tony h

If its a romantic nigth out wacthing the tide turn - its a wonderful place. But the food thought lacks sparkle - its perfectly well executed & presented. Its a bit "too english" in that there is potential but there's no dimension or depth to, say, the sauces. Its food to observe rather than to partake. Oh and - they do this vodka with fresh raspberries cocktail-thing - best not.

Its more relaxed than Petrus & initialy I thought it pretty good although a week has now passed I am beginning to suspect the Ramsay & co are running thin on ideas. Chesnut soup was light & clean - the sweetbreads nice and caremalised. I don't recall any truffle - maybe they've rethought the dish Gareth was there - but it was good if a little small. Venison & white fish (sorry - I don't recall which) were also sort of good & both were propped up by a cabbage. I suspect this is where they're making their saving. I whole heartedly approve of taking humble vegetable/pulse etc. and making it sing (as in the Capital & Michel Sarran) but I partly got the impression that the meat/fish had to be accompanied with something so it may as well be cabbage. The dishes didn't really harmonise. The reduction accompanying the venision was a little too thin & drifted towards the tasteless. We had the tarte tatin for which whas wonderfully carmalised & came with v good vanilla ice cream and thick cream. This was the only really good dish although I could easily have had one to myself. The while thing came to less that 100 (wine was 35 - probably a st jospeh). At the time I enjoyed it but as mentioned I've come to think less or it as the week's gone by. Maybe its because I've just read Ramsay's Chef Secrets - well they'er still fairly secrect as far as I can see. There's very little to inspire in this book - more along the line of the OK Just Desserts than the wonderful Passion for Food. A few chef's tips may have been a more appropriate title. Fleur - fine but with some reservation. I think its worth a second try but I am worried the Ramsay/Waering pact is wearing a little thin.

thanks all!

think harry potter, think dobby - think fat dobby with spanish accent & you're getting close

oh my god - what have I started? me culpa me culpa

What’s the best to achieve this? Is the slicing best done raw; is the fennel cooked before or afterwards; is best eaten raw. I don’t use fennel often so any ideas appreciated.

fingers crossed, I supose

I suspect more inventive (but I have only eatern at the Gav at night) fyi - Capital also do lunch at weekends

If they've sorted themselves out - great - I hate to see a restaurant with potential fail. And normally I'm more than happy to give any restaurant a second chance (I was brave enough to face the awful John Burton Race twice). However, the entire roman army couldn't drag me back there because of that offensvie little twat: the maitre'd.

git = sad jerk I like it.

Here's my recollection which differs markedly from Paul's - I seem to have gotten some of the "meats" wrong. Ah well. Can Fabes - 2003 I came to eastern Spain from Toulouse on the off chance that El Biulli might have a cancellation – no such luck. Can Fabes was my pre-arranged fallback. I did however take the opportunity to stop off in Cadaquez to see Dali’s house which is open to the public & if you are ever in the area – don’t miss. There was something quite magical bout standing in the old fart’s studio. Additionally – the penis shaped swimming pool really has to be seen. Pre starters Cold cod with yoghurt - great Something that looked like a large black olive but turned out to be a prune – also good Potato shaped into a small cup filled with truffle cream & truffle disk on top – v good Quail egg yolk – didn’t try Little pastry cup with dice of anchovy & other ingredient (notes not v clear) – packed a punch Course 1 2 dishes - Aubergine caviar with anchovy fillets Beef carpaccio with anchovy fillets The roast beef was very flavoursome & aubergine was scented with cumin A good dish, albeit of the small side. Basically – v good tapas 2 – confit neck filet of pork A cube of neck fillet on a bed of seriously good mashed potatoes. Caviar on top. Lemmony buerre blanc foam A very good dish – creaminess balanced by the citrus & soft meting pork The caviar wasn’t really necessary – just a decadent garnish Also – a bit on the small side. 3 – couldn’t figure it out A disk of potato-come-pasta scone with red pepper puree & basil oil Served with the finest silkiest grated parmesan which collapsed sensually on the tounge. Deep fried basil leaves Homely & satisfying 4- crayfish & tomato & onion salsa reduction served with a herb salad which more like a mini-bouquet a great marriage of fish & salsa however the salsa didn’t taste nearly as good on its own. Had to be eaten together to bring the dish to life. 5 – red fish with foamy sauce I didn’t catch the name of the fish but sounded like salamonica or salma hyeck very little flavour to this dish - no depth to the stock – first bum note 6 – foie gras I didn’t fancy sweetbread tonight and the other dishes on the tasting menu were for 2 They server off menu – foie gras with figs A very piece of perfectly seared foie gras decorated beautifully with halved figs & peaches. No oil slick for the foie gras & it had the creamiest lightest texture. A drizzle of very thick balsamic. 7 – cheese I usually don’t go for this but by now I was still a little hungry. They brought over the biggest cheese board I’ve every seen – I asked for 3 soft cheeses. I have no idea whit they served but they were stunning (or was because I knew they weren’t from the La Fromagerie, Highbury?). Afters A plate with 3 dimples arrived with different sorbets: pear (weak), pineapple (interesting) and peach (stunning) Petit fours arrived – nougat & raspberry; chocolate disk; chantilly cup; jelly; truffle; macaroon Also – strips of citron & chocolate long tuile tubes in 5 flavours Dessert Base of lemon half way between a cheesecake & a soufflé with the lightest coco flavoured cream Black fruit sauce and orange tuile elaborately plated on top Shot glass with liquid crème caramel Post meal notes This started well – great pre-starters and first course or two. Superb finish the rest had very little real substance – the tasteless fish course should had have been a point if focus failed to hit the mark & the potato-like scone was good but missable. A fine if not great meal with the abundance of petit fours over compensating for substance elsewhere. Details Can Fabes Sant Joan 6 E-08470 Sant Celoni Spain Tel. (34) 93 867 28 51 Fax (34) 93 867 38 61

