tony h

OK - I now have vacuum sealer & spent weekend playing with it (yeh, yeh - i need to get out more). Big problem - when cooking various foods - the bags melt. So - where can I get bags that don't melt? :sigh:

Akelarre's "Gin & Tonic on a Plate" is just about the best dessert anywhere Gin jelly, lemon sorbet, crispy sheets of reduced tonic and crushed juniper berries They do desserts (& most other dishes) in half portions so you can sample more

when people turn up early - don't they tend to buy drinks, talk, relax, have a good time & isn't that what its all about? I give them money & in return I get a good meal & lovely time. how stupid of me. they can only get away with these policies of people put up with them. Is the food really worth it? No. The "enforcer" of this policy was quite overbearing . I'm sure I had a run in with her at St John - dunno, can't remember - but she certainly put me off the place.

Anchor & Hope – lunch Saturday Arrived around 12.30 – already mostly full – 1 table left Table for 4 please. She counted 3 of us – where are all of your guests One’s parking the car I can’t sit you until all of you guests are here Puzzled look on my face, ok, he’s in the toilet This is not a game you know You can’t sit us - that’s ridiculous That’s what everyone else has to do I know there's no booking policy - but this is just pathetic After a futher exhange - we left

i always bow to jon's considerable knowledge of restaurants outside the M25 and his in depth reports on them, when he's not pulling his tongue out of his cheek ← gosh, I didn't know that cheltenham, bray & great milton were inside m25

v good review in the independent: Sticking my head in the kitchen to say thank you, I catch Everitt-Matthias on his own and on his knees, cleaning his new oven. He is a modest man with an immodest talent for turning out delicious, sincere, beautifully put-together food. here's the rest: click here

Not wanting to be left out of an egullet gold rush I popped in for lunch last friday Mine came with a girolles sauce which was sadly lacking in seasoning. Perfectly smooth sauce but it may have been better with a few girolles left in the sauce. but yes - lots of crab which was very good. also shows that they are constantly refining/tweaking the menu I went for the porc noir - huge chop with extremely smooth mash - perhaps too smooth & refined for such a, & I hate to use the term, "rustic" dish. satisfying nonetheless the choc mousse was quite solid & had a hidden ball of alcohol soused mazipan-like ball in the middle - pretty good. Over all i got the impression of very confident cooking but prehaps too refined for the tag bistro - but maybe better for it PS - was it me or are the chairs uncomfortable?

that's our budget for the whole party! saw my first christmas tree last week - v depressing

gas vs electric - better control/response. I tend to burn things more with electric

I wanted both oven to be gas but it isn't possible in that size. For two gas ovens you need to go to 110cm wide model - and that wouldn't easily fit into my kitchen

Here's my toledo90 which I am very, very happy with. gas oven on left, electric on right, gas grill, 5 burner hob can't remember if it was £1150 or £1350 approx. 4 week delivery check it'll fit into your house - they took a very large chunk out of the hall wall to get it 'round a tight corner my previosu was a 6 burner smeg which was OK but I'm much happier with this - seems more substantial & easier to clean

I'm looking for a sealer that bags food in a vacuum - its for cooking rather than just storage. model recs appreciated Also - does anyone know where to get pure ethanol (its for taking the skin off oil paintings)

don't cancel - moby's experience (who usually gets it right) seems at odds with everyone elses. perhaps it was an off day - him or bras or both - dunno. but to me & many others its a very, very special place. go & make up your own mind

pissed off now - just wait till the credit card bill comes in

We got a tour of the kitchen last Saturday night after an another excellent feast. The cooker is very, very impressive. The new dining is great. I was worried that “international anonymous” style had crept in but no, they’ve kept the atmosphere of the old LeCS intact. David & Helen related the awful experience living through the nightmare that was the refurbishment. Sounded really terrible. Quick summary of the meal Mousse of asparagus with coconut form topping with little pieces of crisp duck pieces plus a terrine of foie gras with fig chutney & crispy pigs ear. There was a drizzle of intense sweet syrup (white grape, I think) to go with the fg. All that as a pre-starter! A big wow. Next was langoustine, tortellini and cocks kidney – superb langoustine sauce, lightly frothed. The kidneys were something special Scallops came with cauliflower puree, thin slice of raw cauliflower, sprinkling of green apple & cumin scented sauce. Cumin lifted the delicate flavour of the scallops. Breast of veal snugly wrapped in pasta – meat was so succulent. Zander on a bed of ox cheek covered in little squid – a star dish if ever there was one. Details of the sauce & puree escape me but we were left quite speechless after this one. Roast belly of pork with razor clams, cep and gnocchi. Pork & clams worked so well together – the clams were cut at an angle which brought out their flavour & also made them look very appealing. Geranium seceded brule came with elderberry (I think) sorbet. lots of popping sugar in the brule Lemon sorbet with pine nut kernel ice cream – the ice cream was deliciously chewy & creamy all at the same time. Not easy, me thinks Finally –– roasted apple with caramelised brioche and “milk jam” ice cream – all sitting next to each other like a deconstructed tart tatin Mesmerising good & ridiculously cheap - at the end David gave me some black pudding to take away. It was stuffed with sweetbreads & made a wonderful supper the following night (wish he’d approach Waitrose with a LeCS line). Anyway – here’s a little news you may or may not know – he’s got a book coming out next year. Very much looking forward to it.

moby - sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. For me it was one of my all time best meals then again - i hated arpege & was bored silly with Ambroisie. ah, well...

