Simon Majumdar

I posted an almost identical review to this on chowhound but I can't bear to waste any more imagination on this #### hole of a place. So there I make no bones of the fact that while I think Ramsay can cook like a dream, he is one of the most loathesome ticks on God's earth. That being said, Robin and I were very keen to try his new place at the home of what was my favourite place for sunday lunch in London, Claridges. He has aimed his bow straight at getting the same number of stars as he has at the eponymous site in Chelsea and so must be judged on the same standards. On all counts he fails. Robin and I turned up bang on time to be told that our table would not be ready for about another 15 mins. We were pointed vaguely in the direction of an apologetic bar area. Finally we were offered an expensive glass of house champagne and just as we raised it to our lips we were told that our table was ready. It was indeed, but the room wasn't, looking nothing more than the inside of a whore's boudoir with carpets by way of Brentford nylons. We were fortunate enough to seated next to a table of loud antipodeans who were offering up plentiful profanity by way of replacement for personality. We explained to the maitre D that people screaming F..k loudly at the next table was not what we wanted, but he merely shrugged and said "what can you do?" They did offer to move us but by that time the table had moved on and the damage had been done. Quite frankly I was on the point of chinning one of the Ockers. We went for the Menu Prestige @ a mere £55! we also just about managed to order a decent wine flight (although it came out at about £100 for the two of us )from a very confused junior sommmelier. In the end, it all would have been fine if the food had been exceptional. It wasn't. It wasn't even close. Canapes of Baba ganoush and a chive cheese were good but once bread was finished it disappeared never to be seen again. Amuse of Consomme with bresse pigeon were delicious and followed by a ravioli of lobster which was quite frankly rubbery ( no chinese restaurant jokes please ) Main courses of lamb and pork were very very ordinary and no better than either of us have prepared for Sunday lunch. The saving graces were the cheese board ( superb- but how hard is it to go the La fromagerie or the Premier Cheese Co and ask for great cheese? ) and one of the puds was very good indeed. Finally, when I wanted mint tea, they had no fresh mint, only a bag. Hold on you are charging £300 for two and you can't afford fresh mint? Apparently not. Service was perfunctory and chaotic to say the least. So this really was a case of the Emperor's new clothes, but of course Gordon doesn't care, #### he wasn't even there. He was back home in Chelsea telling any one who would listen that he used to play for Rangers. The King is in the all together, the all together as all together as naked as the day that he was born............ 4/10 - avoid like the plague S [ Post A Reply ] [ Chowhound's International Message Board ]

I went to the Clerkenwell last night. I was, it has to be said, very underwhelmed. The cooking was very able indeed and displayed all the hallmarks of the chef's provenance. BUT and it is a big but, they have set out to do the high end schtick and frankly don't do it very well The food as I said is well done and prices are reasonable. An excellent starter of Foie on pardina lentils (£8) was seared to crunchyness on the outside and soft and melting on the inside. Main courses of Short ribs and Suckling pig were well prepared, but Ay there's the rub. At a reasonable £12 each, these looked like good value but they were tiny portions. So much so that we complained and more was brought out to us, but it shouldn't have to be. The wine list is tiny but well chosen and good value A bottle of tour St Bonnet was £23 which is almost no mark up by London standards Service was mixed. The Maitre'd was efficient and friendly, the rest of the staff a little clueless. They were bedding in, but as I have said elsewhere, why should we pay for their training? All in all a curate's egg of a place and it may get better. But for now 5 1/2 out of 10 S

One great bugbear, the inability of restaurants to serve butter at room temp. When I was in las Vegas in April, I ate at JG's Prime ( OK- no more ) and got the usual rock hard bullets to hack away at. When I ask the bus boy if we could get some room temp so we were not in danger of taking someones eye out with the chippings, he put it in a microwave and brought us back a melted puddle. Finally, we asked our waiter and he brought us some whipped butter. A small thing but if you are paying 贶 a pop ( or even ฟ a pop ) it shouldn't be impossible S

Having just come back from trips to both Germany and The US, I can honestly say that there is no one in the whole world apart from us brits who has a bleedin clue how to make a cup of tea. From luke warm cups of water with crappy twinnings bags on the side, to stewed slop in Frankfurt. It makes me glad to come home and proud to be half british S

I can second the recommendation of Foiliage. I have been there twice and on each time the food has been revelatory. The wine list is exquisite ( they gave me the great discovery of the year - a Qupe Syrah from Santa Barbara - a truly astonishingly good wine ) and the service is exemplary. If they have anything on the menu containing sweetbreads, I urge you to try it as they have a deft touch. I would rate it above The Square. S

