Andy Lynes

So what stopped the investors?

With 50 nominated films, it's highly unlikely that actually happens however.

In my view, as long as the process is a known and transparent one, then people should be left to judge the results for themselves. I'm sure you may argue that when the results are quoted out of context e.g. "The French Laundry, the world's No 1 restaurant according to the UK's Restaurant Magazine", the issue is clouded somewhat, but no more so than when an establishment is quoted as having 3 Michelin stars or rated 4 stars by the New York Times. In fact, Restaurant's Top 50 criteria are a hell of a lot clearer to me than either Michelin's or the NYT's.

I don't see a disconnect, surely "most enjoyable/favourite" = best. Its not often that you'll hear someone say "I didn't enjoy it, and I would never return, but its the best restaurant in the world." I may have said something similar last time around, so apologies if I'm repeating myself, but: I'm sure that you could assemble a panel of "experts" who could draw up a list of criteria that they believed the best restaurants in the must meet, and then have them identify those restaurants currently trading that met the criteria. Points could be awarded for how well a given restaurant performed in each area in order to produce a prioritised list. But then all you would do is shift the debate to the credentials of the panel, the validity of the criteria and the manner in which the assessment was conducted. A survey of 300 restauranteurs, chefs and gourmets is a reasonable sample and to report that a restaurant is the best in the world based on their collective opinion is not in my opinion misleading. It's as valid as, say, the winner of the best picture Oscar.

Chris Maillard, editor of Restaurant Magazine offers the following points of clarification on how the list was compiled: <UL> <LI>The list is not our own choice, but that of more than 300 people worldwide. <LI>They were critics, chefs, restaurateurs & gourmets <LI>They were all asked to pick their favourite five restaurants. <LI>The criteria was 'which restaurant did you enjoy most'. It wasn't purely about food, cost, service or Michelin stars - it was the overall experience. Which brings in places like Felix in Hong Kong (make sure your correspondent who berated it for not including any from HK reads our list again) or The Cliff in Barbados. Maybe the food's not of an Adria degree of cleverness, but you have a great time anyway. <LI>The voting panel does change from year to year; every time we do it, we try and expand it further, particularly internationally. As a sideline, this may well account for the preponderance of big city restaurants; the more international people tend to know London/Paris/NY/Sydney, but not, say Devon (Michael Caines was disappointed not to make it in, as were Three Chimneys in Skye). I'm not sure how to combat this, but if anyone wants to put together a list of the 50 Best Unjustly Overlooked Restaurants in the World, they're very welcome. In fact, one of your people is probably starting on it now. <LI>I hope that helps clear up some confusion. If anybody's got further questions, feel free to e-mail me at: editorial@restmag.co.uk.</UL>

I made my decision based upon where I had had the most enjoyable meals over the last year or so. I consider those restaurants to be the best at what they do. I haven't eaten in every 3 star in Europe, or every 4 star in America, its simply my experience. I beleive that Atelier is certainly one of the best restaurants in the world and if someone made a booking based on its place in the list they would have no grounds for complaint.

I started a thread here. Not a report as such, as that would basically read "Andy wanders around, getting progressively more sloshed on free champagne, alternatively soaking up the general good vibes towards eGullet and boring various famous chefs stiff until he finally gets the hint that they might actually want to talk to someone else far better looking and more interesting on the other side of the room. Falls asleep in drunken haze on train home. The End"

Flicking my eye down the list of people polled, the majority appear to be in the UK, and outside of eGullet, I'm not sure it has the sort of following that would get listed. But I'm sure there are numerous restaurants around the world that might be eligable as top 50 but do not feature in these particular awards.

I don't imagine anyone was really thinking in terms of world gastronomy when they selected their top 5 restaurants for this poll. Looking at the results, its a fairly arbitrary list, although the top 5 does seem to represent avant garde/"progressive" cooking quite well.

Thanks for the link, saves me a job. It wasn't up when I posted this morning, perhaps because Restaurant magazine weren't up when I posted this morning. It looked like they were set to party hard when I left them to get my train home.

As I understand it, he was genuinely taking it easy, which was confirmed by someone else at the event last night (not that I was checking up on M Koffmann, it simply came up in conversation!). My assumption is London, but I didn't expressly clarify that with him last night. It was great to meet him, albeit fleetingly. I did of course have time to gush horribly about how much I liked his cooking and his books and told him that "London missed him". Which I think is true, if a little stomach churning in the cold light of day.

The full list is in this weeks Restaurant magazine. I don't have time to type out the whole list today, but may be able to do it tomorrow. It's Nobu London. Anglo-centric - with 7 of the top 10 restaurants outside of the UK? I agree though that it would look different if it were an American list, all 50 would be US restaurants!

