circeplum

newly opened nouveau jap zuma (pretty good, by the way) was completely fully booked on an early weekday evening but sumosan (in what used to be coast) was pretty deserted. no idea why. and it's completely impossible to get into the electric brasserie on portobello road.

has anyone tried tamarind (also michelin starred) or porte des indes?

yes, i do read him and i think that he comes across as deeply sleazy. he used to spend far too much of his review space talking about dates called things like slack alice. i think, from his recent work, his editor has thankfully had a small word. he appears to be quite knowledgeable about beers, but little else.

i'm sorry to bring this back to the top again, but i've just read giles coren's most recent review (on the web, won't actually buy the paper). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,632,00.html i am not a violent person, i can even read gill and winner with relative equanimity, but this truly made me want to punch his lights out.

robert - thank you. that would be really interesting. charlene - i saw that article (after i posted this) on jancis roberston's website. the writer is her husband. the pisani is well out of my budget but the others look really interesting. i did manage to track down do mori myself - and it was a genuinely brilliant find. but it's really more of a drinking than eating place. (not that i'm by any means averse to that ...) mogsob - any more info on your recommendations?

i'm just back from a week in venice - which i absolutely loved. however, i thought the restaurants - by and large - were disgraceful: a panoply of fleece-the-punters 'menu turisticos', slapdash, take-it-or-leave-it service and downright cynicism. the only one i visited with any integrity was the hard to find, almost no-choice menu, conte scorto. any suggestions for further trips? i'm not keen on grand hotel dining (don't like the atmosphere).

or simply unpopular ...

cabrales - while i think you're being far too modest about your abilities, you air a question raised ages ago by a a gill, vis: was he a food critic or a restaurant critic. he had the - most unaccustomed - modesty to say he was a restaurant critic, that most insubstantial of beasts, a food critic being a profoundly knowledgeable type of chap. if i were to be absolutely truthful, i prefer the restaurant critic approach (not giles coren however). when i choose where i'm going to be spending my money, i want to know about atmosphere, clientele, service, fun potential - and food. perhaps i'm not a true foodie, but i'd rather have a reasonable dinner in a brilliant place that mind-boggling food in a temple of hushed reverence.

cecconi's in mayfair (burlington gardens, i think) is pretty hot. very glamorous surroundings and clientele, dimly lit, gently gleaming furnishings; attractive, solicitous staff; decent cocktails - i had a perfect ginger cosmopolitan. and the food, with a menu originally devised by the now stellar giorgio locatelli, really delivers. a risotto made with barbera (and with a spoon containing the wine balance on top) was creamy, al dente, flawless. fluffy, slightly gooey truffle gnocchi were great (they've appeared again in locanda locatelli - clearly a success) and a tender, rosy pink canon on lamb on roasted sweet peppers was much better than main courses in italian restaurants often are. not even as expensive as you'd think from the locale/surroundings.

robert - thanks for that. i went to marina di pietrasanta as a child and this gives me the perfect excuse to revisit!

i'm visiting the cinque terre - 5 divine little towns in liguria - in september, specifically monterosso. i haven't been in this part of the world since i was a poverty-stricken student gazing like a bisto kid at the seafront restaurants. though not exactly loaded, i'd like to check out some really good restaurants in the area. any info?

then there's whitstable, of course, with the original wheelers (book up to a month in advance for a table in the tiny dining room!), the whitstable oyster fisheries, the redoubtable sportsman in seasalter and the dove in plum pudding lane. also, in harbour st, the best fish and chippy on the south coast. word of warning, though - pretend you're not from london ...

i didn't like my gr@c experience one bit - it was completely overblown and over the top. i found the atmosphere opressive, like i'd imagine barbara cartland's boudoir might've been - dusty fur, velvet drapes, all pale plums and aubergines. the food was undeniably good but the whole process was treated with just too much hushed reverence; i didn't like the batallion of staff hovering at my every blink. i think it's very old-fashioned - and not in a good way.

next time, it's the prawns. i guess i just chose badly.

simon - do you really like eyre bros? i was really disappointed by my meal there. My pappardelle were chewy ribbons with overwhelmed by too many overcooked and undertrimmed chicken livers. Medium-rare lamb fillet had a marvellous smokiness but was a tough, sinewy mouthful;celeriac mash tasted unpleasantly antiseptic, despite lashings of double cream. plus the fierce lighting made me look about a hundred and three - so totally not a desirable effect. and all that so-last-century dark wood panelling ...

how about the fantastically up itself richmond, surrey? despite a massively affluent native population, it's full of little other than pubs and pastry shops. there's the truly execrable canyon - what a waste of a glorious location - and the dismal prego where i was treated to the rudest service ever. (i asked if the waiter would clear plates while the thin member of our party nibbled interminably at her rocket salad. 'no!' he retorted, 'this is not a snack bar, this is a high-class restaurant. oh, really?)

my very favourite local restaurant is the hunan in pimlico road, staggering distance from my des res in the local bijoux council estate. specialising in the cuisine of the eponymous region - chilli heat a keynote - my meals there have never been other than startling, eye-opening and delicious. the owner, mr peng, is what you might kindly call a control freak. he'll give you a menu, sure, but you're unlikely to be allowed to order from it. instead, he'll insist on bringing you dishes (he grudgingly takes into account likes and dislikes) one after the other, often as many as 8, and each one a revelation. like the little bamboo tub filled with aromatic clear soup and a greyish sludge which turns out to be ground pigeon. i would never voluntarily order this, but it's sensational. or the slow-cooked belly of pork whose treatment gives it the sensation of melting, good quality liquorice. and don't get me started on the camphor and tea-smoked duck ... anyone else got a neighborhood fave rave?

embassy, where garry hollihead is cooking, is pretty good despite reports of his intractable behaviour. it's kind of unreconstructed, classical cooking - my lobster newburg was splendid: rich, creamy, tender with flawless home-made tagliolini. wapping food i love for it's bizarre setting - a power station that looks as though they ran out of money half way thru the conversion but opened anyway. massive chunks of old machinery still litter the place. the food is good too, and there's an interesting all-australian wine list. if you can score a table at locanda locatelli, don't miss.

then there are cottage, shepherd's and fish pies, none of which contains any pastry at all. there is a peculiar little restaurant in pimlico called chimes which specialises in pies and cider. as to the quality, i've only ever used it as a distress purchase after a night on the piss so am not really in a position to give objective critical overview.

for those in london, today's (wednesday's) issue of the metro has a review - hugely positive - as was the weekend telegraph. i know class when i see it!

just visited the newly opened locanda locatelli. my date and i have decided to cancel our exotic holidays and just move into the divine giorgio's new restaurant for the duration. from stunning cocktails (with a mountain of freebies: parmesan breadsticks; marinated onions, peppers and olives; caramelised onion-topped foccaccia; weeny rolls stuffed with parma ham) to a defeated sigh at the end, i've never had such a brilliant meal in london. i want to die eating my starter: truffled hand-made gnocchi in sage and butter topped with masses of shaved black truffle. not even lunatically expensive. go.