Andy Lynes

They do porn as well?! Well, it is Soho I suppose...

So what's the betting that Mr Coren will review Arbutus based on his half priced preview meal and say something along the lines of "its simply not done to review a restaurant in its first week when they are offering a discount on the food. It would be like reviewing a theatre production before press night. But I don't give a flying f*** so here goes" only in a far wittier way. And I bet The Masch gets in there early doors as well - I wouldn't be totally amazed if its was in today's edition. It will definately be next week's main review.

Was it full last night?

I think Arbutus must win the coveted "Restaurant-with-the-most-eGulleters-through-the door-on-the-first-day" prize by a country mile. The numbers by the end of week should be impressive.

Thank God! Anyway - what was the food like?

If my lunch on that day were to extend into early evening (and believe me, stranger things have happened) I would have absolutely no interest in exchanging pleasantries.

"I settled for pheasant (£16), which came with chestnuts and honey-glazed parsnips in a generous serving (half a bird) that was perfectly roasted. My friend was equally pleased with his grilled, spatchcocked partridge with rosemary and cobnut butter, although he felt obliged to have the unadvertised red cabbage (superb) removed and returned to me in a bowl." Matthew Norman, Guardian 17 December 2005. We could go on like this for, oh, minutes. My point is that your claim that "every review of this restaurant has been truly dreadful" is simply not true.

Bit like Ramsay's iced white chocolate and strawberry petit fours then (which were no doubt nicked from elsewhere)?

Not the case if you believe the press page on the restaurant's website.

Now we know why you're going three times in a row - cramming 6 months worth of Arbutus visits in to one week so you can get them on the cheap!

Ta muchly but you don't have to worry about my opinion. I'm a mere freelancer, I have no influence at the magazine one way or the other.

On balance I think that might come under the heading of 'career limiting moves' ← A stallion races across the open fields. The wind picks up and in the distance we hear the insistant thump of a door banging against its frame in the breeze. A stableboy hurries to close it. Too late...

There aren't any left - Jesus had the last one (boom, and furthermore, boom).

I'm sorry, I can't resist - I really admire Michael Ruhlman's work and I was fortunate enough to be able to interview him for eGullet last year in the run up to the Future of Dining Round Table. You can read the results here and the round table is here.

Carol Godsmark's How To Start and Run Your Own Restaurant: An Insider Guide to Setting Up Your Own Successful Business may prove useful to you.

I've had very good service the last two times I've been in, no complaints at all although the food can be a bit slow in arriving at times.

Gavin, I'm very glad you had a good time. I take it from your lack of comments about service that there were no great issues on that side of things? I bet you were in there for a while though!

Looks like they are going to be egulleted to the gunnels - I'm looking forward to a lunch there at the back end of the first week.

Really looking forward to this. I know Anthony and William are planning on delivering a totally different product from Putney Bridge. This could potentially be a really exciting addition to the London scene.

I think Simon Rmmer is trying his hardest.

I was going to tell you that I had a decent stab at an irish stew at Rumpoles near to the law courts a few years ago, but I find that it has been transformed into The Advocate, with an ex-Nick's Wharehouse chef dishing up classic Irish fare such as chilli beef wrap with guacamole and fried spiced squid. Oh well.

I think I can help you there - if you're on the main menu page, look at the thin red band between the picture on the left and the list of menus on the right, it says "home". Click on that and you're on the home page. Its the same on all the rest of the pages. It took a while for me to work that out - not the most user friendly of navigation systems I have to say.

I'll be away from home and out of reach of the internet for the next few days. Total coincidence of course!

When those who should know better on eGullet decide to create a whole thread dedicated to its potential demise? Good God, get out more. ← Isn't it precisely because eGullet members get out so much that they are qualified to know when a restaurant stinks and is not long for this world? When you can't understand what the waiter is saying and they can't understand you is always a bad sign.

Still Jacques Carlino heading up the team. Have you had a bad experience there?