circeplum

the indian princess is good by any normal standards, but perfectly extraordinary for margate... http://www.theindianprincess.co.uk/

St Pancras Read between the lines, it was not a glowing review. He is simply watching his back!! as the consultant to this new venture is rumored to be Fay Maschler ← not rumour, fact. http://www.metro.co.uk/metrolife/food/arti...&in_page_id=264 though why that should have any impact on giles coren's review is beyond me.

the metro review of arbutus: http://www.metro.co.uk/metrolife/article.h...25&in_page_id=9 please indicate where you got 'posh' from? and your bizarre pizza-express-romantic-evening assertion?

i like the communal delusion theory.

loved the pizzas at giusto (http://www.giustorestaurant.com/ - sorry don't know how to do hyperlinks...). really lovely guys, really passionate about what they do.

hallie: do you mean the wait for food or the wait for a table?

...or Fay has been reading your stuff for inspiration? ← sadly, she got there first...

the simple answer would be to get a - genuine - satisfied customer to contact the reviewer personally. if there's no direct email address, features staff will usually forward stuff. i got a rec to go to 'dinings', a japanese restaurant in marylebone from a chap who raved about it. i went, he was right, it was great. but he'd obviously been telling everyone: fay maschler featured it last week, again, a really positive review. so by virtue of what i assume was simply a handful of emails - and so far as i'm aware, no official pr representation - the restaurant is getting featured in two major london papers. easy, huh? p.s. even if he was a shill, it worked...

apologies. i try very hard to combine the two but i guess i missed the mark for you with this one. a bit of context, though - the case had no impact on me. i do always tell it like it is, good or bad (and it's been mostly good recently). i could have simply said 'this place sucks' and then moved on with what i and my pals have been up to over the weekend or the state of the nation like some of my colleagues , but i guess - restaurantwise - you'd be have been even less informed by that. btw, if you'd read to the end, the upshot was... the place sucked. what further information would you have liked? mx

After lunch today I have to agree on both counts. I easily had one of the best restaurant experiences of my eating year so far. Everything from the pumpkin soup with pumpkin tortellini amuse to the excellent "mother of pearl" chocolates was outstanding. The service is, in my opinion, unmatched in the UK and I struggle to recall a better experience anywhere else in the world. There's real warmth, character and personality, particularly from maitre'd Jean Claude, which is so often missing. Cheapskate that I am, I had a bit of a battle with the sommelier to get the sort of affordable wines I was looking for but they are there on the list. I really like the room, although it did get a bit loud as the clock crept towards 4.00pm and the table of 8 having the tasting menu worked their way through their matched wines -but much rather that than a hushed reverance. ← but, to spookily echo jay's question from the ooze thread, were you announced or unannounced?

just beat me to it

I don't know, you couldn't see the review for the trees (boom, and in a very real sense, boom). ←

Surely you don't listen to any of those silly restaurant reviewers, do you? I see you're after Dejan Sudjic's job then ← a) does anyone? b) oh, i think he's safe...

i was actually dreading going - had put it off and off - because of what i'd been reading. in fact, the food was genuinely good. it really is worth a visit. those clanger-poo lightfittings, though....

tim's taste and discrimination shine through even the onslaught of the vino - went last night and agree, it was truly excellent. ravishing rabbit and fennel ravioli. mx