Simon Majumdar

They also have a website which is http://www.wenlock-arms.co.uk/2.html It gives a history of the pub and a list of all the beers they serve Last time I was there, but a few days ago, there was a big fight going on between two full on East End villains with lots of shouts of "wanker" and worse. Stephen threatened to bar them from the pub which brought them up short. The threat of loss of real ale privileges was enough to make them dust themselves of and buy each other a pint. I noticed them leave the pub about 4 hours later with their arms around each other as they lurched into the night If you are there any night in June and July and you see a shaven headed asian gentleman of no fixed waistline That'll be me S

Stella It is heartening to read a) such a well written post b) such an affectionate reflection on my favourite pub in the city It seems as if you have truly experienced the magic of a London pub, something that cannot be replicated anywhere else on the globe. Next time you are there, I would be happy to shout you a pint or three of Adnams mild. Fat Guy The F&A is not a tourist trap, but is now on the regular tour of the city for visitors in the know so has become increasingly popular. Mind you when I suggested meeting there for the last Egullet Dinner at St John, it was boarded up, so who knows what is going on there S

It has been a brief while since I was lucky enough to go to Gavroche, but I can say without a seconds hesitation that every visit has been memorable for the faultless service, the sheer quality both of the ingredients and the care with which it is prepared and the wine list which while expensive has many hidden treasures. I would choose it for my last meal on earth with no other contenders ( except for my mothers Bengali Mustard fish ) S

I was in NY for one night last Friday and on the recommendation of some friends took my young lady friend to The Place. I thought it a real curate's egg of a place The room itself is lovely and the service was all that you could hope it to be, efficient and willing. I was however less happy about the food Starters of Calimari and a duck confit were off the mark with the duck oily and the calimari rubbery. Main courses of braised short rib and Hangar steak were no more than OK. The steak was over cooked and the short rib lacked flavour. Puddings were better, both being chocolate based. The wine list though very short was interesting and a well priced bottle of Rioja was better than I have had in many places in NY. The bill was a not over the top 财 for the two with coffee and a glass of champagne before hand I am not sure I would return in a hurry, but I do think that it would be a good place for a romantic night out assuming one's date was not as obsessed with food as we all are S

Having just returned from a brief " if it is wednesday it must be Kansas" whirlwind of a US trip, I am disappointed t see that both Neat and L'odeon have closed I tried Neat last year after it opened and while it was horribly expensive, the cooking was very able and the service was efficient. Both robin and I feared for its long term security though as it was an obviously "expense account" place and the trauma's of a post 11/9/01 world have made that an insecure spot to be in. I am sure it is not location as the excrable OXO Tower still manages to part unknowing suckers from their money As for L'odeon. when loubet was there, it was being proffered as a big thing ( #### I even remember being offered a Lifetime membershio for a mere £5,000 - wouldn't that have been money well spent ) Since Loubet moved on to Italian and moroccan pastures new, the place has been in decline and a visit about two years ago was a huge disappointment. The truth is that the days of the Gastrodome are thankfully over. What we now are seeing are smaller, more nimble outfits that can attract a regular clientele without depending on the slings and arrows of the economy. While I truly miss some of the dear departed ( a moments silence for High Holborn ) I can't help thinking this is just the next stage of London's evolution into a World class eating city S

I have been in the US for a brief while and managed to get a glimpse of the COOKS TOUR show while I was there The direction was appalling and reminded me of nothing more than Floyd ( Keith, that is not Pink ) c 1977. The voiceovers sounded laboured and the producers had managed to surpress Anthony's personality. A feat I would have considered impossible from the way he writes both in his books and on here. Again, my main criticism was the contrived nature of the set ups. The programme lacked spark and spontenaity. A great shame and a real missed opportunity S

I can only agree with Andy ( there is a first for everything ) on Lindsay House. One of my worst meals in London in every aspect, food, service, wine list, decor etc. One to avoid On the positive, if I am on the pull, I always find Andrew Edmund's does the trick S

