tony h

I've haven't yet found a way of tipping good service but withholding part payment for miserable food. I'll let them fight it out between them.

btw - which is the one you love?

I went to Le Meurice (not the Maurice!) and Pierre Gagnaire- PG bieng as stunning and as wonderful as always. Le M was quite someting too (see post also on this thread). Additionally - I also ate at the Benoit & Le Dome du Marais which i really enjoyed but as i had company I didn't take notes - and as I've been to benoit so often there's really very little different to report. Looking back at my notes at Grand Vefour I found a very curious entry. On this trip I was trying to get through "The Dante Club" and mid way through the GF meal I got to page 106 of the book in which the quote from dante is "all hope abandon, ye who enter" - how appropriate (my note have three !'s - oh how i laughed at the time but i just know the amex bill will arrive soon :scared: )

Grand Vefour March 2004 I had been looking forward this meal the whole trip & even though of cancelling a few others so I didn’t feel restricted budget wise. The place is smaller than I expected but oh so beautifully formed. Its short walk from the Louvre through the wonderful palace gardens which I hope to return to when the leaves & flowers bloom. After spend a morning gazing at the raft of the medusa & its neighbouring painting I was in the perfect mood to be swept off my feet (having put the awful tailevent meal behind me). When I got there Guy Martin was standing at the door greeting everyone. I was shown to my table & just sat there looking up the joyous understated ceiling. The menu arrived as did the daily market menu – well – what the hell – lets go for it. Completely unable to decide the maitre’d kindly suggested splitting two starters. Amuse – small cup of exquisite lobster bullion – deep rich with good burnt undertones; couple of lobster claw tips and a mouse of foie gras. Fabulous & varied. Pre-starter of coco bean soup – quite a substantial plate of froth white soup covered in truffle flakes. In the soup were little cubes of delicious ham. Very good texture to the soup although I did note that the finish wasn’t particularly long – indeed – a wee bit lacking in taste. First starter – half portion of lobster salad - which was today’s special. A large place wit some green salad leaves at one end and a lobster claw at the other accompanied with a couple of small pieces from the tail. All this was covered in truffle vinaigrette. The lobster tasted pretty good & the salad was fresh & crisp but I’ll be buggered if I could detect an single molecule of flavour or aroma from the truffle vinaigrette. There was no skimping on the truffles – but they were complete devoid of anything except colour. This was a simple dish depending on the freshness & quality if the ingredients - failed miserably to please me. (btw – this costs 90 euro full price – felling only slightly pleased that I was only paying half – but not that pleased) Next was their signature dish: foie gras ravioli. A plate with three substantial ravioli was presented with the purest of white sauces and lots and lots of truffle bits. The truly wonderful thing about this was that the FG had not dissolved or in any way rendered into to oil but the cooking – that was impressive, What wasn’t was the complete lack of taste to any part of this dish – there was a little saltiness detectable to the FG but that was it – not the pasta, not the sauce & not the truffle. I didn’t not finish this which invoked raised eyebrows from the waiter when the plate was removed. The main course was the lamb – I hadn’t had any yet on this trip & it sounded so inviting on the menu. ½ saddle of lamb encrusted with a delicate powder of nutmeg. Accompanied with 3 little chops (pure gristle) on a bed of green diced vegetables and little cubes of lambs kidney – great sauce to that part. There were a couple of green sauce dashes on the plate which looked great but I could eat as they had dried onto the plate – poor show. There was a side dish of aubergine caviar – pointless. OK but nothing a good home cook couldn’t produce. By now I’m pretty hacked off with this place. They asked for my dessert choice up front but I said I’d rather choose later as don’t often make it that far. But I still fairly hungry at this stage. Anyway, menu arrives & all but one is chocolate based. The non chocolate is so extreme that I can’t help but choose it. Pierre G could pull this off – I am totally convinced this place can’t – so as a bit fat joke I order the artichoke brulee. And you just know its going to be really really bad. For once I was not disappointed – it was terrible! A slab of burlee: sautéed artichoke layer on the bottom with custard & brulee on top – I only managed a few mouthfuls of this. It was damp, clinging, clawing taste of left over vegetables and sweetened cream. Not even a hungry pig would eat this. To accompany this was candied vegetables – a small carrot was, in fact OK, but there was a celery jelly – to slimy to be believed and a green splodge of some substance a second tasting of which I hope I never have. The only saving part of this dish was a small helping of almond ice cream. A truly remarkable dish. This place sucked – big time. It wasn’t even that I had raised it to such high levels that it couldn’t possibly meet expectations – the food was plain & simply bad. I know others on this board rate this pace very highly (which is partly why I came here) but on a Friday in march of 2004 – it was really fucking awful. I did something I haven’t done for a long time – I left without tipping.

