AdamLawrence

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this revisionist history of the highest order? As I recall from that thread, Robin cooked it, and you became his bitch. cheers Adam

I presume you know the area, but in case, I recommend a visit to the grounds of the Chateau Courrances. They were designed by Le Notre and, though privately owned (The Marquis de Ganay and family) they permit walks on the grounds. Also the village of Moret sur Loing is very picturesquew and a visit to Clemeneau's home on the river side is possible. The restaurant in Barbizon at Bas Breau is quite good (at least it used to be). Jaybee - this looks lovely, but I think we are talking about different bits of France We're staying in the village of Moulins-Engilbert, about 30km from Autun in the Parc Regional de Morvan. A quick search in my Michelin atlas for Monet sur Loing and the Chateau Courances has them as close to Fontainebleau. The Chateau looks lovely from a web search, but I think is unfortunately a long way away from where we'll be. I'll remember the recommendation, though, because it'll be a nice place to go in future. Thanks Adam

Thanks for all these reports. I hadn't really thought of the word 'special' as being code for romantic. Romance is always appreciated when travelling with the lady wife but I only meant special in the sense of fancy - we're staying with my cousin in his weekend place in a small village on the edge of the Morvan and will be eating Christopher's cooking (which is excellent) or in the local restaurant for most of our time there. Vezelay is on our list of places to visit, so I figured we might lunch (or possibly dine) at Meneau that day. Cabrales - Thanks for the detailed thoughts. I do want to go to Troisgros but it is too far this time, I think. We'll be in and around Beaune at times, though, so Lameloise might be a possibility. cheers Adam

Despite - or perhaps because - it's relatively local, we haven't eaten at the Manoir for four years. The one thing that does stick in the memory from my last visit was the chocolate and pistachio souffle mentioned by Sarah W - I think possibly the best pudding I've ever had. The ambience is lovely. Possibly the expansion of the last few years may have affected this, but one of the things I liked best was the relatively relaxed, un-stuffy feel of the place. I knew much less about wine then than I do now, but, on learning of my preference for syrah/shiraz-based wines, the sommelier steered me to an excellent, and relatively well-priced, bottle of Cornas. Must go back soon. Perhaps for my birthday in October. Adam

Am contemplating Marc Meneau's L'Esperance for a special meal during a week's stay in Burgundy next month. Does anyone have anything to report about the restaurant generally and Meneau's cusine in particular? TIA Adam

Suvir et al Would a Mexican chiminea (which are becoming very popular in the UK - now available at practically every big garden centre) work as a reasonable substitute for a tandoor? Chiminea cheers Adam

Alas, too true. Mt wife and I tried to like it and gave up. It became so generally disappointing as not to merit an itemized report.It's a shame, because when the Oxford end first opened, I had a couple of good meals there, at not-too-outrageous prices. The day after I first ate at the Fat Duck, we had lunch at PB, and the chicken liver and foie gras parfait at the latter was not dramatically worse than at the former, and I recall the lapin a la moutarde 'facon Maman Blanc' as being excellent. But my gripes recently have been as follows: * lousy service - being stuck right next to the kitchen in an almost empty restaurant when we wandered in for a pre-cinema bite; service too rushed when we were trying to have a more leisurely meal; * wine list poor in scope and gruesome in pricing; particularly bad selection of wines by the glass * non-alcoholic cocktails (a good idea) being spoiled by absolutely disgraceful pricing; * a few poor, or at best deeply uninspired dishes (though I find the puddings consistently good). Bapi - glad you had a good day. But, mein Gott: five hours in the Trout AND all those other pubs? You must have stomachs of iron. No wonder you ended up having a grotty curry, though if you were in the place I suspect, you were less than 100 yards from good Thai food at Chaing Mai Kitchen. cheers Adam

We'll be driving through Champagne (on the autoroute) in a couple of weeks time. Want to stop off for lunch, probably somewhere in the Reims/Epernay area - something simple, preferably with no need to reserve (but that's not a necessity, just that there's always potential for problems on the road, and I don't want to blow out a reservation). No Boyer, this time, sadly Do members have any suggestions for good, simple food in that part of France? cheers Adam

No, it's now a place called the Pink Giraffe (do we recognise a theme here?)I used to like the Blue Coyote, but that may be related to the fact that I got a free meal there when I was an undergraduate editing student union publications. Adam

