Gary Marshall

so, brave but flawed then?

happy to be corrected, i'm sure i've seen it reviewed again recently though can't think where ahh, here sunday times... http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_...icle6738469.ece

They moved from york to london, i think in search of a wider audience for their wares but seem to get nothing but, 'brave but flawed' type reviews. I wonder about the location too, i know many loved 'tooks' but it never got the punters, i assume this is the same site. Jay reviewed the york one some time ago, i think with similar conclusions. call me old fashioned and to steal your bloody mary anology, a night out at a vegetarian restaurant is like a night out on non - alcoholic beer, not impossible to do but not something i'm quickly going to volunteer for.

yes , exactly the same entry experience as you, wandering around looking for the entrance, and then a million hellos before gettting to the table, still better than being ignored! my mate said he preferred the likes of hawksmoor and bouchon breton, i quite enjoyed it but whether it's worth the slight schlep from the middle of the city on a regular basis.....

very enjoyable lunch this week, nothing to blow culinary socks off but in the realms of city expense account dining , a worthwhile addition. Nice bright room with the usual banquette layout, semi open kitchen and plenty of well schooled staff, though my guest was getting a bit fed up with the constant top up's of water and wine. menu is solid french bistro classics with a few irish touches, a nod to the head chef. what's not to like? steak tartare nicely seasoned though not asked how spicy i'd like it . mate had foie ballontine, again well executed. for main i had veal cordon bleu, which was good, and all the better for properly runny cheese. mate had suckling pig with stuffing and cracking which he seemed impressed with. two very crispy chips and spinach sides completed. tarte fine for desert with ice cream. a spicy tomato juice, glass of gavi and bottle of 04 innocenti vino nobile de montepulciano( £42 -ish) and coffee £152 incl service

never seen it on the lunchtime special , but i think they do consider it a 'course'rather than accompaniment as we have spent 10 mins with a plate of bread in front of us waiting for the hot pot, and when i asked it came straight out.

yes, for my birthday in early april! unfortunatley can't remember much, it was a rather long affair, finishing in the piazza after much champagne and for the girls a manicure that olga arranged for them whilst the boys talked boy stuff with T and drank raspberry beer.

very pleasant lunch today, black spaghetti and squid to start in very moreish cream sauce and very nicely seared squid tubes with roast hake, garlic cream and beans, atop some pomme puree for main, well worth £10.50. think the black spaghetti was £4.95, can't go wrong at those prices. mate had moules then chorizo risotto. quite busy for tuesday lunchtime and food well worth the money. good attentive service too.

you'll be fine with that, though the bread works better with soupier dishes like the hot pot.

there may be 10 heston-ised..... nice to see investment in the current environment, maybe a slow start for them in york there were 4 cars there when i stopped for petrol last night! suprised to hear it's one of the best in the country, as it doesn't look it when i drive past. from yorkshire business desk.com. ROADSIDE restaurant chain Little Chef has revealed plans to roll out its Michelin-starred chef inspired dining experience to more restaurants after launching the concept in Yorkshire. Ian Pegler, chief executive of Little Chef, said the company had identified 10 existing restaurants that it was considering to adopt celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal's menu since it was trialled at the company's Popham site last year. Mr Pegler said of the 10 candidates, all of which are some of the group's best performers, five would be redeveloped over the next six months. Mr Pegler was speaking as Sheffield-based Little Chef officially unveiled its York restaurant, which together with a site in Kettering has undergone a £1m investment programme, to make them the first outlets to take on Mr Blumenthal's concept since its early trial. The redevelopment includes new decor - which Mr Pegler described as "modern retro" - as well as food inspired by the TV chef. The Popham 'concept restaurant' featured on the Channel Four documentary Big Chef Takes on Little Chef, which saw Blumenthal add dishes including braised ox cheeks and popping candy to Little Chef's traditional menu. The new look York restaurant, situated on the East-bound A64 near Tadcaster, opened its doors and with the restaurant in Kettering taking on the concept, the roll out is expected to create at least 35 jobs. Mr Pegler said the York restaurant had been selected because it was one of the company's most popular, it was near major cities, and had a Travelodge next to it. He said: “The roll out of Heston’s concept is a major step forward for Little Chef and signifies a huge commitment at a time when many brands are scrapping investment programmes. “The trial at Popham was a great success and we are confident that York will prove to be equally successful. "We also believe that our investment will provide a boost to the local economy via the creation of new jobs and with both local people and tourists keen to sample the new fare at Little Chef." He said the revamped Popham Little Chef was performing ahead of other outlets in the chain. Despite some heated exchanges between the pair, which were broadcast on the Channel Four fly-on-the-wall series, Mr Pegler said Mr Blumenthal was "still very interested" in the roll out. Mr Blumenthal said: "I am thrilled that Little Chef are re-launching York restaurant based on the concept we created at the Popham Branch. I wish them all the success.” Mr Pegler added that Little Chef was performing between 12% and 16% ahead on a year-on-year basis and that the group's plan to attract a "lost generation" of customers was proving successful. To mark the opening of the York restaurant the Little Chef mascot has also been given a makeover. He will now be seen at the new restaurants donning professional chef’s jacket instead of his traditional neck scarf. A follow-up of Big Chef Takes on Little Chef, produced by TwoFour Productions, will be broadcast on Channel 4 in the autumn.

