Pweaver1984

Amazon Books Heres a link to it, sounds interesting.

Fisherman you seem to be having a good new year so far mate!! Very Jealous.....

Just starting to browse Egullet, been a member for a while but mainly stuck to the UK & Ireland forum. Seen this topic just after I'd sorted my books(food related) out so thought I must write down my collection in no particular order: Bouchon... Thomas Keller Food Heroes, Seafood... Rick Stein Complete Cookery Year... Gary Rhodes Oxford Comapanion to Food... Davidson Ultimate Curry Bible... Madhur Jaffery Les Halles Cookbook, Kitchen Confidential, Cooks Tour... Tony Bourdain The Stars Chefs Cookbook First Time Cook, Fish, The Complete... Sophie Grigson Culianry Artistry Le Bernadin Cookbook Fish etc... Mark Hix Chefs Compendium of Proffessional Recipes... John Fuller Thai Food... David Thompson Ballymaloe Cookery Course... Darina Allen Feast... Nigella Lawson Jamies Dinners... Jamie Oliver The Three Chimneys... Shirly Spear The Elements of Taste... Gray Kunz Kitchen Heaven... Gordon Ramsey Merchant House, How to Cook Better... Shaun Hill Italian Kitchen... Alastair Little Sauces, Life is Menu... Michel Roux Conran Cookbook Classic Bull... Stephen Bull Starters... Shane Osbourne Seasonal Food... Paul Waddington Canapes... Eric Teuille Culinary Calculations Complete Le Cordon Bleu Techinques Book Complete Mushroom Book... Antonio Carluccio Relax its Only Food... John Torode Simple French Recipes... Guy Savoy Cooking for Two... Roux Brothers Top 100 Food Recipes From Food and Drink TV Series Real Cooking, Toast, Real Food... Nigel Slater The Cooks Encyclopedia... Tom Stobart What Einstein Told His Cook... Robert L. Wolke Complete Book of Vegetables, Herbs and Fruit Chefs Book of Formulas, Yields and Sizes Nose to Tail Eating... Fergus Henderson The Gormet Cookbook... Ruth Reichl How to Cook Everything... Mark Bittman The Rice Book... Sri Owen Vegetable Book... Jane Grigson Cutting it Fine... Andrew Parkinson Soul of a Chef... Micehal Rulhman It Must've Been Something I Ate... Jeffery Steingarten Roast Chicken and Other Stories, Roast Chicken and Other Stories Second Helpings!!!... Simon Hopkinson Le Repertoire de La Cusine Elizabeth David Classics Fast Food Nation... Eric Schlosser The Kitchen and The Cook... Nicholas Freeling Complete Techniques... Jacques Pepin My Gastronomy... Nico Ladenis White Heat... Marco Pierre White How manys that to add to the list then?? IM me if any one has any recommendations please Happy Reading Guys!

Hi Derek, Thanks again for your time, was wondering how much is the salary for a Michelin Inspector in the United Kingdom? Cheers

Most inspectors are between 27-35 when they join them and stay for an average of 5-10 years (some longer). The current team are all aged between 30-45 years

Somebody in "The Know" Fab?!

Looking forward to that! Will have to think of some intellectual questions. Did you get in contact with him Andy?

That is so so true, What next Michelin starred food down at your greasy spoon?

Rumour is he got sacked from a chefs position is a top london hotel for being too cocky.....

Maybe i mis-read it somewhere, he held three 1stars at three diffrent places? Sorry for the entertainment tarka! This site seems interesting Michelin Stars Man

Didn't Gary Rhodes win 3 michelin stars? Where was that?

Was just wondering if anyone works for/ or has done in the past as a Michelin Inspector? Could you share some stories with us??

Just wondering when the new guide comes out? Usually around this time aint it??

Thanks Again............... Likewise

How about Simon Rogan up in L'Enclume?? Don't believe it has any?

Hiya, How did you find out your countries "stars"? Is your guide out before Great Britains 2005 edition??

Andy, I wasn't after sympathy. I know you’re a very intelligent individual, but I was just telling you of my experience, I was in fact telling the whole of Egullet. Of course it'll be one sided, as I only experienced one side. We're all not as well known as "you", and to walk into a restaurant and get extra special treatment is abnormal to moi. I'm obviously going to be treated as any other 20 year old?? Which is just what I want and expect from a 2 Michelin starred restaurant?

Whitstable, sir

Andy Lynnes May 8 2003, 06:18 AM Wat a diffreence a year makes!!

Could I just say that Moby P was spot on with everthing they said, it was as if you were there.... Seems like I've opened a can of worms on eGullet, which was not what i wanted. I was just honestly writing my view of what happened. I'm not a proffesional writer or a politician, I'm a 20 year old chef, who loves going out for meals at top end establishments with friends and family, eating superb food and getting treated with the respect that I'm due, whilst at the same time learning. After this particular meal I felt so strongly about the issue I had to tell other people, people whom I thought would listen and take things a said on board, thats why I choose Egullet.com. Andy I do think you have been very unfair with my original post and I'll be happy to discuss the matter further with you. For the record my head chef is a female!

