Paul Bell

Definitely Les Armures in Geneva if you want the traditional Swiss thing. In Lucerne the best restaurant is probably the Old Swiss House, very similar in style to Les Armures but probably not as good. My favourite restaurant in Lucerne is in the Wilden Mann hotel (actually three restaurants as they have a terrace, a dining room and a stube, the same kitchem and food but very different rooms. The food is quite traditional with some lighter Italianate touches, which I guess is still traditional if you come from Lugano. Another good restaurant is the Rotes Gatter in the Hotel des Balances, it has a terrace by the river and serves a lighter style of food but very good. Paul

Dawn and I went for lunch a couple of weeks ago and can only really echo what everyone else has said. We thought about the lunch menu, but as we only usually get to the restaurant once a year, we wanted the a la carte. Dawn had the scallops to start with, (which she has had before and I always forget to order), it must be the most generous allocation of scallops in London, with around 8+ being interleaved with potatoes and a dressing, sounds a bit dull but isn't. I had the roast wild salmon confit thing which was also really good, very lightly cooked, very tasty. Although it was the main courses that really stood out, Dawn had the Duch, which I can say no more about than it was really intensely 'Ducky' I did not try much of it because I had the John Dory and it would have overpowered it. The John Dory was excellent or as Scott has mentioned the smoked haddock veloute, but the whole thing wotked really well together, subtle and light but with a really good depth of flavour. The pre-dessert was a blodd orange veloute with a blood orange sorbet on top, quite light, very refreshing and very good. For dessert we had the selection, which was really was a small version of evrything else (sometime you only get a few) including a mini tarte tatin (which was good because Dawn thought she had ordered that rather than the selection, although we always have had it before and this was really good.). Particular things to stand out were the cinnamon ice cream, the coffee souffle and the orange parfait. I thought the pineapple ravioli filled with fruit was also very good but very sweet, I would not have wanted a full size one. We also got to see around the kitchen before coffee which was nice, didn't meet Gordon though, he was there at the beginning of service, but had left. We did meet Mark Askew he seemed very nice, very different to Gordon, fairly softly spoken, can't imagine him losing it. He is clearly very imprtant to the restaurant as he has a lot of involvement in choosing the menu etc, it was also interesting that he knew everything else going on within the group of restaurants, you get the sense that there is quite a team ethic (corporate?) amongst the staff. Finally with coffee we had the full salted caramels, white choccies etc. Overall this was excellent one of the best meals we have had (as to be fair it always is). Like some other three star restaurants I don't find that lots of dishes stand out rather the whole experience has been refined to as close to perfect as possible. (No messing about with tables at lunchtime either, we were there a very comfortable three hours). Paul

Judging by some of the pictures 43 seems quite generous. I find it difficult to tell Jay and Terry Durack apart for example. Besides Simon you thought I was 36 (bastard) Paul

Surely a different colour amd material/texture to match each different course. Paul

Have you not noticed, he is always like this, although much as I hate it I do largely agree with him. Only in their own imaginations in most cases. Paul

The Star Inn Paul

I am not commentating on the status of the awards here (nice name check for Thom in the Guardian by the way), but perhaps this says as much about the ego and publicity seeking nature of chefs or some chefs? (were all their restaurants closed for the night by the way or was the poor paying customer being stuffed again?) (or perhaps we won't go there again?) Paul

La Trompette? Paul

Work? I thought we had already established - "eats out a lot, writes a bit" (or should that be jealous) Paul

Bell's Diner was rather a miss when I went there, it was OK but no more than that, pleasant place to sit though and it probably warrants another visit. The River Station is a good place to sit on a nice day (if you have one of the tables near the windows or on the balcony) it does get very noisy and hot, food is sort of modern british fusion quite pleasant, bit overpriced coz its trendy. My favourite restaurant used to be Markwicks but Stephen Markwick sold it, it is now called Lords although the staff are I believe the same with the former deputy now head chef. It is a nice room, a converted bank vault with lots of wood panelling, very good wine list and again modern british/french food. Paul

