Gary Marshall

next project is a cookery school, rooms to follow but didn't sound anytime soon.

and hot on the heels of AWT comes, and there's no prizes for guessing this given past form, JC Novelli. (accroding to the news of the world via fleurets) 'According to the News of the World, the gastropub business of Jean-Christophe Novelli has gone into administration. His two Touch of Novelli pubs have ceased trading after the chef's company, Sweet Medicine, fell into financial difficulties. '

Ha Ha Gary good shout.This initially went over my head,I though it was "accountancy speak".For the others out there who missed it too, it refers to a certain Mr A-tkins. ← it's also no reference to ladies of the night.

doing a 'tom' as it might now be known.

Another very pleasant evening at the pipe and glass on friday night with guest glutton, simon from dos hermanos up north researching for his next book . We started with a swift pint of 'old boot' at the boot and shoe, ellerton a little local pub of my acqaintance whilst mrs m did what women do before they go out of a friday night. eventually we were safely ensconced in the pipe and glass, with a pint of black sheep and the roaring fire for company, looking at the specials board and menu eagerly. mrs m had the same as me on my last visit, a salomon tartare and with a quail scotch egg and fish pie to follow. I had smoked haddock risotto with poached egg and parmesan crisp with steamed venison pie to follow and simon rabbitt rissoles and the pie too. once in the dining room we started on the excellent home made bread and a NZ riesling, greed made me eat more bread than was strictly necessary which came back to haunt me, mrs m's starter was as good as mine last time. my risotto hit the spot with plenty of unctous yolk to mix into the brothy risotto, and i'm always a sucker for parmesan crisps. Then james kindly sent an intermediate course out of deep fried lindisfarne oysters and jerusalem artichoke puree, wow very meaty oysters! they went down very well , and i began to regret my bread piggery. On the mains front the fish pie delivered again, this time with a crab salad rather than fennel and lobster. The venison pie was a good example full of meat with a good crust and crucially supplied with a little jug of extra gravy. the thought of dessert was becoming an issue by this point but a selection of 3 fruit flavoured home made fruit vodkas from the kitchen helped make a hole in 'trou' fashion (apologies) so we felt able to at least have a selection of desserts to share the cinder toffee ice cream and lemon posset with stewed rhubarb, both personal faves. with a bottle of portugese red the bill came to just shy of £50 a head , so again good value for the cooking and ingredients on offer. mrs marshall did the decent thing and drove us home, and indeed back to my local but oddly couldn't be persuaded to wait for us to have a couple of nightcaps, so we proceeded to have a couple of nightcaps and a taxi home, back to the welcoming arms of mr calvados and a less than clear head on saturday morning. Luckily we had fish and chips at the magpie on the menu for lunch to restore normality. the dos hermanos verdict here..... http://www.doshermanos.co.uk/

he only wanted £200k and the bank wanted security over his house? perfectly normal, when i had the pub we had personal guarantees over everything so if he was that convinced they were going concerns he'd have done it, no suprise then that the bank weren't interested, another case of over-expansion me thinks. i hope his suppliers got their cash, he took the entire supply of dexter beef filets and sirloins from a farm that supplied us (with the bits he hadn't taken.)

it was probably curtained off, it's where the kitchen was before so if you didn't venture out of the restaurant in that direction you wouldn't have seen it, although you can't miss the new kitchen from the outside!

I've found a menu online here (there's a page two on there as well, just tweak the last digit in the address) which is certainly not the current menu but I can't imagine it's changed that much. To be honest I think most of the fun is to be had in the fish, seafood and offal/non-prime cuts but the stirfried shredded pork with garlic shoots is on there (I don't remember ours being "shredded" but I'm sure this is the dish) and I reckon the stirfried lamb with coriander would also be worth a look (I'm had a similar dish elsewhere and at home - almost dry stirfry with tons of cumin and chilli). The braised pork belly with preserved cabbage was also delicious and is a world-beating winter dish (stick to your ribs stuff, heavy on the star anise and with melting fat and beautiful meat) and I also think the sauce-fried shredded pork with pancakes sound worth exploring. Aside from that leave your squeamishness at home at pile into the pig's maw, intestines and the wobbly blackpuddings! Actually you're a red blooded Yorkshireman, I know you're not scared of a bit of liver or kidney? I've not eaten such things at Red Chilli but I'm had similar dishes in other Chinese places and loved them. They've even got braised pig's trotter on there, and you ate that at No 3 so there's no excuses there. Lord know's what they braise it in or how it's spiced at Red Chilli but again that's got to be worth a gamble. Bollocks, this has ended up with me wanting to go right back over there now. I note they have three more openings due, including London. They're taking over the world... Cheers Thom ← good work thom, looks like that's next tuesday night boys night out sorted..... i did have a copy of the menu in my desk so i could highlight dishes as i read about them

i have noted your adventures in fish and soup but its meat action that we're looking for, i have scoured the leeds and york menus for the pork with garlic so if you could give me the exact description i'll definitely try it, but i know i have searched for it unsuccessfully. the pork and beans is so good my mate did his own version at the annual chinese new year party they hold at his pub each year. it's either that or just don't take the wives, me and my mate will happil scarf some beijing dumplings, poached lamb, pork n beans & sping onion bread!

thom can you hurry up and find me a few new dishes to try at red chilli please, the lamb broth and pork and beans now firm favourites, could do with a couple more!

