Andy Lynes

That's the one thing Jamie Oliver needs of course, more publicity. If that's all he wanted, he could have just made a cookery series, written a book and spent the year promoting it. It appeared from the series that he had made a real emotional investment in that project. Clever editing? Well, maybe, but it certainly looked a lot more like hard work than pottering around his estate cooking tomatoes. He wants his cake and eat it by getting behind all these causes, while taking pots of dosh from Sainsbury's, but I think ultimately his heart is in the right place.

According to the Daily Mail, BBCH got 3.4million viewers for the launch on Channel 4. The rest of the series, shown only on cable channel E4, attracted 600,000.

I ate there when Aiden Byrne had just been installed as head chef and was serving up some really way-out food (full details sadly lost to history now). Its still worthy of note however as current chef is Adam Simmonds who won a star and 8/10 in the Good Food Guide at Ynyshir Hall. I hated the room though.

Earlier this week, musician Joe Brown took part in a panel discussion about the 50's music scene for the excellent BBC series Pop On Trial series. During the programme, he recalled the early days of skiffle and how the bass players, in a typically British manner would deride each other's choice of tea chest. "What kind of bass you got then, China or Indian? Indian! What've you got one of them for, the tone on them is rubbish!" Plus ca change.

Thanks for the review and don't apologise about the lack of pictures. In the bad manners league, taking photographs of your food is second only to smoking at the table.

On page 7 of today's edition, the Guardian says about Jamie Oliver: "On the show it looks as if he's taking a brave stance against his employer, Sainsbury's. "I'd like to thank all the other people - Asda, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Morrisons - for making such a fantastic effort," he says sarcastically, indicating the empty seats at one table....he got a right bollocking from Sainsbury's boss Justin King, and ended up writing a letter of apology." On page 8, a full page advert from Sainsbury's entitled "This will make our chicken taste even better." and the following quote: "Sainsbury's has the most to be proud of on this important welfare issue." - Jamie Oliver. I bet Channel 4 are absolutely delighted.

Perhaps it might be easier to find out which of our Northern brethren hasn't got a professional connection with The Modern.

You can now apply online.

He's the most famous chef on the planet and yet nobody it seems can spell his f***ing name correctly.

Don't really understand how this works - the decision as to who wins can't be left to the editing stage so the fact that they have alternative footage of the judges saying contradictory things doesn't really help that much does it? If its the producer deciding who wins, then why do they need to get three seperate takes - can't she just tell them what to say? I'm not doubting the veracity of your post, I just don't understand why on earth they would make things more complicated than they need be.

Is anyone watching the series this time around? Two observations: 1. If any of the dedicated home cooks on eGullet were to enter, they would wipe the floor, walls and ceiling with anyone who has appeared so far this week. So why haven't any of you, given the success (book, TV series, restaurant) that previous winner Thomasina Meirs has subsequently enjoyed? 2. As the BBC are very keen to make the most of their presenters by getting them to appear across the schedules, can we have darts commentator Bobby George as a judge for next year please: "He's scoring heavily on all the big flavours in the main course, but it's his finishing at the dessert stage that's letting him down". At least as insightful as the "big flavours mixed well together" and "its flavoursome, but not wow flavoursome" comments that were uttered on last night's episode.

I think you're a bit strange! There are one or two places I got back to reasonably regularly and I always think I've failed if I order the same thing twice. That said, I really like the idea of the speciality of the house and that being the reason you go to a place, I just haven't followed through in practice. I don't think I could go to Cafe Anglais without ordering the pike though.

Have you seen the recs on the restaurant website click

Oh dear - doesn't sound too promising! Where so you work if you don't mind me asking.

Ben - good luck with getting on the show. Did you recognise any of the other contestants. What was the standard of cooking like?

Amazon says 25 Jan.

Sorry, don't mean to be a smart arse. I don't know who they've got in to replace him but he's going to be a tough act to follow. I was invited to a press launch at the Latymer and had a very impressive meal given that he'd only just taken over the kitchen. Lovely restaurant but the rest of the hotel, which is bloody huge, is a bit corporate for my tastes.

Have you been since Michael Wignall moved to Latymer at the Pennyhill Park hotel in Bagshott late last year: click?

Be surprised if Nathan Outlaw doesn't get the star and at the risk of repeating myself from last year, Apicius in Kent really ought to get it this year if my meal last January was anything to go by.

Just as Hoover=vacuum cleaner, Michelin=restaurant guide, at least in the mind of the majority of chefs around the world and just about every journalist. No one ever writes news stories about Good Food Guide points or AA rosettes, but Michelin stars fill column inches. It would take something very serious indeed to shift it from that position, so it does matter and probably always will.

Beaten to the punch

After nearly three decades of "social" drinking (that's what you tell the doctor isn't it - "Do you drink" "Only socially doctor" "Gosh, you must be popular!") and increasingly murderous hangovers I tried hair of the dog for the first time recently and washed down a greasy Mexican-style breakfast with a bottle of Corona beer. It sort of worked but my mistake was leaving it at just one bottle. It only really works if you remain constantly pissed and I'm saving that particular treat for my retirement.

I believe I'm right in saying that the dish evolved from a layered pigeon jelly, crab cream and pea puree amuse that they used to serve around 2001-2002. It was created in homage to Chapel's roasted pigeon which Blumenthal tasted on one of his foodie tours around Europe before he opened TFD.

David Everitt-Matthias at Le Champignon Sauvage is arguably the chef most devoted to his craft in the UK. In the kitchen at his restaurant for every service, no outside interests, no consultancy and virtually never on TV (one appearance on Masterchef that I can recall, and even that was filmed in his restaurant kitchen!). As luck would have it, he also happens to be one of the most talented chefs in the country. Somehow, the daily grind of running a restaurant hasn't worn him down and, rather than becoming jaded and stale, his food seems to continually improve. Crucially, he never lets his technical brilliance and encyclopedic knowledge of ingredients get in the way of a delicious plate of food. Not every chef-run restaurant is Le Champignon Sauvage, however. And even if you passed a law forcing all chefs to actually cook for a living, the chances of producing another LCS are slim indeed. I love the idea of small, family run businesses - the restaurant as personal expression; but the reality is that you are just as likely to have a bad meal in one as you are in an outpost of a gastro-empire. And just because a chef is never off the TV doesn't automatically mean that their restaurants are going to be crap. I've had outstanding meals at Gordon Ramsay and Rhodes W1 within the last year or so and on both occasions the names above the door weren't in the kitchen. The pool of fully developed, top notch culinary talent in the UK is surprisingly small and spread between groups, hotels and independently owned restaurants. If you harbour pre-conceptions about what chefs should and shouldn’t be doing with their time, you risk missing out on some very good meals.

Have you heard that they are refurbishing the dining room again already? Closing in January I think for a month. A bit of a shame really as I think it looks great as it is.