It's one thing to be a gentleman and a scholar, but I always wanted to be an acrobat too. Waterside pubs: there's a place down at Iffley Lock whose name I have forgotten that people rave about. My favourite is the Victoria Arms in Old Marston (not far from Summertown - is that the one you meant) - get a punt from the Cherwell Boathouse, punt upriver for twenty minutes, tie up outside pub, drink six pints of Farmer's Glory, punt back downstream in a very unsteady fashion. The famous waterside pub is the Trout at Godstow, at the top end of Port Meadow. It's just been tarted up; I haven't been in since, but the setting is perfect. It's always very busy, though, and the beer used to be crap. It might be better now. I never liked the Head of the River much. If you have someone to drive who won't be on the booze there are loads of nice waterside pubs out in the countryside. Try the Ferryman at Bablockhythe, west of the city, or the Rose Revived at Newbridge, near Kingston Bagpuize. Too far out for your purposes but really worth trying if you're around the Cotswolds for a weekend is the Fox at Great Barrington (just west of Burford) - nice riverside setting, good food (chicken piri-piri excellent), fab beer from Donnington Brewery.

La Gousse d'Ail is closed? I must have missed that - I keep meaning to go but get appalled by the prices every time I think about it. I don't like Quod very much; if you just want a snack and a drink in that part of town I like the Grand Cafe much better - lovely, if slighty over-the-top room. Owned by the same chap (who also used to own the Lemon Tree, which he sold and became La Gousse d'Ail) is a place down the Cowley Road called Kazbar. Sort of Moorish, tapas-y place. I haven't been but friends who have say it's good and fun. Adam

Edamame on Holywell Street is good for Japanese food at bargain basement prices, but I'm unconvinced that's what you'd want for a stag do. Al-Salam on Park End Street is the best of the three city centre Lebanese places and has a good atmosphere for a party, but in the circumstances you might want to try Restaurant du Liban above Boswells on Broad Street, 'cause it has belly dancers. I am no longer a fan of Le Petit Blanc because I think it's way too pricey for the quality provided and the service sucks. Chiang Mai Kitchen on the High Street is best for Thai; Luna Caprese on North Parade (about a mile from the city centre) is a fun old-style Italian and has an excellent pub called the Rose and Crown just across the road. Aziz on the Cowley Road is the best Indian food in town. There's a new Spanish place on Little Clarendon Street that I haven't yet tried. Given that I've fallen out with Le Petit Blanc we lack for good mid-market French-influenced places. Pubs: it depends what you want. I like good real ale and an individual atmosphere (don't much like chain pubs) and find there are few boozers in the city centre that do it for me. The Old Tom just opposite Christ Church is an old standby but I don't know how it's changed since Morrells closed the brewery. The King's Arms and the Turf are the big name haunts, and both are good if expensive. The Turf will be full of tourists, I don't know about the KA at this time of year, because the students aren't around. The Hobgoblin on St Aldates keeps winning awards but has never really appealed to me - the signs outside in four languages shout 'Tourists' and I'm not fond of Wychwood beers. The Bear has excellent beer but again suffers from the tourist problem, especially since it's tiny. Hope this helps - if there's anything else I can add, please ask. Adam

That's appalling. Do they have Soup Dragon and Iron Chicken as well? Besides, as any Peter Firmin/Oliver Postgate buff will tell you, the Clangers were knitted from wool. Adam

Suvir, what sort of yogurt do you use for raitas? I tend to prefer the Greek-style strained yogurts for most cooking applications, but these are obviously much thicker than ordinary stuff, so I wonder whether they would be appropriate. cheers Adam