Just returned from my first pilgrimage to Ludlow from Kent, with my head-chef, a fellow Commis chef and a waitress, us all from the same restaurant. It was a couple of days which involved a roller coaster of emotions. Firstly dinner at The Merchant House, which was absolutely wonderful, just as I’d imagined. Walking into Shaun and Anja's dining room and having a private dinner party, us being their only guests, we weren't though, as the restaurant was full! Everything was full of flavour, seasonal, fresh and perfectly cooked, top class cooking. We finished the meal in the drawing room with coffee and petit fours, where Shaun actually came in and had a chat with us, signing our books. Such a humble, modest, gentleman, although I got a little star struck and couldn't bring myself to say anything worthy of repeating on here! Had an extremely memorable night here, and it means even more that Shaun is soon to be closing the doors on his little gem soon. On a personal high. Next stop Hibiscus…… Having booked both of these places 5 months ago, we were all really excited and anticipated this one with great expectations. Anyway we arrived just before our booking time and were shown to our table, which was in the furthest side of the 17th Century building. As soon as we all sat down we were shown menus and the wine list. I'm not going to go into great detail about what we all had to eat but I will say it was all cooked fantastically, although whilst clearing away two of our plates (our main course of suckling pig was presented over two courses), Claire Bosi, joint-owner muttered under her breath "Oh, an empty plate, you must have liked something", and with that walked away. We all stared at each other in disbelief. During our coffees, Head Chef and the other half of the ownership Claude Bosi came to our table and said "I see plates coming back with food on, what was wrong". We all explained that we'd had a large dinner the night before, and none of us had the biggest of appetites at the best of times, as a chef I'm used to picking my way through the day, however we did say to him, nothing was wrong with the food at all, it was very pleasant, just slightly too much for us. He walked away some what annoyed by our response, and rather confused. He just didn’t seem to believe us, coming across very narcissistic and arrogant. We quickly drank up then went to the front desk and asked for the bill. Whilst receiving the bill, my head chef approached Claire to make sure we weren't leaving with bitter feelings, expecting her to respond with something like " No, don't worry about it, Claude was just interested in why you didn't finish all of your food", although she was answered back with " I think you lot have come in here and decided to take the piss....... She thus followed with a tirade of abuse towards the whole table, Claude by her side, saying that we were laughing all the time, heard us being sarcastic, saying niggly things about the food, taking the mick out of her staff etc. This lasted for a good few minutes. But she then decided on bringing up things like do you know how hard I work, I work 18 hours a day, from 8am through till 2am, 6 days a week blah blah blah. My head chef, as we all were, was flabagasted in what she was saying, and then the 2 of them had an argument. Claire also decided to pick on the other Commis who’d attended with me, and really laid into him saying that she’s scared of the future of the industry if this is what is coming through the ranks..... I myself am terrified and fearful entering a an industry full of what were role models, whom I looked up to, turning out to be pretentious people. He was left gutted, totally humiliated, and disheartened. What will he go and tell his class mates at catering college about this so called destination eatery?? I fully confess that we did in fact enjoy our lunch, it was the first time we’d all been out together and I’d like to apologise personally to Claude and Claire, we are genuinely sorry for actually having conversation during the meal and from time to time laughing and being amused at each others company. Now if you think that any of this was directed at you, your staff or the food, which you fully made us aware it was at the time, you really need to question yourselves and your conscience. I don’t want this to sound either sarcastic or a joke. Now myself and head chef have eaten all over the country in some of the best dining establishments (which I won’t name drop) and had several hours of enjoyment, pleasure, and satisfaction, none of which I received on Wednesday at lunch. But I think they have really made it clear to us all that because they have 2 Michelin stars (an industry bench-mark) that you are not allowed to eat in their restaurant, unless you either shut your mouths, are stiff, old and/or including speaking with a false well-to-do lisp. This is the sort of establishment that puts “ordinary” people off spending that little bit more on the whole dining experience, making themselves look snobbish. Our money is and always will be the same as the aristocratic suited lot out there and we ourselves work our arses off in our restaurant and just because it’s not a Michelin starred operation, I’d like to think I understand how much effort, time; knowledge has been put into theirs. However this shouldn't make our peers look down on us. She was so judgemental, insulting and wrong. You simply cannot treat people like this, even if she was having a bad day. I wouldn’t want to be treated like this in my local café let alone that we'd driven 300 miles, spending top end prices and were left so angry and hurt,. I in all honesty don't think they deserve 2 Michelin Stars, and I hope in January they receive just the one, which would be for Claude’s food. Finally I Quote a line from their own website "We want every single person to enjoy themselves, regardless of who they are or what they do. We want them to feel special and relaxed......." Utter Rubbish! E-Gulleters please don’t think I’m being nasty or even trying to ruin the reputation of this restaurant, but this is a public forum, and this is just an account of how I felt and still believe. I know all of you seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed yourselves here but it just needs to be told. I’ll happy answer any questions that you might need answering…….

Going for meal here this evening, and hibiscus tommorrow for lunch! Sorry just had to get that off my chest! Hope everyone is well....

Richard, Just wondering what sort of programme you have set in your kitchen? I'm a 19 year old Englishman who unexpectedly found his true love and passion in the Kitchen. I ve been working full time at a local seafood restuarant for the last 2 years, and although I can do all stations and feel confident, I'm still known as a commis chef as I have no experience in other kitchens. How many commis' do you have on at one time? Do you personally work with them or let your Chef de Parties do that? Have you ever been to England, if so what do you think about the catering and cusine over here? P.S Any chance of giving me some work experience!?!!!

Going up to the restuarant today, can't wait! Been looking forward to it for ages, although the 6 and a half hor train journey is in front of me.... Will give a little review as soon as I can!

I'm sure readers of Restaurant Magazine are well aware of the fact that Shaun Hill has put Merchant House oh the market and is looking at selling for around £750,000. Was just wondering if any Egulleters have any ideas/suggestions who could possibly take over from the legend and what could they possibly do? Whats your view Shaun?! Just glad that i've got my booked reservation for a meal there coming up soon!