Tonyfinch

Yes, well I said most of India. Even in Goa I didn't encounter it very often. A counter example to the French one would be if us Rosbifs demanded beef on Indian restaurant menus. But we do not.

fresh-a, I'm not sure what you're not getting here. Cheese and pork are rarely, if ever found in on Indian menus in the UK or on the Indian subcontinent (or most of it). The owners are cooking with these products because their market demands it. They have to "bend to local taste" otherwise thier business suffers. And in France local taste clearly demands cheese in the naan. Nobody in the UK would dream of demanding such a product from an Indian restaurant In the UK the vast majority of Indian restaurants are in fact run by Bangladeshis who cook a well established curry house rota for a largely post pub working class market. In London a few Indian restaurants break the mold and there is a wider range of regional and authentically cooked cuisines from the sub-continent. In terms of multi culturalism, this is an area where France is a hundred years behind the UK. Not just in terms of restaurants but in all respects. Lacking a highly successful codified cuisine of our own we have far more respect for a far wider range of cuisines than the French have.

It's not about who owns the restaurants. It's about who eats in them. The majority of customers in Indian restaurants are not Indian (or Sri Lankan). They have to cook food that people want to eat. And in France that means cooking with cheese and in Vienna it means cooking with pork. If it were up to them they wouldn't cook with either product (I don't count paneer as cheese in the French sense).

That's the one. An all time great pub.

There used to be a wonderful pub next to Whitechapel tube called the Lord Rodney Head. Apart from serving Czech Budvar on draught its quirky feature for men were urinals fixed so far up the wall you had to be seven foot two to use them. This led to pleasant queues for the one lovely WC-a clear equal opps attempt to get us blokes to see how it is for the ladies all the time. It's now been converted into a modern chrome theme bar, as has the London Hospital Tavern immediately opposite. The Grave Maurice occupies one of Dante's circles of Hell- Whitechapel at her loveliest The Pride of Spitalfields was firebombed a couple of weeks ago, allegedly by a gang of Bangladeshi youngsters. If true, this may reflect the racial tension that exists around a number of East End boozers, many of which are dyed in the wool white enclaves and where the Bangladeshi and Somali (those that drink) populations are actively made to feel unwelcome. In truth the vast majority of East End pubs (and I've been to a great many of them) are shite holes-lousy beer, inedible food. dirty and tacky and only friendly if your face fits, or is the right colour. Sorry, but it's true.

Yes 21 Queen St was the one. Has it gone now? As for your other one: Finch's Golden Rules of Dining Out 1. Never eat in a pub 2. Never eat in a restaurant called Fisherman's Wharf

I really can't go with that. In my experience Sauternes is always served really cold, never at room temperature. Itshould be served colder than most dry whites and champagnes.

There's that place right under the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle whose name escapes me but I know Andy knows.

While I enjoyed the Fat Duck because it was unusual and fun, there's no way I could approach the food with the same degree of gravitas that lxt shows in her review. To me this is toy food. To be played with and enjoyed for a while but soon to be gotten bored with and discarded, never to be eaten again. I didn't mind the blindfold and being spoonfed mashed potato thingy because I wasn't thinking of the meal as real food-more of a game involving food, and of which those things were a part. I couldn't see it as a "proper" or as a "serious" meal, although I concede that there was a serious amount of creativity going on and I'm perfectly willing to concede that this says more about my innate culinary conservatism than it does about the food at TFD. I just thought it was all quite amusing really, and that's the level that the whole meal worked on for me. I'm glad I went. But I doubt I'll go back.

Yeah but it was fruit n veg. Now if it had been a Mcdonald's delivery............(and before ye start. i was born and brung up in 'ackney)

Non dessert Muscat is made widely in Alsace.

Had a bottle of Sauternes with a homemade Lamb Vindaloo last night. The wine went well with the the sweet/sour wine vinegar base of the sauce. Will try with other Indian dishes.

No they do not exist in England. But the French do not have a clue about Indian food (or any food other than French) and have a need to Frenchify everything to keep it within their monocultural perspective-so:French cheese in the naan. Some Sikhs we know who run an Indian restaurant in Vienna have to make all the meat dishes with pork. Pork is also unheard of in Indian restaurants in the UK. But they say that if they do not put pork on the menu the Austrians simply won't eat there-another example of the same thing.

I think Sauterenes should be served very well chilled. You could try it with any dish that calls for a sweet sauce. Duck with Oranges or Peaches, Chicken glazed with honey, Calves Liver with pan deglazed with sweet wine or Creme de Cassis or orange and Dubonnet etc. as well as the usual desserts and cheeses. It is a brilliant aperitif but it does kill the palate for any dry white to come afterwards

I have been but it was to a wine dinner a couple of years ago so we left the vodka alone. I can't remember specifically what we ate but there are lots of Polish specialities which can be quite heavy, so if its only a light bite you're after be careful when ordering or you'll spend the gig wishing you could lie down. Also its quite small so you're probably best to book. Its not a gourmet restaurant or anything but its excellent value for money.

Patio Polish restaurant. Cheap and cheerful. Nearby the Empire

This place prides itself on its service and I have to say that each of the three times I've been its been impeccable. However my last visit was over two years ago. I wonder if it really has gone so far downhill or whether you just unluckily hit a very off night. Trouble is its a bit expensive to go back and give it another try.

Bapi, shame on you. You wanna dump that bunch of anorexics and go with some real eaters. Four of us could get through what you nine couldn't. Next time you want to go to Tayyabs PM me and we'll go together.

The only reaction the review elicits in me is yawn....ho hum. Nothing about the review whatsoever makes me want to go there. I don't know if that was Jay's intention because its not an outright pan, but it comes across as yet another expensive restaurant serving up sub RHR food that has now become a London cliche.

Well if it wasn't for your involvement here I probably wouldn't have visited in the first place, but Fahro and I both agreed that it was a really enjoyable evening and an excellent meal and superb value for money. And the Mackerel starter opened my eyes to a fish I'd eschewed until now. And the Duck Confit was as good as any we've had, so you got my vote on merit mate

Best Overall Restaurant Experience-Margot's Best Single Dish-Pigeon with wild Cherry and Chocolate- The Black Pig Best Overall Value-The Savoy Grill, Margot's Most Technically Accomplished Food- The Fat Duck Best Room- The Savoy Grill Best Service- The Square Best Desserts- GR@RHR Best Steak-Smollensky's wapping Best Chips-Wapping Food Best Regular Great Value Standbys-New Tayyab, the Sutton Arms Most Uncomfortable Restaurant-Sardo Most so-so meal-Zaika Worst Overall Experience-Club Gascon

There's a wonderful Parador in Bayona, on the North-West coast of Spain above Portugal. Its set on a promontory with the sea on three sides. Peaceful, relaxing, beautiful

I've stayed at both of those and I think they are the two most beautiful hotels I've ever stayed in. For what they are they are bargains. I just think its a shame they don't have restaurants to match the hotel standards but I think that's true with Paradores in general-or at least it was in the early nineties.

They seem to have a job lot of Welsh Black beef at Wapping Food these days as its always on the menu and they do big marinated joints of it for large parties as part of a set meal. I'd not heard of it but enjoyed a rib steak of it last night. Smallish (for me) steak but very good flavour, rich and subtle, accompanied by great chips-large, golden brown, crunchy outside, melting inside.....mmmmm....best chips I've had this year. Worth it if you're in Steak&Chips mode.

Holly, do not do this! Breakfast is the only meal worth having at Simpson's. The roast beef and Yorkshire there is strictly for the more gullible tourist.