Andy Lynes

Click here for my report about the Canada Cooks event with David Hawksworth in London.

Apologies Matt (to explain, I moved Matt's original post from the Anthony's thread as it seemed to warrent one of its own but then failed to tell him I'd done so. Bad site manager!). The site does at least provide contact info and has a short bio for John Lyons so it has been partially updated. Are you able to give us some examples from his current menu?

I'm not sure actually, I don't know where his pitch was/is. He's been doing a bit more on the telly and stage recently so maybe he doesn't actually have to work in it anymore. I'll ask him the next time I bump into him.

A little delayed, but better late than never: Since opening in April 1998, chef Ben McKellar’s The Gingerman restaurant has become something of a Hove institution. The small 32 cover dining room has been sold out since it opened, with waiting lists for Friday and Saturday night being the normal state of affairs. However, two visits (once for dinner and once for lunch) left me nonplussed; the restaurant looked like a cheaply done shop conversion and felt cramped during a slowly served meal. McKellar certainly has the cooking chops, having trained with John Burton Race and the infamous Nigel Marriage at L’Ortolan and spent some time as Mark Emerson’s number two at Langan’s Bistro in Brighton. But the food I had was indifferent and I left on both occasions feeling a little short changed. Yet friends and colleagues continued to rave, and to this day I have never heard a bad word breathed about it. So it was with mixed feeling that I heard about the opening of a second Gingerman at the latest and most high profile boutique hotel in town, Drakes. I had an opportunity to give the place the once over during the launch party, but the refurbishment of the building was only 80% complete and the hotel was rammed to the rafters with freeloaders making it difficult to get a real sense of the place. I returned last week to find out, with the hotel and restaurant now complete and the kitchen having had a month or so to settle in. Drakes is housed in two converted Georgian townhouses in Marina Drive overlooking the seafront. It’s certainly elegant enough, but the small entrance hall with its two staircases leaves little room for a reception, which is instead housed in the bar area. When I arrived a little after 8.00pm on a Thursday evening, there were no staff members around to greet me, take my coat or direct me to the basement restaurant. Unsure of what to do, I wandered in and out of the bar feeling like a spare part (and no doubt looking like I was casing the joint) until a barman arrived a few moments later. I told him that I had a reservation for 8.00pm but had arranged to meet my female dining companion in the bar. He offered me a seat while he served another party and I waited for her to arrive. Ten minutes later, and still without a drink, I was told by another member of staff that my companion was in fact waiting for me in the restaurant. The lack of reception staff and the obvious disconnect between the ground floor bar and basement restaurant meant that the evening did not get off to a great start and only got worse as I was unable to convince my wife (for it was she) that I hadn’t been off boozing somewhere while she had been sat like a lemon all by herself in the dining room. A frosty atmosphere persisted so I sought solace in a glass of the house Michel Baujean brut Champage (7.00) and hid behind the short menu priced at 25.00 for two courses and 30 for three. From the six choices available at each stage, the gorgeous but fuming spouse ordered seared scallop with crispy pork belly and cabernet sauvignon vinegar and a main of 28 day speyside ribeye with potato rosti and shallot cream, while I went for salad of braised ox tongue with sweet potato chips and a roast partridge with savoy cabbage, fondant potato and Madeira to follow. From the 49 bin, reasonably priced wine list we drank a very agreeable Palliser Estate Riesling 2002 from New Zealand (22.00). The cream and beige room has a very feminine feel to it and is smart and substantial in a way that so many Brighton restaurants aren’t. It’s not cutting edge design, but it’s still ahead of most of the local field. The low ceiling does it no favours at all however and the 40 covers are somewhat squeezed in. When the room is full, as it was that night, the temperature can rise above comfortable. An amuse of beignet of salt cod with a tomato based sauce was a great idea, but undercooked, leaving the interior mouth-coatingly claggy. The scallops were judged by the Missus to be a little on the bland side. My ox tongue was very good, although I found a garnish of broad bean and tomatoes perplexingly unseasonal. Main courses were mostly successful with only a slightly greasy rosti and a partridge the wrong side of dry to find fault with. Portions are big at The Gingerman and I was in need of something light to finish with. A bramley apple and blackberry soufflé with calvados ice cream sounded delightfully wintery but in the end plumped for an Ice Cream sundae, while the wife had cheese. Both hit the spot, with a light and crisp shortbread biscuit and rich chocolate sauce served with the sundae impressing the most. Once in the restaurant, service was efficient and unobtrusive whilst it squeezed itself between chair backs. My wife’s query about what cheeses she had been served could not be conclusively answered, although not for the want of trying. The experience was certainly a big step up from previous meals in the original Hove restaurant, with Drakes offering a more polished overall product and more refined food on the plate. Popping back at lunchtime a few days ago in order to pick up copies of the menus and wine list, I was pleased to be greeted unprompted by a member of staff at the door of the bar and to be asked if he could help me, and the restaurant looked more roomy and inviting in daylight than it had at night. A reasonably priced and regularly changing set lunch at 18.00 for 3 courses which currently features potted duck with apple and plum chutney and wing of skate with buttered mash, aubergine confit and basil could well tempt me back, although next time I’ll make sure the wife and I arrive together. A recent return visit to the original Hove branch for Saturday lunch was also not without it mishaps, and found me back at the Bar at Drakes while the remainder of the group waited for me in a pub in Hove. Yes, I’d got the wrong Gingerman. Once reunited however, our table of six enjoyed a great meal in the sold out restaurant. The set lunch menu at 14.95 for 3 courses started with a punchy cup of celeriac soup with truffle oil and continued with a perfectly cooked confit of duck leg with beetroot. A freebie middle course of scallop with cauliflower puree was much appreciated by the crowd of chefs (and me), while the main course skate with herb mash was deemed another winner. Prune and Armagnac tart featured thin, crisp pastry, good frangipan and nicely alcoholic fruit. A glass of jelly and cream was deemed an inappropriate way to end the meal by the pastry chef in our midst and was the object of much debate, but nevertheless enjoyed by the person that actually ordered it. The lack of seasonal garnishes for the main courses again troubled me – broad beans and tomatoes for the skate and a bed of peas for beef in pepper sauce – but is apparently typical of the chef’s style. Service was handled by two waitresses who seemed to be acting out a good cop/bad cop routine; one couldn’t have been more pleasant while the other’s absolute refusal to crack a smile the whole lunchtime became wearing to say the least.

