Andy Lynes

20lbs, 'kin #### mate! How quickly?

Mushy Pea Fritters - The Holy Grail of take away fish and chip menu's.

Thanks, I await with interest.

Coming soon? Worldwide publication or Amazon.com for those of us outside the US?

I am genuinely interested BTW, any response?

Absinthe is sold in my local Asda supermarket, which is now owned by an American company which escapes my mind at the moment, at around £40.00 a bottle. It is also sold in a numner of pubs and bars in Brighton. No fatalities as far as I know.

What about absinthe which has about 60% alcohol and has an anise flavour apparently. It also comes with the additonal active ingredient of thujone with is a neurotoxin and will kill you if taken in sufficient quantities.

Apparently Mount Horrocks in Australia have been experimenting with Screwtops for something like 20 years and have just released their 2000 reisling in a screwtop for the first time. They are now satisfied that it has no long term effects on the wine. With more and more wine now being produced for drinking young, it's inevitable that screwtop will become the norm. I have never been offered a cork, even in a Michelin 3 star restaurant , probably because I dont drink expensive enough wine.

David nicholls is Executive chef and Hywell (?) Jones is the Head Chef. They create the menus between them and Jones executes them as far as I know. I know that Anton Mosimann has a simialr set up to Boulud in his private dining club.

Preet, did you know that there is a whole sub genre of fiction known as "aga sagas", at least in the UK, which refers to romantic novels by the likes of Catherine Cookson and Maeve Binchy.

Preet, it's not posted yet but it will be at http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/html/food/ea...top_direct.html I have just rung the restaurant and the room is seperated by glass from the kitchen. A seperate menu will be available, to be discussed on an individual basis with each party. The table holds up to 22 people, so it's more of a salon privee with a view

So a slight mis-nomer then, not actually in the kitchen. I don't know what the set up is at Conrad Gallagher, but the Evening Standard review seemed to indicate that the table was not protected from the heat and fumes of the kitchen.

Dublin chef Conrad Gallagher has just opened in Shaftesbury Avenue and is offering London diners the opportunity to eat at the chefs table in the restaurant kitchen. This is a first for the capital I believe, but is fairly common in the US, Charlie Trotters for instance. My experience of restaurnt kitchens are that they are noisey, hot and cramped, so why would you want to eat in one? Does anyone have first hand experience? Is it better than the dining room where thousands of pounds may have been spent on the interior?

Simon, a huge welcome on behalf of eGullet. I hope this is the first of many posts. For those of you not in the know, Simon was (is?) the UK backbone of at least one other food message board. He is extremely "well eaten" if I can put it that way and will hopefully be sharing his insights on a regular basis. £200.00 is an awful lot of money for any meal, let alone food from a cuisine that most would associate with a very informal restaurant experience. Did you read the caterer article where he said that he never eats out at Thai restaurants because you find the best food in the home. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

Perhaps it comes down to what each cook is comfortable with in their own kitchen. I've now got into the habit of adding salt after water comes to the boil, and am happy with the results of doing that. As you say, taste os paramount, and it's a real drag if I forget to add the salt at all, you just don't get the same result if you season after the veg is cooked for some reason.

Until the rest of the culinary world catch up, The Fat Duck will always be controversial. But with a Michelin Star, 4 AA rosettes and a Good Food Guide chef of the year award, he seems to be a hit with the critics. I think Heston tries harder than many chefs, and certainly thinks a lot more than most. Maybe that can get in the way of good food though sometimes, too much science and not enough art and craft?

Steven, I note from your site that you are writing a book. Can you give us some details about it's theme and a publication date. Will it be available in the UK?

It was a great opportunity, and a very enjoyable evening. If you read my original review, you will see that I came to a very different conclusion when I actually paid for the meal. However, it made me think twice about forming an opinion about a restaurant on the basis if one meal, and opened my eyes to how much a place can vary given changing circumstances. Because the pieces are virtual opposites of each other I wanted to make sure anyone reading them would understand all the circumstances that could have led to such seemingly opposing views.

You may well have seen a number of reviews of this new Thai restaurant in London's Halkin hotel. It's run by the latest uber chef from down under to be hailed as the next big thing, David Thompson. However, on Saturday, Matthew Fort of The Guardian awarded 18.5 out of 20 whilst Johathan Meades gave it 1 out of 10 and was very unpleasant about it. So which of the critics is right. Has one or the other revelled themselves to be wearing the emporers new clothes, and in fact don't know what they are talking about? Or is it just a difference of opinion that could have happened between any of the critics at anytime. Has anyone actually eaten there yet?