings. Some fabulous food, including crab salad with mango salsa and cumin tuiles and the chocolate cake, a bottle of Cloudy Bay and quite a trendy scene at the bar made for a great evening.

I will also be in orlando in a couple of weeks time and would be interested in the best real BBQ place and the best place for steak. Also any local cuisine (is there such a thing in Orlando?). Could anyone recommend the best car hire firm as well, do they differ that much in price and service? (Yes I have got Fodors guide but if anyone has some opinions on this I would be very interested). Thanks in advance.

Tracy MacLeod liked the place by the looks of it going back to my roots

Thats an excellent point. But the arguement as originally presented is too reductionist to merit serious debate. I would argue that "cheap" food can be fine dining. But not "fine dining" obviously.

Expense has absolutely nothing to do with it. I've had some outstanding food in Malaysia for instance, especially seafood and shellfish, that was very cheap indeed but very memorable (a chilli crab eaten al fresco in Penang sticks in the mind). I dont really think potato gratins are a very good example either, what could be easier and cheaper than that, unless you are going to start grating white truffles all over them, which isn't a bad idea come to think of it.

You may be interested to know that whilst slaving away during my stage at the Four Seasons in London, chef Richard Guest told me that Gordon Ramsay was able to bone out a pigs trotter in 35 seconds and that he himself was no slouch at around 60 seconds. Ramsay employed his teeth at some point in the operation to speed things up. Dont ask me why he used his teeth, but he did apparently. This was whilst at Harveys working for Marco BTW. (I've got a million of 'em, just don't get me started).

I have never eaten there, but it's the sort of place catering industry types and celebs love to death because they are so well looked after. Its part of the same group as Ivy and J Sheeky, so you can expect a great time but not necessarily great food. Ramsay said in an Evening Standard piece that he goes there every Sunday night with his wife for a burger at the bar. AA Gill wrote a book about it so that may give you an idea of what it's like. Try sending Plotnicki a Private Message, he must have eaten there at some point I would have thought. What about the Brothers Majumdar? They must have done as well.

As we are now halfway through the year I thought it might be a good time to reflect one the best meals the UK restaurant scene has produced so far. I'm going to plump in a Robert Robinson stylee for my wonderful experience at Hibiscus (which you can read about by clicking http://www.alynes.freeserve.co.uk/hibiscus.html ). What has been yours, and what are you looking forward to in the neazr future?

Really fascinating stuff, thanks so much for taking the time to provide all that detail.

£5.00!!!!!!! What sort of mark up on the wholesale are we talking here then, 1000% maybe?

No criticism implied of the person that ordered it, but of the restaurant for serving it. I like to taste a few peas whilst I'm podding them, but 3 or 4 is enough for me. It seems a bit cynical to me.

So the starter was just a bowl of raw peas that you podded yourself? Nothing else? I'm sorry if I'm being dumb here but I can't quite get my head around the idea of that as something anyone would want to eat in a restaurant.

11th or 12th would actually suit be better, and it would be great to meet both Wilfred and Stella. Can you imagine anything other than eGullet uniting such a disperate (nay desperate) bunch.

Both Shaun Hill and Tony Bourdain have extoled the virtues of chefs clogs on their Q and A sessions on this site, if that helps with your decision. For myself, I have always worn trainers in the professional kitchen, which is in fact not a great idea due to the lack of protection they afford.