...and Jay Rayner agrees with you.

A minor bit of gossip - when I was at the Restaurant show, I happened to be in the same room as Heston and some of his business associates as they were approving some very attractive looking artwork for menus. I'm fairly sure it was for the Fat Duck, but could have been for the Hind Head, but it looked a bit flash for a pub. You can also look out for an article about Heston's latest obsession with Medieval food in a forthcoming edition of History Today magazine...

Matt, welcome to eGullet and thanks for bringing this to our attention. Restaurant website

The interview with Shaun is really rather interesting. I'm not sure there's enough going on in the Midlands to warrent a whole magazine though.

I've just heard that The Boxwood are introducing a new 3-course weekend menu. It's £18.50 and I'm told it will "feature the likes of roast leg of label anglais chicken, chocolate brownie ice cream with roasted bananas as well as roast Scottish sirloin of beef 'traditionally garnished' on Sundays. There is also a childrens menu featuring dishes such as roast farm breast of chicken and chips."

I was quite amused about that, although when Restaurant magazine phoned me I didn't realise they were going to run the story in quite that way and quote me as saying that 1880 is "quite an ugly room." Sorry chef! We'll just have to see how this develops as, although I'd quoffed a fair bit of free Moet by the time I spoke to Turner, I was still in full use of all my faculties and it wasn't until a bit later that I smashed a glass and managed to spill champagne all over another guest. All I can say in my defence is that I wasn't even as remotely drunk as one or two other people that night. But we'll gloss over that part shall we?

