Andy Lynes

Rabbit trifle? F*** me. (I know, I'm a bit late but its been a busy week).

Matthew Fort - M Norman has a bit more hair!

It looks like a nice place but I can't quite get over the fact that they charge £20 for a lamb shank.

His claim is that the Dorchester was the first hotelrestaurant outside France to win 2 Michelin stars which is a different thing. I don't know if its true, but its an oft repeated claim and is also made in his book Essential Mosimann.

I did get to In Vino Veritas, but only for a beer in the basement bar. It was OK but its an awkward cramped space, with a spiral staircase linking the three floors taking up a fair bit of room. There was nothing about the place that made me want to stay or go back to be honest. The menu just didn't tempt although the cocktail list reads very well indeed. The bar at MyHotel is nice enough, although I found the design to be a bit too self consciously modernist. A Scillian Smash cocktail made with fresh lemons was delicious, but came in a very girly glass. I suppose I should have guessed as it had pinot grigio among other ingredients in it. That was in stark contrast to the oh-so-manly frosted mug that a bottle of Becks was served in. L'eglise in Hovelooks like a potentially interesting recent opening for the city. Very classic French bistro dishes such as steak tartare and coq au vin. If its done well, it could be heaven sent. Here's Bighton's own Andrew Kaye's take on the place click.

The rumours have been circulating since last summer. I wrote about it earlier this month here click.

I would think that its more to do with the fact that Mosimann has run a private dining club since leaving the Dorchester and has therefore disqualified himself from being included in the guide. That said, I ate there a couple of years ago and the food wouldn't have rated 2 stars by a long chalk. Nice place though.

I was surprised not to see you at table with Mr Fort, or at least on the table of punters. I thought Anthony's food looked great, very polished and precise. I was slightly surprised that Micheal Wignall didn't get through. Although Nigel Haworth's dishes looked excellent and sounded delicous, Wignall's style appeared to meet the modernist criteria more closely.

Has anyone been watching this? Although the thought of seeing Matthew Fort bomb around the UK stuffing his face in posh restaurants at the expense of the licence fee payer was less than appetising, I've actually quite enjoyed it this week. The most fun has been guessing which two chefs would go through to the cook offs although I think its been pretty obvious so far, given the criteria to find the most cutting edge chefs. Given that in the last series we were promised a banquet attending by the top gourmets in France and then Mick Hucknell and Andrew Marr turned up, who will Heston be able to corral into the gherkin for the grand finale this time? Jim Kerr and Jeremy Vine?

As I have never eaten at Goodfellas and never will, I am unable to validate myself by disagreeing with Giles Coren. I will therefore attempt to validate myself by disagreeing with you: "In his five star review of Giles Coren's 2/10 review of Goodfellas, Tim Hayward calls it "a brilliant piece of comic writing by any standard". While we wouldn't disagree that Coren can be marvelously witty, we feel that Hayward has slightly mislaid his critical faculties and allowed himself to slip into hyperboyle in his assessment of Coren's latest work. It was just aw-ight for us dude." Gosh, do you know, I feel so much better for that. My previously mundane, pointless existance now has some, well, validity. Right - who else can I disagree with.

I read Marina, and all the other critics pretty much every week (I have missed a few reviews now and again I admit). I think I've misunderstood you, I apologise. I think what you're saying is that you've inferred from the odd occasion that you've read her reviews that Marina has radioactively unpleasant attitude. I thought that when you wrote "The bird from metro remains anonymous visually but beams such radioactively unpleasant attitude from the moment she comes in the door, you'd be a fool not to spot her." that you were claiming first hand experience. Either way, I can't relate to the comment.

I wasn't referring to "bird from Metro", it was the "radioactively unpleasant attitude" comment that caught my eye - utter bollocks as far as I'm aware.

Oh, stop it! I suspect you are in league with her, helping to conceal her true identity.

Hmm...sounds like those mothers hadn't had sufficiently serious time in the pit.

and what else, black magic?!

Old fashioned? I'm so up to the minute I even own a Hot Chip cd.

Thumbs up to the magnitude of 8/10 from the Telegraph this week.

David Sexton is literary editor of the Evening Standard I believe. I think you're going to have a very hard time finding anyone in this country who thinks "Ooh, Eastern European food, yum yum my favourite" that isn't originally from the region.

Talk about product placement...

By using dry ice, chefs have already looked to prog rock for creative inspiration in presenting dishes. Now I want to see them go one further and look to the works of Caravan, Gentle Giant, Marillion Genesis and Yes for ideas for the dishes themselves. Imagine "The Return of the Giant Hogweed" made flesh by Andoni Aduriz, or "Tales From Topographic Ocean" interpreted as a tasting menu by René Redzepi. Or they could just cook some nice food inspired by - and this is just off the top of my head of course - ingredients?

Now Prince Harry's at a loose end, prehaps he can turn his attention from Terry Taliban to Terry Foiegrasban.

La Noisette closed today "unexpectedly", despite rumours of its imminent demise circulating since autumn last year.

The Conservatory isn't open on Sunday which is when Fisherman wants to eat.

Last year we broke our journey in Exeter at Michael Caines Abode hotel. Not a mind blowing gastronomic experience but a very good one nevertheless. Lovely city too.

Very enjoyable lunch here earlier this week. Excellent bread and good green olives came to the table without charge (early reviews criticised additional charges for both items). A la carte looked extremely interesting but the three course £19 set lunch was too tempting to resist. Everything served was spot on in terms of the accuracy of the cooking, balance of flavours and sheer deliciousness. Pan fried haddock, puy lentils and chanterelles came with a delicate foamy sauce and boarded on the exquisite; rabbit leg, baby artichokes and pommery mustard also included some dinky potato fondants, young leeks and a rich but not over reduced jus; dark chocolate and almond sponge was a superior chocolate fondant, served with a light vanilla ice cream that tasted fresh out of the Pacolet. A pretty starter of gravadlax of organic salmon with curried cauliflower puree and a cinnamon pannacotta with granny smith sorbet were deemed to be equally impressive. This is seriously good food. Portions are on the small side, and I was very ready for a portion of Tom Aikens fish and chips come 7.30pm at night, but the real problem here is the room. As my dining companion remarked "It would make a nice coffee shop." I can't quite imagine returning there to eat a £50 tasting menu, and that's a real shame.