Simon Majumdar

Thom The food, or what there was of it, was OK. Some things were pretty good, the lamb for example was a good ingredient, but there was just so little of it and you go from being expensive to taking the F**king piss. Whilst these are supposed to be tapa, they are not charging tapa prices. I understand that their rents and rates must be through the roof in that part of town and that dictates the price, but such lack of generosity of spirit is the exact opposite of what one encounters throughout Spain. It is a great shame as Spanish food of any real quality is under represented in London and it would have been a welcome addition Ho hum S

I tried Fino last night with a friend. I have to be honest and say I found the whole thing a bit of a travesty and can’t understand why it has got such good reviews unless it is from people who have never set foot in Spain. To my mind, the sort of Spanish cooking that they are trying to replicate here is based in three things. 1) Excellence of ingredients 2) Simplicity of preparation 3) Generosity of spirit While Fino certainly has tried hard at 1) and 2) it failed pitifully on 3). Although the address is Charlotte St, the entrance is actually on Rathbone Place and the door is guarded by the coolest looking man in history who intoned "welcome to Fino gennerlman" in a voice that sounded like Paul Robeson. The room itself is fairly identikit modern British in its look with lots of blonde wood and chrome, not unpleasant but very standard We started with two glasses of Hidalgo Manzanilla @ £4.50 a glass. It was pretty good, but given that you can buy a bottle of the stuff for not much more than that not great value. I was not that impressed with the list of sherries which has received such rave reviews. Apart from the Hidalgo and Lustau, it was a bit sparse. We had a number of tapa starters Pimentos de Padron – only £2.50 but for a measly bowl of about 10 peppers Chorizo and Potato pancakes – really, really horrible matchsticks of something. Very nasty indeed. £3.00 Pulpo A La Gallega – actually very tasty Octopus cooked simply a la Plancha but £6.50 for a tiny portion was a rip off. Classic Tortilla – perfectly OK but again at £4.25 for something with the circumference of a mug, it was very poor value Squid Ink Croquetta – These were the best thing we ordered. Delicious little cakes of potato and squid ink. They were almost worth the £5 they charged. Almost but not quite We then followed with what were meant to be main courses Milk Fed Lamb Chops – A disgrace. Two tiny chops and I mean microscopic and costing a whopping £7.50. I figured that at £3 a bite. Pitiful Chorizo and Beans – shoddy. A small bowl of beans with a few measly bits of chorizo. To you sir, £7.20. A tiny side dish of broad beans and ham was £5.90. So, the best part of £60 was spent on about a dozen mouthfuls of food. The wine list was not great and they had very few good Spanish wines under £50 with many being in the £90 range ( good luck guys ). In the end we ordered a 2000 Qupe Syrah at £32 which was a bit young but not bad. The service was amiable and bizarrely all French. An additional charge of 12.5 was added to the bill, but they did not leave the credit card slip open which is laudable in this day and age We spent a bit of time speaking to Ed Hart who is the son of the people who own Hambleton ( sp?) Hall in Rutland of which I am quite fond. He opened this place , he explained, as he wanted people to experience the true Spain. So apparently the true Spain is the equivalent of being butt fucked, who knew? Years ago in a Niles/Frasier moment, my brother and I came up with phrases that we could use in any review. His rang true last night YOU COULD ALMOST TASTE THE CYNICISM ( copyright: Robin Majumdar 1998) 2/10

if that is the POSITIVE note, then we are all in trouble S

As you head south on Shaftsbury Ave, Denham St is the road on the right just after Windmill St. Chowki is immediately on the right. The inside is very modern and , if I didn't loathe waggamama's so much i would say it reminded me a bit of that with 1/2 the restaurant taken over with refectory style tables. We had STARTERS Best end of mutton - cutlets Kingfish in mustard - this is more like the mascher jhol Potato Dumplings MAINS Talapia with doodhi vegetables kasmiri Lamb curry Brinjal with potatoes and tomatoes These came with sides of buttered fennel naan and otthapams and some kidney beans which were very good ( not sure how they are cooked I like Kuldeep Singh a lot. he is a very pleasant person who really wants to make his restaurants welcoming and good value. There is a link to the current and new menus at www.chowki.com S

Greek treatment of lamb is amongst my favourite in Europe, be it the grilled young spring lamb chops served with lemon to the Kleftico cooking of older lambs or hoggart. I make a kleftico using a shoulder of lamb (with the blade bone removed ) which I stuff with mint, rosemary, thyme and garlic and then with some white wine, S&P and a chopped preserved lemon. I cook it in a heavy pot which I seal in the same way one would with a daube or a Hydrebady Byriani ( sealed with a strip of dough ) and leave it in a low oven for four hours or a very low oven over night. Very simple but with superb flavour You can use leg of lamb, but I think the fattier cut works best in this instance S

