tony h

John - is it the kind of place you can just drop into or do you need to book? Thanks Tony

what about chez michel - does that count as a bistrot? also - is it any good?

don't know about diner, but I'm up for lunch in 1st or 3rd

Wellcome to the bizarre world of eGullet What, in your opinion, is better: the food or the company? cheers Tony

i'm still in denial... 250, gulp. 85 x 2 for food and it helped a lot by having the champagne as gift. not cheap but certainly stunning (there's more than a little congitive assonance going on here). in fact, on refelction, this was one of the best tasting menu's I've had anywhere - much much better than Le Manior, The Square, The Capital & Foliage and a few other. only Gagnaire's was far better (not better - more in a league of its own)

I'm not surprised - the restuarant is tiny - 12 (or 16 - i forget) tables we were there from just after 1 'till well after 5 so he's hardly packing them in

It took my friend TP to the Fat Duck for a celebratory lunch yesterday. It was my second visit, her first. The first time I did really like it, couldn't see what all the fuss was about but though it deserved a second chance. Now seemed like a good time to return. 3 menus on offer: lunch menu, a la carte and tasting. After much deliberation & pondering etc. we went for the tasting (this was help enormously by the fact my partner, who is filming in Canada just now - had arrange for a bottle of champagne: me for valentines & TP for her birthday. Trust me, this is a very good way to start a meal.) I remembered some of the pre-starters before but some have had a make over. Man arrives with pot of liquid nitrogen. What looks like shaving cream is pumped from a canister- this is egg whites with green tea & lime, a ball of which is dropped in said nitrogen. As they can only do one at a time we are told to pop it all into our mouth in one go and to not wait for the others. The melting texture is simply astonishing an unlike anything I've had before. Great fun, pure theatre & not bad tasting too. A couple of jellies arrive, orange & beetroot. Fine if a little unspectacular (it was a hard act to follow). Next oyster with passion fruit jelly also had a hint of lavender. This was new to me & quite superb excellent pairing of fish & fruit. Could easily have had several more. Mustard ice cream & red cabbage essence. I vividly remembered this from last time & as one of the few good moments. It didn't disappoint this time around. Then came the layered dish which I also remembered from last time & really didn't enjoy, layers of pea, quail jelly & langoustine cream. This time it also had a dollop of foie gras mousse. I just ate the foie gras, the other were too musty for my liking, but TP devoured & loved it. That was the pre-starters, overall, vastly improved on my first visit. Presentation was a lot slicker and certainly more fun. The meal was 8 mini-courses starting with snail porridge. When ordering I said that I really couldn't see my way to eating he snails. I have a bad enough time with crustacea (insects!) but snails were a no. Very silly of me of course, but its hardly polite to wretch in the middle of a dining room. Anyway, we were talked into having a snail porridge and a vegetarian version made with parsnip & almond. The result was little more than a mouthful of bright green sludge with saving of various vegetables decorating the plate. The vegetarian one pretty good. I did brave a taste of the snail but its too rubbery & garlicky & was forced down with lots of water. I can see its attraction though. Roast foie followed, quite stunning. Medium sized piece of foie gras which had the most perfect velvety texture with almond and pistachio crumbs on top & accompanied with two striking slashes of red cherry sauce. A few almonds & cherries dotted the plate. Fabulous. Sardines on toast next, the sardine was mackerel ballotine virtually raw - with toast sorbet. The sorbet also had mackerel taste accompanied with crisp piece of very thin melba. Again, quite stunning, great combination of textures and tastes. A second plate wouldn't have gone amiss. Salmon poached in liquorice followed. It was covered in a thin jelly made from liquorice accompanied by some superb bitter chicory and a couple of splashes of vanilla mayonnaise, the most substantial mayo I've ever had. The salmon was cooked to perfection. I guess this was done at quite low temperatures as it was cooked but looked raw-ish. Also came with some asparagus. The liquorice was kept under control, more essence than in your face & the balance between that & the salmon & vanilla mayo was accomplished. The sweetbreads came next. The waiter described it as the "chicken nugget" course. It was a single sweetbread parcel cooked in a casing of hay, pollen & salt. A parsnip puree accompanied this with seriously good cockle sauce, breathtakingly good sauce. Again, a superb dish that left you wanting more. This was followed by: - a cornet of ice cream & caramelised pear followed, silly & fun - a disk of white chocolate with caviar - a plate with a silver box, same size a mini-breakfast cereal boxes. Inside was some dried parsnip crisps. These were accompanies with milk infused with parsnip. Again, silly & fun. Then came desserts, two of them. First was a mousse of mango & lychee(?) with some darkberry sorbet. The pate was dotted with little cubes of jelly. This was a bit hit and miss, looked great, very good sorbet but the mousse didn't do it for me. There was also a weird undertaste to this that I didn't like, it was very pronounced but it did have a long unpleasant finish. Then came the bacon & egg ice cream with tea & toast. The bacon & eggs: infused ice cream, this didn't really taste of much to me which was just as well given my aversion to eggy tastes. The toast was caramelised brioche, v good. Also was a thick gooey salty caramel & we were advised to have all three together for maximum enjoyment. I didn't like this at all. The tea was tea jelly & we were told to eat after the meal. A couple of petit fours arrive with some chocolates. Great - but we were pretty stuffed by now & not a little tipsy and don't really remember them too well. So, in the two years the cooking has dramatically shifted in terms of look, taste and confidence. The 4 main courses, foie gras, mackerel, salmon & sweetbreads where truly outstanding & I would rate easily as on a level with establishments such as Gagnaire & Arzak. OK, I wasn't keen on desserts, but then again I am not a great lover of sweat curses (ice cream excepted) . It certainly had the fun, not taking ourselves too seriously, approach putting the stuffy places like RHR to shame. This is a seriously good place & a lot better than I remembered. Anyway, don't take my word for it go see for yourself. Pity about the awful modern art on the walls, though. (BTW this was booked before its got its third star, certainly deserved)

