Simon Majumdar

That is an amazing list Thanks all of you for taking the time to reply I am really looking forward to the trip, even more now with nthoughts of Brisket BBQ

GR ( Gordon Ramsay ) is a three star Michelin Chef in London. He is hailed by many as one of the best chefs in Europe and by me as a loud mouth tosser who robs people blind with risible food at appalling prices. He is without doubt a loudmouth yob ( in fact he predicates his whole schtick on this talent ) although in his favour, his staff are very loyal to him. I used to question his methods but not his talent, until trying his new place in Claridges. It was one of the worst meals I have ever had ( and I have been t a Dairy Queen ) Anthony ( I wont say Bourdain this time as I am not in pompous Brit book critic mode - sorry Anthony!) and I disagree vehemently about him and this will soon be sorted out Mano a Mano in a London based drinking competition which will no doubt see me refusing my 20th pint of mild in The Cock waving my hand and shrieking No Mas like old Hands of Stone Himself, while Anthony makes me sign a piece of paper saying " Ramsay is God and Simon is my bitch" or is that the other way round?

I have no idea what on earth you mean by a "semi paperback" gimme more of a clue. That being said, the French book market is in freefall. This I know because so much of my daily grind is persuading publishing partners around the world to buy the rights to my books. Germany, france, Spain and Italy are non starters for cookery books while the nordic countries and the low coutries are very strong. Also take into account the cost of producing an illustrated book. A 160pp book with c50 illustrations can cost upwards of £100,000 to produce. In France you cannot sell enough copies to earn out on that sort of investment nor would they be able to sell co-edition rights to the UK and US ( the two biggest illustrated book markets by far. In fact the UK produces approaching 40% of all illustrated books which appear in the US under the imprints of US publishers, if that makes sense ). No one outside France ( or these boards ) cares about chefs. They care about personalities and if they happen to be chefs then their cookbooks sell. If they happen to be interior designers then those books sell. We have a saying about cookery books in the UK trade. The go out in leaps and bounds and come back in skips!!

I would be happy to drink you under the table at Tbe Cock whenever you are in town, but we should also add in a few at The Wenlock as it is such a reliable crusty old boozer and you sound like you need to be shocked out of your Celebrity status garnered in the hallowed hall(es) - see how easily I slip from one style to another) of midtown publisherdom ( I can just see you sipping a martini with Mauro di Preta ) I tell you what. We can both offer our services to GR for an afternoon and whichever of us doesn't chin the f**ker is bought as many pints as can be fitted into their hollow legs and an obliging 18 yr old Hungarian to carry them home by the other one S

The place in chicago was, I believe called El Rinjon. They have a few. One serving cuban, one mexican and one Gutemalan. I couldn't tell you where it was as I was driven there by my host Stand out dishes included Radish Salads including an exceptional one with crispy pork rinds Black Tamales Stuffed Cornmeal dumplings Chicken with Pineapple Beef in a tomato and pepper sauce None of these seem so exciting in b/w but the taste were so fresh and the spicing, spot on. Memorable. I know next to nothing about Latin food, so any help finding these dishes or similar would be appreciated by both me and my guest while in NY S

Bless you both I have booked for next week and if it is any good, I will of course take the credit for its discovery. If it is not, I will hunt you both down like the curs you obviously will be shown to be S

After a sensational Guatemalan meal in Chicago recently, I have a hankering to try and fine the same when I am in NY at the end of the month. Any thoughts anyone?

Hi This year for our annual "you're my brother and I am forced to like you" style bonding holiday, robin and I are planning to hit the South ( ish ) We will be heading from Dallas to Austin to Galveston to San Antonio to New Orleans and back to Dallas Robin is taking care of NO, and I am in charge of finding places for us to feed fat the grudge we bear against our stomachs in Texas. I know this is vague, but are there any "must not miss" places in the following categories 1) BBQ ( obviously ) 2) Tex Mex 3) Pure Mexican 4) Burger - I am told that for some reason Texans take this very seriously and I can't believe that any Burger will ever beat that I had at rotieres in Nashville. In terms of accomadation, we have plans for NO and Austin, but any suggestions of mid range ( c贶 per night ) would be welcome. Thanks S

Peace, Love & understanding are just fine It just should never be quite as moist as you make it

Tony Sounds interesting, but I can't get a number from Information Can you let me have more details Best S

God Thom. Let's stop this love in NOW Andy already sounds like he wants to have your babies and he is dolling out treatment normally kept for Brucie and Heston. what have you been doing. Offering free copies of the magazine? :)

