Andy Lynes

Simon - have you seen the new issue of Restaurant magazine with both Fergus Henderson and Anthony Bourdain posing together on the front cover, I assume you'll be having it framed. Or at the very least laminated.

http://www.caterer.com/news....D=41475

You'd want to avoid deep frying in the state I would guess, unless you have one of those fancy plug in jobs with a lid (I'm talking about the fryer here BTW).

Four words : "Think Like A Chef"

For what it's worth - I really enjoyed my one and only visit to Paris a couple of years ago and would like to go back. I found the city a little "chocolate box" compared to London. It looks like it was all built at exactly the same time, it doesn't have the wild variations that London does. It's beautiful,but somehow a little dull because of that. I never saw the ugly bit (well, actually as I was working in La Defence, maybe I did, but it's removed in the same way thay Canary Wharf is from London). We ate well, but not spectacularly better than London. We were horribly patronised at Relais Du Parc, and had a fantastic meal at Chez Jean, the highlight of the trip without a doubt. One very very important aspect of these boards is that you get a wide range of opinions about restaurants. Not only do you get the final judgement, but you get to quiz people on why they made that judgement, something that Harden's of The Good Food Guide can never do. It seems ridiculous to me to say that someone could not have had a bad meal because the generaly accepted view is that the restaurant is a good one. What we have now is a fairly detailed first hand account of a bad meal in a "good" restaurant. I now know that along with all the good experiences people have had in this place, Simon and Robin have had a not so good one. If and when I have the opportunity to decide where I would like to eat in Paris, I will bear this information in mind. There is a chance, if I go, I will enjoy it as much as Magnolia has. Equally, I may be in and out in 60 minutes, nearly a hundred pounds the poorer and very pissed off. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/20/dining/20PARI.html An article on Paris restaurants from the NY Times.

Tony, I agree completely, although for a number of reasons I eat in restaurants that don't meet the criteria you have set out. I try and avoid going out in any shape or form just for the sake of it and save the money for trips to restaurants that I hope will really deliver the goods. I love to cook at home, and we really don't entertain enough. But if given the choice, I would not sit down to eat with my guests, but join them after the meal. It really is too much like hard work dishing up 3,4 or 5 courses (yes, I know it's my own fault, but that's how I have fun) and being nice to people. I just usually concentrate on the former and see how it goes with the latter. The two experiences are entirely different and one is not a substitute for the other in my opinion. I shall continue to do both, just more often.

Recipes are an inadequate means by which to learn to cook. However, what is the alternative for those of us who do not have a family tradition to follow. Recipes are boring to read and they are certainly boring to write, but what might replace them as a means to document the preperation of food?

Same chef then - even more interesting. Is it possible he is having a bad run? I assume he works with minimal assistance given the size of the kitchen and may simply be feeling the pressure. Simon, I would be very interested in a report on your next visit to see how things develop.

Suvir says - He was forced to learn to trust all of his senses, not just his sense of taste; because all food was prepared for the gods it was not permitted to be defiled by tasting while cooking. (This is undoubtedly why Suvir, a vegetarian who never eats meat at all, can cook delicious meat recipes without tasting them.) This is complete anathama to the modern western chef, where the mantra is "taste and taste again" to ensure the optimum degreee of cooking and seasoning has been achieved. Having said that, everyone palate is different, especially that of the potentialy dehydrated and quite possibly heavy smoking chef. Steven says - "I think recipes are not only silly in most cases but also counterproductive to the enterprise of teaching people how to cook." I know where you are coming from but have to disagree. Once you have obtained a degree of confidence with cooking and can interpret a recipe, they are incredibly evocative. I have read numerous books on music, which have driven me either to listen to an artist for the first time, or hear familiar music with new ears. Recipes can have exactly the same effect. Whilst you may be foolish to adhere to them to the letter, they can inspire the use of new ingredients, or old favourites in a new way.

It sounds so disappointing! I thought the kitchen managed admirably with our large table and a busy upstairs restaurant so it seems that they can deal with a busy night like a Saturday. Simon is a regular and has never had a bad word to say about the place, so what can be the explanantion? I ordered the snails on the night and loved them, the lardons were the real thing and not just gristle. I tried some of Tony's pork on the night of the egullet dinner and although others had complained, I thought it a lovely dish with good crackling, moist meat, great cabbage and the plums and cream were interesting and worked just fine. Why it shoud have been so different is a mystery. Different chef maybe? If you feel you want to leave before dessert is a real indication of a bum night out ,and a feeling I have quite regularly in Brighton unfortunately so I empathise.

