Andy Lynes

Ramsay rapped by Ofcom for bad language. The phrase "fucking Jesus" was found to be unacceptable.

The restaurant's website is now online.

We've established that there are at least 2 restaurants in London, Foliage and Pearl (formerly QC) that do not offer bookings at quarter past and quarter to the hour. Therefore their reservations are geared for the hour and half past the hour and any other time is going to be outside of the way they have been set up to operate. Fisherman - I'd ask you to read back carefully over my posts on this thread. When you do, you'll see that I posed the question "So is it the restaurant or the critic that is being unreasonable?" and have attempted to answer it by eliciting opinions and evidence from members (i.e. examples of recently requested quarter past and quarter to the hour reservations). Can I also ask that you read the section headed "Subject Matter and Decorum" in the eGullet User Agreement and that you contact me directly by PM if you have any further questions about it or any of the policies that govern this site.

Did you make the booking before or after reading this thread

Glad to see you back on top form BLH.

If you take it in the context of restaurants only offering on the hour or half past the hour, then it is asking for something outside of their normal operations. Similar to ordering something not on their menu.

No, that was me and it's me being pedantic about it.

The intention isn't to give Jay a hard time, simply to establish if anyone actually ever wants or needs a reservation other than on the hour or the half hour. I'd be interested to know if anyone can recall a specific, recent (say in the last 3 months) example.

BLH - if you're ever in need of somewhere to start an arguement, there's an empty room here at eGullet Towers set aside for you. Just thought you'd like to know.

If I rang a restaurant and asked for a 7.15pm booking and the reply was, we can do 7.30pm I would say, fine, whatever. If, as has happened on more than one occasion I asked for a 8.00pm reservation and they said they could only do 7.30pm, I would also say fine, whatever. Its generally not an issue for me. Perhaps I'm not demanding enough, but I'd put quarter past and quarter to the hour reservations in the same catagory as ordering off menu, which is something else I'm simply not interested in doing.

Was that at the Halcyon? The only other time I have tried his food was at The Priory House. I had a wonderful lunch there which seemed all the better for being just £20.00 compared to dinner at The Castle in Taunton the night before which had come to £94.00 (just for one person) and wasn't terribly good. I had planned to make the 260 mile round trip to try the tasting menu, but he sold up before I got the chance, which wasn't such a bad thing as now I only have a 26 mile round trip to make for his food.

<font size=6>Ockenden Manor</font size><br><br> <P>Currently, there are only a handful of restaurants in the South East of England with Michelin stars. The closure of Fleur de Sel in Storrington (run by ex-Waterside Inn head chef Michel Perraud) has seen the number dwindle even further. Why such a wealthy area is apparently willing to support so few establishments that aspire above the level of a pizza-pasta joint is an enduring mystery. <P>It may be that London sucks up all the available talent; equally as likely is that the Daily Mail reading well-to-do of the Home Counties would rather spend their money on a Beemer or two, a nice detached house and several foreign holidays a year than fork out the going rate of 50 quid a head for a meal of reasonable quality. It is heartening to learn that Ockenden Manor in the picturesque Sussex village of Cuckfield is bucking the trend with some success. <P><TABLE ALIGN="left" border=0> <TR><TD WIDTH=286><IMG SRC="http://images.egullet.com/u10/i11596.jpg" WIDTH=286 HEIGHT=199</TD></TR></TABLE> <P>The hotel first won a Michelin star in 2001. The head chef back then was Martin Hadden, who left just 4 weeks after the announcement of the award to open his own restaurant "The Priory House" in Somerset. In 2003, Hadden decided that being chef proprietor of a small provincial restaurant (albeit one that rated 7 out of 10 in the Good Food guide and held a Michelin star) was not the ideal life for his family and returned to Ockenden as Group Executive Head Chef of Historic Sussex Hotels which also includes Baliffscourt in Climping and The Spread Eagle in Midhurst. <P>The appointment led to the resumption of the working relationship between Hadden and the Manor's head chef Stephen Crane which began in 1994 at London's Halcyon Hotel, and has resulted in Ockenden regaining its star in this year's Red Guide. <P>Martin Hadden's CV is impressive and includes the three star Pic (Valence, France) Gidleigh Park (under Shaun Hill) and Chez Nico at Ninety Park Lane. While there are certainly traces of Hill's stripped back, rigorously intelligent approach to cooking on the menu at Ockenden, it is Nico Ladenis, Hadden's great mentor, whose influence is easiest to see. A starter of foie gras "bon-bon" with orange and lambs lettuce salad is a take on the Nico classic that Hadden says in one form or another has rarely been off his menus. <P>A sizable nugget of seared liver is clasped in shredded potato (long thin strips of the vegetable are cut using a mandolin, blanched and then laid out to dry. They are then folded around the foie to form a parcel and the whole is shallow fried in order to crisp the potato and warm through the liver). The dish is finished simply with orange segments, the lettuce, a few spoonfuls of onion marmalade and a Madeira sauce. <P>Plating at Ockenden is simple allowing ingredients to make their own running rather then bogging them down with the Baroque curlicues of puree so beloved of our current crop of headline-hitting chefs. The presentation of a more complex main course of assiette of pork benefits from this light touch in the kitchen. <P>Composed of the roast loin, braised belly and a spring roll, the dish is not forced to execute culinary handsprings, but is a simple arrangement of the sliced loin at the top of the plate, the burnished bronze block of belly at the bottom and the roll, cut on the bias, forming a vertical centrepiece. To its right, some deeply flavoursome creamed cabbage and on the left a tangle of carrot that appears to have been somehow extruded to resemble spaghetti. A glossy stock based sauce completed the picture. <P>A dessert of tarte tatin was similarly classical and un-mucked about. Although not reaching the sublime heights of the very best examples, it was valiant effort and the accompanying vanilla ice cream hit its mark. <P>The restaurant offers a plethora of menus, including a bargain £12.95 for 2 courses lunch. Dinner starts at a not inconsiderable £37.00 for the "Cuckfield" menu, climbing to £60.00 for a 7 course tasting menu, with a £49.00 "Sussex" menu and a 2 course, £26.00 vegetarian option in between. <P><TABLE ALIGN=right border=0> <TR><TD WIDTH=368><IMG SRC="http://images.egullet.com/u10/i11594.jpg" WIDTH=368 HEIGHT=271</TD></TR></TABLE> <P>The wine list is equally as approachable with a whole page of house selections (6 reds, 5 whites 1 rose) at £17.50. Particularly strong in Bordeaux, you could splash out £300.00 on a Chateau Margaux 81 or £250.00 Haut Brion 83, although your bank manager might be happier if you stuck to Alsace and a bottle of Gewurztaminer Les Sorcieres, Dopff and Irion 2000 at £24.50, or an Australian Pinor Noir, Windy Peak, de Bortoli for £27.00. If you are feeling particularly abstemious, the 14 red and 9 white half bottles might be of interest, although my eye wandered down the page to the selection of 7 dessert wines available by the half. <P>Service is headed by the very professional William Spalla and although obviously reliant on the local populous to make up the numbers, is never less than efficient and often charming. The attractive waitresses are sadly kitted out in the ubiquitous and unflattering English provincial uniform of non-descript white blouse and black A-line skirt that brings to mind a deserted Hastings tea room. <P>The hotel, which in its current form dates back to the early 17th Century, is typical country house in style with lots of wood panelling and exposed beams, an American tourist's wet dream. The dining room is comfortable enough whilst falling short of being remarkable. The lounge overlooking the grounds is lovely however and the perfect place to enjoy coffee, armagnac and superb petit fours. <P>HS Hotels website