I think Simon has been too long away from Yorkshire. A true Yorkshireman avoids going anywhere near the bar, in case he's forced to pay for a round (See my sig for further details). Note that Yorkshire folk were described once as 'Scots, but without the sense of humour and generosity." g.j: Be warned, you are entering dangerous territory here. In CAMRA circles, this is known as the Great Cask Breather Wars. Pressurised dispense is definitely not 'real', because carbon dioxide is soluble in beer, hence the gassiness you correctly diagnose. That's why the newer keg beers, such as Caffreys, and the various 'Cream....' designated stuff uses a nitrogen-based mix (they're called nitrokegs, and less vile than old-style keg, but still pretty lacking in flavour). But, once a cask is opened and some beer removed, air gets in, and the beer starts to oxidise. Eventually, it goes off. To deal with this, some breweries and pubs use a device called a cask breather, or 'blanket pressure'. This is connected to the cask, and causes gas to flow into the barrel to replace the beer that's been drawn out. It's at low pressure (not much more than atmospheric pressure) so it doesn't do anything in relation to the dispense, but obviously it has a different effect on the beer. Reasons for using a cask breather: it stops the beer oxidising and keeps it fresh for longer. This is useful in pubs with relatively low beer turnover; they can keep a wider range of brews on, because they don't need to empty a cask in two or three days. Some very respected brewers - especially the long-established independents with their own tied estate of local or rural pubs - were or are devoted to the breather for this reason. Less popular but significant beer styles, such as mild, are often preserved only because of this technology (many pubs can't empty a cask of mild in reasonable time). Reasons against using the breather: "It's not real ale if it's not open to the atmosphere"; using gas, even at low pressure may change the flavour of the beer; some people like the taste of beer that has started to oxidise. This has been a very hot topic in beer circles for years. CAMRA policy was - and may still be, I'm not sure - that no pub using a cask breather can be listed in the Good Beer Guide. As the GBG is very important to listed pubs, and some of the chief advocates of the breather were breweries such as King and Barnes (now defunct) and Shepherd Neame - old established family firms that CAMRA in general supported - it became extremely controversial. Me - I've always tried to render the whole problem irrelevant by drinking in pubs that turn their beer over quickly. Years ago, when I lived in Leeds, I drank in a Tetley house that had consistently excellent beer. I asked the landlord what his secret was: "We sell a 36 gallon barrel of Tetley Bitter each day, and three of them on a Saturday" he said. That would help. Stella: if you're still in London from August 6-10, you might want to visit the Great British Beer Festival at Olympia. It's very good fun - I go each year. See www.camra.org.uk for more info. cheers Adam

John is _broadly_ correct: the tall handpump is the most obvious identifier of real beer in a pub. But it's not infallible: you can use electric pumps to dispense real beer, or it can be poured straight from the barrel (either from a stillage behind the bar, or from the cellar). The electric pump is rare these days precisely because the handpump is such a potent symbol, but used to be very common indeed, especially in the north and midlands. Fake handpumps are most commonly used to dispense non-real cider; Scrumpy Jack is a regular offender that CAMRA and its offshoot APPLE have targeted over the years. St Peter's beers are OK - I too like the Organic Ale - but it's as well to note that the bottled versions are NOT real ale, but are pasteurised. If you like St Peter's beers, try Hop Back Summer Lightning from Salisbury - a fabulous drink, and readily available in bottle-conditioned (ie real) form (I know Oddbins stock it). Adam

Stella Real ale is defined as beer that continues to condition after it leaves the brewery. That means it can either be cask-conditioned, or bottle-conditioned (there is a vast range of bottle-conditioned beers available now, as compared to a few years ago, when there were only about five or six different brews made that way in Britain). The opposite of real ale is beer that has been pasteurised to kill the yeast: beer like this will not continue to improve in its packaging. Real ale can be mild, bitter or any other style. You can have real lager too, though I'm not sure of any brands that aren't pasteurised and continue to condition in their packaging. When the yeast is left alive in a beer, it develops more complex flavours - in a similar way to a wine improving in the bottle - although the process is much quicker - and the beer will be naturally lively. Pasteurised beer uses artificially added gas, either carbon dioxide or a nitrogen-based mixture, to produce its bubbles. Some strong bottle-conditioned beers improve for long periods - Thomas Hardy Ale is famous for this. If you can find it while you're in London, my absolute favourite beer in the world is Timothy Taylor's Landlord, brewed in Keighley, Yorkshire. It's generally available at the Dog and Duck on the corner of Frith Street and Bateman Street in Soho, and Simon M mentioned one time that he'd seen it in the Wenlock on occasions. cheers - mine's _definitely_ a pint of Landlord Adam (who is visiting his parents in Yorkshire this weekend, and might get a pint or two of Landlord in while he's there)

Croque-en-Bouche in Malvern Wells on Valentine's night. Sadly the place has since closed - the owners decided they wanted to retire. Ate and drank like a king for very reasonable money. I've rarely enjoyed a restaurant meal as much. I'm looking forward to going to Burgundy at the start of September Adam edit disclosure: added that to which I am looking forward

Saturday: Imam bayeldi with saffron rice. First time I've cooked this dish, from Claudia Roden's recipe, and it was good, although not entirely satisfactory. I wanted it to be a bit more luxuriant, suspect I should have used more olive oil. I'd have made tabbouleh rather than rice but I didn't have enough parsley.