happened across terry duracks replacement yesterday online, can say the name lias markwell rings any bells. style seems unremarkable neither foodie nor comedian by the looks of this first effort http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fo...ck-1757301.html

given a lack of inspiration for anywhere else to go for lunch in the city, i've booked here next thursday. like the look of the menu, if they can execute it, then should be job done.

Not quite nationwide yet, but oddly the one I drive past daily is under refurb, and i've just checked and it's going to be a 'heston' one just outside York, another one planned in kettering.

suggested to my mate that we changed our post york races curry venue from akbars to red chilli (across the road from each other conveniently) , we wavered at the door as thoughts of lamb chops arose but headed into red chilli anyway. I'd warned him it wasn't a usual york restaurant and he let me order so we got straight on ordering some beijing dumplings as they take the time, followed eventually by suprisingly the pork & beans, and crispy beef , plus some steamed pork buns and egg fried. the waitress said the pork buns would also take 10 minutes so i said just bring it when it's ready, which they took literally and in a dash we got the pork and beans, the beef, a moment later the beijing and then the pork buns! Not a problem in the end as we were starving. All up to scratch.

have a look on the website, there's a pdf menu. the dish is under beef and lamb dishes and is called 'spicy hot poached beef/lamb/pork' it does have a chinese description too but i can't enlarge it enough to read it.

lamb hot pot has been milder of late in leeds and york, think is was pretty powerful in manc last time i had it with thom and bapi. other must have is the stir fried french beans with chilli (which is a pork and chilli dish). I also like the crispy fillet beef which is a bit more trad chinese but good (though thinking about it, in manchester they have it on the menu but it's not crispy because 'the locals don't like it' when i asked. dumplings proper starter (one portion enough for 2)

an ostensibly quick lunch today that seemed to take an age to serve, but the really bad news is the lamb hot pot was really neutered, barely hot, hardly any of the mini chillis in (i forget the name), enjoyable in a savory way but certainly not as hot as before, they warned us it was hot before but it just wasn't.

shouldn't that be 'you should be grateful that aiden byrne has provided you with this world class eaterie round here'

. Mumtaz in Bradford is next up! ← hope you enjoy, haven't been for a while, tried the new leeds branch the other week and it wasn't as good as i rememered bradford being - if you get my drift! think rivals like akbars have narrowed the gap nowadays.

no matter how talented, when people start talking about themselves in the third person it's a worrying sign. gary marshall is very worried about this trend.

a nice little piece on the service at LCS http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_...icle6232537.ece

little visit last night to york branch, no great suprises in the order - beijing dumplings to start, 10 of the lovely fellas so we split equally, six for me, four for mrs m. pork and beans obviously and a crispy fillet beef with chilli, a dish we had once before and enjoyed, it may be verging on more trad chinese rather than the off-piste that red chilli does but very enjoyable nontheless, both crispy and chewy and battered, what's not to like? i think i actually preferred them to the pork but this time the pork wasn't quite the brown reduced nuggets that they often are, but still very good. just some egg fried to go with, plus 3 pints of lager bill £33.....

i assume he means that the kitchen doesn't know what to expect until the orders come in, and there is some challenge and need to be on top of their game. If you're a chef at the fat duck i think you know pretty much what you'll be cooking before you get to work as the majority will be tasters and there is the temptation to lapse into the comfort zone, if you're cooking 40 courses the same 2 services a day.... a taster only menu works well from a kitchen point of view and a consistency level but removes perhaps some of the 'je ne sais quoi' of going to a top class restaurant. i still have them, but i'm a bit more selective about where i do now. i fear the fat duck is like the le manoir becoming a foodie tourist destination where everyone eats the same and drinks the same, just not for me. I think matched wines are also more for the restaurants benefit too but that's another topic.

haven't seen it since last thursday. more interested in sargeant / welsh head to head that's for sure.

will write it up, yes andy burton is at star not the pheasant but andrew was there yesterday as per usual, they have a few cookery days mentioned on the website but doesn't look like a major departure for them.