I am afraid I don't know her although I spent seven years going round Gants Hill roundabout on the way to school (not needless to say ICHS (Girls)). As I recall Gants Hill was (is) one of those places you have to go through to get anywhere else in the area but you never actually want to go anywhere there. I did see the Spy Who Loved Me and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom at the Gants Hill Odeon though. And thinking about it my Mum and Dad took me for a birthday meal in a chinese restaurant at Gants Hill, can't remeber which one though. Paul

That makes it sound rather glamorous, rather than fat blokes eating food and doing a bit of writing, but anyway. I am not certain that it is too surprising that the critics review the same places, particularly when they open. When Locatelli opened several of us ate there so why not the critics, the same with Sketch (oh bugger no-one's been there) but I am sure my hypothesis is still correct I think we can all see certain restaurant openings as being more significant than others. Although it is a little irritating (if understandable) that the reports all seem to be at the same time. It is a bit concerning that the next 'serious' opening will be Brian Turner's restaurant in the Millenium Mayfair hotel, why??? I would have though the next one would be Tom Aikens new restaurant in Chelsea. Paul

Baltic and stay in Baltic working your way through their different vodkas. Paul

You could look in the other direction and go somewhere like Ransome's Dock, good food, excellent wine list. Walk back through Battersea park, through some dodgy areas of south London (aren't they all?) or cross Battersea bridge, along Millbank, palace of Westminster etc, not admittedly the quietest of walks. Paul

Assuming we agree that staggering tables is acceptable (which I think it is), then I believe Macrosan said that he booked the table at GR the day before, so it does not seem unreasonable for there to be no tables left at 1.15 or thereabouts. The later I book somewhere the more I accept that I will have to be more flexible about times. I am more interested in the credit card and we will charge you about £200 if you do not turn up line. (Leaving aside such issues as to whether imposing any such charge is legal) my understanding is that the restaurant would only be able to charge for the profit it had lost, not the total cost of the meal. Paul

Macrosan (or is it Martin I no longer know how to address you ) Your last paragraph sums up my views on Le gavroche, I really enjoyed going there, and I want to go back, but it is the sort of place I would be happy to visit perhaps once a year. I was plesantly surprised by the wine list, as you say a decent choice under £30 and not too bad under £20 ( well more than one bottle anyway). Paul

I think the somewhat terse style adds a valuable counterpoint to some of our more verbose members. As I recall he was quite chatty when my wife went on a drunken search for eccles cakes on a Friday evening a few months ago Paul

Alle Testiere and Da Fiori without a doubt our two favourite restaurants in Venice. da Fiori is expensive for Italy but not compared to most other countries especially for what is delivered. Similarly I would not recommend Al Covo. Tentatively I would suggest Il Sole sulla Vecia Cavana - Rio Tera' SS Apostoli 4624 (http://www.veciacavana.it). Nice space, friendly staff a wide ranging menu of traditional venetian dishes plus those with some more modern touches/ingredients, plus good desserts. Plus two traditional standbys the Poste Vecchia despite looking like a tourist trap it is a really nice old restaurant that does surprisingly good black rissotto and fritto misto at a good price. and Fischeteria Toscana decent menu of venetian fish dishes, despite being in all the guide books the last couple of times we have been it has been full of Italians. Paul

