Andy Lynes

As I say, its only a pilot so you may never actually get to see me on screen. I should know more tomorrow.

It is Flashback. Now I know why they asked me if I could supply my own Jackboots.

In a moment of insanity, I've agreed to take part as a contestant in the filming of a pilot for a new Channel 4 tv cookery show. Part of the reason I said yes was that I was approached by the company and I am dumb enough to be flattered by that, and the producer was responsible for the updated version of Top Gear which I think is a great show. The company also produced Nigella Bites so they have at least some sort of track record with quality food programmes. I don't know a huge amount about it and I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to say in advance, but the filming is on Wednesday, so I'll check then and report back what I can. As its a pilot, it won't be shown on the TV, but there is a chance that I will be involved in the broadcast version, depending on how much they really want a miserable old git on their programme and how much I enjoy doing the thing.

Bapi - thanks for this report, sounds like a good meal and that potential disaster was skillfully averted. I met Matthew when I used to do the odd day in the kitchens of the Fifth Floor restaurant and if I remember correctly his wife was head chef of the cafe? (I could be wrong about that). I recall him as being a very good cook and a nice bloke to boot. What I definately remember is how amazed he was when I said that I had recognised him from the picture that had accompanied the Independent review of Stepping Stone restaurant in South London where he had been head chef some months before. The explanantion of this seemingly amazing feat of memory was that, in the days before I got hooked on the internet, I used to buy the broadsheets and cut out the reviews. In fact, I still have about a dozen folders worth of cuttings from the papers, the Caterer and various magazines. Sad, obsessive old git? Moi?

Did anyone attend the Blumenthal/Wakuda event on 7 March. I'd be very interested to know how it went.

Its back in a couple of weeks. I'll keep you posted.

Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park on 4 April - invite only I'm afraid and with limited press access to the competition itself.

Allan, can you tell a little bit about how the competition went for you - things you thought you did well or things that went wrong. Hilarous anecdotes also welcomed.

Last year the canapes were simply awesome - an incredible display. Its going to be difficult for them to top it.

I wasn't able to attend the Southern regional finals, but will be there for the big day. One question: how come Matt Tomkinson competed in the Northern heat? Ockenden Manor is about 20 minutes from where I live in Brighton.

What's that place by the river that's meant to be quite nice? I might go there for lunch next week.

Not a whiff I'm afraid. All I can tell you is that I spotted the chef on the down escalator at The Angel tube when I on the up escalator on my way to the Restaurant Show at the Business Centre in Islington, so I think its safe to assume that was where he had just come from. Maybe he was checking out potential suppliers and equipment for his new place, who knows.

First The Merchant House now this. Its not turning out to be a good year for my favourite restaurants. I have to say that this has been in the air for quite some time so its not a total surprise. I would pretty much guarantee that whatever the site is used for in the future, it won't be a fine dining restaurant.

Paula - thanks for nicely worded clarification in response to other members queries, its appreciated.

It wouldn't usually point out spelling errors, but in this case I'm going to make an exception because it's one that I've spotted before on these boards and it just bugs the crap out of me : its Shaun. Thanks.

Staring into my crystal ball, I see the words "Observer Magazine" and "day return to Birkenhead" wavering in the mists. What can this mean?

I did make it there (nearly 3 years ago now!) and wrote up the meal on UKGourmet. This was when Chris Galvin was still head chef and I think Andre Garret was his sous at the time.

I don't know if he is the best chef in London, but I'd say Adam Byatt at Thyme is doing some really interesting stuff. He also has an amazing kitchen (a completely seperate area for starters for example with induction hobs so the cold stuff doesn't get affected by the heat of the main range and a huge pastry area) which I would imagine would be a joy to work in.

Have you managed to free up some more space in the kitchen?

The interview actually appears in the issue published today. ← It'd be great to be able to find anywhere over here that actually sells Restaurant Magazine. ← I'm sure WH Smiths will have it, or you could subscribe. Maybe Niall will let you have a look at his copy.

The interview actually appears in the issue published today.

I recently had the great pleasure to not only dine at Manresa, but also to interview David Kinch for the UK's Caterer and Hotelkeeper magazine. I arrived at 6.00pm and didn't leave the restaurant until 1.00am the following morning - nearly a full days work without even a lunch break! I'm working on the article now, and as my meal will form an intrinsic part of the piece, I'm unable to write about it here. However, once published, the interview should be available online and if so I will provide a link to it on this thread. It may also be possible for me to published unused material from the interview here, but I will need to seek authority from the magazine to do so and I may have to wait a while to do it. In the meantime, do other members have recent experiences at Manresa they would like to share?

I have today recieved a statement regarding the closure of Osia. It came in the post on unheaded paper, but my assumption is that it has been issued by the PR company. It reads: "Osia Restaurant & Bar, in Haymarket, London, closed on 26 February 2005. While the restaurant recieved phenomenal critical praise, it was, according to co-founder de Fazio, a case of right product, wrong site", and executive chef/co-founder Scott Webster has returned to his native Australia. De Fazio will retain the site and reopen it on Monday, 14 march 2005 as Broadway Bar and Grill. This will be part of his new USA Colection of restaurants, which is a mid-market formula offering all-day dining incorporating classic American dishes in a casual, stylish atmosphere. A second site, Hudson Grill, will open on Thursday, 17 March in Kensngton Park Road, Notting Hill."

