Andy Lynes

Just to summarise - wines made by piano tuners who used to be in Joe Brown and the Bruvvers are "better" than 3 Michelin star Syrian meals eaten in restaurants with Sympathy For The Devil playing in the background, especially after the Arsenal have won. In addition, Robert Parker either knows jack #### or he doesn't. I think that sums it all up rather nicely. New readers start here.

There is usually a very similar debate in the letters column of the caterer around this time of year when restaurant owners and chefs write and moan that people come and take advantage of the offer and then expect free wine and water on top and don't leave a tip. They say it's a waste of time and that these types never come back for a full price meal anyway. The idea I believe is for the restaurants to fill up seasonaly slow lunch and evening services, whilst the papers sell a few more copies off the back of the offer. I am going to Chez Bruce for lunch tomorrow on the FT offer (quelle suprise I hear you say), so if Bruce is around I will ask him his reasons for joining in the offer. In his case, lunches are always slow so a bit of extra trade is almost certainly going to be his reason. His other places Trompette and The Glasshouse are included as well and I can imagine lunches being slow there as well due to their locations). Don't look a gift horse etc etc.

Hardens has a "romantic" listing which includes all of the above plus about 200 more, so it really is a subjective thing!

Shaun Hill's Cookery Book - Shaun Hill Roast Chicken and other Stories - Simon Hopkinson The Fifth Floor Cookery Book - Henry Harris Keep It Simple - Alistair Little Any and all of the Roux Brothers books

You are correct about Joe Brown. I checked on his website at http://www.joebrown.co.uk/frames_other.asp, which is "dedicated to one of the world's best musicians". Well, that settles that arguement then. You're also right about the typo, I meant Hermann's Hermits, formed by novelist Hermann Hesse. He famously went on to join Steppenwolf and is attributed to using the term "heavy metal" in a musical context first. This has since been found to be inaccurate with the recent, and suprisingly little reported, discovery of some early unpublished Pam Ayres cut-up poems. These have also cast a doubt as to the originality of much of "The Lords and The New Creatures" by Jim Morrison. (Edited by Andy Lynes at 12:05 am on Jan. 29, 2002) (Edited by Andy Lynes at 12:07 am on Jan. 29, 2002)

Thats a tricky one. It obviously depends on your definition of romantic. Somewhere with a River View is always nice: Pont De La Tour for instance or the River Cafe, maybe even Oxo Tower or Neats Restaurant. Launceston Place looks quite romantic (not eaten there though), as does Odins off Marlybone High Street. La Poule Au Pot always scores highly for romance I believe. Gavroche or Petrus could be deemed romantic. Just a thought. I'm always thinking about the food too much to worry about romance!

I have a feeling that time will tell for the Beatles. There influence has for some time been limited to bands that want to sound exactly like the Beatles. Whereas the influence of a band like Led Zeppelin is felt right across the popular musical spectrum right into dance music. There is a lot more to the Zeppelin back catalogue than the mannered and formal song structures and rather heavy handed experimentation of something like St Pepper that make up the lovable mop tops legacy. So to, I think, the long term influence of Hermen and his Hermits and Joe Brown and The Bruthers is yet to be fully appreciated. "Fings Aint What They Used To Be" indeed.

www.eGullet.com mutates into www.aBalic.com before our very eyes.

Has everyone seen this offer? It was in the Financial Times over the weekend and was on their site www.ft.com but has now disappeared. It will be featured again in the print version next weekend as well. The offer is lunch at either £8, 10 or 15 and some restaurants are doing an early evening dinner at the same rate. It's nationwide with some really good places joining in. They are also running a joint promotion in New York with some great places there as well. There are too many to mention but for instance St John, Moro, Al Duca, Lindsay House, The River Cafe, etc etc are all included. The range seems a #### of a lot better than The Times usually has and there is no messing about with coupons, just ring up and mention the FT and your done. I obviously have no connection with this whatsoever, but it seems like to good an opportunity to miss. It's only on until 10 Feb, with some places not participating in the final weekend. Here's a link which may help - '>http://timeoff.ft.com/ft....rue.

It's from all the time I spend on this site, arguing till I'm blue in the face (thangyew, thangyew, you're a fabulous auidience. And if your thinking of drinking and driving tonight, please, please... make sure you have enough for your journey.)

