Tonyfinch

But times HAVE changed, and so have customers needs and demands. For example,in general people are far less physically active than they used to be and generally don't want/need such large heavy meals. Yet by far the cheapest option on most ordinary restaurant's menus in France is the four course prix fixe. The pricing structure penalises those who only want one or two courses. People may not wish to sit down every night between 7pm and 9pm.. Yet outside of Paris woe betide you if you want to eat in a proper restaurant outside of those hours. So fast food fills the gap. Some people Do object to eating in a smoky environment. Do most French restaurants have no smoking areas? Like hell they do. I could go on. Adapting to the times is not the same as change for change's sake. It's about understanding people's wants and needs and striving to meet them. And the fact is that that happens much more outside of France these days than in it.

It's not my opinion,matey. It's the truth.

Gary,don't you have a highly inflated opinion of yourself? Maybe you should seek help.

Note the snotty sneer in Gill's tone. "For most of YOU" not "For Most of US". And that "of course". How the hell does HE know what "you and I do or don't find "disgusting" The man is a putz.

I think that's true and one of the reasons is that nowhere else is nearly as Michelin driven as France. The power of Michelin in France is not a liberating factor for restaurants or for French gastronomy. The need to satisfy Michelin requirements mitigates against risk taking and experimentation for fear of falling out of favour with what has always been an ultra reactionary guide. In order to truly develop restaurants have to start doing what Tuscan winemakers do- classify your product as Vino di Tavola and to hell with the old DOCG rules. Michelin would be forced to change or be rendered irrelevant. In the UK Nico Ladenis and Marco Pierre White both "handed back" their 3 stars on the grounds that the criteria required to maintain them were "no longer relevant to the needs of the modern diner". Whatever their motives,their action was greeted with shock and horror in France-"hand back Michelin stars? My God....!" The definition of what constitutes a good restaurant is actually far narrower in France than in many other places. Of course there are still lots of terrific restaurants there but it's not so much the ingredients as the attitudes that have stagnated,and combine that with the jaded attitudes of customers and you do have a real recipe for decline.

But on what basis do you, or Nick Lander on the other thread,assume that it wasn't ever thus? Was there really a time when everyone would have got the juicy slab of foie and no-one would have been palmed off with off cuts? I can't answer for sure but I seriously doubt it. Maybe people are now much more aware of what they can and should expect for the megabucks they're paying and less willing to be fooled by smoke and mirrors.

Could it be that he's experiencing the mid life French food crisis? Many of us fondly remember the discovery of France and French food back in our student days-the pleasures of discovering out of the way little restaurants, the picnics of cheese,wine,pate bread, the wonderful food shops etc.etc. Many of us first developed our "food awareness" this way. Now 25 years and endless trips to France and tons of Michelin starred meals later, it just doesn't do it for him anymore the way it used to. It's not that the food or wine or service is any better or worse than it's ever been. It's that try as he might he can't rediscover that youthful first flush, that wow factor, that intensity of pleasure that he once had. He admits he enjoyed the food. He's picky about the service but he can't find any real fault. It just doesn't feel the same. My advice to him: give France a miss for a while. In this case absence may well make the heart grow fonder.

I had lunch at Chewton Glen a couple of years ago. It was perfectly pleasant and I can remember nothing whatsoever about it. I do remember the little signposts pointing you everywhere. I thought this gave the place the atmosphere of a souped up Butlins and given that its location is nowhere special I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to stay there. Might impress the date though.

Chewton Glen's within striking distance. So is Le Provencale restaurant at Gordleton(?) Mill near Lymington.

I think smetana has a lower fat content than conventional sour cream but more than yogurt.

Winner may not be altogether serious and readers may understand that. But I think his cavalier attitude condemns him overall. His stock in trade as a reviewer is to judge places as either utterly fantastic or utterly worthless-the latter much more often than the former. This may make for some occasionally amusing reading but I do sometimes wonder about the effect of his OTT slaggings on the lives and livlihoods of the staff of the places he's condemning. If he was a serious critic with a serious approach one might argue that he was only doing his job and that restaurants have to expect it But to be so cavalier with other people's lives and to potentially harm their businesses for the sake of smug jibes and winks is a misuse of his position.

I promise that's not me under another name Peter.

I've never been able to hate Michael Winner since I saw the stunned look on his face as he sat in the audience at the Royal Variety Performance while Jackie Mason "questioned" Jenny Seagrave "Im not implying you're with him for his money. Far be it from me to imply such a thing. But let's face it,you're not with him for his looks are you? I mean anybody can see that. And it's certainly not for his talent because I'm told he hasn't got any. So tell me this. Would you still be with him if he drove a truck?" Anybody so humiliated on prime time TV deserves a titchy grain of sympathy.

Minor correction. It's near Cigala but nowhere near Embassy ,which is opposite the Museum of Mankind near Bond St.

Which probably confirms the theory that getting ill abroad has nothing to do with hygiene or cleanliness and everything to do with the change in the type and nature of germs and bacteria that you are exposed to.

I'm afraid I'm a dissenting voice on Hunan. I've only been the once.It was very hot and we were sat next to a group of chain smoking Chinese businessmen. We asked if we could be moved and were told no,even though there were still empty tables. The food came in no particular order that I could see,slapped down by a miserable looking hag. There was no balance to the meal. Maybe Mister didn't like the look of me because we were getting tepid versions of very mundane dishes whereas all around people were getting completely different and much more interesting looking food. I don't like the system whereby you get what you're given depending on what Mister decides. If everyone's getting the same then that's one thing but why should he decide that someone gets a special dish and others get slops? We were rushed through and presented with the bill before we asked for it. I know I'm in a very small minority in disliking this restaurant but I'd far rather go to Harrow than go there again.

Matthew,there's a PhD thesis in that site somewhere. Or maybe a blockbusting novel: "Dead Man Eating" ??

Don't worry Simon. In didn't know what it was to have such good enemies until I joined this site. Ain't it fun? And you're especially lucky cos you know what they say "The old enemies are the best enemies"

You may well be right but my point is that it is quite common in the West to have dogs around in kitchens and even in restaurants but in large parts of the supposedly "less hygienic" world they would not be allowed within 50 feet of a kitchen. So which culture is the "cleaner"?

A quick flick to the This is London site where Fay Maschler lists a top 5 of current Italian restaurants. One of these is very near your hotel-Teca, 54 Brooks Mews W1 020 7 495 4774. I've not been there but with all due respect I'd back Maschler's judgement over your concierge. Price is about £60 pp.

It may well be fine but the fact that no-one here seems to have heard of it and that none of the reputable guides include it doesn't really bode all that well. It could be a traditional Trattoria type of place of which there are still quite a few in Central London. I think most are pretty bog standard now. Beachfan, I,m sure you can do better even at moderate prices. There are bound to be some reccs. on this board somewhere if you use the search thingy.

Conepts of hygiene are as culturally biased as other cultural concepts. For example a dog's mouth is one of the most permanently filthy bacteria ridden places on the planet. Yet millions in the West allow their dogs to slobber and snuffle around their kitchens,in and out of their plates and utensils and around their dining rooms. Many feed their dogs dirctly from the table. The same people go oh how filthy when they see a couple of flies on a piece of meat at a butcher's stall.

Neither is it in any of the guides that I've got.

Cellar cool is the ideal temperature for most English ales. They should NOT be served warm or fridge cold.

Never heard of it. Where is it?