tony h

Benoit - a few blocks south of pompidour - just lovely

he doesn't deserve it - foods very good at 2 stars but lacks the wow factor needed for 3 love the room 'though

hurrah, hurrah - its celebration time. vile food & service

Does Ellen know? Do you snorkle? (Now we know what your punishment was.) he thinks its a punishment - but little does he know

The taste is there but the texture is very poor - quite grainy. I wouldn't cook it but have it cold or as a very expensive way to sauté potatoes. If you do want to fry it - cut it into the portions you want, freeze them & then put them on the frying pan & cook very quickly - the outside will crisp & the inside melt. WARNING: there could be food poisining issue - I don't know if you can freeze stuff out of a tin safely.

In addition to Rockpool, I enjoyed Salt & Banc. There were a few others but I cant remeber their names offhand. Melbourne was, however, better for food.

I've had a couple of perfectly acceptable meals there - very good for early evening/pre-theatre when you want something satisfying & quick. I'm not too keen on the room so I wouldn;t want to linger there for a prolonged meal.

cabby - has he taken over from Koffman - there's an interview with koffman on the site but no mention of his diner? Its not clear from the website (which isn't very easy to navigate).

Last positing on this topic before FG sits on my face (we'll sneek OTC in elsewhere). The BM has only charged for 6 months during the 70s. The time before that was when in opened 250 years ago (btw - its its birthday this year) It has donation buckets on the doors. Its not policy - just a principal that admission is free. In the past it was a seriously rich organisation & one of the biggest land owners in the UK - bit over 2 centuries of missmangement has put a stop to that. (also - to gain a place on the board of trustees in a big US museum costs a couple of mill - they don't do that kind of thing here). The V&A was only a trusteed Museum in the 70s - before that it was part of dept. education & has never had the funds or patronage to match the bm. Now its stopped charging it can;t cope with numbers - not enough loos or people to clean them. As the "ace cafe" - dont get me started. The bm staff canteen food is the worst in the world - particularly if your vegetarian. They really must hate them. Anyway - enough. I have a monk fish to cook. cheers

7 years toiling at the BM (and 4 at the V&A): approx 50,000 items on show out of 4 million in the vaults. Its space thats the problem (and miss-management!) - not funds. Amongsts its lesser known treasures - an egyptia wooden toe with possible gold toenail (now lost) - 100s of not 1000s years BC: arguably oldest artificial limb (I got to hold it one - so smell left) mad sect of greek monks who target staff (death threats & so on) who worked on the dating of the turin shroud. The big modernist face in the front gardens (can't remember the sculptor) is/was in danger of falling over due to cat pee corroding the metal there's a secretum (not on show) where all the porn related stuff is kept - quite an eye opener I've been told (one keeper wouldn't let female staff access incase it shocked them). we took a mummy to a hospital to cat scan it one evening - a bit spooky - felt like being in a b-movie where the one the glasses gets it first. during seconf world war - object were moved around the country for safe keeping. mostly stately homes. one landed gentry wrote constalty complaining aobut how much soap was used ny museum staff based their. letters from howard carter telling of his discovery of king tut were filied in our dept. library david attenborough is a trustee biggest selling book a couple of years ago was the jane austin cookbook (had to get something food related in) anyone can ask for a ticket to access the prints & drawing dept reading room. when there you can ask to see (& hold) the raphael drawings, michaelangelo's & so on. when you do - you have sole access. its a bit of a thrill (i kept worrying - what happens if i sneeze?) the coins & medals must be the most unremittingly dullest department - ruthlessly boring enough, enough

if only true in Kansas - I got a ticket for speeding & another for not stopping in time. I kept to the speed limit for a while but I lept getting run off the road for not going fast enough. Also - one of the crazyiest things I saw was someone reading a book while driving (on the long straight roads). The slowly drifted from one lane to the next over a 30s period & corrected their direction when they turned the page. It could never happen in the UK - too many bloody roundabouts!

