circeplum

ooh andy dearest one, don't be like that. i love you all madly but you know i enjoy a good fight. x

well, i hope you come back, disgusted. you made life a bit more interesting. x

But thats because you a bloody troublemaker. moi? [wronged innocence emoticon] x

don't apologise, a just look at asia de cuba. eviscerated by every pundit in town on opening (justifiably imo), still packing 'em in. oh, and for the record, my mailbox routinely drips with vented spleen, usually cc'd to editors and managing directors. and of a much more personal nature than i'd ever dish out. gosh, you chefs are an inventive lot! x

marvellous! any details? scoop? general dissing? x

andy - have you written a review of 1880? can't find it, if you have. and, on the strength of recent meals there, i'd say tom aikens. x

yep, the hartley's lovely. really sweet staff, too. x

i really liked it - thought the food both imaginative and assured, full of unfamiliar ingredients like lemon myrtle and quandong. really great 'secret' bar, too. x

my brother claims he can tell the difference between Irn Bru from a tin and Irn Bru from a glass bottle. oh, the discerning palates in my family. can't everyone?

and a tin of Irn Bru. or an Irn Bru float, if you're hungover. or diet irn-bru if you're from the west end

of course, in glasgow, a filled roll of any denomination isn't complete without a deep-fried potato scone.

yep. like supermarket sushi. bleargh. x

i know! those carrots! it was like they'd been long-braised in some kind of fragrant stock before being roasted/caramelised into a kind of fondanty super-carrot. amazing.

by no means posh but incredibly child-friendly is an italian called ciao bella in lambs conduit st. pizzas and pastas at reasonable prices. also in lambs conduit st is the perseverance - took my children there during the summer, great place to eat outside. x

went to a really sweet little gastropub called the hartley. ridiculously cheap and an entertaining mix of sophisticated - foie gras, ham knuckle and chicken terrine - and down-to-earth - shepherd's pie. food really a lot better than we expected: great pork belly with black pudding, crab 'russian' salad, goats cheese fritters. fabulous ice-creams like bread and butter pud or black pepper made in house. 64 tower bridge road, se1. 7394 7023

look forward to hearing about it!! x

since my 'date' was 90 years old, i'm afraid it was only the lunch doing it for me... x

i would love to return for dinner. are you offering, moby? x

hunan has been a huge favourite of mine, one of the few restaurants in london i go back to time and time again. however, my past couple of meals here (the leave-it-to-mr-peng specials) have seemed a little tired and formulaic, like they're resting on their laurels a bit. having said that, if you've never been, it's leagues ahead of most of the 'chinese' operations about. and the tea and camphor smoked duck is definitely worth the price of admission. x

i've posted elsewhere on this. but anyway... i wasn't massively blown away by my first (evening) visit to aikens, but a recent lunch there had me speechless with pleasure at the skill - and importantly, the deliciousness - of the food. lightyears ahead of the connaught in terms of complexity and artistry, i'd say.

howard just moved to knightsbridge and am having the same probs. the obvious ones i know - but desperate for any other little out of the way places i could lunch in. have you been to the swag and tails? x

not howard - but i went to tom aikens for lunch this week and had one of the best meals in a long, long, loooooong time. staggeringly assured, astonishingly complex - what was described as a lentil 'soup' was actually (deep breath) a bowl of a kind of liquidy frothy mousse, almost truffly in flavour, separated by two strips of crispy ventreche from a 'cassonade' - like a savoury creme brulee of lentils, two slabs of stickily flawless pork belly and a giant, silky raviolo. the rest of the meal was equally intricate, equally good. the breads alone are astonishing. and it costs £24.50 (i think...) for three courses. i enjoyed it far more than when i'd been for dinner. well deserving of - at least - that one star. x

don't bother with this overpriced, inauthentic, style-over-content, hakkasan-in-indian-clothing clone. x

best lounge = loungelover. no contest. x

This accurately describes 90% of the restaurants in London serves you right for eating in angus steak houses don't think you're quite up to speed with the new millennium, are you?