Sorry Steve - I didn't take notes on the desserts - my eyes had glazed over in love by then. The squid were too big to fit into your mouth in one go - although I would gladly have tried. The foam was light, airy & lots of it - opposite of shaving foam if that helps. I don't recall flavour although I'm sure it had a fairly good fish stock & cream base.

You think that's bad? From the top of the menu he has: "My aperitifs vary depending on the whims of the countryside, the sea and the seasons. I propose that you all allow me to seduce you in small bitefuls. Seductive, light and suculent, they will wet your appetite and be the introduction to a magnificent meal" Its up there with Christopher Lee/Sauraman saying "you will taste manflesh tonight!" PS - the typos could very well be mine

Does 'git' = jerk? yeah - but more pathetic

Don't forget the Capital for lunch - still the best bargain in London

I didn't mean to imply that the food was off or badly cooked - just tasted & smelled awful.

The restaurant and hotel can only be described as high camp. The food is unfortunately not very good - I had a fairly nasty meal there last Christmas. Maybe this was because it was low season - either way - don't expect 2 stars - or even one for that matter.

Elena is very much in charge & quite capable from our brief conversation. Don't be afraid to go back.

Trust me - this would have been an awful lot better if the staff were allowed to smile. By the way - the man himself appeared in the restaurant. I have never encountered someone with such little presence before. What he like in the kitchen – bossy, push over, git?

