Andy Lynes

Wilfrid - I should have some further info on The Embassy for you on Thursday. I was meant to be going with Bruce Poole tomorrow (Wednesday) but he has already been and disliked it enough not to want to set foot in the place again, although he did like the food. Instead we are dining at The Square so I will get the full sp and let you know. I would recommend Westreet as a good eveings entertainment if not culinary revelation. La Trompette (a Poole/Platts Martin production) is worth the schlep out to Turnham green. Loconda Locatelli is the current hot ticket (haven't been yet) and Henry Harris' new place should be well worth a punt. I am in the metaphorical queue, Star Wars fan like, already so I should be able to give you the low down soon after it opens in May (yes, I do know Henry, but that's not his fault). The Orrery is shit hot at the moment as long as you don't mind getting intimate with the next door table (also true at Trompette).

What about Addington Palace? That used to have ex Ramsay chef and Roux scholar Frederick Forster in it's kitchens, who has now moved on. Anyone been?

I know that the rates etc are vastly different in Soho than Chiswick, but come on, thats bloody ridiculous isn't it?

I ate at the Seafood on 10 July 1996. Thats a long time ago, but for what it's worth, I had a really superb hot shellfish starter, the like of which you will not find anywhere else in the UK, a main of grilled turbot with montpellier butter, fondue of leeks and spring cabbage, which was spanking fresh and lovely and all that but not a patch on the roasted tranche of turbot I had enjoyed at Aldards in Norwich around the same time. Dessert was a deeply ordinary chocolate tart with some dried fruits. We paid around £95.00 for two with some modest wine and coffees. It was one of the most expensive meals we'd had at that time and given the surroundings, which were nothing special, I came away disappointed. Since then , the restaurant has had a serious makeover and has lost it's British seaside feel and gone rather upmarket to match it's prices. I know this because we went back to Padstow a year or so ago for a day trip whilst holidaying in Devon and peered through the window. Prices are breathtaking and they can do nothing about their view over the carpark, but it is an event restaurant. It's down to if you want to pay the prices or not.

He's put the prices up! I can't believe that. He's just 2 pounds cheaper than Petrus now and 7 pounds less than The Square, neither of which I think he comes close to. How would you compare your meal at La Trompette to Lindsay House? Do you like the restaurant (ie LH) interior and do you find it comfortable?

It's now Quilon, have a look here

Apparently all you have to do is mention my name (true!) I am going in early May for Lunch and am looking forward to it greatly.

Do you mean the interior of the restuarant or the area it's in?

Thanks. I feel like I'm part a team of interrogators! As you may have realised, those of us that have not made the trip to El Bulli are as interested in your reaction to your meals as those who have. I wonder if the reaction of the chefs to the food had any bearing on your own that second time around. The only reason I say this is that I find that my experience of a restaurant can be directly affected by the reactions of those dining with me. I may not enjoy a restaurant as much as I have previously or I may pick up faults I hadn't before if there are negative vibes around me. (Is that stating the bleeding obvious?) At any rate, thanks for all the time, effort and thought you have put into your postings, really interesting stuff!

My understanding is that they do turn tables at RHR. You are far more likely to find Marcus Wareing, Eric Chavot and certainly Philip Howard at the stoves than Gordon Ramsay. Ramsay's website www.http://www.gordonramsay.com. Our dear Simon has given The Capital a good review very recently with web address included on the thread somewhere. You might like to read http://www.therestaurantgame.co.uk article about Petrus which will give you a very good idea indeed about what to expect your dinner to be like, click on the pink dot under the "e" in game on the title page of the site to find it. I had lunch at The Square last November which was really lovely, but I do know Phil Howard just a tiny bit (I've met him twice, both times at his restaurant) and was well looked after. The thing I really like about The Square, apart from the food of course, is the acres of space between tables. They have a website at http://www.squarerestaurant.com My personal choice would probably be Petrus, but mostly because I haven't benn in over 18 months and rather miss the old place.

Stellabella - I've just re-read your original post and I think the bottom line is you had to be there. However, the fact that it was not your waitress, but another front of house person that asked you to leave seems a little bit over the top to me and I can quite see how you might feel under seige. The fact that you were there less than an hour would seem to indicate that the restaurant was at best being impatient with you. At a guess, you would have left within 10 minutes anyway?

Uhm, I don't think that came up did it? I'm not entirely sure thats true anyway. I always bought NME every week, but would buy Sounds or Melody Maker if it featured a band I was particularly interested in, Joy Division say. It was too late if I then found out if the journalist hated the band. It was the coverage I was interested in. Similarly with restaurant reviews. I might buy a magazine that covers a particular restaurant I am interested in, it's too late if I then find the reviewer is a no nothing socialite who pushes salad leaves around plates for a living

Maschler actually says that she loves the restaurant and that she likes and admires the chef who runs it. That to my mind makes her a fan and supporter of the Lindsay House. Now, I wouldn't say I actually hate the Lindsay House, but I don't plan to return to it and wouldn't recommend it very strongly to anyone else. This puts me at odds with a critic who I usually find myself agreeing with. So does that mean that she has allowed her friendship of the place to cloud her better judgement, her critical facilities? I think the answer in this instance could possibly be yes and the fact that Fay likes the place so much will not persaud me to give it a second chance. It may well get some first time punters through the doors though, who might well agree woth her though. So this doesn't get us any further down the line apart from saying that restaurants can have fans and supporters who would like to see the business they like so much flourish.