First of all, coming to the conversation quite late, my views carry little or no weight ( unlike the rest of me ) but for what it is worth, here is my take The real problem I had with the book was not the writing which is fine and much improved from Kitchen Confidential which was carried along on the enthusiasm of its subject. No, the real problem was that the books starts from an artificial premise. As Rayner points out in his review, it starts with Bourdain saying " #### I have taken a shed load of money and now have to come up with an idea " and that way as all publishers/writers know lies madness. you are trying to shoehorn in ideas into a format of your own making. The books appeared contrived and while the style and joie came through you always know it is based on a list made up in a corner office in the flat iron ( or is it 10th 55th st for Harper?) That being said, Bourdain writing from a contrived premise is a whole lot more entertaining that most Now what I would like to see you do next Anthony, is to recreate Down & Out in Paris and London and go back to being a lowly pan scrubber in a three star place under a truly monsterous Chef who treats you like crap. Perhaps our friend GR could oblige

The bar at Claridges is now a shadow of its former self. While it is trendier, I grant you,and they offer a wide selection of cocktails, they are inexpertly made. A cosmopolitan was insufficiently clouded with lime, A Martini was practically swimming in vermouth and not chilled. A whiskey sour lacked the appropriate froth. Snackages were OK, small flaky biscuits, but over salted. The prices are well above other better places with a drink on average being c£11 compared to £8 at No1 The Aldwych, to my mind the home of the best drinks in town. Service was inefficient and bordering on the rude. Much like the restaurant itself, Claridges has sold its birthright as a fairly stolid but utterly dependable place where things were made and prepared with expert attention but with non of the hoopla needed by today's herd and gone for glitz, glamour but thankfully ultimate failure. S (Edited by Simon Majumdar at 7:52 am on Jan. 4, 2002)

The real problem with EAT SOUP ( which Restaurant is not guilty of ) was the laddish thing. I remember going to the launch party and it was disasterously bad, handled by Beer Davis ( I believe ) and with bad food and crappy lager. I found Eat Soup no better than those "how to fool your girlfriend into thinking you're a great chef with a tin of beans and a Curly Whirly" pages that you see in Men's Health or loaded. What would be interesting in Restaurant magazine is to have restaurants reviewed not just from a food point of view but by another restaurant professional who could comment on new openings, everything from crockery to plating to the front of house. Now that would be worth reading. The one regular feature I would love to see and which is never going to happen is a sweepstake of places that are going to close soon. If Ladbrokes had taken the bet, i would have made a fortune betting on the closure BLUE BELT, a truly horrible place on Old St where modern European Food was served Sushi style on conveyor belts ( I am not kidding ) I gave it a month. It lasted two weeks and is now a mysterious place with the belts still in place and the salt & Pepper shakes still there looking nothing less that a restaurant version of the Marie Celeste.

Andy I think you are missing the point. GR has made himself a "convenient high profile scapegoat" by his constant desire to be seen in the glare of media publicity. The role he has chosen for himself is "bad boy". Let's not forget that this is the man who once denounced his fellow chefs for appearing on Ready Steady Cook as it made them look like C**ts. So how much sympathy can he expect when his own obsession with self aggrandisement causes him to be on the end of barbs and media ( or eevn unimportant food board barbs ) when he appears at the Birmingham Good Food Show with a headset on making him look nothing less than a fat reject from Boyzone Kitchens are stressful places and always have been ( read "down & out in Paris & London and see how much has changed ) good chefs demand exacting standards and always should. That does not mean we should have commis branded with skewers Aitken like, but it also does not mean that I should be unduly worried about a sobbing chef du partis. There is a big difference between working for a bully in any environment and someone who has predicated his whole schtick on being a bully and then complaining when people don't like him Didums Gordon, just be any good, which on my recent visit you are not. S

Back to the subject I actually bought a copy of this magazine yesterday fearing the worst as I expected it to be a gossipy foodie piece of trash. It was much better than I thought but I still fear for its long term survival. It has plenty of cheffy gossip for the chef whores but that market is too small to sustain a magazine ( Eat Soup, anyone? ) and as a monthly ( it is a monthly isn't it? ) it cannot offer a sustainable resource to the Industry. The writing veered from the excellent and informed ( the top 100 rich list- Rick Stein, who knew? ) to the feeble and flacid ( an excrutiatingly poor piece on how not to have your staff poached by other restaurants ) The design of the magazine was its real let down. It resembled nothing more than one of the free magazines one picks up monthly at Safeway. Magazines take tme to bed in and I supsect this is one area that they are already looking at. Most interesting of all was seeing how even those at the top end of the brigade ( Head chefs, Sous etc ) were paid so pitifully for all their toils on our behalf. Doubly galling when you compare it to how much cretins like Oliver make for his risible offerings. Funniest moment in the magazine was in an add for a Conran restaurant where it said the salary was "excellent" surely the only time the words Conran restaurant and Excellent have ever appeared in the same breath S

I think the idea of Henderson chasing a star slightly bizzare. This aint that type of place.