An interview with Andy Rea is now oinline at UKGourmet.com.

I ate at the Cotton House in Manchester recently and had one of the worst meals of recent memory. I had the haddock chowder, which was nothing more than a thin toxic yellow broth with a ton of frozen peas in it. Terrible.

I wasn't sure reading Jan Moir's review in the Telegraph whether or not she liked the room. I do wish these reviewer's would be more clear and not do so much fence sitting.

Glad it went well, look forward to your report. Pizza and Simpsons? Don't all eGulleters spend Sunday evening sipping sherry and listening to Radio 3 then?

Food Stuff Ireland has some recommendations for Donegal but only one for Rathmullan itself.

Hi Natacha, welcome to the site. I'm not familiar with the area myself but I might know someone who is. I'll see if I can get some info for you.

I'd reiterate yet again that there is no attempt here to deter people from posting negative reports that are contrary to the general consensus. Pweaver and any other member was and is free to post as they please as long as they adhere to the user agreement and associated policies. eGullet is not a consumer organisation, we are not a restaurant mediation service and we don't handle complaints. Tell us about your restaurant experiences bad and good, but address all complaints directly to the establishment concerned. We want a plurality of views, and we want reasoned debate. Members should feel free to post their views, and to have them challenged. Really? I'm sure that this will be news to gingerchef! I think he's just keeping his head down for a bit. I'll see if I can get him to say hello and let us know what he's up to. Finally, I'd like to say that I have contacted Pweaver directly and there is no bad blood between us. Although I have been involved in eGullet from thre word go, I'm far from being the perfect forum host. Its a continual learning experience and I have learnt lessons from this thread. I'd like to thank everyone for their considered and intelligent contributions to this debate (not too sure about SamF's last post though!) which has run its course and is now closed. Thanks.

Thyme is the cover story in this weeks Caterer & Hotel Keeper

Nothing if not original, thats me. Last time now "...everytime you vacuum, remember what to do, Do the shake'n'vac..."

Oh dear, thats a rather bad tempered review isn't it! And how does Marina know what Shake'n'Vac tastes like I wonder. As a matter of interest I was once in a band that did a cover version of the Shake'n'Vac advert. Altogether now "Do the Shake'n'Vac and put the freshness back...."

Bapi thanks for the short report - definately want to hear more about those meals. Its a shame Claire and Claude don't run "a buy 3 get 1 free" scheme, or you'd be quids in. Mind you, if they did, they'd never see the back of you! To be fair to PWeaver, we've managed to debate this contentious issue without anyone getting too hot under the collar, which is very commendable. I don't believe that we are going to get to the bottom of this matter here and so I'd ask that we move on. Thanks.

Thanks for the report, which must be one of the first anywhere. I've just booked for 2 December which will hopefull give the service a bit of time to settle down.

You obviously haven't met me! I do know a number of people in the industry, but I'm not "well known" i.e. I'm not recognised when I walk into restaurants. I can guarantee you that nobody thinks "Oh, its that Andy Lynes from international food and drink site eGullet, lets pull out all the stops." Many chefs and restaurateurs know eGullet, but most have no idea how I fit into the picture, they just like the site and I would never use the name of eGullet in an attempt to get special treatment in a restaurant. At the risk of repeating myself, I don't accept your arguement that your account has to be one sided. You have told us plently about how the restaurant reacted to your table, the otherside of the story (and I have no reason to doubt that what you have posted is accurate), but not a whole lot about the behaviour of you and your guests.

I bumped into Andrew Turner at the recent Harprer's awards and he told me that, after a year of less than enthusiastic comments about the current 1880 dining room, he will soon be getting a brand new, ground floor restaurant that he feels sure will be more to his customer's tastes. I'll keep you informed of developments as I get them.

I suppose you could argue that its no worse than the average mark up of wine in a restaurant, or that the sort of people willing to pay that price have more money than brains. On the other hand you could argue that its profiteering and utterly reprehensible.