Talievent, March 2004 My table was situated at the bottom of the staircase which although afforded me a reasonable view of what was going on in the room, there was way too much traffic at times – particularly as there was a party going on upstairs. There was a room next door but I was whisked past before I could get a good enough look. Amuse – little plate of cheesy balls. I had two thinking there was so much more to be had – sadly no. Anyway, I went for the tasting menu 1 – vegetable stew. They called is legumes maraiches mijotes – but it was really only place of admittedly beautifully cut vegetables. The nage had good truffly depth but my notes say “a bit ‘so what’”. 2nd dish arrives & I’ve been here less that 1/2 hour – I’m a bit worried that they’re turning tables which I don’t mind if they tell me before hand but I’m feeling a bit rushed. This was a plate of crawfish tails, gnocchi & sautéed artichokes – great sauce, very classical if a little underwhelming. Next came scallops with braised chicory, chicory leaves & its flowers (I guess). Very good orange & lemon sauce to accompany. Fine, not great At last – a dish truly worthy of this place – roast foie gras with fruits. The skin was perfectly caramelised with the softest fluffiest flesh inside & no trace of oil slick. This came with a beautifully arrange selection of roasted fruits & vegetables: grape; orange; apple; chestnut (not so good ); salsify & a few others I didn’t record. Very very good. Then another great dish – brie de meaux (sp) which had be split in two and stuffed with a celery & walnut filling – served with salad of granny smith apples & celery shreds – the apple batons were arranged like a little fence. Superbly creamy brie with a great refreshing salad Two desserts served together – passion fruit soufflé served in a passion fruit half shell – came with PF ice cream and PF syrup all arranged pleasingly – great ice cream & soufflé. The other was a chocolate concoction not dissimilar to a mini NY Guggenheim – very dark thin chocolate disks with ½ moon removed from one side mounted in a tower with a deep satisfying chocolate mousse keeping the thing together. Three must have been about half dozen of these with each disk “bite” rotated slightly. Very pleasing. I had a glass of “maurie” to accompany this – pretty good. Overall – I was fairly disappointed with this. The food just didn’t sparkle of excite until half way through he meal – and even then only marginally so. There was a lot of faffing around with the wine – passing it over a flame & so forth which seemed pretty pointless to me given it was just about the cheapest ½ bottle that wasn’t a Beaujolais that I could find. The location didn’t help although was I was the closest table to the kitchen & heard an awful lot of shouting when the doors were open – not a happy place, I thought. A missable experience. btw – this has the biggest napkins I’ve ever seen anyway – small tablecloths may be a better description.

Le Meurice – March 2004 There’s a high camp quotient to this fine room of black & white marble, 4 dominating chandeliers, a kick ass painted ceiling and far from shy pink curtains Amuse of tiny pastries filled with leek & asparagus – wonderfully creamy Substantial pre-starter of saffron bouillabaisse containing red mullet & monkfish with disks of tomato and miniature melon balls. Its kind of hard to describe the depth of flavour to the clear stock but my lips were left with a stick gelatinous covering – a marvellous start for what’s essentially a throw away dish. A quick look around the room shows that its full of power diners Wine list – v expensive – 1/2 bottle time, I’m afraid (still reeling from the 20 euro G&T in the bar beforehand, gulp) Starter of 4 of the largest plumpest langoustine tails I’ve ever seen. In the middle is a shellfish custard with a very large dollop of oesteria (sp) caviar crowning it. Unbelievably good – it’s the first time I’ve really had caviar of that quality & quantity before – I’m beginning to see what all the fuss is about. Curiously the custard was quite tasteless on its own but when eaten with the caviar & langoustine the whole thing came alive. Oh, and there were lettuce tips & lettue froth to accompany this. Magical. Unable to decide on a main they let me choose two half portions. The first was no half portion – it was a large single caramelise sweetbread so light & fluffy roasted in clay served on a bed of delicious salsify with lots of slices of truffle. This came with three sauces – one truffle, the other frothy delicately places around the dish & a white wine sauce (didn’t catch the name) that came in its own little dish. The sweetbread was good – very good – but was completely belittled by the salsify which had depth & earthiness taken to impressive heights. Second main was the pigeon and came with artichoke stuffed with foie gras – how could anyone resist? Easily as it turned out – the pigeon despite being plump & luscious sadly had no depth of flavour. Also the was very little taste to the artichokes & foie gras – the bit I was really looking forward to. The stuffing turned out to be a large slab of FG roasted to perfection – sadly no taste. This was accompanied by a very very rich truffle sauce which did deliver on all counts – shame about the meat & veg. This was a very good meal only slightly dented by the last dish – there’s some very impressive cooking going here. Post Note 4am & I am suddenly wide awake & gasping for water – a thirst like this I have not experienced for some considerable time. Perhaps just a little too much salt to the meal.