Steve The same can be said by those blinkered enough not to have exposed themselves to the world outside their own waspish ghetto As for "Sophistocated" ( again this is not a personal dig ) that is the most pooterish of words and was it not used originally as an insult for those who wanted to exclude others by creating an image of contrived wisdom Andy - even you don't believe that tosh. if you have to look at "legacy" you can take all French food back to The Romans and Epicurious. S

"Simply roasting meats, while being delicious, doesn't exactly call for the application of much technique" I am not sure that is true either Steve ( I am not picking on you, but I am sure you can take it if I was ) Wasn't it escoffier who judged his underlings not on how they made sauces but on how they fried an egg. Not on how they created reductions but on how they roasted a Chicken. I also believe ( I may be mixing him up with another) that he was the one who referred to good roast meats as ( and I don't know the french " The english miracle" what about Marinading a leg of lamb for three days in a mixtrue of home roasted and ground spices. Roasting slowly for 12 hours. removing the meat from the bones, shredding finely mixing with pomegranate seeds, deglazing ( oops a french word - there comes that star ) with the bitter juice of the fruit and serving with puree of root vegetables? Less evolved? Er no, in fact one of the dishes provided by Solomon for the Queen of Sheba. But hey, let's not let history get in the way of a good argument S (Edited by Simon Majumdar at 12:08 pm on Jan. 25, 2002)

I'm sorry!!? There is an enculturated view that Beethoven is "better" than Syrian folk music? That is truly an absurd statement. There is no such widely held belief apart from amongst the most ill educated of dunderheads ( an no I am not calling you an ill educated dunderhead, not least because you may be bigger than me and we are meeting up soon ) Mmm? I also wonder claiming cuisines to be "less evolved" is one step away from saying they should all go back to picking cotton massa? finally, it displays a level of ignorance of cuisines other than french. Those who claim that the complexities of Syrian ( to use that example again ) or indeed Moghul indian cooking are any less than the finest three star French, patently know nothing about those foods nor indeed accepts that some French food offered in 3* places is often of a rustic "unevolved" simplicity What Michelin is doing is, as your rightly say Steve, looking at cuisines through a glass darkly. I would be profoundly wary of any Indian place that has a star ( that is borne out bu Zaika - ugh! ) as they would be debasing their own culture to please their more "evolved" betters. S

I find the almost instinctive pant wetting that occurs when ever anything french is mention most bizarre. I have to say that it is almost exclusively American and a result of the sort of restaurants which were the first to offer in "fine dining" in the US. This desperate attempt to eat at three star restaurants, The gastor porn tours of France where coach loads of Hyram's are driven around to places so they can say they have been even if they can't rmeber what they have eaten. etc etc. We have the same to an extent here. Andy has admitted ( in writing and person ) that he is slightly dismissive of anything that is not French ( in his case as a result of his damascene experience at Pont De La Tour ) To say that French food is "better" than other cuisines is meaningless, as meaningless as saying that Syrian cuisine ( to my mind the most thoughtful and considered of all) is "better" it is just my preference and I don't dismiss French food because they don't offer the same range of preserved fruits that the Syrians do. The Michelin process is profoundly flawed and corrupt. It takes a way of judging French based restaurant experiences, imposes that on cultures and cuisines which can be every bit as fine but work in different ways ( as Tony says and I know, Persian food is never served in three course, napkins don't exist not does in most cases cutlery )and then uses that to prove that French cuisine is the best. er, am I really the only one to see the lack of logic in that?

God, I have never been accused of having a love fest with anyone. Not even one of my ex-wives FWIW, I am hugely in favour of killing all tv personality chefs in a fitting way 1) I would put Emeril on the fire and "kick it up a notch" 2) I would smother Ainsley Harriot in salt sprinkled from on high while singing zippidee do dah 3) I would strangle Jamie oliver with his own Tongue 4) I would render Anthony Warral Thompson down to his natural state of blubber I hope I wasn't being too complimentary to them. I wouldn't want to be accused of being a stalker, now would I Ron? S (Edited by Simon Majumdar at 4:16 am on Jan. 25, 2002)

