circeplum

afternoon tea doesn't preclude alcohol. champagne and scones are rather lovely together. dunno about old speckled peculiar or whatever it is you have to endure in pubs, though. x

if budget no object, try roussillon in pimlico. all the hautish meat stuff is there, but alexis gauthier is particularly hot on veggies. roussillon also, morgan m - the garden menu is so good you'd hardly miss meat and he usually does game extremely well. morgan m mx

that is a genuine shame...

whereabouts in kent? i spend a lot of time in north kent (previously whitstable, now, er, the isle of thanet) and whereas the former has a few excellent gaffs (the sportsman, the dove at dargate, jo-jo's, the oyster stores at a pinch if you don't mind lack of sophistication coupled with attitude). but thanet is a desert. i despair. other than bruno delamare in the art room who is aiming for a michelin star in margate. yup, you heard right, margate. and he might even do it... but anyway, why the dearth of decent restaurants in the garden of england? the reason i've heard from a lot of locals is that, if they want a great dinner, they simply hop over to france ....

but it's not about imagination, is it? it's about who's supposed to be the best. and thanks for my last word x

but they clearly thought sketch was the best. so.... i don't see any reason why the same place shouldn't win the same prize. if it's still considered to be the best. otherwise it's like that episode of the simpsons when homer wins the employee of the month award because they've already given it to everyone else. x

because it has the best design 2 years running? x

i notice the chap in question is currently reading this thread. maybe he'd like to put his tuppence-worth in...? x

i really liked samurai. a class act. the home-made gyoza were phenomenal. x

Marina -- when did you review Nathalie? I got the impression that they had problems when they first opened, a couple of years ago, and I think I found one negative review from 2002 or 2003. Do you ever revisit places where you have had bad or indifferent meals? ← it would be over a year ago. and it was genuinely poor: ineptly executed with duff quality ingredients delivered with the sort of condescending service i thought had gone out with the ark. and, sorry, no we don't revisit unless something significant happens - new chef, new name, total revamp. anyway, if food was so bad, why would we?

sorry suzi - have just seen this. it was about a year ago admittedly, but since the two women cooking/front of house were also the owners, i can't imagine what could have caused such a decline... and as to seraphim, i think that's a shame. the chef was a loony, ahem, eccentric - crocodile with chocolate sauce, pancetta ice cream - but he could really cook. x

my mother makes praline ice cream and stem ginger ice cream. both are to. die. for. x

i reviewed it. had a truly indifferent meal - verging on the bad - which i duly reported incurring the wrath of eric who fired off an extremely irate missive to my managing director. what fun!

how do you know?

voila. nice food shame about the place x

i'm re-remembering. maybe they did come in fours. and, no - i must try it. x

erm, ahem... ...from uk media thread. registration required, i believe. but it's free... x

context. respectively. capice? mama mia! what a mistaka to maka!! hehehe!! ← eh????? btw did the shu mai come in a 3 or 4? how did you rate New World? good or bad? ← three... and, post yauatcha and hakkasan, pretty badly. guess i've been spoilt. those shu mai were grim, like gnarly little testicles of gristle. shudder. and words fail me when it comes to a parcel of impacted rice that appeared to be stuffed with baby poo and mouse bones. also, trolleys meant everything was kinda tepid. loved the experience, though. call me contrary.

just to add another tuppence worth to this, i had dim sum at new world in gerrard place at the weekend - and you don't get more old school or unreconstructed than this. it's one of only two, i think, trolley-style dim sum restos in town (the other is chuen cheng ku). guess what? dim sum - all apart from har gau, weirdly - came in threes. ???

everyone else apart from little ol' me.... x

been to both zigni house and tobia recently. quite an experience. zigni is eritrean, tobia hardcore ethiopian - avoid the terrifying tef! but really worth checking out, especially as the bills are laughably low. x

really interesting write-up, origami. but i'm confused. i'm positive i've been served with only three pieces in chinatown restos - have had to double up on faves like roast pork puffs. are they being tight too? x

er, new gordon ramsay... i've done silk and the bloody ledbury too! go on, you've got me. dish!

that's the noura cafe. right beside ishbilia. x