I had lunch at Bibendum about a month ago on a very sunny afternoon (yes in January). We had a lovely table just on the right hand side of the waiter station in the centre of the room. The light was flooding through a window on the far right of the room. The waiter noticed I was squinting at him as he took our order for champagne and lowered the blind without a word. I nodded to him appreciatively and he smiled back. Outstanding service I thought, which was maintained throughout the meal. I second Tony's views on wine mark ups. It's very easy to just accept the incredible prices restaurants seem to want to charge these days. What we should do of course is pull the sommerlier over and point to an offending wine and say "This is a joke, of course. Now bring me the list with the real prices." The sour is also very interesting. I think this points to the dangers of mimicking or adapting dishes from the likes of Blumenthal without fully understanding the processes that have gone into their creation. I am afraid we are seeing the birth of the ice cream and jelly school of cooking in the same way that the Nouvelle Cuisine of the Frere Troisgos et al was reduced to "tiny portions on large white plates with kiwi fruit" by less talented and less intelligent chefs back in the 80's. Thank god I only read about it!

Has anyone eaten at The Orrey. I will be going on a week or so's time. What are the best dishes, wines tables etc etc. Any opinions would be very welcome. Thanks

Bloody hell! What is the world coming to. And pheasant as well!! A completely acceptable and approachable thing to serve to any meat eater. Ok, I'm calming down now.

Not that I hold grudges or anything, but if someone did that in my house, they would never be invited again and I would probably not speak to them for a very long time, if ever. It would completely ruin the evening for me and I would sulk very badly indeed. I'm getting pissed off just thinking about it. How dare they!

Wilfred - it was a smokehouse - have a look at http://www.stjohnrestaurant.co.uk/ and the first para on the "about" page (there isn't a smilie for "smug bastard", but thats me right now).

restaurant mag says 2 restaurants - brasserie and fine dining (don't you just hate that phrase).

When the Trotter London gig was first rumoured a while ago, it was reported that his right hand man in Chicago would transfer to London permanently. That, in theory, could make all the difference stanards wise. It will be interesting to see if they try and replicate the Trotter experience (as I understand through rading about it but never actually trying it for myself) in the UK or tailor something site specific.

Restaurant magazine reports in it's current issue that Trottoer is going to run the restaurants at an arts venue called hospi+al (not a typo) which is being funded by Dave Stewart. It should opne by the end of the year.

Stephen, if you have the time, we would love to hear all the details.

My last dinner at Petrus was on a Saturday night and service suffered a little as a consequence, but not to the extent you experienced. I really try and avoid going out at the weekend at all but especially in London. The only disappointing dish I have ever had was the lamb, again on my last dinner there.

Paula, I didn't respond to this earlier because I wasn't sure what exactly it was you were doing. I have worked in a number of kitchens in the UK and one each in France and America. I have simlpy contacted the chef dierctly and said that I was a keen amateur cook possibly interested in taking up the profession of chef and wanted some work experience. On each occasions, I have had a great time, learnt an awful lot in a very short period of time, and been worked like a dog. However, I have never had the language barrier to overcome. French, as you will know is the international language of the kitchen, so don't expect too much English to be spoken. In all likelihood, you will be shown a simple task, like some veg prep, pointed to a huge great crate of whatever it is and told to get on with it. You may be allowed to assist during lunch and dinner service with easy plating up tasks, or you may still be prepping veg. What you must do is keep your head up and see as much of what is going on as possible. As for which kitchen you should choose, I really can't advise. I would go with however is doing the most interesting stuff at the moment and which location seems most attractive. At the end of the day, it's a bit if a crap shoot because you will most probably be working with a sous chef or chef de partie for the majority of time you are there. I would say don't worry about it, you will have a fantastic time. Team work in a kitchen is absolutely crucial and is in their blood. I have never been mistreated in a kitchen, although the enviroment is hard and there is pressure, even on a guest in the kitchen. Send me a message if you want to know more and maybe we can have a real time conversation about this.

Please note - I am not stinking rich, in fact I am very poor. I am driving my family to wrack and ruin eating in posh restaurants.

The rumours about Ramsay came from a chef I was chatting to the other day (no, not him!). I'd rather not say who. I ate at GR 2 years ago and spoke to Ramsay who was in his whites in the kitchen, which is why I made the disclaimer. Cheffy bitching - don't ya just love it! macrosan - do not confuse Bibendum with a run of the mill Conran. It has nothing to do with the likes of Zinc Bar or whatever. It's wonderful and I would recommend it to any stinking rich person!

I'll have the mag with me tonight and yes, I meant that thread.

I couldn't possibly comment!! I would like to point out that the I didn't actually say the things that are attributed to me, although I did say something vaguely similar. I believe that's called journalism. I also did not say that Shaun Hill is a regular poster, as he quite plainly is not, but he does look in from time to time. I also didn't mention anything about Jay's postings, the journalist found those for himself. What I did point out to him was the Michelin Stars thread on the UK board and the Adam Balic thread as examples of the range and level of debate on this site. The journalist chose to focus on the Blumenthal thing. Ho hum. Anyway, nice bit of exposure for the site to industry types. It'll be interesting to see who contributes as a result.