Do you know how often the farmer's markets operate - one of them is every other week isn't it? Definately something to be applauded, but no substitute for a daily market that can meet the needs of all the community. If properly invested in, I believe the Open Market could help to trigger the regeneration of the whole London Road area, and lets face it, it really needs regenerating. I hate to imagine what visitors to Brighton think when they drive down that main arterial route into the city.

I met Adam Byatt, head chef of Thyme, at last year's Restaurant Show in Islington, a few weeks before the opening of the new version of his restaurant at The Hospital in Covent Garden. He was excited about the prospect of the new venture and obviously keen to get back in to the kitchen after an enforced lay off from service (the original Clapham restaurant had closed a few months before the new place was ready). Having witnessed all that optimism, hope and bottled energy, it was doubly disappointing to read the critics almost universal condemnation of the place. Although Terry Durack called Byatt "a bloody good cook", the overall tone of his Independent on Sunday review was one of disappointment, saying that he missed "the delicacy and harmony of the old kitchen." Jay Rayner echoed Durack's sentiments: "I do regret the passing of the old Thyme". And nobody, but nobody had a good word to say about the room. Compared in various reviews to a club class lounge, an air raid shelter and a hotel lobby, Jan Moir seemed to sum up the general feeling by signing off her drubbing with "What a horrible room." The critical savaging caused me to cancel a December reservation and it wasn’t until I found myself near Covent Garden a few weeks ago at lunchtime with nothing to do that I reconsidered the option of a meal at Thyme. Even then, events seemed to conspire to discourage me from the idea. Firstly, I couldn’t remember the name of the street the Hospital was in, and wandered between Covent Garden and The Strand for 20 minutes knowing that it was close and sure that as soon as I saw the road name I would recognize it. When I finally stumbled across Thyme in Endell Street, the lunch menu was not on display, only the £45.00 a head a la carte. It was a sum I was not prepared to pay for a spur -of-the-moment-can't-really-afford-it treat. As the dining room is not visible from the outside and I therefore wasn't able to tell in advance if it really was "a horrible room", I nearly kept on walking. The club's ground floor reception had no details about lunch time options and had to phone up to the 1st floor restaurant to confirm my suspicions that a £25.00 set menu was on offer. I then had to go to the restaurant itself to see the actual menu. It was 12.20pm and the room was empty. The last thing I wanted to do was to be the only person dining and I nearly turned on my heel to search out a Pret a Manger there and then. However the restaurant receptionist assured me that others were booked and that I would not be dining alone. The menu sounded interesting so I finally decided to take a table for one, despite fears that the critics had been right, that I was going to hate it and it was going to be a waste of money. As it was, I needn't have worried. A "Beer To Die For" (stupid name, lovely brew), fantastic olive oil rolls and butter, a very comfortable chair at a large table in acres of space and I was in instant gastro-heaven. I loved the room, maybe not brimming over with character, but typical of Claire Nelson's cool and understated style. It was, as we interior design experts like to say "dead posh", and I felt a great deal more chic and clever than I actually am simply by sitting in its surroundings. A sip of the sweet corn veloute with a slick of thyme oil served as an amuse made me understand what the jolly green giant has got to be so happy about, while the presentation of the salad of home cured duck, truffle potato salad, crisp carrot, soft organic egg was quite breathtaking. Yes, there were dot and slashes and ingredients strewn around the plate in that oh-so familiar modern style, but the dish was composed with such skill and control that it was raised far beyond the merely fashionable and into the realms of, well, bloody good cooking. Crab ravioli, a gift from the kitchen, was made with the finest imaginable pasta (rolled by Byatt himself) and served with a shellfish sauce and orange foam. It was an improvement on the Phil Howard dish of Cappuccino of Langoustine that appeared to have inspired it (Byatt is ex-The Square) and even more impressive for having been dreamed up that very morning. A main course of Anis Braised Beef Short Ribs, Pot Roast Organic Carrots, Creamed Potato was delicious in a gutsy and comforting sort of way and demanded a slurp of something really good and red to go with it. The £12.00 glass of Aussie Shiraz suggested by the sommelier was certainly up to the job, but at that price did require the boat to be pushed out a little further than I would have liked for a Tuesday lunch (I didn't find out the price until the bill arrived). I was offered the choice from the a la carte dessert menu and went for an assiette of organic lemon that included the best meringue tart on the planet, along with some sorbet and limoncello jelly that were a little on the redundant side. The plate of caramel desserts on the pre-fixe sounded just as tempting. With a herbal tea, beer, two glasses of white wine and that monster red, the bill came to £60.00 including service. A little more than I'd planned on, but not excessive considering the level of cooking and service. A tour round the extensive kitchens after lunch with Byatt gave some credence to his claim, as reported by Durack in his review, that it would "take time to grow into his new surroundings". They are enormous and probably big enough to contain the whole of the original Thyme, dining room and all. I have never seen the like outside of a major hotel and while it’s a blessing for a chef to have so much space and equipment (including a screen on which monitor each of the tables in the dining room), the temptation to mess around with and over complicate the food must have been huge. My meal seemed to indicate that some settling down has occurred and that Byatt is now playing to his true strengths as a cook, however I would reserve judgement on that until I have had the opportunity to eat a dinner there. Lunch at Thyme reminded me of the sort of haute bargains I used to snap up in the mid- nineties at places like the original La Tante Claire or MPW's The Restaurant at the Hyde Park Hotel. It was a thrilling meal and an experience I can't recommend highly enough.