I always thought the food to be 3* - do you think the change of decor will help them get the third star or is it too small an operation (couple in the kitchen, no sommelier) to be considered?

hmm - looks like i've lost the plot it again. ah well

Lunch L'Ambroisie, 28/7 Pre-starter was the whitest creamiest emulsion of fennel, celery & a hint of almond with broken pieces of raw broad beans sprinkled on top. Chilled & very refreshing. Starters was an impossible thin crêpe filled with chunks of tuna and apricot, fried to crisp perfection. This sat surrounded with red & yellow tomato wedges with vibrant green parsley puree. A few pistachios, crushed, sprinkled on top. Some skinned lemon pieces intermingled with the tomatoes. Really rather lovely to look at – the crepe was flat & round and skilfully assembled. At first I though tit might be filo – but nothing so vulgar – just very, very thin crepe which crisped perfectly and satisfyingly. Tuna and apricot was an unexpectedly great combination. Mains – very large lobe of foie gras which was very crisp on one side and meltingly smooth inside. One of the best FGs I’ve ever tasted. This sat on a bed of braised baby fennel with citrus sauce. Exceptionally good. For dessert I wanted the braised peaches. I’m sorry sir, but you cannot have that – you must have the chocolate tart. No, I really want the peaches. No. OK how about the grand selection of desserts – a little of each. No – it will be too much. We will make a special pre-dessert of the peaches for you but you must have the chocolate. Its a signature dish, been on the menu for 28 years & as this is your first visit, you must have the chocolate tart. The peaches were fantastic, red berry & “water of life” sauce and amaretto (I think) ice cream. The tart was good – light, fluffy, diaphanous mousse with good crisp base and dowsed in think layer of coco – vanilla ice cream was OK. You could never make this at home, ever. But preferred the peaches. Wish I had held out for the grand dessert. Anyway – nice place, but a bit funereal for my liking.

go to viamichelin.com & print off maps at different resolutions its very easy to find - just to the east of laguiole, the knife place. when are you going - wanna sell me your reservation?

After the many fine suggestions/alternatives given here, we ended up a Benoit for supper last Friday. Ducasse took over a month ago and is keen that the bistro doesnt lose its "buzz". A chef or two will be joining the kitchen and a few suggestion made - but overall they are trying to keep it business as usual. That said - we had really terrible meal there & the service has plummeted. Perhaps understandable but Ducasse may have a lot of work on to build this back up.

Lunch, Arpege – 29/7th Towards the end of the meal everything stopped in the restaurant. Two large grey pyramidal mounds appeared in the middle of the room, their tops hacked off and the “glorious” contents shown to everyone in the room: white beetroot roasted in salt. Everyone got a piece no matter what they had ordered or at what point in the meal they had reached. A simple segment with 12 years old balsamic. Even Passard came out & joined a table for this. Great theatre & very, very relaxed for a 3*, but a little too much “emperors new clothes” for me. Its f**king beetroot – how excited can you get? Yes, it tasted very, very good – but a little lacking particularly when I realise that this had replaced one of my courses from the lunch tasting menu. Some of the dishes were special – such as the small mound of spinach accompanied with puree of squash, candied lemon peel & a splash of shrimp jus. The other “star” dish was a simple plate of vegetables from the chef’s garden (near le Mans) which although wonderfully tasty was, well, lacking (pointless?). Bras’s similar salad shone as did (I & hate to admit it in an otherwise miserable meal) the salad at Martin Berasategui - vegetables set in aspic-like gelee - simply stunning. This was fairly dull half way through. What also annoyed me was the wine – I looked & looked through the wine list so many times but just couldn’t find anything that I could afford. That’s ok said the waiter – we can server by the glass. 30 euros each, as it turned out. zoiks! A very disappointing and severely expensive lunch. Went looking for burger afterwards.

walked past lucas carton on saturday - the front is all boarded up

I'm a bit hazy but here's my recollection of last Saturday’s tasting menu - Couple of amuses which escape me - melon gelee, melon soup & sauterne forth on top. v refreshing - aubergine “cube” with sardine cream - various garishness – sucked really badly (still evolving, I guess) - snapper with artichoke, celery & saffron “broth” – really good - roast foie gras on a bed of roast cherries – fantastic (needed a little more salt, though) - lobster tail stuffed with herbs on a bed of girolles – v good cream sauce - beef fillet poached with bone marrow; little ravioli filled with minced veg – great sauce - chicken stuffed with foie gras & mini turnips stuffed with something (forget) – v good - goats cheese with olive oil ice cream – the ice cream not a patch on gangaire’s - bombarded with desserts – all pretty wonderful Certainly gone up a notch since my last visit a year ago - only one bum dish the aubergine thing at the start.

corrigan did a bit last night using bought pasta sheets for ravioli/dumplings. is there a name for these & does anyone know where you can get these (central london) I've been looking for them for a while thanks