curlywurlyfi

Not answering your question in any way, but I was at a wedding here on Saturday + though mass catering (80 people) isn't ever the best marker for a place's abilities, it was still very good. Beef Wellington was pink in the middle + had proper duxelles; slightly try-hard veg (I don't need my green beans wrapped in a strip of parma ham thanks). Agree about the mishmash of styles in the dining room.

Three of us had dinner here a couple of weeks ago. Pumpkin risotto vanished before I could get near; crispy pig trotters + egg mayonnaise (together at last!) similar; my beet + leek + goats cheese mousse also good but a bit too fridge-cold. Two of us shared the lamb with tian + gnocchi Romana; I had to have my arm twisted since the only gnocchi I've ever encountered have been the gluey thumb-shaped variety which make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth - no thank you. These were, by contrast, HEAVEN. Big flat discs of light, creamy, airy potato puree, delivered in a gratin dish with the butter still bubbling, glazed with Parmesan. Could have eaten twice the amount. The tian was classic E David, just tomatoes + courgettes, white pepper + an unidentified cheese, with the beautifully pink lamb on top. Steak tartare excellent, though chips seriously below average. We too were too full for pudding, but with a bottle of Cotes du Rhone + a coffee got out for £30 a head inc service. Which I think is astounding given you can pay £20 for a foul Pizza Express pizza + a glass of house red. I agree with Charlie Penrose - not historic, but very very spot-hitting. And I'd have those gnocchi again in a heartbeat. One thing though - mind yourself on the stairs to the loos.

I saw a recipe today for butternut squash with chorizo + prawns, thought that would work very nicely with kabocha also. butternut squash w chorizo + prawns

There's a recipe for lamb + apricot stew that has featured in lots of UK cookbooks, the one I've got is Claire MacDonald's Suppers, I think (not being in front of my bookshelf I can't be certain) - this recipe is not dissimilar. I've made it, friends have served it to me - and it's just awful. Thin flavourless broth, grey meat, overpoweringly cinnamony. It does not improve overnight either (heinous sin of casseroles!) And yet I see it reproduced everywhere! Why??

Thank you, Ohba - this is exactly it.

The Bisquick one was called Velvet Crumb Cake + from memory there were also nuts in the topping. it's delicious, esp for breakfast with a huge cup of coffee. Can provide recipe if needed, though I haven't made it in years (may rectify that tomorrow!)

hmmm, I went to the Poland St one about ten days ago + was v underwhelmed. Pork spare ribs still delicious but L's pulled pork sandwich tasted frankly like tinned corn beef with liquid smoke; + T's 'Ham Fest' was literally two slices of supermarket ham in a cheap white roll with barbecue sauce.

Friends went on Wednesday lunchtime. A: can I have a green vegetable as a side? Ken Place: we've only got kale A: what, no spinach, or green beans, or anything else? KP: no A: don't fancy kale so I'll pass thanks Mains arrive. Emily has white fish with... broccoli. A (to waiter): what's that? KP: broccoli A: could I please have some as a green vegetable side, you know, the green veg side that I specifically asked if you could provide? KP: I'll check [runs off to kitchen + returns] KP: sorry, no. Way to win customers!

Embarrassingly simple I'm afraid. Fried a chopped onion in olive oil til soft + golden, added chopped garlic + chopped red chili, a drained tin of butterbeans, bit of chicken stock, cooked til onion was soft. Mulched up a few of the butterbeans to thicken the soup, then added very finely shredded cavolo nero + simmered til done (< 5 mins). Squeeze of lemon juice, lots of black pepper, serve. As is the way of these things, even better the next day (though the cavolo nero goes a bit grey). I like the sound of your garlicky toasts too :-)

Meredith that's such a coincidence. My supper last night was just that pasta dish, but with roasted cauliflower instead of the kale (really really good); + lunch today was kale + butterbean soup (with a teeny hit of red chili + lemon juice).

I was also there on Sunday + it really was a joy. Some things just didn't work for me (eg cockles with Campari) but having been a couple of times it is great that Stephen is confident we will take his more experimental dishes in the wider context. His home-churned butter still worth stabbing your dining companions for (the turbot sauce approx 80% butter, + as for the mussel + bacon chowder...) Warm chocolate mousse with salted caramel underneath, partridge pasties, rhubarb ice lolly with panettone 'milk'... I could go on but I am about to have a Sainsbury's-sourced sandwich for lunch + it's too dispiriting a contrast. I love The Sportsman. You owe it to yourselves to go!

Judith - yesterday's Observer Food Magazine has a recipe from Heston Blumenthal for poached pears which involve liquorice root: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly...2226109,00.html it's about third/fourth recipe down.

Verjuice + May, I think you can buy that liquorice online from, er, Lakeland. And Judith (hello!) - you can cook with it (grate, steep, strain) but easier just to gnaw on a stick as breath-freshener.

Hi Franco! I went last Thursday + really liked it (NB my experience not harmed by being with two good friends + having just a really nice evening, nor by it being approx one yard from my flat). Agree the room's not all that: weirdly featureless despite huge + rather fantastic circular lightwell. Plus I think that going down steps into the dining room makes you feel like you're having dinner in a swimming pool. Fried Cornish anchovies were nearly menu winner, crisp + scrackly with a daub of very good aioli, but cockles with laver beat them by a narrow margin. Sweetbread salad nice enough but sweetbreads never really going to be my thing (shoot me, I'm a foodie heretic). For mains, the roast pork fantastic, accompanying turnips horrid, accompany sprout tops ace. Widgeon too gamy for pretty much all of us. Whole oxtail unbelievably good, soft thready rich meat, whole thing about the size + shape of a man's arm, served on a long narrow dish with boiled-along-with-the-oxtail carrots (utterly delicious). Didn't hear anything of the 'only after 8pm' thing for the oxtail + our table was booked for 7.45pm, so don't know what that was all about. Prune + almond tart very good but quince + apple sponge truly sent from heaven. So if you want to try again give me a call, I'll be back like a shot.

LiveItUp, my guess is that is a warm chocolate sauce in which the butter has split out. (I'm afraid to say I recognize it from my own exploits...)