Morfudd

Silverbrow, would love you to try the ice creams when you are around...the city is an excellent idea, as is Canary Wharf if I can get past security - I gather there is always a 'sugar run' at about 4pm, although it is a bit far away! I have doing my Pied Piper in the Islington area so far, absolutely TERRIFYING to see a line of children impatient for vanilla! The most popular ice creams so far are, well vanilla, vanilla with raspberry sauce, dark chocolate ice cream (actually Ramsay's dark chocolate sorbet with less sugar in it but children seem to understand the word ice cream over sorbet.) The kids love the fresh mint ice cream, here is the recipe which I think works rather well - 500 ml whole milk 40 g fresh mint 500 ml double cream 100g caster sugar bring ingredients slowly to just under boiling point, cool then let infuse for a few hours or overnight. Strain and churn. Great with a topping of fresh raspberries and strawberries. The adapted Ramsay recipe for dark chocolate sorbet is: 500 ml whole milk 500 ml water 150g caster sugar 3 tblsp glucose syrup 400g Valhrona chocolate or similar (min 70%) Richard Corrigan has given me a recipe for Horseradish ice cream which we will try out soon and sounds absolutely delicious. We have been trying to make a Wasabi ice cream which is working on the same principle but have achieved less than satisfying results so far, so if anyone has any ideas for this (the hot and cold thing..it is a proper japanese ice cream but cant find any leads..) The beetroot and orange is also far from perfect but people seem to like the concept. i am going down to the Fat Duck next week to see Heston make ice cream with liquid nitrogen. I thought it could be so fabulous to get a flask of liquid nitrogen on the van, have my custard and make ice cream in twenty seconds in front of the kids...apart from the theatricals of billowing gas, it would be a great science lesson!

that would be fun! Hallie, Lolas is the Mall 359 Uper Street Islington N1

Andy sorry I meant to say, please do let me know when you are around, would like to have your opinion on the recipes

I dont know how to make 99's! Does anybody have any suggestions? Using dark chocolate of course

Hello e gulleteers I hope you dont mind my using this forum to tell you about the Lola's new venture and to, hopefully, get your comments and feedback on it! I recently bought an ice cream van on e bay. It was pink and called Mr.frosty at the time which is probably why I bought it! After some serious competitive bidding in which I paid 500 quid, I flew down to Cornwall to pick it up. On my return journey Mr.Frosty conked out by the time I reached Devon, but fortunately i had joined the RAC the previous day so Mr.Frosty and I got a very comfortabel lift back to London! It took me two months to find a replacement Perkins engine for the old 1970's rustbucket, which entailed joining the Bedford van's enthusiasts club and so forth, all rather entertaining. I parked it outside my house in Battersea and spray painted myself with the help of some friends and customers from Lola's. Then I hand painted it in the tradition of ice cream vans of a certain era! It has now been refurbished with interior and exterior butterflies, strawberry garlands, flowers and a peacock and 'Lola's on ice' is on the road! I thought why should kids (and adults) eat these nasty palm oil mr whippy's and things when they can have proper organic restaurant made ice creams instead? We do a daily changing menu which includes things like Haiitian vanilla ice cream with raspberry sauce, fresh fruit or Pedro Ximenez sherry; fresh mint ice cream; burnt caramel ice cream with brandy snap; 'Pina colada' (coconut sorbet with fresh pineapple 'kebab'); dark chocolate sorbet; Eton Messs; pineapple and chilli sorbet; espresso ice cream; Vin santo ice cream with a cantuccini 'flake', roast beetroot and orange sorbet etc. We dont have a jingle ( I disconnected 'if you go down to the woods today' as it felt rather sinister, so we have a captain's bell to 'pied piper' the children, and eventually. I hope, some arias to 'pied piper' the adults. If anyone would like to taste our ices, please let me know. I would be happy to offer e gulleteers complimentary ones so long as you give me some feedback on the ice creams and sorbet recipes that we are using - we are still in a somewhat experimental stage - especailly with things like beetroot and orange! Lola's on ice is often parked outside lola's (trying to avoid parking tickets and being 'moved on'!) Or call on the restaurant number 020 7359 1932 to find out if I am around. Tell me you are an e gulleteer if you turn up outside the van! Morfudd

Horton the chap who opened Belgo was Denis Blais - I think he went to New York

have a side of Belted galloway being sent down over next couple of days as well - perfect opportunity to try the atkins diet!

Hi Circeplumb you probably know about the chap in Tudweiliog Lleyn peninsula who rears kobe I am going to try and get some samples picked up this weekend for myself so if you would like some let me know

Look forward to meeting Gomez Sandra!