Hi Just back from NY and just off again at short notice. So, need a bit of advice I am a huge fan of odd cuts, offally bits and gizzards. In London I can feed this fetish at St John's as I did last night ( Hare Pie with a side of deep fried pigs tails ) but would like to introduce a chum in NY to the delights of "nose to tail eating" Any suggestions? S (Edited by Simon Majumdar at 11:12 am on Nov. 8, 2001)

I would almost totally agree with Jay ( what am I saying?) The whole baggage of Rules can be tiresome. The "wines from the former colonies" list, the slightly theme park feel, the waiters with notepads that look like gameboys etc. Once you get past that then it can be excellent. It has its own supplies of game and they are the best ( or among the best in town ) they also do some very basic old stylee things very well ( Steak and kidney pudding, potted shrimp, spotted dick ) I would say on balance, go. You will not have a bad meal and may end up having a very good one and 贶 in London for food of this quality, is unfortunately the norm and you could eat a lot worse for the same price Enjoy

Way back when, when I worked for Fatty Cheetham at Orion/Weidenfeld & Nicolson. we paid said repulsive journo an inordinate amount of money to write a "new direction" book on Diana. The only two things I remember ( I was not dealing with her directly ) are a) She sounds exactly like Minnie Mouse and consequently wanted to have all contact by fax. b) The book sold miserably. As we say in the business, it went out in leaps and bounds and came back in skips. I don't think even this woman would be Michael's friend however, do you? S (Edited by Simon Majumdar at 7:16 am on Oct. 22, 2001)

Trust me, I have had dinner with Andy. Don't waste a vote:) Personally I would plump for Groucho Frank Zappa Mahatma Ghandi Mazarin I wonder if Mazarin could needle Ghandi enough to make him punch him in the gob!! S

Whatever the ins and outs of this discussion, may I cap it off by saying that I still think the OFm is a rag that already looks tired after a mere six months and deserves no more than to disappear up its own back side. Jay aside, I think the phrase I am thinking of using for the rest of the lazy assed journo's there ends in "and the horse they rode in on"

Andy It seems you had a bum night. You are 100% right that on a short menu there should be no room for duff items. Perhaps you ordered badly, but in truth you shouldn't have been able to. I tend to go on a Sunday lunchtime when there are less people and it is all a bit less harried. I have always found the service good and the food better Still, there are so many places in town, you never have to go back to anywhere which does not impress first time S

Jay these are all, as ever, fair comments. I think moving the reviews away from Life is ghettoising eating out as some foodie concept which is neither fair nor true Keep fighting those that push for nose up the bottom of celebdom and I will keep supressing my desire to stick pins in a doll of AA Gill S

I have avoided reading OFM as it always has articles by an ex friend of mine. That not withstanding on the occasions I have seen it, I find it to be one of the laziest pieces of trash I have ever set eyes on The analysis of celebrity baskets, the low brow approach to reviews, the articles with desperate wanna be celeb chefs all wanting a little bit of the Oliver action. All in all a truly risible magazine. I am not suggesting it should be highbrow or elitist in any way, but surely even readers of this tired old piece of chip paper deserve more that the OK or HELLO approach to food. Perhaps not? S

Andy It is quite different from Cigala and is/was very good on the many occasions I went there about three years ago. I suspect it is still good and has moved from being fashionable to reliable, which is no bad thing. My recollection of the food was that it never broke any new ground but was that sort of very pleasing faux french with lots of foie, duck and the like I also remember them having an exceptional wine list Do give it a try. I have not tried the Crescent, but my suggestion of places on your list would include La trouvaille S

I had a very enjoyable Sunday lunch yesterday at what is rapidly becoming one of my favourite places in town. Cigala, just in case you don't know it, is the sister restaurant to the estimable Moro on Exmouth market and it carries off the same iberian schtick with equal aplomb and certainly with much more success than the disappointing Eyre bros. They had a set lunch thing going on and offered two courses for £12.50, three for £15 which for London is exceptionally good. Two starters of beetroot, orange and arugala salad were pleasant if not any better than a salad has any right to be. mains of a dorada and Meatballs were up to the usual standard I have experienced here on about four other occasions. The wine list is eccentric and confusing but a superb valure ribero at £15 was a highlight as were two glasses of Manzanilla. A glass of Carlos Primera was proffered on the house and it would have been rude to turn down a glass of Spain's finest. At £60 for two, this offers one of the bargains of London. The room is light and airy and the service is efficient and friendly. It was also nice to see so many families there all with well behaved little treasures. If you have not tried this place, I can recommend it.