Visited El Raco Con Fabes for lunch as part of our trip to Barcelona last week, another excellent and hugely enjoyable experience. The restaurant seems to add up to more than the sum of its parts, in that no one dish really stood out (possibly the main courses) but everything was really good and we had a really good time. (Should I stop using really good?). On first impressions this is not an innovative restaurant it serves dishes from the local area that have been crafted over time. It is a three star experience like Gordon Ramsay or Lucas Carton where everything moves smoothly and progresses rather than somewhere more flashy like the Jardin des Sens. We started with a plate of about 10 different mini appetisers each, these were a mixture of seafood (smoked salmon on a stick) and vegetables (a mini caramelised onion tart). These were followed by two amuses one an oyster in a cream sauce and the second sea urchin in a frothy seafood type sauce. (Apologies for some duff description the staff’s English wasn’t great and my Spanish is far worse). We then had Cephalapodos - a cassolet (ragout?) of members of the cephalopod family with olive oil and green beans, quite simple but very tasty, and Salmon, which consisted of a piece of cooked salmon and a bowl containing salmon eggs, cheese sauce and a poached egg, which tasted really good (the small amount that I got). For main courses we had roast turbot with a red wine sauce, roast black pig with spices (cumin) and the children both had roast goat with sage. All of these were really good (Santi Santamaria likes roasting) The turbot was a huge piece (very thick, 2 ‘fillets’ either side of the bone rather than the more normal one) quite unctuous with a very reduced slightly sweet red wine sauce and leeks, it was excellent. The goat was also really good, a step up from the version at Ca L’isidre, even more tender with a greater intensity of flavour, the pig was also very good with a quite full cumin flavour. Desserts were a biscuit millefeuille, blinis with ginger cream, and roast pineapple. The millefeuille was very well done, made out of the lightest shortbread biscuits layered with lemon cream, very light, very good. Can’t comment upon the other two as I did not get any, which I guess says something. Finished off with large quantities of very good petits fours. Just as we were leaving the restaurant Santi Santamaria hurtled out of his kitchen to check whether we had enjoyed the food and whether the children had enjoyed themselves. This was a nice touch as we were out of the door and it was very much him checking we had a good time rather than a chef parading himself around the dining room. Definitely to be recommended (I am not at all certain that I have managed to convey the satisfaction and enjoyment of going there). As well as the food, the restaurant itself is a really nice place to sit, its an old stone building with lots of alcoves, big wooden furniture, old fashioned in a good way. Service as you would expect is excellent as is the wine list, very large range not too badly priced.