Pierre Gagnaire, March 2004-03-26 I’ve just sat down & already I’m being pummelled by little amuses – a little too fast to take it all in but they include: a frozen cube of grapefruit with some white fish – very cold & unexpected but oh so pleasurable; a little pasty with tapenade; some veg sushi; more little pastries; a cone filled with vegetable & fish slithers; and a slab of crystallised something or other. All good. Pre-starters of - watercress & shitake soups – worryingly – slight tasteless - rabbit is its own jelly – unbelievably good - lasagne of potato, walnut & Roquefort - dish of deep fried cockles & various mini-vegetables – good but not helped by waiter spilling some red wine into it - haddock with salmon eggs & crystallised toast – so very good starter was scallops with grapefruit marmalade - scallops as you’ve never had before & I still dream of this now. Very large bowl of scallop pieces with variety of mushrooms, tiny cucumber dice with a beautiful please yellow/orange sauce with pieces of caramelised grapefruit (the marmalade) mixed in. On top of this was a disk of flattened crisp bread with slithers of scallops & a large roasted scallop sitting on top. The depth of that sauces still haunts. This was served with (separate plate) a herb salad & crab with a bitter lime jelly this had the marvellous effect of cleansing the palate before the on coming feast. Bloody amazing really. I miss translated the main course & was slightly surprised at the outcome: beef with squid. I usually avoid squid – but thankfully this turned out to be quite sublime. Large piece of wagu (sp) beef sitting on a disk of lettuce – on top are several slithers of squid. Next to this was a stack of black radish & a few slashes of green pimento sauce. What a wonderful combination and the beef was meltingly good & complimented perfectly by the squid. On the second plate was a mousse of foie gras topped with a crispy disk of something or other & squid slices. Aniseed undertones to this. The 3rd plate had beef cheeks slowly cooked with the most satisfying caramelised shallots – a wow. What a great dish Too full for dessert The bill arrived but I signed without looking as I’m too afraid – also don’t want to ruin the fine mood I’m in – the bad news can wait.

I had a horrid meal at Tallivent the other week (report to come) - someone there was wearing jeans. its possibly the stuffiest place i've ever eaten in - so if they don't mind i wouldn't put up with any crap from any london establisment

me too - i had to watch hiding behind the sofa but wasn't he such a prat! & he cooks like an angel - go figure

no - i was pummled with PFs at lunchtime which they sweetly boxed for me to take way as I'd run out of time. then again, i was taking notes so maybe they thought I was jay rayner (on a good day, of course)

Foliage - i'd say no - had a horrid meal there in december it didn't help when i asked for foe-lee-age & they corrcted me - faw-ley-ajz the partonising bastards bibendum - are you kiddin'? i wouldn't even go if it were free

thank god its a safe distance away for london

I've also just arrived back from Paris & had two of the worst meals in ages: Tallevent & Grand Vefour - T was OK but dull dull dull; GF - the food was staggering tasteless & staggeringly expensive - neither come close to 3 stars - even two for that matter. I will report AT LENGTH shortly. FG was even worse than Martin Berasategui - and he takes some beating. One the plus side - Pierre Gagnaire was as breathaking good as always

The food at ADNY most closely resembles that of Le Cinq (IMHO) - very good but no fireworks. At ADNY I couldn't afford the wine (like Sketch) but they had the hotel wine list ready just in case (unlike Sketch - no alternative). Gagnaire is pure fireworks & theatre - so don't be put off if a first time experience - just sit back & enjoy the show (also - don't eat the bread - you'll be full 1/2 way through the meal). As for Grand V & Tallevent - I'm going to both this week - dinner at T & lunch a GF. First time for both. I've also booked lunch at Gagnaire but I'm not sure even I can handle 3 3-stars in one week so I may cancel. btw - Astrance is the unbookable place just now - I got in everywhere else without trouble (mind you i did book a month ago) So - to come back to the question of the thread - I'll happily answer you next week

