tony h

it was a last minute thing (day before) - maybe that's why needed a lift to get me through january & leeds/anthony's was too far!

Andy - well done - very impressive

I had lunch at the Fat Duck last I week and was a bit disappointed. I was asked when I booked if I wanted the tasting menu – which I didn’t as there were a few a la carte that I wanted to try – but in a moment of pure greediness I said yes having enjoyed last years so much. Sadly the tasting menu is virtually the same – the only difference was that the sweetbread cooked in hay had been replaced by pigeon. Arguably better, definitely more complex. The one dish that did stand out as being superb was the salmon in liquorice – stunning last year, equally so this year. The roast foie gras and sardines on toast dishes seem to have undergone significant shrinkage – both very good but you need more that a mouthful or two to really enjoy. Additionally, I asked for an extra starter of cauliflower risotto – it was certainly innovative (cauliflower & coco) but tiny in size – v poor show for £17. The MD did come & talk at the end to say what a hectic year they had acquiring a lab for HB and the pub next door. They were working on new dishes but didn’t want to introduce anything that would upset smooth running of the duck. The new menus would appear soonish (summer?). Some of the new dishes would be from recipes 200-300 years old (dormouse satay anyone?). I wasn’t sure if this was aimed at the FD or the new place. I was just worried that they were gambling with the FD too much – great set of dishes but can’t find better alternatives. The nitro dish is great first time – but once you know what’s coming – less so. Also the beet & orange gels – when you in the know, much less interesting. Anyone else feel that they really need to move on in case they get stuck in a rut/ recipes become tired? I’d really like to visit more often but not until the menu’s had an overall.

charlotte street is minutes away

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locanda locatelli if there's any justice Also, the square - down to one I was never very impressed by nobu either

Hi I've failed to get a reservation at el bulli for the last 3 years - with such obvious high demand are you thinking of opening a second restaurant? If so can I suggest London? Thanks Tony PS any tips of getting in year after next?

Just wondering - is is possible to sue Michelin? I've been to several 3* places looking for exceptional meals/experiences but left feeling sorely dissapointed & ripped off. Grand Vefour for one, Martin B another. Frankly, I wouldn't have gone without their promotion of these establishments. Do you think a few lawsuits would help them become more transparent?

How about talent - Wareing to my eye anyway just does cut down rip offs from Ramsay. He may do them very well but they lack originality. (may have changed - haven't been there for a while). I know I'm still gushing from my last visit to LCS but there's nothing modest about the cooking. there's only a couple of people in LCS kitchen - which shocked the hell out me when I was there particularly given the complexity of some dishes

How about turning this into a who'll get/who'll lose next year? Tom Aikens must surely get a second star Pied a Terre really should lose one - they've been very pedestrian recently