Adam, I believe you are willfully misunderstanding me for comic effect. Of course my face is not smiley, do you think I'm a grinning idiot? (don't answer that).

Tony has taken his ball to Adam'>http://www.egullet.com/cgi-bin/topic.cgi?f...topic=59 Adam - relax,you're on track for page 12 (imagine stupid blue smiley face here).

eGullet exists in order for people to gnash their teeth, lets have more of it.

I have not been myself, but have seen the restaurant and food on the tele and various magazines. It does look like the chef is doing something very distinctive there and has a numnber of impressive looking siganture dishes which i have not seen replicated elsewhere. The dining room looks very old fashioned indeed but comfortable. My worry would be travelling a long way and finding great food and wine but sub standard service from willing and eager but under trained locals. I should add that I have no idea if this is the case, but often can be in regional restaurants, even with 2 stars.

Tony, Ive just had a look on the wine board and there isn't a thread with a title about Robert Parker so please feel free to start one there. I don't want to lock this topic as there is still room for debate on the original subject I think. I look forward to seeing "Robert Parker - Why This Man is a Complete ****" on the wine board soon.

Before we go way of path here, I would pull Tonys comments re Parker back to Michelin. Magnolia, I think, posted a link to an article a while ago which featured a company that can help wine makers create wines that will score well with Parker, which is pretty destructive I think. You could argue that Michelin are setting the standards and driving restaurants in a certain way, rather than simply being a guide to them. To my mind thats no bad thing, as there are plenty that are not interested in stars and it is very easy to ignore Michelin altogether if you are not looking for that sort of experience.

I try to believe all the tosh I come out with, it's more fum to argue that way.

As do Michelin, it's their raison d'etre.

It's not what I meant and I wouldn't imagine that the Michelin man meant it that way either. In my opinion, trying to argue that anyone other than the French "invented" modern cuisine as we understand it is a complete waste of time. The fact that you can trace dishes through history to the four corners of the earth has little relevance to what we are talking about here. The fact is when we refer to haute cuisine, whether it be in Spain Germany, Britian or America, we are always talking about food produced using what is generally acknowledge to be French techniques. It's all out of Escoffier, Larousse, Point, Bocuse, Chapel etc etc etc. And that's what Michelin hold up as the 3 star standard. Until other countries catch up with and overtake that monumental legacy (perhpas in a centuary or two) France will be seen as the home of modern cuisine.

This is absolutely true and I stand by it. Don't quote me but the Michelin head honcho said something in restaurant magazine about the fact that you can only go so far with ethnic cuisines (my termonology) and that French food was simply the most evolved and had limitless potential. The inference was that there just couldn't be a 2 or 3 star Indian restaurant because you can only go so far with Indian cuisine.

Tommy, I typed an hilarious response to this yesterday, but I lost my connection before it fully submitted and now it's gone. There is no way I can be bothered to type it all out again, but it was basicaly that I don't hate the guy, the first series was good, but now he believes his own publicity and his TV persona has become a bad parody of itself. (God it was so funny, it's a shame you won't get to read it.)

Thats Gill, my better half, rather than Gill the journalist.

Keith Floyd is alive and has recently been seen on Channel 5 in the UK in "Floyd on India" in which he was very well behaved and was quite entertaining. He has however lost a great deal of edge and it seems that the endless routine of cooking stews in different locations around the world has rather worn him down. But give me Floyd anyday over Jamie Oliver and I'm not just saying that. I have probably seen 90% of all of Floyds TV shows (mind you I have seen all of Olivers. But it's a bit like a nasty road accident, it's so horrible you just can't look away).

It'>http://www.observer.co.uk/business/story/0...,00.htmlIt's been rumoured that Robert Reid is to take over at The Capital from Eric Chavot, but where Chavot might go is not clear.

As I have said elsewhere, I won lunch at Bibendum and we had our meal there yesterday. Although we didn't pay, the lunch is currently £20.00 for 3 courses which I think is to do with the Evening Standard promotion. Food was fabulous - deep fried calves brains with sauce gribiche, a wonderful old spot pork chop with anchovy and rosemary butter and champ for me, the duck salad and poached cod with lentils and salsa verde for Gill plus desserts of apple and pecan strudel with maple syrup and a fantastic vanilla ice cream and a very rich chocolate marquise with pistachio sauce. If you are looking for somewhere for lunch, I would not hesitate to recommend this place especially at these prices.