I was there on tuesday & on my own - they treated me wonderfully Final bill was £32 when you include tip & water - still a bargain. I couldn't drink as I was meeting my new boss & reports that afternoon This is easily comparable to the Capital for lunch - the main difference being the C has a much larger range to choose from. I look forward to further visits. Half to say, the tasting menu looks a crappy compared to the fat duck Celeb spotting - only a sitcom actor who's name I never knew & a 70s rock band bass player name also not known (& neither do I want to know) - very poor show

What's the best thing to do when you?re unemployed: lunch at Tom Aikens The amuse of frothy but dense pumpkin soup sprinkled with truffle started well but finished on a bad, very bad, note - pieces of duck egg white were sitting on the bottom of the cup - it took a few bits before I realised what they were: bad news & stomach cramps later on, oh dear. Despite being unemployed just now I don't seem to have much time so I had to go for the lunch menu rather than a leisurely al la carte or tasting. So, first course was mash & truffle. OK - he described it better - but that's pretty much what it was. Spiral of creamiest potato with slivers of boiled potato lovingly draped over the spiral. To the side was a tower made of filo cylinder stuffed with a potato foam. The plate was drenched in truffle bits & truffle vinaigrette - large leaf herbs (chervil, I think) decorated the plate. Quite stunning - one of those dishes that in lesser hands who have been a complete mess - but here he managed to elevate the potato & truffle simply but superbly. I so wanted more. Main was belly of lamb - a first for me. The belly had been rolled and sliced & with a slices of leek sausage-like creation containing pieces of lamb shank encased in a creamy leek filling. All magically accompanied with sliced roast carrots (god knows what he did to them but it was hard to believe it was merely roast carrots) and a few haricots. The sauce was a thing stock with an enviable depth. This need lots of wonderful bread to soak it up. Desserts - was a chocolate & caramel creation - two cylinders of chocolate draped over each other, one filled with light chocolate mouse the other with dark mouse. To the side was a clear-ish cylinder of caramel filled with caramel mouse & caramel ice cream. Shards of chocolate & caramel were dramatically arranged on the plate with a tourettes of cream & liquid caramel splashes here & there. It was good but frankly just too much. I left half A cacophony of petit fours, chocolates and other goodies arrived - and when I couldn't face them they were promptly put into little bags to take away. Coffee was included but I didn't have enough time. 24.50 for all that - a bargain. My only gripe - the restaurant was too hot - apart form that there's a genuinely gifted operator working in the kitchen. Do go.

I don't know about Bras (unfortunately) but if passing through Toulouse, Michel Sarran is well worth a visit. I had a superb meal there last year

It is possible to put your hand into a bucket on liquid nitrogen and splash it around a bit - your hand is so hot by comparison the N2 evaporates. This was one of the tricks of the person who ran the carbon dating section at the british museum.

well? whats' the verdict

i take you haven't eaten in john burton race - that was really really bad

buffet's are evil no further explantion required

god that's all moby needs now, encouragement

Anchor & Hope Just returned from a rather lovely meal at the A&H (pity about the pub part 'though) Starters Terrine - earthy & satisfying - great bread Char grilled spring onions with a salsa crossed with ground nuts, bread & ½ boiled egg. The egg was superfluous (& thankfully quickly eaten by my partner) but the onions & salsa were quite extraordinary. Mains Scallops with peas & bacon - a stunning little dish - 5 fair sized scallops with up-market mushy peas. Loved every little bit to the very last drop Best end of lamb with warm salad - very garlicky crust but seriously good lamb - warm salad a bit of a damp squid. Duck fat potatoes (X2) - sent one back as it was too burned - but essentially mini rosti?s v good Too stuffed for puds Wine - fairly good pinot grigio for £16 The pub itself is fairly horrible - stayed there for ½ hour before escaping the restaurant part. I really hated the very loud music that came from the pub part (only a thin fabric hanging separated the parts). A table or two was still available by 7PM - so not as rushed as I-d expected. On leaving around 7.30 - the pub part was completely packed & loud. Great place for lunch, I'd say Whole meal, inc wine, £60 - possibly the best £60 I?ve spent in a while (unless you count that rent boy down ..... lets not go there )

"where we may be going wrong" in my case its not earning enough money to afford the lifestile egullet has got me accustomed to

how about an aikens tattoo in the shape of a flaming knife for each visit?