I had supper with Indiagirl and her hubby last night. I was going to take them to Mela, but it is currently closed for a refurb. Instead I took them to Chowki, Kuldeep Singh's other restaurant in Denham St. It was pretty good. The basic schtick of the place is that they take three regions of India each month and present dishes from their cuisine. They have 12 chefs between the two restaurants who they move around depending on which region is being covered. last night we tried dishes from kasmir, Bengal and Cettaria(sp?) Next week they will be changing to dishes from countries neighbouring India ( Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh ) The food was really quite good with a Bengali talapia mustard fish standing out in my memory. The bill for the three of us was very reasonable too. I think I prefer Mela, but Chowki is definitely worth a visit S

SNICKERS MOUSSE 2 Large ( King Size ) Snickers Bars or four normal size ones cut into chunks 4 egg yolks 4 egg whites 1/2 c of double cream 2 T whiskey OR bourbon ( for a totally different effect I sometimes use Creme De Menthe ) In a basin over a pan of boiling water melt the Snicker's bars thoroughly. When melted, remove from the heat and gently mix in the egg yolks Mix in the double cream and the booze ( optional ) and then fold in a small amount of the beaten egg white. Once the small amount has been amalgamated properly, add in the remainder. Spoon into ramekins or one large bowl and cover with plastic wrap and chill for an hour That'll be it then. Very rich, stroke inducing but entirely delicious Keywords: Dessert ( RG407 )

QED I am just in a bad mood and, in absentia Balic, I have to find some other antipodean ( Gordon is a kiwi isn't he?) to pick on Hey, and I guess you can never have too many chilli crab cakes can you? ( do we have a vomit emoticon?) S

There is a big difference between the DT "immersion in the culture and study of the history of the cuisine" approach which provided an decent if not decent value meal at Nahm and Peter Gordon's " hey they have a special on lemon grass down at Borough market" approach S

It's the way all my friends seem to prefer strangely enough

I have one friend with whom I have a deal I buy the ingredients for an Indian meal, she pays I cook all the food for the dinner party at her house during the day while she keeps me topped up with Riscal and then when all the food is ready, I bugger off and leave her and her friends to eat the food. I am not allowed to stay anymore since I apparently made one of her friends cry for telling me that Snow falling on Cedars was the best book she had ever read. I have to say the cooking and drinking time spent with her is a good deal more fun than the eating and cringing time spent with her babystroller pushing friends could ever be S

didn't know they had a branch in EC1

Ho hum Another F**king aussie chef who has done a year's backpacking around Vietnam and come back with a whole load of ingredients and no bloody idea how to use them S

They certainly aren't devoting it to bringing decent food to people at a decent price S

I bought some at Vinopolis once ( long story ) You could try there, only a short hop in a cab across the bridge S

They do, but this is not an example of how NY can offer better value than London ( an argument with which I have some agreement ) on my regular visits I have found the mark ups even at the low to mid level NY places to be increasingly pernicious. Two good examples were the disappointing UWS places Aix and Ouest, both of which had pretty overpriced selections S

you've been to a gym???? S

I am sure that this is true of many places. I am off to MOMO in London tonight ( not my first choice but needs must as the date demands ) and I know they are very guilty of the two tier schtick. However, that was not my experience in Lespinnasse where, on both occasions the service was excellent. On another note, the single best dish I can ever recall was served there, rabbit and lobster in a gewurztraminer sauce. Quite wonderful S

I knew there was a reason I respected your opinion and I have to agree about the NYT. I thought their "coverage" of the war was risible when I was forced to pick up the rag on a recent stopover S

If we are talking fictional, I would have to add Count Fosco & Parlabane S

can someone tell me if a story I was told on my recent US trip is total B/S or not? I was in Chicago for a very brief meeting and met with a very elderly man who started the company with whom I am to publish a number of books. We started talking about Korea as he promised to take me to his favourite place and he had served in Korea during the war and he told me that during and just after the conflict, the US forces were hampered in their attempts to remove all the land mines because every other beep on their metal detector turned out to be a metal cannister of kimchi fermenting in the ground have no idea if it is true, but a great story to imagine some young soldier sweating as he tried to difuse a pot of pickled cabbage......... S

I am very sad to hear of the closing of this place. Although I had not been for a while and had heard reports of a decline, I had two VERY memorable meals there in years past. The first was when kunz was in the kitchen and was remarkable enough, but better was the tasting menu I tried in the first month or so of Delouvrier's occupation. A staggeringly good meal. I wonder if this closure is comparable to the "re-invention' of The Connaught restaurant from the genuinely Haute of Bourdin to the Ramsay/Harnett place and the closure of Tante Claire to be replaced by another Waering diffusion place? The old places, while superb, depended upon the influx of business people with expense accounts a demographic which has withered in recent years. The new places, while not much cheaper draw in more of a local crowd due to intense publicity and hype Perhaps GR will open a place in the St Regis. S

Ah Thom, money doesn't look like money you should know that. Now do something useful and post a link to the other thread as I have no idea how such a feat is achieved S

No idea how to post a link but there is a thread about this places called "Simon and Andy in The House" somewhere on the UK board I go quite regularly now as it is a block from my office. not bad at all S

I can't make them. I just can't. However much i try But, what is the favourite thing to stuff them with? I don't eat potato so have made a stuffing of shrimp and cabbage or eggplant. Both work very well S