My experience of Vancouver - all four days of it - was that it's dining scene is not really comprable to London or New York where there is always a hot new place that attracts the trendy young things for a while and then is dropped as soon as somewhere else opens - there simply isn't enough people to support that rate of change. The posts on this thread reinforces my impression that Vancouver has lots of good places that people are happy to support for long periods of time. Bin 941 may be 6 (?) years old, but it's still incredibly popular. I believe stovetop's remark that "a restaurant being good has nothing to do with trendy or hot" reflects the general attitude in the city to dining out.

That's new since the last time I was there. It strikes me as rather an odd number to choose and detracts from the notion of it being a truely affordable restaurant.

But the more a bill heads towards the £200.00 mark, the less likely you are to get that 8.05pm resevation - would Ramsay at RHR stand for it? (Although as a reportedly fully booked restaurant they have more of an arguement to refuse it I suppose.)

Jay, I understood your general point, but I was making a more specific and admittedly less important one which no one has as yet addressed - does anyone really want to eat at 15 minutes past or to the hour?

Ex- Greenhouse head chef Paul Merrett is now cooking at Tom Etridge's The Farm in Fulham. The menu looks great and is around £30.00 for 3 courses. Looks like another must-do to add to the list.

I would imagine that depends on whether or not your response actually addresses the question, which of course is on topic. Lets give it a try shall we.

Jay Rayner reviews Foliage in this weeks Observer, and while he likes the food, he has some reservations about, well, the reservations. He appears to be rather upset that Foliage won't take a quarter past the hour booking. I'm sure Rayner had a very good reason for wanting to dine 15 minutes earlier or later than is normal, but it is something that I have never needed or wanted to do. So is it the restaurant or the critic that is being unreasonable?

Rankin now has two Rain City American style diners in the city, has extended Cayenne into the next door premises and is looking to open cafes in Dublin and London. Busy man!

I spoke to Andy Rea this afternoon who told me that the date of 17 September quoted by Caterer was not correct as "we won't even have a kitchen by then". They are aiming for a soft opening on 27 September which I will try to confirm nearer the time. Rea said that the restaurant will probably be called Roscoff Braserie and will "keep everything we liked about Roscoff and get rid of the stuff we didn't". According to the chef, that will translate into very polished but not stuffy service, fine linen, crockery and stemware of the sort you might see at somewhere like The French Laundry. The menu, which is currently being draw up by Paul Rankin will be very "product driven" and will include the likes of the best local dover sole simply garnished. Rea likened the style to that of the classic French 2 or 3 Michelin star restaurants "which everyone thinks is complicated but is in fact very very simple" and is designed to appeal partly to diners who eat out regularly and have "seen all the tricks and are tired of them." I'll certainly be paying them a visit in early October and will report back. I'll be sure to pack a digital camera.

Thats the place and yes it has. According to the website, the building was purchased in 1996 and Trotters name was being bandied about 2 years ago.

Caterer reports that Paul Rankin is to brinbg back the Roscoff name to Belfast with a new 100 seater brasserie, where he will cook alongside head chef Andy Rea. On a personal note, I'm very pleased to see what was one of my favourite restaurants make a come back, albeit in an altered form and new location (Rankin's Cayenne is on the original Shaftesbury Square site). Andy Rea was head chef at the original Roscoff and is now group executive chef for the Rankin organisation. I had the opportunity of meeting Rea a few years back and watching him at work. He is a truly talented and dedicated individual, and a nice guy to boot. This is the best excuse can think of for a trip back to Belfast.

The original restaurant closes at the end of this month.

Those prices - ouch! I thought it was only Raymond Blanc and the Roux's that tried it on to that extent these days. I wouldn't contemplate going to a restaurant that charges £22.00 for a starter.