howardlong

Pizza Express on Beauchamp Place? Sorreee but £20/head is a tough one, even for a Gastro Pub. The Swag and Tails immediately sprung to mind but I'm afraid I've never noticed it open at the weekend. Anglesea Arms in South Ken? It's popular but I've never been that enthused with the food except the pork scratchings. It's a bit of a trek from HPC too. Total oldie worldie has to be the Nags Head on Kinnerton St, but you go there for the location and 'interesting' clientele, not the food. I bumped into Marcus Wareing there not so long ago. He was looking for one of his staff who'd done a runner... possibly not the first time that's happened I'm sure if certain TV programs are to be believed. For food, if you don't mind Victoria/Pimilico, The Ebury would be my choice. It has either the downstairs casual eating or upstaris more a table cloth affair. Wine list great. This is going to sound a very weird comment, but in the evenings it seems to attract the tall crowd. Really. Sorry these are all south/south west of Hyde Park, but that's where I know. Cheers, H

I have to agree there. A beautiful dining room, in the smart-casual position in the service spectrum. The food is better than the service suggests. Wine list a bit lacking, but not a disaster. I was really rather disappointed a couple of weeks ago by the Don's main restaurant, (the exception to a lackluster night being the wine list). Lord knows why it's traditionally been difficult to get in. I guess it's a captive City market (or was....). Rhodes 24 is very variable I find, from good all the way to downright forgettable, although the bread and butter pudding is worth the trip. H

Brasserie or the M*? Howard

No suprises for guessing my favourite Christmas lunch: The Capital. But I doubt I get any prizes for travelodge pricing. H

Hmm, my bad it would seem. Looks like the Enterprise Act enacted in 2003 in trying to promote a rescue culture demoted the Crown from its previously privileged position to an unsecured creditor. H

Setting food aside, romantic is not a word I would use to describe the Capital, more akin to a nice corridor with table and chairs ← Ah, but the chairs are brand new as of about three weeks ago, I'll have you know, and fit enough for a latter day Philip Larkin. "I work all day, and get half-drunk at night". Apparently. H

If you see a half-cut balding guy wearing bicycle clips in the corner, that'll be me. H

Or for a real pushing of the boat out, Ynyshir Hall. Like everywhere in that bit of Wales, a real PITA to get to (don't expect to get a cell phone signal there) but the area certainly has a unique beauty. I had a unique experience for me when I stayed there bacause I was the only one dining on the single night I was there, but both service and food were still excellent. I certainly wish there were other places like that in Wales. H

I can. Durian. I'm very fortunate; I love it. I also love sea urchin, the durian of the sea. ← It's that I don't like sea urchin per se: it was the way it was presented, stirred up within an egg tartare (sic). H

Desserts can be a disaster though. Had a sad dried out excuse for an apple strudle in there on Saturday, plus they'd run out of vanilla ice cream. Don't ask why I was in there in the first place, please! Pizza was good though, which is the main thing. H

Like it or not, it's HMRC that's right up there at the front of the queue I'm afraid. H

Well if you travel East then we probably share a carriage quite often as I get on at South Ken unless, like today, when the weather's nice when I take a push bike. The Millenium Hotel almost adjacent puts up quite a lot of crew. I'm not sure I'd want to be self loading freight the next morning if the crew had been frequenting the Light of India the night before ;-) H

It's bog standard Indian in a dated setting, though. ← I thought they were doing it up? Biggest PITA is the way they play on all the zelebs turning up there. Unfortunately it's true. Woody Allen was there last time I went for Sunday Lunch with his nanny or wife or daughter or something. H ← You mean the Bombay Brasserie in South Kensington? Why on earth would any celeb go there ? The place is ghastly !!!! I live 2 minutes away, and ate there once -- Masala Zone food at Cinnamon Club prices. I do wonder what the refurbishment will entail. ← I happened to park up by there on Saturday on my way to Waitrose, and it's still well and truly under rennovation. I'm surprised you didn't realise it's a zeleb joint - they really play on it. Historcally, I actually liked it. I believe my tastes may have changed since then though... H

Almost didn't believe you at first but here's the evening standard take : http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/art...iers/article.do ← of course it's not true until it's in the evening standard ← This one's been bubbling for a couple of days now, although I only thought it was Tom's Kitchen that was affected until now. There have been reports of small independent local suppliers being owed tens of thousands. As restauranteurs are given qudos by the media and ourselves for their use of local seasonal produce, I fear this leaves those producers more vulnerable. H