A quick report about our recent trip to Barcelona (with the children) (apologies for spelling mistakes). First stop was Ca l’isidre for lunch, my first choice restaurant and one that Dawn was not convinced about until we had a look at the menu, having done so we decided to go in and they (just) managed to find us a table for lunch. It is a very nice place to sit, a sort of ‘formal bistro’ which follows through to everything else about the restaurant, service is formal but very friendly, food is very very well done classic/traditional Catalan food. After an appetiser of anchovies and tomato bread, we had a parmesan risotto with black truffle (very good, smooth and quite rich, slightly more liquid than many Italian versions, still don’t get black truffles though). This was followed by roast baby goat with onions and white wine, tuna with tomatoes and cannelloni (a catalan version!) for the children. The goat was very good, it was the first time I had eaten it and I thought I might as well start here, I was expecting a tougher version of lamb, but it was very tender and much a much lighter meat than I was expecting, a sort of cross between lamb and pork? The tuna and cannelloni were both good (didn’t get a chance to try them) For dessert the children had ice cream (vanilla and two types of chocolate), I had a chocolate brownie with chocolate cream and Dawn had a ‘palette’ of chocolate, four small glasses of chocolate mousse with different additions, coffee in one, banana in another. The desserts without exception were excellent. Petits four were also good especially the chocolate coated peppercorns which kept us amused when the children ate them. The wine list was very good and reasonably priced, service was excellent throughout, they were very friendly with the children. In the evening we went to Ateneu (thanks to Wilfrid for pointing us in the direction of this one). This was very enjoyable large portions, good tasty food sums it up really. We started with two sharing plates, one of sausage (slices of salami, blood sausage and a Spanish version of cotechino?) and one of goats cheese, this was an excellent and very large selection. Followed by black rice with prawns and cuttlefish also very tasty and very large, followed by roast lamb (excellent with a rosemary and balsamic vinegar sauce and really good sauté potatoes), two steaks with red wine sauce (one good, one thought it could have more flavour) and a pasta with spinach (good apparently). No room for dessert. Service was very friendly and the wine list was excellent both in terms of range and price. The following day we travelled to Sant Celoni for lunch at El raco con fabes (see separate post) and had dinner at Espai Sucre. This is quite difficult to assess, possibly because of its nature as dessert restaurant. We started with a ‘salty’ plate of suquet with rockfish which was pleasant enough followed by the dessert tasting menus five courses for me three for Dawn and the children. The menus were: Three courses “Lichi soup with celery, apple and eucalyptus” “Yogurt cake with tangerine and rhubarb” “Hot chocolate with spices” Five courses “Cold tea soup with spices and fruits” “Spicy milk, citrics and arugula” “Manchego cheese tart with pineapple and thyme” “Almond cake with coffee and leche merengada” “Smoky tea cream with chocolate, black sesame and yogurt” The individual dishes are quite difficult to describe as with so many they tend to blur into one a little, although the last three in the five course menu were very good. The cheese tart was a light thin spongy cheese tart with pineapple cream on top and backnotes of thyme. The almond cake was a small square of almond sponge cake surrounded by an intensely flavoured coffee cream with ‘leche merengada’ (a type of catalan milk) poured over the top. The smoky tea cream was an intensely flavoured (lapsong souchong) square (like a brownie) with a black sesame biscuit topped with natural yogurt. These were all very good. Generally this a restaurant worth going to try, some of the desserts were excellent, some good a couple OK. We did not leave feeling as though we had eaten too much sugar as many of the desserts are not that sweet or are balanced by tart components such as yogurt or milk. Service was excellent the wine list looked very good (for sweet wines) although we had a tasting of wine with each dessert. On the final day we had lunch at Passadeis del Pep which was excellent. They bring several courses of fishy starters, we shared a large plate of jamon bellotta (sp), tiny clams, sea snails, grilled prawns and fried squid. The children then had fillet steak with chips (good but didn’t get any), while we continued with huge grilles prawns and Dublin bay prawns with onions. We then had the option to stop or to order a fish main course, you can have a choice of the fish they have cooked in the oven, grilled or Basque style (they also do lobster or ‘meat’), we had excellent grilled sole. To finish we had coffee and the children had creme catalana. With the coffee you are brought a selection of local liquers and they even have a couple of non-alcoholic ones for the children. Service was excellent, very friendly with the children, bit concerned when they asked if they supported Manchester and they failed to grasp the difference between QPR and Rangers but never mind. Overall this was excellent, as you would expect fantastic seafood, a hugely enjoyable experience. If you want to go book early especially in the evening as the hotel said it was very difficult to get into, we just squeezed in at lunchtime. Finally as we were flagging by now we finished off with tapas, excellent in La Tinaja, a great space and really good meaty tapas, followed (sadly) by deeply average tapas at Café de la Ribera. Overall this was a really good and varied dining experience, with the must go to places being Ca L’Isidre, El Raco Con Fabes and Passadeis del Pep, Ateneu is an excellent stand by and we would certainly return and Espai Sucre is worth a visit for the experience alone. Paul

Had lunch here a couple of times and enjoyed it but thinking back now I can't quite decide if I am anxious to be impressed because I like Gidleigh Park so much. Additionally Exeter is a bit of a food dessert (what is it about the south/south west coast?). It has a number of 'diffusion' type restaurants Brazz, Carved angel cafe etc all pitching about the same level. Of these I think Michael Caines is the best but it is expensive for what it delivers and for the area. Paul

Yes please Paul

I agree that RHR is better than Petrus, I am still surprised that Petrus has not received a second star though. It would appear to meet the requirements as demonstarted by other London two star restaurants e.g. Pied a Terre. Paul

Mogsob - you may be right about the winelist as a whole at La Rossetta, I was certainly concentrating on the lower end, (of which there was not much), which mainly consited of pleasant enough but quite expensive Jermann whites (and similar). I suspect from other posts that retail prices for wine in New York are quite different from those in England (certainly for some types of wine) so are basis for comparison is I am sure different, plus of course as everyone knows I only order the cheap stuff To a certain extent the points about Agata e Romeo are probably correct, there were only two table of Italians (in suits) on the night we went. Romeo spent most of the evening behind his desk leaving the service to three very smartly dressed young women (a recent change? more michelin style?). However I thought the food was a nice balance between more traditional Italian style and that which would normally receive plaudits from michelin. (The bucatini was on the menu). Paul

I was expecting another article suggesting the food was not worth it etc, but to be fair this was the first review that actually made me think I might like to consider going there, there was at least some discussion of the food which is more than many reviewers have managed. Paul