Organic beers have really taken off here in the UK in the last few years. The problem isn't lack of demand, but supply of raw materials - until very recently, there was only one grower of organic hops in the whole of Britain (close to where my in-laws live in Kent). So I think most of the organic beers I've come across have used European hops; and as the Germans etc grow different hop varieties, the beers are more European in style (St Peter's Organic Ale is one such). If you can find it in the States, I like Caledonian Golden Promise very much. Adam

Oddly, same story here. Lucy, my wife, used to loathe raw tomatoes. Couldn't stand them. Would pick bits of tomato out of otherwise acceptable dishes. But last summer, she suddenly discovered a taste for them. Not just a tolerance, but an actual craving. Now, if we need an accompaniment to a dish, she'll usually suggest a tomato salad. We can't completely explain this Damascene conversion, but it appears to have been caused by insalata tricolore. When we were in France last August, she ate tomatoes for almost every meal. I'm not investigating too closely - I don't want to break the spell. Adam

Gary, I've always felt that Huddersfield had pretty decent places to eat for a town of its size and location. Have you not been to the Weavers Shed in Golcar (which I've recommended elsewhere on this site)? I used to like Cafe Pacific under the railway arches when it first opened. And I had a good meal at Mustard and Punch in Honley about two months ago. The fact that it's about fifty yards from my sister's house helps, though. Cappers, I wish you'd stop just slagging off Newcastle. What has the place ever done to you? Nice town, nice people, beautiful countryside just on the doorstep. I've not eaten there much. I'd live up that way like a shot if I could see how I'd make my living. cheers Adam

Gavin - tell me more about Three Acres please. Huddersfield is my home town and I eat there fairly frequently when I'm visiting my folks. Haven't come across that place though. cheers Adam

Review: Riverside Brasserie, Bray Saturday June 1 was a beautiful day. So I was pretty pleased that – a couple of weeks earlier – I’d booked a table at Heston Blumenthal’s Riverside Brasserie in Bray Marina. We were taking Lucy’s 81-year-old step-grandmother – a local resident – out for lunch. No, correction – Rowan was taking us out for lunch, since the last time we lunched together, at the Fat Duck last summer, we paid. You have to say that, on a warm, sunny English summer’s day, sitting by the river and eating a decent lunch is a pleasant experience. You don’t need fantastic food in those circumstances. Which is just as well: although we all enjoyed our meal, and it was pretty good value for money, I wouldn’t call it great, and I was a little disappointed by the overall quality of the experience. I started with a squid and chorizo tartine. This sounded better than it actually was – it didn’t have much chorizo in it at all, and the squid was only OK. Mostly greenery, I thought it would have benefitted from a bit of chili. The bread base was excellent though. Lucy and Rowan both had a sardine tart. I only got a bit, but the little fish were good, and the biscuit-y pastry base was better. Moving on to mains, and I – with a few misgivings, but wanting something that would match with white wine, because we already had a bottle on the go, and I didn’t want to order any more (driving) – chose the roasted breast of chicken with ceps and pomme puree and roasting juices. This was, for me, easily the star of the meal. Served on the bone, the chicken had the mushrooms stuffed under its skin, and had been infused with their flavour. It was also beautifully moist. The potato puree was very heavy on the butter in the modern French style, and the gravy just about right. Lucy’s spaghetini with peas, clams and tomato came with a foaming top, and was no more than OK. Could have done, again, with some chili. I wonder why the kitchen was holding back on the heat? Rowan had pan-fried fillets of gilthead bream with couscous. The fish was nice, if a bit meagre, and properly cooked, but I personally find couscous a very dull grain. This didn’t change my mind. Lucy skipped pud, I had a perfectly serviceable dark chocolate tart (with which I’d have liked some cream or mascarpone, but never mind) and Rowan had crème brulee, which had been infused with lavender. Pretty good, if nothing special. Espresso was OK, but I’m getting a bit hacked off with the lousy standard of most espresso these days. With a pleasant bottle of Sancerre and inclusive of service (slips closed, well done), the bill was GBP 115. Good value (especially as I wasn’t paying) and a pleasant meal. A few too many braying (!) Thames Valley types for my proley tastes, but you can’t blame the restaurant for that. But it’s not – repeat not – a baby Fat Duck. Whether that’s a good or a bad thing, you must decide for yourself.

Now Marlow, that's a real shithole.