Hi Corinna It's been like that for as long as I can remember - I remember a thread discussing this some years ago. What's really frustrating though is that all the senior FOH have gone and my previously frequent missions, maybe once every couple of weeks, have become much less frequent. It had become rather a locals hang out, or as local you can get in the Knightsbridge/South Ken area. But when I went in there for Sunday lunch a couple of weeks ago it was strangely empty. We even used to get the clergy, fully robed, in from neighbouring Brompton Oratory, and it had developed into a really rather chatty place between locals. It was almost like a traditional boozer, but with wine and superlative food. I'm delighted to say that the food remains excellent, as the kitchen's still superbly chefed. But a really big plus is that the wine list has exploded into the New World too. I will still continue to go, but less frequently for now: it used to sway me that I knew when I walked in they'd know me - always nice when you're with folks. It will just take another few months before I (and I suspect the other locals) make it into a proper regular again. Just let's get the FOH sorted. Cheers, H

There were some brief comments here. I agree that Kitchin is excellent. I stumbled upon it by accident very shortly after it gained its * a couple of years ago. The wine list, although limited, is very sensible. The first time I went I was seated directly in front of the kitchen. As I was dining alone and they thought I was a reviewer, and inserted random courses in between my ordered dishes, while being stared at from the pass by the man himself. It's definitely rather more laid back than Wishart or Number One, and to its credit it deserves praise for its own individual style and unique cuisine. H

Rarely have I read a post that I can so completely agree with. Regarding A A Gill and his ego, I have had conversations with several people on his penchant for spending 600 of his 1000 words on nothing to do with the restaurant experience at all. As a food lover this is a real turn off. I really don't feel I sould have to wade through endless discussions of the Blonde and her diverse habits. Thinking about it, the Blonde must have plenty of time on her hands to develop those habits while waiting for Gill to get to the point. I am sure it may not please some, but I can't think of the last time I disagreed with the views of serial irritant Michael Winner in his Winner's Dinners column in the Sunday Times. Invariably it's the first article I read in the paper. H

Damn, beat me to it.

the parmesan balls were being brought into maze with some tomato in them just less than a month ago. ← Murano too - is there a pattern forming here? Formula food, Gordon? Surely not. H

I have been found out. I have made the gross error of exposing a condescending side of me online, and fallen fowl of hiding behind a keyboard (albeit perhaps to my credit not anonymously) thinking that there'd be no-one around to defend themselves. In an attempt to redress my faux pas I humbly withdraw the above comment that I made on the author of the review, and apologise for ever making it in the first place. Mental note to self: you never know who's reading this stuff. Jan, I publicly apologise. Cheers, H

I see The Square has moved to Knightsbridge. That'll bring down the house prices (The Square isn't my favourite for those who haven't had the patience to follow the odd posts I've made about it over the years). H

I am not totally sure what Moir's banging on about bland wine. Clearly it's not her forté, "stick to the food dear" methinks, where I can agree with her based on the selections I made, although some of my fellow diners certainly made better choices (the braised ox cheeks for instance). I would resist the temptation to think too hard about M Jr having a huge hand in this. It's more of an arms length loose acquaintanceship. They have a moderately sized display outside the door of a whole variety of fresh fish/shellfish that you can point and choose. I will definitely give it another go. H

I organised a table of eight at Le Bouchon Breton last Friday evening. Maitre d' is Francois Bertrand, formerly sommelier at Le Gav and the last to wear the silver tastevin there. I believe that I have previously described Bertrand as irrepressible, a trait that delightfully continues. It's covered very well over on the Dos Hermanos site here, however I found the service was a bit hit and miss: I made a mental note not to go on the first night a place opens. I found the food in general slightly dissappointing, going for a scallop special starter and lamb main. The scallops were done in a deep buttery sauce that rather detracted from the main ingredient. The lamb was done at least medium well, but I ordered medium rare, "as the chef recommends". The tarte tatin was superb. We also all had a nice big lump of Roquefort each... with a 1989 Suduiraut, yummy. The general consensus for the best main dish was the braised beef with mash. The best bit was that it turned into an impromptu wine tasting. With a 700 bottle wine list in front of us, we set to. After welcoming the evening in with a couple of bottles of Bolly Grande Année '99, we had two Saint Aubin '05s, a Zapata Alta Catena chard '05/06??, a Hamilton Russell chard '07 (served blind, two of us guessed it, but we incorrectly reckoned it was an '06 - how nerdy can you get?), a Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz/Cab '96 (I thought it was on its way out, but others differed), a curved ball young Spanish red grenache server blind (which none of us got), and of course the '89 Suduiraut. Glasses were Reidel. We had a good old nose around the kitchen too, meeting chef Nicolas Laridan who was pretty chatty. The location won't exactly attract a passing trade, being upstairs above La Tasca. I wish them luck, and it's certainly a 'go' for a repeat wino session. Only 693 bins to go. Cheers, H

Yes I heard the same last week, and it was immediately blamed on Lehmans by their acting manager. Somehow, I don't think so - you don't shut within hours of a local failure. A shame: Ubon was a way of having the same food as Nobu but without snotty pretentious staff so far up themselves I'm surprised they weren't choking on their own egos, and pathetically short table turning to go with it. And Ubon had better portion sizes too. H

FWIW this was the menu just before Pétrus closed. The amuse bouches included the parmesan risotto balls and the foie that Food Snob had. H