dipardoo

robyn, i'm coming in quite late on this discussion, but you've chosen some top destinations. good work! i've posted previously about le moissonnier in cologne. i really recommend it - good value, great atmosphere, lovely wine and service. i think it will fulfil your requirements for german food in modern style. i can recommend the set lunch - then you can go to bergisch gladbach for dinner!

foodfromthefells.co.uk lancashire food at moto services on M6 at forton near lancaster (as mentioned up post)

good for you beaker. i did the same myself last year. got married in a restaurant and spent all the budget on food and booze. think it's the only way to go. the advantage of a restaurant that's done it all before is that they will think of everything for you. place cards, flowers, cake etc - they had it all under control. I did very very little in the way of organisation as a result. can't make recommendations in the area you're looking at, but try sites like squaremeal, toptable, confetti etc they have lists of venues by capacity so you can take your pick. stick to your guns - it will be brilliant

jingtea.com postcardteas.com

i was very disappointed by a meal at london carriage works last week. i had high hopes when i got there, as the service was excellent from the start and i liked the room a lot. Found the food very disappointing - and overpriced at £35 for two courses, £45 for three. i only had two courses, confit of rabbit to start, then hake. the starter was basically a far-too-large pot of rillettes; the second course was a big ugly mess on a plate - a lovely piece of hake with salt cod frittata, slices of truffle, fish sauce, confit fennel, shallot, and seaweed. i was simply overwhelmed by the portions and all the flavours. the michelin trappings were all in place - lots of flavoured breads, echirre butter, amuse bouches, pre desserts etc - but the rest of it isn't, as i see it, at a michelin one star level.

i'm sorry to hear the bad comments about the capital. i really love it and think it's a great lunch spot. the service could certainly be more relaxed but i always have a terrific time there and find it good fun. in my experience it's always been full, quite jolly and with a nice mixed crowd, from v posh hotel residents to children. the only place i prefer (in the open-at-weekends-and-offering-a-set-lunch category) is the connaught. the food there might be more accessible plus the room's cosier.

I have been meaning to post about an excellent luncheon i enjoyed recently at Le Moissonnier on the Krefelder Strasse in Cologne. I'd read about it a few times in Der Feinschmecker and had thought how attractive it looked (it's an old Jugenstil patisserie I believe). I noticed that it was bumped into the 1-2 star section of Michelin guide, meaning it has one star but is one to watch for a second. Happened to be going to Cologne, so booked myself in for a solo lunch. The restaurant - just a small bistro really - was full at lunch. There were about 3 of us dining alone which i always like to see. A few tables of business people, and lots of regulars. Owner Vincent Moissonnier was a big presence on the dining room, serving, clearing, chatting, meeting and greeting etc. There's an a la carte menu, plus a plat du jour as well as the four course set menu (drawn from the alc) that I had. The menu costs 47 euros per person, or 58 with three glasses of wine (0,1L). I supplemented the menu with a couple of fines de claires, and a fourth glass of red wine. my bill was 78 euros or so (less than £50 when it appeared on my credit card). in other words, a bargain. I started with the above mentioned oysters and a glass of picpoul de pinet. First course, rabbit and foie gras rillettes with rosemary and caponata; a medalloin of rabbit poached in black olive jus; mesclun salad with chorizo; bruschetta with lardo di colonnata. Then a pan-fried and lightly curried piece of scottish salmon, with a waldorf salad, asparagus in lardo (again) with a light maple hollandaise. Then tandoori-marinated duck breast, with a provencal stuffed baby tomato, green beans tied up with yet more lardo and a thyme panisse. Pudding was cinnamon pain perdu souffle, a mini tarte tatin and plum sorbet with a gluhwein foam. the wines were the picpoul, then cotes de st mont (plaimont), then mas de la garrige (henriques) from roussillon. i added an extra bordeaux to this but i don't recall the name. i was very impressed with the lunch. great value, great service, lovely atmosphere and really interesting food. high praise for the rillettes. A lot of unusual flavours going on, but for me they worked well together, particularly as the presentation tends towards a series of mini plates for each course, rather than everything elaborately painted onto one big white plate. I shall definitely be going back next time i'm in cologne. it's the kind of place i fantasise about being a regular. If anyone is thinking about doing a gourmet trip to dieter muller's or vendome, you should really consider popping into cologne centre to try le moissonnier. bergisch-gladbach is so close by, and i think this less formal place combined with a dinner at one of the three stars in bergisch-g would make a fantastic weekend. anyone else been to Le Moissonnier? am interested to hear about other people's experiences here.

