tony h

If you hated it before, you'll hate it even more. Personally, I can't get enough of this place.

damien hirst

Oh no I didn't surface tension - wanky art term relating to the (agreeable) arrangement/juxtaposition of paint/objects on a canvas/page etc. Some chef's are masters of simplicity - Aikens comes on like Pollock/Kandinsky/Matisse on speed

Matthew - ignore the ludites & lunkheads, it really is worth the trip. I lunched there last Friday and had a stellar meal (been too busy to write up). When the starters arrived we were left speechless. Me the duck and T the langoustines. Perfectly honed sense of colour and surface tension was clearly in evidence. The mains got a similar heart-miss-a-beat reaction - the foie gras lollipops that came with the partridge is worth the price of admission alone (FG wrapped in sheaths of potato whisps & deep fried). The sole came with an essay on the the uses of aubergine & kickass deep red wine sauce. Desserts still suck - but who cares about them.

I ate there a few months ago. Lunch was pretty good but the wait staff made me feel very uncomfortable. Charmless service, in fact.

go there and I predict divorce will follow quickly

There's a piece in today's Guardian: click here

How can you say the service was less than you'd expect from a 3 star - they showed you around, treated you perfectly & were incredibly generous with their time? So your glass was a bit empty – you do have arms don’t you? The thing I loved about this place was that there was zero stuffiness. Anyway – the lamb with coffee brought back memories – that was such a good dish. I also did the lab tour - loved it. A big thanks for the photos.

last time I was there, boxwood played muzak in the background. quite distracting

seems to me that the menu hardly ever changes

so what happened, not enough sex?

not a little snobbish if you don't mind me saying

21.50 for two course; 5 for dessert it was a fine lunch - but no way would you guess it was a starred place; that its got two still baffles me. worth going if you haven't been - but not in the sme league as, say, the capital for lunch

Lunch today Pre starter of foie gras sandwiched & mushroom mini-sausage in fab pastry. Pasty was hot, mushrooms not - don't know if this was by design. Starter of oxtail ravioli on a bed of veal tongue with veg dice and reduction flavoured with mustard. Mustard kept well under control. Ravioli - superbly meaty with great depth despite the fact that they looked like a pair of testicles on a plate. Tongue - soft but slightly tasteless. Mains - pigeon on bed of wild mushroom risotto. Fab risotto with lots of wild mushrooms - good parmesan hit also. Pigeon legs splendidly cooked for ages - meat fell off the bone. Breasts - not really sure what the difference is between very rare & raw – very bloody still. Chewy, tough & on the raw side. But not too overpowering for game. Dessert - whole poached pear with anise ice cream & liquorice mouse was, in fact, a few slices on a pear (a bit misleading) and the ice cream had half melted by the time I got it.

thanks last time in spain i ditched the cheap booze in favour of many many cartons of horchata (couldn't carry both)

Its not just about food anymore - but also theatre. Pay 90 quid plus and I'd want to be entertained too. Mind you, wish he'd change the tasting menu

tiger beans / tiger milk - delciously addictive. I've been trying to find a source in london. if anyone knows, please tell

not one i'd want to buy - is it just me or are there any real gems in there?

Tom Aikens - unmissable imo

I couldn't face the snails so they servered a veggie option substituting parsnips but with less garlic. When the dishes arrive, because you couldn't see the bugs & was tempted to try a wee bit. Preferred the parsnip version by a mile.

yeah, but for much longer shame - superb place to hang around it

maybe it does, maybe it doesn't - couldn't see a damned thing got the rain

The Bath Priory, Sept 2004 I’m in a room full of bespectacled people who’s lens thickness is capable of altering gravity’s pull and along with a distinct lack of personal hygiene, poor choice in clothes & colour coordination strangely reminiscent of Dylan from the Magic Roundabout, it can only mean one thing: I’m at a digital library conference full of systems librarians (recent job change now puts me in charge, amongst other things, of the library systems, gulp). Anyway, the good news is that its in Bath, a place a have only very briefly visited many many years ago and have always wanted to return but never quite made it. Anyway – the one of the main benefits of egullett membership is that I cab skip the awful drinks reception(s) in pursuit of a more meaningful quest: my next egullet report; way more important than trying to spill cheap red wine on kipper ties. The Priory is on my list & I’ve been looking forward to it – stunning period house (Edwardian/Victorian – where’s a librarian when you need one?) and I spent a lovely good half hour soaking up the atmosphere in the drawing room (in the grand sense) – a room packed full of V&A rejects such as a pictures of ladies (in the Little Britain sense of “I’m a lady”) playing tennis (pre Athena poster of girl scratching arse) etc. It’s the kind of room where words like “gosh” and “what-o” aren’t out of place. The menu took some getting through – all sounded so good & enticing. In the end I let the garnishes & sauces decide. Pre-starter – artichoke veloute served in a lovely little china bowl with matching lid. Delicate frothy top and long finish made for a good little appetiser. The tiny spoon provided forced you to take your time to consume it. Nice albeit accidental touch. Starters sounded really really good – scallops hand caught by bronzened divers with a risotto made with crab claw meat and a ginger infused sauce (ok, diver bit’s my imagination). This sounded so wonderful – plump scallops with a risotto to die for. Sadly – the train wreck that was served bore little resemblance to the description & fantasy in my head. You could almost count the grains of rice in the risotto – so small was the portion. Was there crab in the – dunno – certainly something fishy; so if the say crab I kind of had to believe them. The ginger sauce was a lake of white froth over which a piece of ginger may have sat in its vicinity. There was also a bright orange oil slick surrounding the froth – couldn’t tell what it was. The scallops, of which ere was three, were delicious but gone in a single bit. Mains arrive with a 2 minutes of the starter plate being removed. Not happy about that – however – this time the plate was very heavily laden with the fillet beef, old oak madeira sauce, crushed potato and caramelised onions. There were a few mushrooms and some celeriac puree. Oh dear – what a mess. The beef – perfectly cooked I have to say – was drenched in thyme, as was the sauce. The thyme overpowered everything to the point of almost inducing a gagging reflex. Did the potatoes taste of anything – dunno – all I could smell was thyme. What about the sauce which had the perfect stickiness of a lovingly prepared sauce – dunno – just more fucking thyme. Don’t get me wrong – I love thyme, its one of my favourites – but to serve it in such a concentrated way is a major failing on the chef’s part. Dessert – couldn’t really find any enthusiasm for this so just let my finger pick at random: poached pear & vanilla bean panacotta. Fine, I suppose, but a bit too Delia for me. Have to say I was fairly pissed off when I saw then serve it to another guest – they got a tuile & I didn’t! The service was faultless & they floor staff did try so hard. Shame they were let down by the food. Fixed meal: 49.50 pounds for 3 courses – 5 pounds supplement for the beef. Ah well, I’ve have worse & paid more. God, what am saying – it was crap.

get real - of coruse they're judged. its a loss leader the point of which is to entice them back to pay full whack

great location & decent wine list foods not too hot 'though