" The best cheeses in America" Mmm? rather like saying the best drivers in Italy. Anyway, there are not many things I miss on my travels as there are always so many wonderful things to eat. That being said, I find I soon begin to crave a McVitie's Choccy Digestive Biscuit after a few days deprevation. I have days dreams about dipping them in a cup of tea and sucking all the choc off. Bliss S

The real difference is in the flavour First flush has all the vigour and exuberance of youth ( immediate flavour and freshness ) and all the failings as well, they lack the depth and the clarity of second flush which has a longer nose and a more satisfying aftertaste. first flush is a good breakfast tea, it can be drunk without food and is a superb pick me up. Second flush is best enjoyed with simple food. It works exceptionally well with Bengali food which is not spiced like some other regional cooking I truly like my teas, so whereas with wine, I am a reasonably knowledgeable charlatan, with tea, I can profess a sprinkling of accuracy

If you can get it ( I think at Citarellas ) there is a small UK company called Newby Teas. It is run by two indian brothers called Sethia and their office is not a million miles from where I am sitting. The specialise in single estate teas and sell the most wonderful assam, oolong, darjeeling and lapsang. each tin is cบ and comes with tasting notes and information about the estate ( as opposed to twinnings who just put a picture of some guy in a turban on the packs ) and in muslin bags as well as loose. I can heartily recommend it appended by eGullet Staff: website at http://www.newbyteas.com

Don't even think about suggesting currants in a scone. Where were you dragged up?! that being said, a good English Tea is the best thing in the World and I would suggest that Claridges does the best. Cucumber sarnies, smoked salmon sarnies, pastries by the mound and the aforementioned scones, jame & clotted cream. I would not go with a Breakfast tea which is a little too strong. Rather I would suggest a second flush assam or darjeeling which has less body but a good nose. I may have to go a treat myself to one this week

Not just because he gave me a plug, but I do agree with Jay Rayner's view in The Observer. The point of this place is " New Irish " rather like a cow pat with a ribbon on it if you ask me, but there you go. The ingredients were not Irish, most of them were barely recognisable. The service was the opposite of that Experienced by Rayner. The staff were hardly to be seen. we waited 20 mins for our bill. Next time I will keep on walking down Shaftesbury Ave and go to Mela. S

Gavroche is without doubt the number one lunch in town. I would agree with Michael about Tante Claire, superlative. Not quite Gavroche but not far behind Don't get me started on Conrad Gallagher's. I had a truly appalling lunch there a couple of weeks ago and it was indeed like the marie Celeste ( even the staff were invisible ) Trouvaille is a notch down but my fave of the moment and dependable.

Tandoori rolls in calcutta Paratha, smothered in Ghee and wrapped around shrimp, chicken or pomfret fiery and cheap and a bit like playing russian roulette with you intestinal tract but with taste that good, who wants to live forever?

This is an incredible place I was in there a few months ago and some Wall St types came in after cracking a big deal and started ladling out champagne to one and all. Then the old Bill came in and got a bit shirty as they had no licence ( obviously ) but were placated when they were offered a glass ( or a cardboard cup ) of the stuff as well. A memorable experience

My pet peeve is the "table turn" so called fine dining places that expect you to have the table back to them in under two hours. The record is the much mentioned and much more to be mentioned ( in my small minded attempt to drive the sucker out of business - I loathe him that much ) Mirabelle, where MPW's people informed us we could have the table if we turned up at 7.15 but they wanted it back by 8.30 and " by the way that will be £85 of your English pounds per head for the privilege, sir" Gordon "scots git" Ramsay's places are little better. I now make it a habit of asking if they specify a time by which you have to leave the table. If they do, I cancel the booking, if they do not, I refuse to vacate the table when they start getting angsty about it, particularly when I am spending good brass

I have to interject a word of realism here guys:) first of all I should disclose that while I have only been a few times, I am no great fan of Sydney. It is well balanced in that it has a chip on both shoulders about trying to be a world class city and reminds me of nothing so much as a brash younger sibling who keeps shouting for attention. How many times can you let fireworks off that #### bridge and expect the world to go " Ahh aren't you wonderful?" I think this comes through in the in the many restaurants I went to. While the ingredients were superaltive there was too much splash and flash and not enough style and guile. I was very disappointed with the one exception of a cart which sold tandoori fish rolls for a couple of dollars which were as good as anything I have bought of the streets of Calcutta. Don't take this as a pom bashing the aussies. I am very fond of Australia. I think of it like a brother ( not a favouite brother mind you, more the sort on is slightly ashamed of and keep locked in the attic :) I adore Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth and suspect that it is because they, being content to be great Australian cities seem to have less of a complex about the whole thing. I would eat out in Melbourne over Sydney any day of the week. All that being said, I have to go back there again soon on business, so any suggestions to prove me wrong would be much appreciated