no - solid 1 star - nothing exceptional to make it 2 IMHO

Martin Wishart – Dec 04 Pre-starters - small cup of delicious potato & leek soup – stunning depth & length - spoon with puree of pea & small fish croquette (cod?) – lots of lemon in the peas – v good - small ball of haggis – good texture, very peppery - small cone filled with chicken liver pate – smoothest, silkiest pate I think I’ve ever had Starters Mousse of lobster tortellini; pigs trotter with a brioche crumb encasing; lobster broth. The lobster broth was exquisite in every way – it was heavily whipped so that it was light and fluffy but there was a seriously good reduction base to this. The pigs trotter – braise for hours, skin removed then wrapped like a long swiss roll & sliced – the problem was that the diameter & thickness was a bit on the mean side – otherwise it was very enjoyable. This rested on a bed of very lemony wilted spinach. The tortellini – little cusp of pasta with very smooth mousse inside – covered with a more pasta. There were two of these, paced on either side of the trotter. Visually quite pleasing – but the mousse just didn’t have any flavour and was lost in the riot that was the lobster broth. Also, the texture was somewhat lacking. Mains Roast veal on a bed of wild mushrooms; potato gallette and a white raisin sauce. The veal was great – seasoning perfect. However, the potatoes fought against the sweet note of the white raisin sauce – in fact – the sweetness detracted from the meal as a whole. This reminded me of the use of white raisins at the Champingnon Sauvage last month – there they were balanced perfectly with the meat – here the stock used to cook the potatoes was at odds with the stock. Shame – the dish was very good but overpowered by that one taste conflict. Dessert Chocolate sugar disk – on one side a hemisphere of dark chocolate mouse; the other a hemisphere of white chocolate mouse. The white side had a small ball removed with the indent filled with coffee granite. Two long strands of chocolate were laid against the side of the complex making a V shape and sweet mint foam was spooned down the V. Very pretty and sculptural. Damned if I could detected any real chocolaty taste from the mousse. Overall – not bad – a place to investigate further despite the odd bum note. Number One – December 04 A lovely room but it failed the international we could be anywhere test. Also you’re in one of the most beautiful cities in the world; the castle lights up at night and appears to float effortlessly and pleasingly in the sky. The hotel couldn’t be better situated & what do they do – put the restaurant in the basement. A missed opportunity. Anyway, starters – a cup of haricot cappuccino with truffle oil. Very good but lacked the depth Whishart’s achieved the previous day. Starter – boudin of game with loin of venison and roast foie gras. The FG sat on a small cylinder of delicious onion compote – the FG itself was quite small but perfectly roasted; no evidence of any oil slick. The two together was a wonderful combination. The boudin was tasty and gamey and just what you’d want from a game back pudding. The loin of venison should have been squab but they ran out the day before. The sauce – well – this is where the problems started. Perhaps the curse of Sunday night eating – anyway – the game sauce was over salted and any aroma of maderia had long since vanished. I suspect this was perfect on the Saturday night – but a little more reduction work have left it lifeless and salty. The based was superbly gelatinous – but it masked the rest of the meal. Shame. Mains – assiette of pork with morel and pea risotto. Belly of pork – this was lovingly and slowly cooked with all of the fat rendered away – cut into a square and placed on a bed of red cabbage; unfortunately I suspect the loving took place the day before & I got a dry & tasteless cube of white meat on cabbage jam. There was more boudin (made from the brawn?) in this dish. It came with a powerfully sweet apple compote which I just didn’t like. Lastly, loin of pork on a bed of risotto – I have a soft spot for risotto and have always believed that even when its bad, its still good. Proved wring again – the super concentrated parmesan blew away any notion of any other ingredient getting a look in. No taste of morel or pea – even dominated the accompanying meats & others sauces. One last disappointing thing to note – presentation. The belly & boudin was placed on the plate like two eyes & the loin sliced and arranged like a big mouth. It was like being 4 again (but without the irony). I also have to say - there was too much similarity between the starter & main which I put down to poor descriptions on the menu. Pre-dessert – lemon custard with plumb was simply perfect and refreshing Dessert – lemongrass brulee. The small brulee was accompanied on one side with coconut ice cream and poached citrus fruits in five-spice liquor on the other. The fruits were great. The ice cream tasted nice expect for the small ball of curdled (refrozen?) ice cream. Kind of put me off. The brulee – well – that was something entirely different. I’ve been trying to figure out how they made it. If doing it at home this is how I would do it: make the custard for the brulee had with a flour base or allow the custard to scramble and then blitz it in the food processor & sieve. Trust me, I didn’t put more than one spoon of that curious concoction in my mouth. Almost beats the artichoke brulee at Grand Vefour, but not quite. Wonderfully pleasant & friendly staff but can’t say I’ll be rushing back. Olorosso – Dec 04 Can’t face writing this up – its was so monumentally awful. If I was preparing roast artichokes they way they had, this is how I would do it: take brined artichoke out of jar; slow dry in oven; pan fry sides so they look roasted. Just a guess, of course, but that’s how I’d do it if I was trying to emulate them.

Moro – Tuesday 30 November Went to moro last night – first time in about 2-3 years. Kind of reminds me of St John but with colour. Can’t say the same about the food, though. Starters of smoked beef with beetroot & almonds. Lots of rocket. Ok, but just OK I had scallops done in fino – sounded great on the menu – the reality was three halves of smallish scallops in the scallop shell, breaded & toasted. At 7.50 you’ve got to be kiddin’ – tasted good, I think, but there was so little, so bloody miserly in portion size it was hard to tell. I was instantly pissed off. Mains – roast middlewhite with roast vegetable – beetroot again featured in this. Also lots of rocket – which again also feature heavily in starters. The pork did taste superb, if a little too fatty but the dish was let down by mediocre veg. I had the rump of lamb (small but good) with potatoes (way over cooked) and slimy vegetables – couldn’t really make out what they were. Very little taste. A crap meal. A really, really crap meal. If this was Scotland I’d describe it as pish

Michel Sarran (Saran?) in Toulouse is well worth a detour and is certainly within easy striking distance - but Toulouse must be one of the worst places to drive around

maybe they should print it on edible paper

He's a member & he reads & being quite smart he put 2 and 2 together – still, it took me by surprise as was the generosity of the meal. He didn’t even make on wine mark-up as I couldn’t drink that evening. But I wouldn’t expect that on future visits – he’d go broke. Also on reflection, I recall that there wasn’t a single ingredient repeated which is quite a feat given the scope of each dish. His member name is … yeah, like I’m going to reveal that.