how about the pig's ear on old church street in chelsea? you can walk there easily from south kensington

i mean it entirely lovingly! i love the place, but i suppose what i'm driving at by saying that is it's not the dimmed light kind of place. pedro, i'm guessing you've not been in the ladies' loos, but honestly the cigarette burns on the toilet roll dispenser! again, i mean it lovingly. don't expect perfection, except for on the plate. i suffered the stansted express and stansted airport just for this restaurant. i'm a fan.

this is my attempt to post something useful to add to all the lovely reviews above and in nick lander's recent ft review. i did the ryanair trip to girona for a meal to el celler de can roca. it was well worth it. my second time this year, and just as good, nay better. the useful bit of my post is not my opinion which is gushingly favourable - just a couple of travel tips. i stayed at pension belmirall, a delightful pension in the old town, just 60 euros for a double night. n.b this is advice for no frills travellers, not the posh lot on these fora. cab only costs about 6-7 euros from pension to the restaurant. cab to town from the airport is around 25 euros. i had the menu sorpresa, 90 euros a throw, with all-spanish wine matches. menu as on other posts - apple soup, comte cheese soup, foie gras turron, shellfish veloute, smoked tuna belly, red mullet w couscous, pork belly, pigeon, hypnotic poison the whole thing came to around 95 quid a head - sorry can't convert into euros or dollars, other than by saying, what a bargain for this standard and this much pure joy. can any of you spanish speaker on the forum who know josep encourage them to dim the lights? v unflattering!

there's always a hoo ha when the new michelin guides come out in europe. isn't there an argument that new york at least got michelin's full attention for a year? we may not know who visited and when, but it's a pretty good guess that they at least visited each place once this year. this is surely the freshest results they will ever be.

the chairs at wd 50 are jean prouvé standard chairs. design classics. never sat on one so don't know if they're comfy.

i haven't been but i was shown a 2005 menu by someone who has been recently. the menu is €155 which is not half as bad as i would have expected. certainly very good by comparison with a €120 five course meal i had recently at Tantris in Munich. the wine list has wines starting at around the €20 mark. again, surprisingly good value. that €10 i paid for a bottle of water at tantris still smarts

no, never. i read about it last year in one of the sunday supplements and made a mental note of it

i think you are referring to Buckingham's in Derbyshire www.buckinghams-table.com/

there's nothing geheim about it, but i always love an opportunity to recommend Tantris restaurant it's got two michelin stars, so as i say, it's no big secret. i love this place

sorry, missed the "around" still, i'm sticking with my "on" the 20th

i heard the 20th

i was thinking of Manner Schnitten also from Vienna tin doesn't match the description though still, it's becoming apparent the austrians like their waffles

two suggestions: risk the wolseley, you'll definitely get in at 4 otherwise, what about upstairs at yauatcha for tea and cakes. delicious

i went to Munich for Oktoberfest last month. while i wasn't that wild about the fest itself, i adored munich (it was my second visit. my last one, ten years ago, was also great) had a fantastic meal at tantris. one of my best meals of the year without doubt the city is also beautiful and there's stacks to see.

I'm actually going for no other reason than nostalgia. I did a course at the Ruhr Universität about ten years ago and I haven't been back since. Easyjet did a free flight offer to Dortmund, so I snapped one up. Am combining a trip to see friend in Düsseldorf with a few days of eating and drinking in the Ruhr area. I was a student back then, so didn't have enough cash to eat out much. This time, i'll be treating myself to lots of breakfasts, lunches and dinners. I have heard about Living Room - I'll definitely try that out. I'll also go back to my old favourite Café Konkret Thanks for all the ideas. I'm really beginning to look forward to my trip!

I know it's an odd place to end up! Bochum hardly ever garners a mention in guides to Germany. Thank you to both of you for your suggestions. I'm visiting a friend in Düsseldorf, so might be able to try out your recommendations, Strawberry. Do you know if La Potinière is open for lunch?

I will be spending the best part of a week in and around Bochum in September Does anyone have any recommendations for the Ruhrgebiet? So far, I have decided to try Art Manger in Dortmund. Café recommendations would be just as gratefully received as smart restaurant ones.