Please explain, I have never come across this before. ← think scotch egg without the sausage i would suspect, had very good example in france last week

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_...icle5668822.ece

i'm not sure how they make the risotto at the star, i get the feeling it's not the traditional way with onions , stock and rice, do they cook the rice seperately and then add cream/cheese etc? i have risotto nearly every time i go ! interesting about andy burton, as i said i don't know the exact plans for the pheasant as i haven't been to the star since the purchase was news. going for a little star - lite on friday at the pipe and glass.

and who's running the book on how long this will last? (sorry feeling bearish today)

probably not the most difficult prediction i've made. can understand manc citizens irritation at the loss of juniper but why worry about not dining in a place that by all accounts was poor, i'd think of it as a close escape with few hundred quid saved!

some interesting combo's there, i've heard a few other names mentioned too....

i understand the reasoning was it wouldn't be right in a new build extension to try and recreate, for want of a better term, the olde worlde nature of the star hence the ultra modernity, i think it works as it uses a lot of natural materials like the star but it is modern timber frames rather than old(e) oak, the only comparison i can make is the glass pyramids at the louvre , if you can't or feel it inappropriate to fake it you've got to use a different style, and it's bound to divide. i think andrew's also done it as a push for 2* which they were unlikely to get in an obvious pub setting (though they also said they'd not get 1* unless they decided to be either a pub or a restaurant) if you like the star as a country dining pub not much will change, you still use the original bar, there's a new bar in the new part to cope with the diners for there. I wouldn't worry too much about it losing it's character andrew is a pub man through and through, and a french 'auberge' feel is what they always aimed for with the star with the rooms and top notch but fairly casual dining. i too hear they've bought the pheasant (nb it's not a pub, it's a hotel- and most weekends effectively just accomodation for star diners) that's no suprise, andrew told me years ago he kept trying to buy it but was turned down. why have they bought it? well my guess is as they are chocca with shooting parties every weekend during the season it will become a high end shooting lodge with it's own private dining, much like the piggery is at the moment. what did you have to eat?

so i'm in my mates pub last night, as per usual, enjoying my first drink for 2 weeks (a nice pint of timothy taylors golden best, before the fosters) when he comes out of the kitchen and thrusts a winteringham fields brochure at me, 'oh came through the post did it?' 'no, we went for lunch today -had alc' and with that he was back in the kitchen cooking my tea. they have, like many a very glossy brochure with the obligatory pictures of beaming sproglets around the aga and probably the worst staged picture i've ever seen of a group of chefs in immaculate whites sat in the back of a land rover in a field discussing things with a farmer, but hey ho it's all good. they had a mini copy of the menu and it reads very well, and they said it was very good, no disappointments on that front, said the desserts lacked the complexity of the mains but my mate was very happy with his sweetbread starter and woodcock main (with brains natch). so all may not be lost, he came with me to marcus wareing and said the food was little different in style or quality to that, which may or may not be a recommendation depending on your view of mw but i think reasoable assurance that they are certainly heading and aiming towards starred territory (fwiw). They have been inspected and not unexpectedly the issue appears to be head chef turnover from the michelin pov so with owner colin mcgurran now installed they hopefully have a fighting chance of regaining some of the former glories. certainly i will be trying it when i can.

well unfortunately we had to cancel as our dining companions hadn't checked their reservations book properly when we organised and will need to be at their pub, so not sure when we'll try it now.

yes, meltons too to be pedantic.

well evidence would suggest not, there's plenty of 1* places especially who obviously have the accoutrements and 'complete package' to be starred but the chef goes and they lose it. a local (to me) example simon gueller wins a star at rascasse, leaves - they lose star, opens guellers - wins star, leaves guellers - they lose star, starts at box tree ilkley (previously 2* but now no star) within few months of opening - wins star. so it's not the chef?

there is a lime tree on goodramgate, used to be the tasting room on swinegate not sure if it is there anymore.

meltons is the best foodies restaurant, bells and whistles modern it is not, but solid cooking, extensive & value wine list it is. It can lack atmosphere if that bothers you but it's about the only place i'd head to in the town centre for lunch / dinner. j bakers has its fans, i've been a couple of times and wouldn't put you off but i find it a little whimsical for my liking but i know plenty of very demanding diners who rate it, jay rayner gave it a very positive review. dch at the dean court is supposed to be ok but not tried it. ethnically look no further than red chill for chinese and akbars for indian, they are across the road from each other, and also near the maltings a reasonable drinking hole or near the living room/parish if you want something livlier. more casual, a very nice pizza express on lendal bridge in a lovely building, for old school trad italian try restaurante bari on the shambles. check out the york brewery pubs for some decent places for a drink that aren't chainy. there's no real 'gastropub' scene in the town centre, but plenty in the sticks where generally the best cooking is found in the area. if you do have a car the star at harome or the pipe and glass in south dalton would be my picks.

yes as above! matt left due to issues beyond his control and moved to the montague where he won the star back as it were, that's not to say it was taken for granted!

i think what it means by sticky is that once you are rated by michelin, unless you change your cuisine dramatically you stand a good chance of re-gaining it, not that the restaurant will keep it easily if the chef goes. eg matt tomkinson won it at the goose and re-won it at the montague and micheal wignall held one at the devonshire and now has one at hisnew place (latymer?) many of the changes are due to changes of staff rather than standards and i would argue that michelin generally wait for some time before awarding the first star to ensure it won't be a one year wonder, especially in the provinces eg l'enclum, fraiche, anthony's. it's rare to gain one and lose it straight away if it's the same chef etc