Hello, can I confirm my reservation for tonight? How’s your eyesight these days? Eh? Blind lemon, I presume? Shit! sorry, who’s this? David (Everitt-Matthias) I was caught completely off guard – what I meant to say was - what on earth are you doing answering the phone – shouldn’t you be cooking. But all that came out was an inarticulate rambling of embarrassment with me trying to think what the hell I’d said and how much back peddling would be necessary. Anyway – David remembered somehow that I was there recently (he reads egullet, gulp) and said that as they were about to change menus would I like to sample from the new. (How fantastic is that?) I said the only thing I didn’t eat was eggs – apart from that anything goes. When I put the phone down after about a nanosecond I went shit, double shit – he’s going to feed me brains, why didn’t I say no brains or things that slither or dangle or … oh my god, chef’s revenge. I arrived half hour late (I got lost after driving from Stratford (conference) which also meant I couldn’t drink) and was met by the lovely Helen. David she said felt guilt about seeming to force his new creations on me so here was the menu if I wanted to decide. God no – personal chef for the evening? Go for it. Here’s my advice – if anyone of this calibre offers to create for you – for gods sake say YES. Christ, he tailored it around my posting on the board. Nibbles arrive – variation on cheese pastry – one dry, one wet. Fabulous and gone in a bite. Pre-starters – one was a veloute of parsnip with pine foam on top – imagine essence of parsnips – not the yucky dried out supermarket stuff but the parsnips we had in our youth – full of nutty wondrousness (OK they probably didn’t exist – but fake sentimental memories are as good as a real ones). Damn, I meant to ask him how he managed to squeeze some much flavour & freshness into a little cup – maybe another time. The other pre-starter was a small bowl magnetically attached to an oblique angled saucer (very cute) – inside was a breath taking cooked foie gras mousse/set custard with a kick ass concentrate of creamed sweet corn onto top. A superb combination, beautifully balanced. First course – the biggest, boldest, master of the universe scallop I’ve every seen seared and with a pumpkin puree and very, very thick squid ink sauce. Dotted in the ink were seared morsels of squid. The scallop had a green herb toupee. Astonishing combination of simple colours – back, white, yellow & green. The vibrancy of the colours was reflected in the taste – this is the kind of dish I’d happily travels hundred of miles for – you won’t be disappointed if you do too. Next was a croquette of pigs trotter on a bed of salted cod surrounded by a dice of beetroot & fava beans. The pigs trotter was diced finely and scented with little slithers of black truffle. I was worried by the cod – but no need – it was kept well under control. What was even better than the gelatinous trotter was the sauce – deep reduction with tones of white raisin. A lazy chef may have simply used apple, David is no lazy chef. Next was a challenge – snail risotto on top of which was a very large and delicious piece of roast sea bass and a chestnut foam sauce. This was very earthy & autumnal – there was a herb intermingled with the risotto much used in the past but less so now (David told me but I forget) which added a curious depth – more out of unfamiliarity, I think. It took me a few mouthfuls to ignore the fact that the snails were there but once my silly slither phobia was out of the way was this was devoured. Next came breast of woodcock on a bed of earthy vegetables held together by a discrete bed of mash potato all bound by a delicious deep red reduction. Here and there were dotted girolles and slithers of black wild mushrooms (I forget their name). The crowning accompaniment to this was braised cock’s comb – I never seen this before, anywhere, and it certainly got my attention. This was fantastic – a truly wonderful indulgent creation. The only problem was that I was complete stuffed by now. These were not tasting menu portions (as Helen pointed out, David doesn’t like to be mean – no problem there, then). From previous visit I knew to go easy on the bread - which is a very hard thing to pass up as I know how delicious they are – even so I was struggling and regrettable just couldn’t clear the plate. As much as I wanted to I really couldn’t face dessert - so what do I do remembering that the poor guys been cooking for me all evening stuff that’s not on the old menu & what do I do – I order off menu!. What a lunkhead. I though it would Ok to just asked to taste a couple of ice creams – what I got in return was a stunningly presented set of three ice creams that looked like it had taken ages to perfect & refine. Dark chocolate, caramel & barley ice creams – not only that but I’m sure the base mixtures were different (i.e. not all egg custard based) to further increase the please and difference. I felt ashamed when I realised what I’d done. And then something happened which has occurred only once before – I asked, no begged, them to stop sending food lest they wanted a repeat of the monty python exploding man. (The other place was Pierre Gagnaire, btw) Then we met… I am not going to give a blow by blow account of conversation expect to say that David is charming, self-effacing and very down to earth. Also extremely generous with his time. The big shock for me was finding out just how few people working the in the kitchen – him and two others. There were loads of questions I want to ask him but I kind of dried up - I was very, very humbled at this stage & who wouldn’t be after all that. It was a magical meal & superb evening. And I daren’t sign-off without mention the stunning front house staff. The bill was ludicrously small to which I’m still embarrassed.

I wasn't there with the conference - I escaped from the conference for the evening to got here on my own. Christ - the kind of conferences I go to usually barely have enough money for hand made sarnies (actually happend to me). Also, the restaurant was not full so they were hardly stressed Perhaps because it was a Sunday night may explain why the food was less than wonderful when I was there - or - maybe they just had the odd good night when you were there btw - did you stay there - what were the rooms like?

would consider paying good money for that...

moby, any other gems to share with us?

Sorry Andy, I completely agree with winot on this - there's been much good praise for hibiscus on this board & I see no reason why someone can't add a damning one too, if justified. I think we're getting fairly good at judging postings which are just rants (i've certainly posted enough!). I don't know hibiscus but Pweaver1984's post wouldn't put me off as the food was acknowledged as good. I also dont know Pweaver1984's posts well enough to know how left field this is - the post is, afterall, a refelection on them just as much as hibiscus.

and i always figured you were an essex slapper, ah well

anyone checked ebay yet for the sale?

Raymond Blanc's Blanc Christmas is more inventive & palatable than Delia's wonder how long it took him to come up with the title

I had a similar response to the fat duck - first time was what's the fuss all about; second time - bloody hell when can I come back