Andy Lynes

Matt Tomkinson is the 2005 Roux scholar, Bryn Williams the runner up. It was a great event and I will be posting a full report on this thread very soon.

My thanks to Matthew for covering this event for us, a job well done. I haven't eaten in may of London's Italian restaurants, but if Passione is really the best of the lot then I don't think I'm missing very much.

That foie gras dish looked utterly terrifying. And so much of it.

I have removed a number of posts from this thread as they were in response to and quoted from a post that contravened our user agreement. I'd like to take this opportunity to remind members of the user agreement which states: "Constructive criticism is always the best way to handle a disagreement and we suggest the best way to deal with rude or frivolous messages is to ignore them. If you feel you've been attacked, please don't respond by escalating. This makes it nearly impossible for us to do anything about the original attack, and we consider all parties to any blowup to be equally culpable regardless of who started it. The only appropriate response to a perceived insult or attack is to report the post to a moderator and to wait for official action. Regardless of what the official decision is, you absolutely may not engage in personal attacks. Instead, respond by refutation. Keep your personal issues off the boards. If you are a bystander, you should remain a bystander and report the post." Please do not respond to this post on this thread. If you wish to discuss the matter, please PM me. Any posts on this forum which make reference to this announcement will be removed. And now, lets get back to the awards...

Obviously congratulations are in order to David Hawsworth for doing the double, but what really caught my eye was the Bronze award for Best new Restaurant Design for Lift. I would have thought they were a shoo-in for the gold.

(The above post was merged from a separate thread.) Brithack - please see the last 8 pages. Thanks.

Nice to see a British restaurant critic maintaining a balanced view while avoiding cliche, hyperbole, exaggeration and controversy for its own sake. I will seek out Norman's reviews in future - how else am I going to find out the real truth about restaurants in this country?

Along with "Sean Hill" (it's Shaun), one of the most commonly misspelt names on eGullet.

A very entertaining piece. Now that I have discovered that Gagnaire is a fellow gun dog owner, he has risen even further in my estimation. Glad to see that Ramsay continues to emulate the career of his mentor Marco Pierre White. First there was the nude shot with the turbot that was oddly reminisent of Marco posing sans shirt with a shark, now we have him, cleaver in hand glaring at the camera. Anyone remember the Bob Carlos Clark press advert , taken around the time of the opening of The Canteen of MPW cleaver in hand, glaring at the camera? You'll find it here although you will have to sit through a slide slow of partially clad females to get to it.

When 32 year old IT consultant Christopher failed to make it into the finals of Masterchef Goes Large, his parting words were something to the effect of "Well at least I'll be remembered as the man who invented avacado ice cream. Its my signature dish, no ones ever done it before." Well, I hate to be the one to break the news but...(click here).

Congratulations to David and all at the restaurant, this is well deserved and will almost certainly have a major impact on their business.

Brighton-Eating.com may also be worth a look.

The Apartment does have a great view of the magnificent City Hall however and its quite a nice place to watch the world go by over a pint or two. If you can get served that is.

Things have changed since those days Dirk - its Staffordshire Bull Terriers and 4x4's now. My work took me to Birmingham quite regularly over a period of about 5 years and I came to know the city centre quite well. Its no better or worse than most I've visited and there is now something of an emergent restaurant scene. That said, I did take every opportunity I could to spend the night in Ludlow rather than in town.

Unfortunately not. This news caught me unawares as I was expecting Shaun to shut up shop in March. I spoke to Shaun a week or so ago and he told me that he decided to close early once it became obvious there was no prospect of selling the business on or of being able to find new premises while still operating the restaurant. Apparently the last service was business as usual with just those who had booked in attendance. Shaun still has plans to open a new restaurant and will move out of Ludlow, but it looks as though that won't happen as quickly as expected. In the meantime he has started work on a new book. I understand that its not beyond the realms of possibility that there may be a one-off opportunity to eat Shaun's food again in the not too distant future. I should say that this has nothing to do with eGullet and is nothing more substantial than a vague rumour at the moment, but it would be great if it came off.

Not being invited to do the pilot. Aparently it was nothing to do with the fact that I'm a miserable old git who hadn't bothered shaving for the audition, appreared to be barely half awake and moaned on about how TV cookery shows were better in the old days, they just decided on someone else. However, if the show is commissioned, the producer has promised to call me back. (I'll be waiting by the telephone with baited breath as you can imagine).

There are a number of threads about Brighton on the UK forum which you can dig out by using the site's search facility, although none of them particulary extensive I have to say. The Saint in St James Street just off the Steine might be worth a punt or Indian Summer in East Street has an interesting and reasonably priced daytime menu. Nice room as well.

"a totally new concept has been conceived out of frustration and a desire to develop food that does not conform to the normal paradigms" It sounds terrifying. On the whole, I think I'd prefer my food to conform to normal paradigms if at all possible. I also don't understand how you can have a hotel with 10 bedrooms and a dining room that seats a maximum of 8 guests.

I've reviewed Tough Cookies on the Food Media and News forum.

There is no appeal to me about actually appearing on the box, but I do quite like the idea of cooking in front of a small studio audience and showing off my culinary abilities, which is what the show I may be appearing on will allow me to do. Not a very high-minded reason I admit, but no harm in it once every 5 years or so. Its also worth turning up to these sort of things because you never know who you might meet and what may come of it. The chances are that absolutely nothing will happen of course, but on the other hand, its one day out of my life all expenses paid and I may get an article out of it or meet an editor or make some other important contact. The downside is the process itself, which can be very boring with lots of waiting around. You also have to accept that you are there to make the presenter look good and are just grist for the great televisual mill, but on balance its not a bad way to spend a day. I just wouldn't want to do it too often.

To answer my own question, the Southern heats were over subscribed, so they moved some entrants to the Northern heats I assume to make the judging a bit easier.

I'd completely forgotten that, but now you mention it I can recall reading a Caterer article or two about him when he was there. Done well for himself hasn't he.

Suzi - I think what we've got to do is try and see the bigger picture. In 2004 Sainsbury's profits fell to just £675m from £695m in 2003. That's 2.9% down. Surely we all appreciate that in order to do the right thing by the shareholders, they need to cut costs and the obvious area to do that in is food. You wouldn't really want them to put their customers and the nation's health before their dividends would you?

So it turns out that this mornings session was to film a short interview that will be used as an audition tape. The producers will then choose who they want on the show based on what they see and hear. As the initial e mail from the producer said that they were looking for a 40 year old male who can cook to Masterchef standards, I was labouring under the impression that they had found their man. I think I did OK, but I'm not the most extravert of people and I certainly made no attempt to play up to the camera. Not exactly brimming over with star quality it has to be said. I'm not sure that I said the right thing when the researcher asked me "Whats the funniest cookery related thing that's ever happened to you" and I replied, "Well, there was that time I stabbed a TV researcher when he asked me for an amusing food related anecdote." On reflection, I can see that telling him that my favourite meal is a bag of Cheesey Wotsits washed down with 10 cans of Special Brew may have damaged my chances somewhat. However, I should know the outcome either later today or Monday so I'll post an update then.

I'm dealing with Andy Batten-Foster who only joined the company from the BBC in November last year. Small world and I'll pass on your regards if there are any "old timers" involved in the production.