I must admit that this doesn't sound like an unreasonable request on the part of the diner if people were waiting, and assuming that there were no other tables available. Was it the way in which the request was made rather than the request itself?

My favourite is Gruner Veltliner Smaragd 1997 Terrassen Thal Wachau, Freie Weingartner Wachau Austria. Its a whacking 14.5% with great weight and flavour. La Pont De La Tour wine shop in Shad Thames London stock it for around £10.00 a bottle.

Tony, I think you are correct that a fan of a particular restaurant can't be relied upon to give an objective review, that simply isn't possible, and may explain why Fay Maschler gave Richard Corrigan a 2 star write up recently when so much word of mouth is negative about the place. But she states in the first paragraph "I love LINDSAY HOUSE, an affection entirely connected to my liking and admiration for its chef/proprietor, wild Irishman Richard Corrigan. ", so we know where she's coming from right from the off. Why not be a fan of a restaurant? I'll always stick with somewhere good once I have found it. My wife and I used to to go to a wonderful place in Brighton called La Scala, next to the Royal Theatre in New Road. We ate there rather than nearly anywhere else until it closed sometime in the early nineties. I loved the place in the same way that I hate nearly every other crappy pizza-pasta joint in town.

I didn't use the word hate in the context of restaurants, although Simon might well hate a few places.

Thanks for a very interesting report, I'm glad you decided to post it in the end . Can you explain the above quote a little as to why your perspective is unique and perhaps an example of how your joi de vivre manifests itself when dining?

When I used to read the UK weekly music press, a common letter of complaint from readers was "Why did you allow such and such a person to review band A's gig/new album. Everyone knows they hate them and were bound to give them a bad write up". It seems we have a similar situation in restaurant reviewing where you can guess which critic will give which chef a good or bad review. In the UK, this is partly a result of the London scene being dominated by a few major restauranteurs, so that if you don't like Oliver Payton you give his "latest release" a bad review or if you love Ramsay in general you give his places a good review. Just now it seems that it's ok to like Conran so the Almeida got good reviews. Fay Maschler was mentioned earlier on this thread. I love reading her stuff and think that she is very reliable, or at least that my opinions concur with hers. However, she has been the Evening Standard reviewer for 30 years, has a daughter who is involved in restaurants which she reviews and has in the last few years buddied up with the likes of Ramsay and Ladenis, both of whom she had upset in the past with her reviews. Now the reason I know all this is because she writes about it in her weekly column. And I can therefore make allowances for the 1 star she awarded Adam Street, her daughters place (and which Maschler herself was asked to consult on, whether she did officialy or not in the end I'm not sure), or the glowing review she gave Ramsay at Claridges (3 out of 3 stars). For me, this doesn't make her any less interesting to read, but you just have to accept that she must have contacts and friends in the business. After all, she spends about 6 out of 7 days a week in restaurants, how could she not.

It's the stuff he doesn't disclose that worries me

Is he planning a comeback? Actually, doesn't he do the Jim Davidson rude pantos?

Wilfrid - do you have something you want to share with the rest of us? You know we'll be supportive don't you?

Simon - I'm not sure it's true that I "promote" Mr Poole on this site. There are reviews of two of his restaurants on my own website, plus an article about the cookery competition that we both took part in, and I respond to queries about Chez Bruce or La Trompette on eGullet, but I don't actively promote anyone or anything. I think it's worth noting here that I am an Internal Auditor for BT and not a food critic or professional restaurant reviewer. I just write about what I eat and hope that someone out there is interested enough to read it. That is all there is to it. I always try and talk to the chef at restaurants that I really like, but don't bother if the meal has been average or bad. I enjoy getting the latest restaurant scene gossip from chefs, some of which on occasion I pass on here, and of course talking about food with them. For example, just last week I was in Ludlow at Hibiscus and had a chat with Claude Bosi (he spoke to all his customers that night) then nipped down the road and bought Shaun Hill a pint and chatted to him in his kitchen. I have also recently had discussions with Shane Osborne at Pied a Terre and Anthony Boyd at The Glasshouse in Kew (a Poole restaurant). I will continue to write about my restaurant experiences, and I will continue to cultivate my acquaintances with food professionals, because I enjoy both very much.

That is quite possibly true, but I've always been a bit of an old git really.

No, you're not John. I agree with Steve as well.