We have used 'Ital-Cutlery services' for some time www.italcutlery.com they either sharpen your own knives for you or they will hire out knives to you on a weekly rotation basis

Hi Sandra I certainly wouldn't allow dogs in the kitchen so you dont have to worry about hairs in your food. I would expel any smelly dogs or disruptive ones, as I said, well behaved dogs that sit underneath a table are hardly noticeable, and sometimes better behaved than customers!

May I say for my part that all well behaved dogs and their owners are welcome at Lola's. I feel vicariously 'continental' when dogs (and children) visit the restaurant. There is no legislation against them (dogs that is) and I dont quite see why they should be excluded from joining in the fun.

What about my 'ex' - Hywel Jones? I have not had a chance to visit Lucknam Park, which does not have a star yet (I beleieve) but may do so now with HJ on board!

Thank you Wilmot, and please do e mail me when you have a chance, and thank you Andy for your response - I had hoped that after eight years of running Lola's we would be experienced and consistent enough to get things right most of the time and so it saddens me when we dont. However, I would much rather be told if something is wrong (even though it hurts!) It at least gives us the opportunity to address matters, and there is nothing worse than spending hard earned money and feeling like you have wasted it. I have recently appointed a new operations director for Lola's who I hope will bring standards back into line and who will establish consistency in the restaurant. I have decided to take a bit of time off in order to go and do a stage in the Rhone so that I can learn how to make wine, and really get 'down and dirty' in the vineyards and learn as much as possible from the whole experience. Sometimes, in this business, I think we simply just dont know enought about the product that we sell - restaurateurs, sommeliers and chefs are the last in the line in the chain between the growing/rearing of something and its consumption by the customers - we are almost too removed from the starting point, so I think it will be a good experience to get involved in the 'roots'.

I am upset to learn that some members had a poor experience whilst dining at Lola's - please would you e mail me at lolas@lolas.co.uk with more details of what went wrong, so that I can address these issues immediately, and also so that I can invite you back to try us again and to show you that we are capable of doing a lot better... With regard to Lola's future - Brian Sparks is indeed the new Head Chef and I am delighted by his appointment. He was Elisha's sous chef, he is young and very committed and I think absolutely right for Lola's. As some of you know, Lola's has had a rather rocky last couple of years - the arrival of Hywel Jones at Lola's elicited much interest, but sadly, he did not feel that the restaurant was right for him and he was head hunted by the Pharmacy group, a great shame from my point of view because he is a very talented cook, and, even though we had problems with delays etc, I was sorry to see him go. Robert Reid was a temporary appointment, but again, I was delighted to have so much talent coming into my kitchen. Elisha Carter was head chef at Lola's for a year and a half, (apparently quite a substantial time for chefs these days) and I believe that he too is talented. Rather frustratingly from my point of view, I have been very supportive of my chefs even when they displayed poor management skills, were bully's, and showed no ability to control costs whatsoever, because I wanted Lola's to be a restaurant where customers knew they could always get good food, and because in order to get consistency, one needs stability, so I have stood by my choices even though, retrospectively, this was naiive, since my loyalty to my chefs has not been reciprocated. Moving on from here, I believe that the most important thing for a restaurant is to maintain its integrity - to be honest to its customers, not charge too much, try and do the best you can - sometimes one has wobbles, but if you can learn from mistakes, and if you are honest - this is the most important thing. In terms of Lola's future, I still want Lola's to be known as a restaurant which serves great food, has friendly staff, has an interesting and eclectic wine list, and is a really good neighbourhood restaurant. To this end I have appointed a young chef who is keen to prove himself, who wants to establish and maintain consistency, whose head isn't going to swell the moment he sees his picture in Hello magazine, and who is just going to put his head down and understand that cooking isn't about massaging your own ego by putting on the menu whatever the hell you want, it is about what the customer wants.

Hello e gulleteers I am new to these boards in terms of contributions but I have been actively "passive" (as it were) for some time and always enjoy reading the diversity of opinions written here (even if I dont agree with them!) I am a great fan of the Wolesley and I think the point of the restaurant is not about the food per se but about the whole dining experience. I think we go to restaurants for different reasons according to the whim or occasion. Chris and Jeremy were always good at creating restaurants designed to appeal to all sorts of occasions (or non occasions, like simply wanting a risotto) and this is one of the reasons the restaurants they created have been so successful. The Wolesley will succeed because of the way our eating habits have been changing - we "graze" much more than we ever used to, hence the popularity of all day dining places like the W. plus the appearance of lots of new restaurants serving European "tapas" etc etc. Its a great place to just turn up, even at 4pm when it is still packed and has lots of atmosphere. The kitchen have found their feet too and there is some decent grub being produced....