The top ten are: 1 The French Laundry 2 The Fat Duck 3 El Bulli 4 L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon 5 Pierre Gagnaire 6 Guy Savoy 7 Nobu 8 Restaurant Gordon Ramsay 9 Michel Bras 10 Louis XV, Alain Ducasse The Fat Duck won the European and New Entry awards. Other UK restaurants in the top 50 are St John (16); Le Gavroche (19); The Merchant House (21); The Ivy (24); Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons (30); River Cafe (41); and The Wolseley (49). Bubbling under: Hibiscus, Lindsay house, Petrus and Pied a Terre. This year, over 300 "experts worldwide (chefs, critics, restaurateurs,writers gourmets and so on)" were polled for their opinions. I think Gary Marshall and myself must come under the "and so on" catagory. My own choices were (in no particular order) Bibendum Chez Bruce Aux Lyonnaise Putney Bridge L'Atelier du Joel Robuchon The ceremony was held at Sir Terence Conran's Royal Exchange in the city and was and absolute blast. The awards themselves were kept to well under an hour and were hosted by Sir Tel and Jeremy Bowen. Over 30 of the restaurants were represented in person with Thomas Keller accepting his award himself as he did past year. Heston Blumenthal was in attendance, along with Gordon Ramsay, Tetsuya Wakuda and Albert Adria. Gagnaire, Savoy, Robuchon and Ducasse were not.

I spoke briefly to Pierre Koffmann at last night's Restaurant Top 50 awards and he told me that he is still looking but hasn't found a site yet for his new restaurant. I asked if he had any idea when he might open, to which he responded "not before the end of this year". He said that "the food will be what I like to cook, nothing to do with stars" and that it would be either a bistro or a brasserie. I then, rather rudely on reflection, asked him what he'd been up to since the closure of La Tante Claire (meaning to discover if he was cooking for anyone anywhere). He replied "not much, travelling."

Steel, concrete and other non-flammable material I would guess.

A pretty unreserved thumbs up for Anthony's from Jay Rayner in todays Observer.

I was having lunch in the press room at the American Food Revolution event at Le Manoir in Oxford, England, and Thomas Keller came over to speak to Jefferey Steingarten who was sitting at the same table as me. As it was an open conversation in a public place, I didn't feel too bad about ear wigging. Keller told Steingarten that per Se would re-open May 1, French Laundry May 15, that there would be some "smoke and mirrors" required during that time and that "people will ask "where is Thomas Keller"". He expressed huge regret that the three months he intended to spend at Per Se whilst The French Laundry was closed to train people up was now all lost. I didn't get all the detail on this next part, and it may be public knowledge by now anyway (I haven't read all 11 pages of this thread) but he said that the kitchen had been inspected after the fire and that the walls behind the stoves were found to be partly constructed from wood. This meant that the stoves had to be ripped out and the walls rebuilt. He had around a dozen men on site (an electrician, plumbers, carpenters etc) each day at an approximate cost of $100k a week and the work had taken 8 weeks.

Sketch has re-structured its prices. Although still offering main courses of up to £60.00 on its a la carte menu, lunch in the Lecture Room & Library is a relative bargin at £35.00 for 3 courses, a "plat du jour" is served with a glass of Henri Giraud, Grand Cru, Francois Hemart "Reserve" NV for £22.00 and the set "Menu by Pierre Gagnaire" is £65.00 for 3 courses or £80.00 for 5. In addition, Toptable are running a £39.00 for 3 courses offer in the Gallery at Sketch which again includes a glass of champagne. Full menu details are available at the restaurant's website

I don't ever recall hearing good things about this place. For example, Harden's guide (rating 1-5 where 1 is high, 5 is low ) gives it 4 for food; 4 for service; 1 for atmosphere. Comments include that "its in decline", food is described as "lax", service "poor" and prices "ridiculous". I would therefore like to formally announce the opening of "The eGullet.com Support Centre for the Former Customers of LTG". Please, tell us your stories on this thread. Be assured, you are amongst friends, we understand your pain and we can help you on the long road to recovery.

No, it was an incredibly hot summers day, but for reasons to complicated to go into here, I was. Go, and in a very real way, figure.

Now, I don't want you to get too jealous, but I've actually eaten a hotdog with Fat Guy in Papaya King. So let me see, that headline would run: "Andy Lynes Eats Hot Dog Whilst Standing Next To Fat Guy, But Not On TV".

