Andy Lynes

I didn't know that! Haven't heard it used when I've been over in Northern ireland, is it a Southern thing do you think?

You can't be too careful around us Brits! Hope you didn't pick up anything else unpleasant whilst you were over here.

Just so you know, Paki is a term of abuse used by racists in the UK to denote anyone of Indian origin or parentage and is roughly the equivilent to nigger.

Can't somebody ask the old guy next time they are in an Appetizing store? I can't find a damn thing on the net about this.

Martin - very interesting and entertaining post. The discussion up to this point has been centred on the restaurant/customer relationship and we had overlooked the wine merchants role. Can you tell us a little more about what you do, just to put things in perspective? I had dinner with a friend at The Merchant House in Ludlow a little while back and we were talking to Shaun Hill about the wines on his list. It was mentioned that the Mirabelle was selling a Zind Humbrecht I think it was for 3 times the rate that Shaun was. His response was simply "Well, it's not worth that". A refreshingly honest approach to business I thought.

More news, this time Caterer reports that 15 staff are re locating from Chicago : Trotter in London

I had a bottle all to myself in Sartoria the other night. Mind you, the service was bloody slow.

It's only $35 on Amazon.com, so if it doesn't appear on .co.uk it might even be worth getting it shipped over from them, that about £40.00 cheaper than books for cooks.

You're right of course, and Canada was going to be my second guess!

That's a bloody good idea. I know they will do a table of 8 but I am not sure if they have a private room. Perhaps I should start looking into this, but I think we sould do the pub crawl first. I'll come back to you on this.

Would this be in New York by any chance? I just can't imagine such a thing existing anywhere else.

Restaurant interiors are all too aften likened to a 1930's ocean liner. In the UK Fay Maschler and Matthew Fort like to use the word "bosky" a lot which I think is a horrible word and sticks out like a sore thumb in their reviews when deployed.

Steven - in the recent past I have been a regular visitor to Belfast and so know the city's restaurant scene quite well. I have reviewed two restaurants, Shu and Tatu on my site see http://wwwalynes.freeserve.co.uk/shu.html and http://www.alynes.freeserve.co.uk/tatu. As a relatively small city, Belfast has many more excellent places to eat out that you might imagine. Leading culinary light is Paul Rankin, who worked for the Roux brothers in London before returning to his native city to open Belfasts first Michelin starred restaurant, Roscoff about 10 years ago. His kitchen has and continues to train most of the great chefs of the area, including Robbie Millar of Shanks in Bangor, about 10 miles down the road (designed by the Conran partnership but not a Conran restaurant) who also has a Michelin star. You can read an interview with him here here Roscoff has now been transformed into Cayenne and has a more informal "funky" feel to it that is being copied by a number of other restaurants, and focuses more firmly on the spicey fusion side of Rankin's style, which also has a solid French basis from his Roux days. You can see a menu here here Fontana is just down the road in Holywood and also headed up by an ex-Roscoff chef. Their website is here Another big noise is Michael Deane of Restaurant Michael Deane and Deane's brasserie, both of which are housed in the same building near to the Opera House and the Europa Hotel. Deane trained under Mosimann at the Dorchester alongside Ian McAndrew (a formerly Michelin starred chef who has now retired from the kitchen which is an enourmous shame has he was utterly brilliant). Deane worked for McAndrew in his Canterbury restaurant before opening his first place in St Helens. His style is similar to Rankin's in that it has fusion elements but also some classic French stuff. He is big on things like curry oils and lemongrass jus. The restaurant is straining for a second star and is very proper and quite solemn in a way. I like it though. Website here Classic irish foods include the Ulster Fry - a fried breakfast that includes soda farls and potato bread - Wheaten Bread, Crubeens (pigs trotters) Irish stew of course, champ (mashed potato with spring onions), boiled potatos (which you will see on many restaurant menus offered as a side dish) and any number of excellent cheeses.

That is an extraordinary thing to be able to say. Can I ask was it a special occasion or do you do that sort of thing with any degree of regularity? Also, did the fact that the meals were all eaten close together have any impact on your enjoyment or ability to appreciate what you had, ie did you get bored by the end, or your palette tire?

I am sure Simon will have something to say about this, but in the meantime I can only tell you that a friend tried Zaika in it's new location in Kensington and was very disappointed to see how close the food was to a standard British Indian restaurant. Another restaurant to consider would be The Red Fort in Soho, which now has the ex head chef of Bukhara in Delhi, with Robert Reid ex- Oak Room consulting : website at http://www.redfort.co.uk/.

What I have observed in the UK is an almost complete disinterest in what people eat. You can very easily engage people in this country in converations about the weather, sport,what was on TV last night, the news, in fact anything other than food. Go to Ireland, specificaly Northern Ireland in my experience, and most people will be aware of the good restaurants, will have shopped in the local markets, will have recipes they will be happy to discuss with you and generally and have food as a ready topic of discussion. They love food and see no shame in spending time effort and money on it. In my travels, I have noted this as common to the people of Spain, India, America, France, Malaysia etc etc. What is it about the British that makes us in general so different? There must be something very deep rooted in us that makes thinking and talking about food such a chore, which it most decidedly is for many people.

Simon - that means you have been, on average once a week, not allowing for your frequent trips abroad....bloody hell!

Whenever I am in Ludlow, I always eat at The Merchant House. I walk pass Hibiscus on my way there from the B&B, read the menu, think it sounds great and determine to eat there the next time, then never do!

LML - I couldn't agree more with your sentiment and the first choice on your list (I haven't had the opportunity to visit the other 2 as yet).

If you are interested in eating out and cooking, if you are a professional chef, or critic and are based in the west, then you must understand French food, you have to deal with that before you can move on to anything else. Thats as true now as it has ever been. If the light is dimming on French cuisine, where is it shining brighter? I will be ordering the books mentioned on this thread and I think the idea of an eGullet book club is an excellent one.

What..their Y chromosome?

Has the Stein phenomenom been a help, it must have brought you an awful lot of passing trade?

I know what Samuelsson means, but just because a cuisine is rooted in a particular area doesn't mean that flavour is not a priority. Take for instance the cooking of the South West of France, all duck, foie gras and garlic. It may have a limited palette of flavours and ingredients to draw from compared to the metropolitan fusion chef, but it still tastes wonderful. All good cooking is flavour driven. Many chefs to not have there own vision, but are simply interpreting anothers, or adopting the current fashion, which is why, particularly in London you see the same dishes everywhere. Their vision often extends only as far as the next door restaurants menu.

Basildog - you would be more than welcome to mention the name of your restaurant, unless you want to retain your anonymity. The eGullet User Agreement states that "Commercial posts are not encouraged, but they are acceptable so long as they are relevant to the discussion and all affiliations are fully disclosed." My view would be that simply mentioning the name of you restaurant does not really constitue commercial posting, and that restaurants are obviously very relevant to eGullet, plus you have alreay disclosed that it's your place. No problem about the siting of this thread. Had I been more on the case I would have moved it in it's infancy, but as it took on a life of it's own anyway, no harm done. I think it's been an interesting and illuminating debate.

Do think the queues had something to do with the Restaurant magazine front cover? Perhpas they felt they couldn't say no to all those extra covers, but should have done for the sake of the regulars like yourself.