Thank you for your insightful comments. I feel as if the scales have fallen from my eyes Er, now, if I might return to planet Earth for one moment. My comparison was not between the cooking at LA T or GR's nor indeed their aspirations. Rather it was about value for money. I have eaten at many 3* that were far more expensive than GR's but in every aspect better value for. I have also eaten a places that cost next to nothing which were not even worth that. What is it they say about knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing? S (Edited by Simon Majumdar at 4:08 am on Jan. 25, 2002)

Steve It sounds almost unrecognisable from the experience I had at Claridges which was one of the most undistinquished of any of my dining out experiences. You almost make me want to try it again, but at £300 for two, not quite S

The most remarkable things about this article are 1) The words "Ramsay" and "value for money" appearing in the same sentence 2) MPW being called a "people person" Ahem! on both counts S

Hi i am planning a weekend in Paris and while Saturday is taken care of ( La Regalade - thanks Magnolia ) I am finding it impossible to find anything open on a Sunday that is not a tourist trap. I don't mind travelling out a bit and also don't mind the price. Any suggestions? S

Jon The Lobster thermidor at RitS was superb and the lobster was in no means smothered. I don't think it quite counted as I suspect ot would have been quite outstanding as a Haddock dish or even a monkfish dish. The lobster added a depth to an already classic dish Suzi - Avoid Tower 42 as if it were a pool of rancid vomit, which ironically would probably be the result of eating there S

The best lobster ( although I am with tony on this ) is to be found at J Sheekeys. Not fooled around with in any way, served simply with drawn butter and lemon. If your friend and his new squeeze are lobster fans, then there is no other way to have it S (Edited by Simon Majumdar at 8:31 am on Jan. 18, 2002)

To quote John Lydon, there are two sides to every story. I agree that there is a certain breed of pasty faced oik who feel the need to compensate for their small blessings in the genetalia department by being unpleasant to wait staff, that being said their is also nothing wrong with asking for something different from a perfectly capable kitchen ( which Embassy's is ) I am not sure if Robin's excellent Daube of beef would have suffered much if he had asked for it not to be served with mash.

My estimation of Anthony, which was not low to begin with has shot up on reading the section on "what books are on your bedside table" in last Sunday's Observer. Amongst others he chose Greil Marcus' Lipstick Traces and Motley Crue's The Dirt. Both of which are sublime in very different ways. ' Now if he had added in Pter Guralnick's trilogy on American Music ( Feel Like Going Home, Lost Highway & Sweet Soul Music ) and Dave Lee Roth's Autobiography, Crazy From the Sun, I might have had to admit he knows everything and write GR an apology letter. I was going to send GR some flowers for christmas, but Interflora don't do triffids S

The guy in question does not sound "huffy" or insecure to me. If you look at it there were 10 people who possibly were going to order 3 courses each, so 30 courses. One person of the group ( a child and therefore presumably had not had time to research the menu as everyone here seems to demand ) asked if they could "adapt" a dish. not change, but adapt. If the person had dietary requirements then they would have done it, so why not now? You say customers should not expect it. Why the h*ll not? Should we just expect a better than 50% chance of making through the meal without vomiting or being robbed or being abused. No, we should expect the restaurant to value the customer enough to be flexible enough to "adapt" 3% of the order ( which is what this equates to if my maths is right ) for some one who is about to drop a grand in their place I am still going tomorrow and I hope to have a good meal, but it does make me sick to my stomach when the balance of customer/supplier is kicked out of whack like this

I have taken this to a thread on general as it is too valid to be lost on the ghetto of the UK board FWIW, for this time only, I agree with Jay. There is no balance to be struck. The custome IS always right. that doesn't mean they can not turn up, be abusive to the staff, but they can expect ( and demand ) better than they got at The Embassy It slightly colours my opinion of tomorrows meal but I am sure that will be disapated by a good martini S (Edited by Simon Majumdar at 7:38 am on Jan. 14, 2002)

Livebait...NO NO NO NO NO chain dining at its most rip off and disgusting. You would be better off stuffing your head in the Manchester Ship canal That being said ( in a very nasular and manc way) Manchester does have the finest Chinese Restaurant in the spectacular Yang Sing(sp!)

You're are absolutely right Andy. I promise not to take any free meals off him:)