Pre starters Spoon with cube of potato & sesame seed – I didn’t “get” this one – the only miss of the evening. Figs & bacon – astonishing depth & length of flavour – good balance between sweet & savoury Leeks 2 ways – one a thick slice – OK; veloute – excellent – rounded and refreshing Spoon with mussel sitting on top of cube of cheese with crispy celeriac – excellent, cheese came through at the end Starter 1: foie gras & cereal (?) 2 generous slabs of foie gras accompanied with a cereal/granola-like substance – not quite sure what it was (pulverised nuts?) but it worked well as did the deep reduction (red wine & port, I think) Starter 2: tuna & blue potatoes I was sold on the blue potatoes – beautifully arranged rectangle of sliced blue potatoes with slithers of confit of tuna layered on top. Great bonsai-like arrangement of herb salad sat on top. Dramatic dash of red pepper reduction across the plate. It tasted soooo good. Dish 3 – roast monkfish on a cube of garlic V large piece of monkfish roasted to perfection sitting, angled on top a cube of pressed garlic. This came with a seriously good consommé. Quite amazing. My partner had the “squid trees”. This was 3 squid sitting upright on the plat with a mass of foam perched on top & rolling down the sides – they looked like little trees. Apart from the wow from the look I don’t think I can quite describe how succulent and juicy the squid were – they really were melt-in-your-mouth wonderful. Quite envious at this stage. Dish 4 – pigeon This was very good – I have no details because I was kind of in awe at my partners choice: lamb with coffee. This was a sizeable piece of lamb around which was the thinnest lightest gossamer of reduced coffee essence which sat upright like a chef hat – then the waiter poured the reduction over the coffee which collapsed & coated the lamb. A superb piece of theatre. The lamb and coffee worked so well together (sweet & bitter). Seriously good. At this point Elena Arzak appeared & took me on a tour of the kitchen (my partner asked but didn’t come). A quick tour of the kitchen – hot/cold starters & so forth & even pointed out the grill which was situated outside in the street! “We bring it in during winter” she informed me. And this is when I really started falling in love with the place – it was so unassuming. A family run restaurant for over 100 years & although obviously proud of the 3 stars I got the impression they couldn’t give a fig if they disappeared – they cook for the love & passion of it & to ensure you had a good time when you were there. Extremely generous with her time she then took me to “research lab” where the dishes are created. Volumes of photographs successes & failures were bought down to thumb through - the failures just as important so they don’t get repeated. She explained the process of how they come up the dishes – there has to be a base, a start & their hails mainly from Basque, Catalan & French & they the dishes for a walk. When the various incarnations result in something they think is worthy (there are 4 in the lab – her, her dad and 2 others) they figure out how to create the dishes on the scale needed in the restaurant. I was shown the ingredients store room – organised, labelled & group by nation (a woman’s touch I guess – apparently it was mess until recently). One fun piece of exotica was green Vietnamese rice – they’re working out how to work that into a dish. By they time I got back to my table my pattern had scribbled in my notebook “22:20 Then I fell in love with Elena and her kitchen”. How true. Relaying my tales of the tour the table next to us got very interested & joined in. During the debriefing (where I talk a bit too fast) a small birthday tart arrived for their table – the candle was the kind that you can’t blow out. (Can you see Ramsay doing that?) Nice touch. Anyway our deserts arrived leaving us punch drunk – there were what we ordered plus house additions. My notes stopped at this point – the next I recalled: Pineapple, anise with tuile Tigernut cream Chocolate & nut bread Raspberry ice cream Raspberry & fig – two upside down cones with herb syrup & quite a few more I don’t remember too many details expect that is was quite an astonishing array. I haven’t had this much fun (in a restaurant) since Pierre Gagnaire & that was a riot. Genuinely in the same league which is about a notch above the third star. Arzak Alto de Miracruz 21 E-20015 San Sebastián Spain Tel. (34) 943 28 55 93 Fax (34) 943 27 27 53

This was precision cooking - but god it was dull. The whole place was a bit like a septuagenarian zoo.