Given that it been assumed during this discussion that Amanda Hesser has praised Jean-Georges Vongerichten repeatedly over time, in the interest of fairness we performed a search for any arguably critical comments that Amanda Hesser may have made about Jean-Georges Vongerichten or his restaurants. We found a few. In addition to the comments about 66 and Mercer Kitchen in the recent Spice Market review, we found two comments in older pieces about the high price of the Valentine's Day menu at the restaurant Jean Georges. In all, we found 20 articles by Amanda Hesser that made mention of Jean-Georges Vongerichten or his restaurant Jean Georges in the New York Times between June 1998 and the time of the Spice Market review. Here is a complete rundown: EN ROUTE: FRANCE; Now Boarding: The Turbot, A True Fish Out of Water (Published June 10, 1998, Wednesday). A Ravenous City Dines All Through The Night (Published August 12, 1998, Wednesday) Too Many Cooks? Not Nearly Enough(Published October 25, 1998, Sunday) The Tool That Chefs Love, And Home Cooks Barely Know (Published January 27, 1999, Wednesday) The Envelope, Please: Cooking En Papillote (Published May 19, 1999, Wednesday) TEMPTATION; There's a Fish in My Buttermilk (Published September 29, 1999, Wednesday) Using the Plate As a Blank Canvas; The art of presentation is essential to fine cooking, and not just in restaurants. (Published December 1, 1999, Wednesday) Hesser begins the article with Vongerichten "doodling" a presentational idea for a dish of sea bass as an illustration of how " Chefs are increasingly conscious about how they present food, and today's restaurants can serve as advanced courses in postmodern plate design." She states that "Mr. Vongerichten's spare style reflects the clean, pure flavors of his cooking." And uses the sea bass dish as an example: " By placing the triangle fish off-center on a plain white plate, it brought attention to it . . . The coarse salt crystals dotting the top of the fish added texture, and the free-form curve of green sauce surrounding the fish set it off . . . ." She uses a second Vongerichten dish of foie gras terrine and brioche toast to illustrate her point further "there is more negative space than positive. A slice of truffle lies on a half circles of terrine and toasted brioche. They are sprinkled with fleur de sel and coarse pepper. There is nothing else on the plate. The presentation is modern and stark, but not merely stylish. Its simplicity has a way of making the dish more welcoming than cool, complex, architectural formations." Finally, she cites a third dish by the chef to argue that "chefs design dishes that invite diners to get involved . . . . . Mr. Vongerichten places caraway crisps between mounds of crab salad and has the waiter instruct diners to spoon it onto the crisps." A Whisper Of Spring In a Sprout (Published February 23, 2000, Wednesday) Need a Chef? Have Your People Call My People (Published April 12, 2000, Wednesday) What Peppercorns Only Dream of Being (Published May 3, 2000, Wednesday) How the Cookie Should Crumble (Published July 19, 2000, Wednesday) Where the Fieldworkers Wear Lab Coats (Published August 16, 2000, Wednesday) The Celestial Cauliflower: Earning a Spot in the Sun (Published January 17, 2001, Wednesday) Home Is Where The Party Is (Published March 28, 2001, Wednesday) In From the Fields, An Elegant Partner (Published July 18, 2001, Wednesday) Beyond Quiet Dining Rooms, A Quiet Crisis in the Kitchen (Published October 10, 2001, Wednesday) The Farthest Thing From Pressure Cooking (Published January 16, 2002, Wednesday) In the New Dinner Theater, The Kitchen Comes to the Table (Published March 27, 2002, Wednesday) An Enchanted Evening, If You Have the Right Attitude (Published February 12, 2003, Wednesday) RESTAURANTS; Fancy Street Food, but What a Street (Published March 24, 2004, Wednesday) Hesser begins her review by noting the "the stench of blood and offal from the surrounding meatpacking district" on the approach to Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Spice Market restaurant and muses that, "given Mr. Vongerichten's capacity for taking pains, the stench could well be part of his plan". She notes that Vongerichten's Mercer Kitchen "serves good food with nods to Asia, but it is dark and unforgivingly loud." and continues "Mr. Vongerichten made a breakthrough with Chinese cooking at 66. . . . But the dining room at 66 is like a hip morgue, and it has failed to woo serious diners." Hesser observes however that "Mr. Vongerichten seems to have had an epiphany. . . . And at Spice Market, he has hit on something new: casual, exotic luxury and food that people want to eat." She describes the restaurants food as street food "reworked and polished. Egg rolls stuffed with mushrooms gleam under Mr. Vongerichten's touch.". . . . "Vietnamese spring rolls stuffed with pork, mushroom and shrimp" deliver "a succession of stimulating textures and vivid flavors" that "flutter on your palate." In Hesser's opinion "No detail eludes Mr. Vongerichten's experimental mind. Even the ginger ale is homemade. An extract of ginger, sugar and lime is blended with club soda -- a drink with perfect zip." For Hesser, a dish of Thai jewels "explains why Spice Market is such an extraordinary pleasure". She concludes the three star review claiming that "There's more to say but no room to write it." and urges the reader to go to the restaurant but to "suspend disbelief and save room for the Thai jewels."

I'm very well thank you, basking in the glorious South East Coast sunshine...well, looking at it through my window whilst I beaver away on eGullet.

Note that I did narrow it down to "South East Coast". The competition is not great I must admit.

I am indeed. Give me an hour or two and I'll post something. Things are beginning to look up in Brighton, but its still all too easy to have a mediocre meal and to pay a little too much for it, which has happened a couple of times to me recently. That said, when the sun is out, Brighton is the nicest place to be on the South East coast of England.