or New Jersey where I spent the best part of a year. I could NY from every window but it may as well have been an ocean away for the lack of integration between these two places. NY press barely mention NJ stuff which is quite depressing. A short taxi ride from hoboken to manhattan was extortionately expensive. NJ is treated almost as a separate country which irked no end. While I’m at it – every tried opening a bank account in the US – its so fucking difficult. I had about 8 different forms of id but most were’t accepted – including a passport (“if you use that we’ll send your statement s to you UK address”. “what id will you accept” “gun permit” was on of the). Everywhere you go there signs up saying “it’s the law” – so very, very oppressive & your only washing my hands. I don’t how you put up with it. Drivers licences - how can you be arsed to take that every 3 years? How do you put up with having to take your test every time you move state? How do you put up with 50 states each having their own legislature – don’t you think its kind on wasteful. You’re paying for basically the same law 50 times over. Don’t get me started on the death penalty (NB I genuinely do love the place – its just that it could be so much better. Also very true of london & the yUK).

Same answer if you have to return the Elgin Marbles to the Greeks? to the turks surely - they owned greece at the time they were taken

Oh no you don't. NY has MOMA with its truly world class collection - in fact - it sets the level of modern art by which all others are judged. But nothing, in the whole of the US for that matter, comes close to the quality & breadth of the British Museum. Any, for those londoners (like me - ok scottish - but i've been here so long) who wanted to live there & got off their arse & did it - boy did I miss britain. I love NY & love visiting it - but I hated america, it politics, the cost of living there, the dumbed down tv & press. I neve felt usafe in NY as I do in spme parts of london - and there are so many wonderful things about beign there. But only to visit. I could go on but my dinner's ready. Anyway - isn't this off topic chat which is banned under pain of perlow coming to stay with you for a month?

but don't forget the "affordable glamour" tagline.

Agreed. My one visit was v expensive - plus the upstairs room had a very unapplealing smell.

I've almost lost my appetite for eGullet now that Off-Topic Chat has been removed.

GS has several menus prices in the evening. The highest being 280e - I think that comes witha blow job - certainly a nose bleed.

yea, but what about cabby?

Words fail me... Anyway, I'll add my little bit from ADNY. When I ate there August I was served a pre-pre-starter of little pastry puffs full of liquid cheese. I bit into them, pulled them away to see what was inside & the damned filling ozzed out & fell onto my lap. Not 5 minutes into the place & it looked like I'd self pleasured myself. The food is good, but not that good. I remeber having an awful starter - chicken breast stuffed with foie gras - it was tough as old boots & quite moistureless. The turbot came with a spectacular sauce (don't remeber what). And main was beef rossini but with bison instead of cow. Huge bison sized portion. Wine list: when it arrived & l looked through & told the wine guy that I couldn't afford his wine. As if by magic he produced the hotel's wine list from behind his back & suggested a very red for a resonable price. Superb service buy way over priced.

Last time I met Simon M didn't he have "mug" written all over his face? I await his review with not a little trepidation.

He's still doing it. Had lunch there yesterday & the pre-starter was post-modern fried egg, bacon, sausage & beans. Absolutely wonderful (except the quails egg - can't eat them). Starters was a tasting of pork belly - quite inspired. Pork belly done 3 ways with celeraic remoulade with honey & cinnamon dressing. Stunning. My guest went for carpaccio of haddock - perfectly balanced. Mains - I had rabbit leg stuffed with prunes - again - wonderful. My guest went for the slow cooked shank of lamb. Amazing sauce. Puds - pineapple lasagne with rice pudding ice cream - a lot better than previous efforts. My guest had chocolate tart with caramelised pears and pear sorbet. Again, desserts much better than on previous visits.

Benoit - wonderful meal there for 168e & that included bottle and half of wine. Its just south of the Beauborg. Its a run down french bistro but also has a michelin star. Great atmosphere & food. Possibly the best & largest piece of foie gras I've ever had.

Energy Risk Management by Dragana Pilipovic p. 100 & so far, not one single joke. This is not a fun book.

DO NOT GO ANYWHERE NEAR THE LANDMARK You have been warned