Martin Berasategui A hellish taxi ride eventually turned off & passed though what looked like a housing estate. The entrance up the restaurant is quite inviting masking wonderfully the horrors that lay beyond. The room was BRIGHT – highly reflective white ceiling, bright moss green walls and yellow & orange tiled floor. The tables were stark – just a napkin & single glass per setting and made you fell that they’d forgotten you’d arrived. The seat looked very uncomfortable – solid wooden affairs and for moment one I thought I don’t fancy sitting in those for the next couple of hours. The tables separated by what I can only describe as rusty metal garden trellising draped in what must be a rare gift – making real plants look plastic. Our menus arrived but precious little else for the next 30 minutes – no bread, water, starters, nothing. The menu took an age to navigate but eventually we settled on the tasting menu but asked for the pigeon to be substituted. Printed English version of our menu with substitutions that we could take home and treasure arrived. Pre-starters Small cup of beetroot cream soup with cockle & white wine jelly – beetroot crisp. I liked the crisp but the veloute lacked depth or length. Creamy fried potatoes – forgettable balls of mashed potatoes deep fried Clam with olive oil – served in a spoon – this was elegant, creamy and tasty – lots of garlic. Smoked eel, foie gras and green apple terrine This was beautifully presented with a light brulee topping and spring onion reduction – the eel (salty but not too fishy) was balanced will with the foie gras and the apple had the right amount of acidity. A good start. Butter Salted Peas with Barnacles A little pile of tiniest peas with some barnacles placed on top – soup poured over the top. There was a nice depth to the soup but the barnacles were tasteless – just a bit of exotica. A nice but so-what dish (so very different & lacking from the astonishing pea soup served in Sketch) Scallops & Crayfish – set in gelatine Six thin slices of scallop in a layer with and a single crayfish and salmon eggs set in gelatine made from the scallop coral. Little bits of chive were suspended in the gelatine. It was Ok – the gelatine had a nice long finish but the scallops were slightly tasteless. Vegetable Heart Salad Sounded so dull – but this was the star of the meal – the first and sadly only wow of the evening Square flat & shallow plate with carpaccio of fennel at each corner surrounded by slithers of courgette ribbons, asparagus spears perfectly crisply cooked, mini-artichokes, broad beans, the seeded insides of tomatoes in little bindles, raw almonds with some smoked mackerel, mussels covered in cream of mussel reduction and a few crayfish tails here and there. This was wonderfully and prettily arranged but held together with a superb light aspic. Seriously good and refreshing. Seafood Broth Cup of dry ingredients over which was poured a strong anise flavoured stock. The cream had partially split from the stock. More barnacles. Fairly tasteless expect for the anise – which I am not too fond of. The was accompanied with a fennel sorbet on a spoon - that was quite refreshing Anchovies & Onions Layers of sautéed onions and potatoes with a very large anchovy on top served with red pepper reduction. It wasn’t just the bitterness of the pepper reduction – but they had managed to capture the essence of concentrated corked wine - there was great evil in this dish. One bit was followed by substantial mouthfuls of water – I was too polite to spit the food out. I don’t have any notes for the rest of the meal – the next one was roast tuna which was too over cooked to enjoy. Fairly tasteless. The next was stuffed pigs trotters – my pigeon substitution. I almost threw up on site of it – a large vibrating mass of near liquid gelatine. Not what I was expecting at all – I suppose if you liked that kind of thing you’d have loved this but it was a bit too extreme for me. My partner had the broiled beef which tasted OK – but nothing special. The desserts were also pretty forgettable – one thing they served was described as “pineapple infusion” – tasted like tinned pineapple we were forced to eat as a kid. So – what was wrong – why did we hate this so much? One of the basic requirements of any restaurant at this level regardless of how formal or casual they want to be is that they need to be welcoming. This was such an unfriendly place – not one single person smiled. At one we joked that we were being served by the “dementors” with the enjoyment was being sucked out of us slowly during the meal. The food – there was only one dish that truly said you were in a seriously good restaurant & that was the salad the only really difficult part being the aspic – as for the rest some were fine but hardly worthy of note. And some were evil and badly executed – particularly towards the end of the meal. The pigs trotter was probably good but by then I’d lost faith in the kitchen. Anyway – enough. If you’re in the area there are so many other places to eat I’d say put this at the bottom of your list – but if you do come – don’t leave it the last meal of your holiday as we did – it left a bitter taste. Quite missable. Reviews from Arzak, Akelare & Con Fabes to follow – much, much better (mostly) Details Martin Berasategui Calle Loidi, 4 E-20160 Lasarte-Oria Spain Tel. (34) 943 36 64 71 Fax (34) 943 36 61 07 http://www.martinberasategui.com/