Tate Modern is a must but Tate Britain has the dreariest permanent collection on show just now. However, the El Greco exhibition opens that the National this week - I've heard its astonishing so I'd do that instead if your are time limited.

Ramsay is harder to get into than Ducasse & Jean Georges - but substantially cheaper (and probably better than ADNY, anyway). Alternatives - Club Gascon; Le Gavroche; The Captial; The Square. Out of town Le Manior near Oxford (a treat). I'm sure others will offer alternatives. St John - v good choice Afternoon tea - not quite my cup of tea - but if you want a grand experience probably claridges (btw - I have not done this myself) I cant really help on the rest as I'm neither, young, cool or hip

Ledoyen if money is no problem (but if money is no problem anywhere is romantic )

loufood I at at le Bristol & Le Cinq year & 1/2 ago on consecutive days - I thought Le Bristol was just superb but didn't rate Cinq at all - yet le Cinq got the 3rd star. go figure. Anyway - there's not much movement this year - only Le Meurice got elevated to 2 & I did really recognise those got their first (btw - 4 lost 1 star). cheers Tony

sorry - i wasn't being serious - i know sod all about music

I agree with Robert. Ledoyen is easily the most beautiful & sumptious restaurant I've ever been in. Importantly - you know your in Paris rather than sitting in some anonymous internationally styled place. The service was impecible the night I was there and is has some of the most wonderfully presented food I've eaten. For a honeymoon - absolutely perfect.

Bux We may not agree on a certain spanish restaurant but on france you have few equals. I am being taken to Paris next month to celebrate a new job. Do you know of any 2 stars that on the verge or deserve (in your opinion) of making it to 3 stars this year - or of a one star that may be promoted to two? Thanks Tony

you had change - so no wheelchair then?

yes but only if they are all on led zeppelin

deep breath - here we go: I've never tried it! there, at last its out - my big confession - I'll probably get kicked off egullet now adminting to such a shameful past. oh but i feel so much better now that its out there in the open. please don't hate me..... [head held low]

I'm not denying that - but kind of hoped it open up into a bigger discussion

I'm curious. Why is so hard for blokes to believe that sexism exists or take is seriously - is it because they are not usually the object of unwanted attention?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1132605,00.html Here's an intersting article in today's Guardian by one Oliver's fifteen who worked in The Capital and found it a fairly horrible place. Kind of puts you off the Cap - shame was one of my favourites. I take sexism is that bad? Any comments?

does anyone know when the french restults out?

but not the staff canteen - possibly the second worst food I have ever tried to eat (the worst being my current but soon to be ex employer)

foie gras - shit! that's two words

Hibiscus got its second Tom Aikens got 1 Connaught got 1 (why?) but nothing for sketch heres the link http://www.michelin.co.uk/uk/front/act_aff...rporate〈=EN

Thread title has changed magically Fat Duck gets 3 star http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml...15/ixworld.html anyone else get a 3rd or 2nd gong?