Andy Lynes

Yes. I think Bjorn van der Ivor (say it quickly) is a great cook but if there was one fault with the my meal at The Greenhouse when he was there it was that his food could tend to be on the sweet side. Bonnet doesn't suffer from that particular problem. In my opinion, the food is now even more technically accomplished, the flavours even more clear and refined and the presentation just stunning.

I had an absolutely outstanding meal at the The Greenhouse in Mayfair recently. Antonin Bonnet who has recently taken over the stoves is a serious talent who really knows his stuff, both in terms of technique and flavours. Some of the plating reflects his four years with Michel Bras and maybe the flavours do as well although I haven't eaten at Bras so I couldn't say. The restaurant must be in the top 5 haute cuisine in London. A beautiful, luxurious room with prices to match.

Arbutus, Frith Street, Soho is a great place to dine solo at the bar. I did so recently and had a whale of a time chatting to a fellow lone diner and the staff. The food was also terrific and very good value.

Just tried their bacon sarnie. ← Why on earth did you do that? Thanks For Franks is literally 50 yards away. ← Now he tells me! I have no idea what that is - I'll go and have a look now and bare it in mind for future reference.

Just tried their bacon sarnie. It came ready made and packaged up in greaseproof paper. When I opened it, it had tomato ketchup on it. Tomato bleeding ketchup. That is just wrong. And it was made from some poncy bloody wholemeal toast as well. White bread lightly toasted, decent bacon, HP sauce. Anything else is against the laws of this fine country, everyone knows that. Apart from the owners of Leon apparently.

The Clapham boys’ creation of pate on toast topped with instant noodles made me laugh out loud - absolute genius. Forget Ramsay's curry - imagine the subtle crunch of the lightly toasted Mother's Pride providing a contrast to the meaty unctuousness of the Shipham's paste and the surprising umami notes from the noodles. All it needs is a can of zesty Tizer to cut through the richness of the whole and you're really onto something. Quick, someone give them a cookery show. I also missed the first half of the show - no Mr Coren this time around?

This Stovetop Cookware eGCI course might come in useful.

I'm fairly sure not. Batali would have had to have worked at Harvey's in Wandsworth and I'm pretty sure that didn't happen. I'd heard that White and Batali worked together in a place in Clerkenwell Green in London so its interesting to hear about the pub in Chelsea as well.

I second that; you'd be unlikely to find more detail on specific areas of cooking anywhere else. And it's all free! have a rummage around there before you go out and spend any of your hard earned cash.

My memory playing tricks again, thanks for clearing that up.

Wonderful, thanks.

I'm sure you're right about number three, and as he's just announced that he's pulling out of his consultancy with the Marriot I can throw the thing out. I'm also sure Jay is correct about menu one. I've got a faxed version of the menu which I got because I was thinking about visiting the restaurant and wanted to check it out in advance. I ended up not going but it had nothing to do with how the menu read as it all sounded great. Probably couldn't get a babysitter and then before I knew it the place had closed and been taken over by Allegra Mcevedy for about 5 minutes before becoming Zaika. Still not sure about number two. Other dishes included Boudin of chicken and veal with onion, potao saute and veal truffle jus; crab and salmon ravioli with pink grapefuit, pak choi, basil puree and lemon grass bisque; and poached and roasted guinea fowl with rosti, parma ham, thyme and cepe dressing, rosemary veloute.

Of the chains in the UK, my currrent least favouite is Costa Coffee, their Americano is actively unpleasant with even less real coffee flavour than the usual instant swill I guzzle down every day. Had a very nice take out from Carluccio's in Brighton the other day though.

A recent office re-org has seen my collection of menus filed into alphabetical order (sad isn't the word I know but I do refer to them for my work, honest). While I've been able to identify the vast majority, I do have three that have no indication of which restaurant they are from. Just for fun, I wondered if anyone can fill in the gaps from these sample dishes (they are all UK restaurants as far as I know) - Menu 1 (I think this may be Jason Atherton at L'anis, which was where Zaika now is, but I never actually ate there so I'm not sure) Salad of marinated sea bream, citrus fruit and olive oil dressing, milk garlic puree Braised beef skirt with roasted vegetables, snail and garlic mash Chocolate delice flavoured with anise and cocnut sorbet Menu 2 Foie Gras ballottine on a Madeira jelly, salad of green beans, Granny Smith apple and truffle Seabass pan fried on fennel hearts, tomato concasse and chives, civet sauce marbled with fennel veloute Strawberry fool with layers of fresh meringue, pistachio nuts, jelly of red berries Menu 3 Salad of Cornish lobster with Parmesan Panis a la Nicoise with lobster vinaigrette grilled turbot with cannelloni of scallops and sevruga caviar with a parmesan cream sauce raviolo of rice pudding with marinated strawberries and white chocolate ice sorbet

Would be very interested in your thoughts on the place. I did eat there and left a little bewildered by the food which was a strange take on fusion cooking.

I suppose the pair of them are renowned for being well oiled most of the time.

I don't know, you couldn't see the review for the trees (boom, and in a very real sense, boom).

A sideline when he's not touring with Primal Scream I assume. Not many olive groves in Manchester though are there?

Would you believe that Giles Coren has an arbutus in front of his house! Fantastic. (He likes the restaurant by the way, just in case you're interested in that bit.)

I love lamb neck - I use it to make navarin of lamb or any lamb stew/braise in fact. Treat it gently and it's very forgiving and full of flavour. There's a particularly good Locatelli lamb stew with peppers served with polenta that works really well with neck. It's one of those rare cuts that taste great and is still good value for money.

Do you mean Pelham House in Lewes? If so that's about 20 minutes by train from Brighton or a bit longer by road depending on the traffic. I was there last night by coincidence.

Liquorice Braised Tripe with Larded Jellied Eels and Sauce Salad Cream - there you go, right back at the top of the list of any self respecting gourmet's list of 100 things to eat before you die.

That's well into deepest darkest Seven Dials. They have a website with a review from Andrew Kaye of Latest magazine who is always worth a read.

All together now: One Andy Lynes, there's only one Andy Lynes, one Andy Lynes etc etc

Not really. The programme is a daily event accessible to everyone with a tele - its bound to be a current and reoccuring talking point. All those establishments you mention have some profile but I wouldn't say they are major openings and quite possibly not the sort of place that would atract your average egulleter (if there is such a thing). I have been to Kilo and didn't think it worth writing up for example. There has been discussion of Arbutus, Bar Shu and Galvin, all of which are major openings and the sort of place that would attract your average eGulleter.