Michel Guérard This is essentially a tiny little manicured village which exists purely to service the restaurant, hotel & spa and is caught a possibly suitable but strange time warp. Its 2 hours from San Sebastian / 1.5 hours from Biarritz/Bayonne and, of course, a little over an hour from Lourdes! The central feature is an opulent president class hotel with kick-ass restaurant (kick-ass in 1979, but we’ll get to that shortly). Truly impressive & it generated a similar sense of well-being last experienced when I visited Blanc’s Le Manoir, Oxford. I didn’t eve consider a single night in the hotel so I stay at the Maison Rose – a genuinely lovely and pleasant hotel next to the main grounds. Frankly – a little twee for my liking but I could have stayed here happily for a few days – the room were simple, colour full and not intimidating to old folk in any way. Wall were leafy and rose clad – fairly postcard-ish but in a good French way. Extensive gardens, pools and fountains surrounded the main hotel & restaurant & only darkness prevented me from exploring further. The main restaurant is divide into several parts – the rich folk got the bit with the carpet. I was place in a side corner out the way as I was dining alone – however it did give me a pretty good view the rest of the room. The rich folks room was out of sight. Walls were bare stone with a curious mixture of oil paintings (unfortunately the one next to me was a poor follower in the style of Renoir). The ceiling was distressed limed wood – I couldn’t tell if it was new & aged or expensively restored but it worked none the less. Thinking back – the room was quite big & the tables well separated. The menu was huge – broadsheet sized – and extensive. On side was the a la carte & on the other 3 tasting menus which were just pairings taken from the a la carte. Amuses: a langoustine encased in delicate breadcrumbs with herb salad and deep shellfish reduction. Perfect, in a classical way. 3 pastries – simple disk with parmesan, the other I couldn’t identify the last was a mini pizza – the only thing of note was the intense tomato from the last pastry. Bread – imagine the lightest fluffiest cloud with the crispiest of crusts – that was the bread. Seriously good. Starter – salad of truffle New potatoes, sliced & layered formed the base of the dish. On top was a thin but generous layering of black truffle with superb creamy white luscious sauce to bind them together. Served separately was a single asparagus spear wrapped in a tempura-like batter. A good earthy star to the meal – perfectly cooked asparagus and the sauce was quite luscious and truffly with truly long finish. The only questionable note was the black truffle – zero taste. Hmm Second course: a single large raviolo stuffed with minced wild mushroom hidden in a blow covered by aparagus, wild mushroom and thick “fonds des bresage” (sp). When first served you couldn’t see the ravilolo as the was so much else going on. The “fonds” was particularly well executed – the citrus undertome came through as did the raw wine to give a long and pleasantly mushroomy length. Another good earthy course – a bit similar in to the first but still good enough to not care. Fish: demi homard A single plate with the ½ lobster shell and superbly mounted/arranged whole lobster meat filling the cavities. A serious lobster reduction splash on the plate and over the meat. No veg, no fuss. It’s the kind of dish that looks so simple yet you just know there a awful lot that went into it 0 plus it must be a real pain to do each time as there’s no room for error. This didn’t disappoint. Critron half-sorbet half-granita followed. Its was fine – what more can you say? Last course – foie gras Huge slab of foie gras with a few slithers of potato, sauce, ¼ of a small cos lettuce & some grapefruit segments. Visually, not very exciting – oh but the sauce – this was a masterfully, truffly gelatinous deep red wine reduction. The foie gras was seroulsy well cooked – crispy skin with the lightest fluffiest evaporate-on-contact-with-your-mouth sensation – quite remarkable. Also – the cos lettuce was dressed with almond oil & gave unlooked for unexpected pleasure. The potato slithers contained almond or pistachio-like couscous which, again, was very good. Dessert – citron soufflé. I thought I should stick with the classical theme. Fine but I didn’t think the middle was cooked. Petit-fours – numerous & wonderful. Of not was the beeswax coated baked custard thing – v good. Overall – a mixed meal. This was perfectly good & fine classical French cooking. But the description of the lobster dish kind of summarised my feelings “demi homard – perfected in 1979”. And the was pretty much it – this was a stunning meal – but it was as if the last 25 years hadn’t happened. During my wanderings the next morning I got a good chance to eye my fellow guests – most all of them were old (& rich) who came to indulge in the extensive spa facilities (I did look but I couldn’t see any pet spa options!). In the clear light of day it resembled more a hospice than culinary centre. I wouldn’t really recommend this as somewhere to come to unless, like me, you just happened to be passing. Try it by all means – its very fine cooking - buts there’s so many other places to enjoy than this time bubble. It is 3 stars? Maybe in 1979 but hardly now – I cant image there’s a single innovative recipe since the 80s. Worth experiencing but not worth going to experience. Details Les Prés d'Eugénie - Michel Guérard 40320 Eugénie les Bains FRANCE Tél. +33 5 58 05 06 07 - Fax +33 5 58 51 10 10 http://www.michelguerard.com/

I took a friend a few months ago. I ordered the calf’s foot salad – she the langoustine. Her’s was OK – nothing special. Mine was really offensive – chicken nuggets flattened & squared but with much less taste. Accompanying salad didn’t have any oil in the dressing – just vinegar. Couldn’t eat more than a few mouthfuls. Next – pasta – her’s was the goat pasta: rancid. Mine was the board bean & rocket - looked great – zero taste. We didn’t finish either & they were very unamused & a big fight resulted over this. Essentially the greasy little maire-d said that it was our fault for not appreciating their food. One to avoid.

Pied a Terre's just got its second star - ate there last week & it was simply stunning - 59 pounds for 8 course meal (a bargain!). 35 pounds of 2 courses - 8 pounds for puds. Quite wonderful. Only downside is the wine list - very little at the lower end.