Andy While I agree with 90% of what you say ( St J's is one of if not my absolute faves in town ) if I may be just a bit pedantic. can something be "slopped" on a plate and "done in a studied way" at the same time? You were far too mean to give me anything other than a mere morsel of your hare, but I think it is unfair to call the Old Spot or the woodcock, "one note" and the kidneys worked on a lot of levels otherwise a fair review S

The Jerusalem Tavern is just off the Clerkenwell Road, halfway between St John's St and Farringdon Road. Do try it, it is well worth it Best S

I was having this argument with a friend last night as we sat drinking St Peters organic Winter Ale in The Jerusalem Tavern on the Clerkenwell Road last night. With the possible exception of The Wenlock Arms, I can't think of a better pub in the whole of the city It seats about 20 people and serves all the St Peter's range which is quite something. Their Honey Porter is unmissable. Apparently their has been a pub on this site for about 900yrs and it was a stopping off point for Crusaders on their way to kill infidels. If anyone haas any better pubs than these two, I would love to hear about them S

Jay I think the real point here is not about MPW. He has been found out. The laughable chain of themed restaurants he has built up have been seen for what they are. How many people can you (not you Andy- you're anal enough to know them all ) name from Conran's places? Probably none and it doesn't matter. MPW is on the same level. It would be like looking at "chefs" from Planet Hollywood or or a flipper at Burger king I think the real problem is Ramsay himself. I am not sure if you went to one of the soft opening events for this place? I have been to enough of these to know that they bear no resemblance in any way to what the punters can expect when it gets up and running. I can imagine, Fay/Meades/Gill huddled in one of those little side rooms being hand fed little morsels of this that and the other as Gordon siddles around like a mixture of Gollum ( nothing if not topical ) and Uriah Heap. What we experienced on Thursday was quite simply shoddy at all levels. Seargent(sp?) is not up to handling this size of operation. If he is not, they should not be charging £150 per head. The food was unimaginably ordinary, the service was inept to the point of offense and I have no idea where the money they tell us was spent on the room went. Oh it's booked up for 12 months to come, so who gives a toss what I think? But to let Ramsay off the hook by saying that he has produced some good sous it letting him get away with murder. In NY or Paris, this scam of a place would be closed in a week and GR would be back selling hot dogs at his beloved Ibrox.....

Good call on Club Gascon although I would urge you not to bother with the shoddy little wine bar they call Cellar gascon or their risible "deli" Comptoir Gascon The bottom or middle bit of Smiths of Smithfield can be ok for a cheap lunch. The top floor is much more hit and miss You are also not far from The Eagle, The Quality chop House on Farringdon Road and Moro on Exmouth market S

Perhaps he should also consider giving his customers ( there's that dirty word again) a) Value for the enormous amount of money he is fleecing from them b) Decent service c) Decent food his whole schtick is predicated on his three stars, yet on the miserable showing of last night, he will be lucky to get none I recall a few years ago eating at Interlude de Chavot when they had one star. It was in every single aspect the superior of last night and even though it was a few years back it was less than half the price. I will NEVER set foot in a GR or MPW place again as long as I live, so help me God. S

I would walk north to Finsbury Square and try the excellent Fox gastro pub( run by the people who ran the now defunct French house Dining Room ) There is a superb chippie on the north east corner of the square whose name I can never remember but who make all their own pies and pasties and they are just delicious Further up ( if you have time ) is The Real Greek in Hoxton market. There no booking meze place next door has had mixed crit but is good for a quick lunch For a great sarnie, try Apostrophe on Great Eastern St which serves the truly great Poilaine. S (Edited by Simon Majumdar at 8:13 am on Dec. 7, 2001)

I make no cynical comments about Chez Bruce. I fully intend to go there myself in the new year. I was merely passing comment on Andy's schoolboy infatuation with him. We normal people had Cheryl Theigs or Farah Fawcett. Andy, I believe his parents will confirm, had "issues" S