Gary Marshall

robbies soley in charge of waldos i believe.

if you can fill a place with no a reservations policy you've got it cracked, especially if they're all drinking at the bar beforehand!

i forget, he had me at fried tarragon. (apologies for in - joke)

it is etiquette to post your responses in the correct thread old bean

call me old fashioned but i liked the egg presentation, if it's good enough for 3* arpege and l'astrance.... Glynn's story about ash in the creme brulee made me laugh, we had the same problem at the pub, naturally we used the proper vanilla pods, a very concerned customer cornered sarah to tell her 'there are ant eggs in the creme brulee!'

Made a long overdue return to the star over Easter, it never fell off the list of favourites it just relies on Mrs M to drive me there and her willingless to drive is more capricious than my interest in dining there shall we say! It was Saturday Lunchtime and the bar was busy, which is not unusual and i'm quite happy to have a pint or two before lunch, as i'm trying to lure myself off the amber nectar at lunctime i took the bar manager elliot's suggestion of a pint of eggscellent from a nearby micro brewery which was very good (though despite my new interest in real ale i have only sampled about 5 so far). As per, there's a short ALC menu and a longer specials, usually quite fish oriented. On the drive up i was thinking 'must not have risotto, must try something different' but on the menu was risotto of home grown wild garlic with baked doddingtons cheese 'wafers' and crispy waberthwaite ham. So i had it, and quite marvellous it was too, kermit green and seasoned within an inch, no centimetre of its life, salty, ricey, garlicy, cheesey perfection It was to paraphrase my hero 'historic'. My Driver (as i'm in winner mode) had a local marinaded goats cheese salad the exact details escape as i was far too content with my own but it too was pronounced a winner (no pun etc) For mains i was struggling between a variety of fish courses, but in the end we both had the Halibut with montgomery's cheddar rarebit topping, some saldady leaves and a pancetta vinaigrette, i immediately went for a taste of the rarebit, eeh, it were good, as southerners imagine we say. Fish was spot on and decent chunks of pancetta enlivened the greenery. Although we were certainly at no risk of starvation for a few weeks, we went rapidly from no dessert to one assiette of desserts and a dessert. The assiette for me naturellement, lots of goodies that i have of course forgotten but certainly incuded an earl grey burnt cream. Wine was a giradin st aubin 04 about £32 which wasn't too bad either, the wine list is more comprehensive of late and has a few more drinkable bottles at more reasonable prices than before, with a lot available by the glass, which reminds me i had a glass of riesling with my puds too. so all in all despite many visits to the star over the years i would rate this as one of the best meals i've ever had there. I've had loads of risotto there and i'm sure i've had the fish and rarebit combo before too but never as spot on as it was that day, despite its star they do a lot of covers (83 the friday night before) and sometimes a little finesse is lost, but not this time. There are lots of places who try to imitiate and capture what they do (ourselves included when we had the pub) and you think you've got there but when you do return to the star you realise they have just pushed the bar higher. Andrew & Jaquie aren't known for their inactivity and this years events incude extending the kitchen and their kitchen garden and livestock raising abilities. Pretty soon it will be a small farm with a restaurant attached! Also Andrews book is out in May entitled 'Foie gras and black pudding' which will certainly be in my bookcase on publication.

Matthew Fort - M Norman has a bit more hair! ← i can never remember which one it is, though i know they look completely different!

Hold on a second Didn't you do exactly the same thing last year and book for June ---just like me today? ← hold on a second didn't you say you were organising a meal at sat bains for scott and i? no, it's fine you look after yourself.

I'm really enjoying the series, though it is much better watched on sky + so you a) don't miss it and b) can fast forward through the intros. I think sat has it sown up, glynn's food looks too outre, (though his enthusiasm is infectious) when from i can gather there's only matthew norman who actually likes modern cuisine the other judges aren't as keen.

Isn't it obvious? He's Ramsay's city brains and paid a huge retainer to broadcast his plans all over the internet.

he must wake up every day and say i'm so glad i don't have a newspaper column, own tv show and central london restaurant to look after

reviving little chef? bloody hell that's not a little project. I assume he's cut a deal with the receivers?

seem to remember lots of very mixed reports about her eponymous restaurant in paris, despite it being 2*.

that was going to be my easter project, but it was too cold so i went to the pub instead. ETA but it wasn't a wasted weekend, managed to start my air dried ham project

I know for a fact, that Martin wasn`t asked. He has just opened a cook school round the corner from his restaurant, so he is into abit of self-promotion just now ← he should have a word then, as long as he's got something more ambitious than smoked salmon up his sleeve!

good reports. Tell me more about the tandoor.....

'cos it's modern like, and this is about modern cooking innit?

I was surprised not to see you at table with Mr Fort, or at least on the table of punters. ← I agree, it's an outrage I have seen elaine lemm in there before so she is at least a genuine fan, though locally robert cockroft from the yorkshire post gives them more column inches.

I would suspect that andrew fairlie & martin wishart etc haven't been 'overlooked' they probably turned it down, and some of the chefs on there are pushed into it by their employers so don't have a choice. Apparently it's viagra for the reservation book so you can be sure that's why they're on it.

I was just about to start this very thread andy, i wondered if the programme had slipped under the radar, i didn't realise it was on until after the first episode had aired. Everyone at anthonys was very excited about the show tonight and tony i think fair to say a little apprehensive about how he'd come across in the editing as he's pretty uncompromising in his outlook but i think he came across well. Thought they did justice to the food as well which looked pretty spectacular and matthew fort seemed to love it. looking forward to the weeks worth of shows with nigel howarth and tony, expect to see some techniques you won't see everyday in the UK.

i thought i was pretty good at long lunches but that's a different league.

in faversham across the road from the station there is http://www.railwayhotelfaversham.co.uk/index.htm i can't vouch for the food, as i haven't eaten there but i seem to remember that Jay rayner wrote it up and the menu looked quite intriguing. I can vouch that the beer works though, we had a little interlude there after a very pleasant lunch at the sportsman a few weeks ago.

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/dmstan...in_page_id=1804 heston sells his fat duck stake, (i'm pretty sure he sold his hinds head stake too previously.) Edited. can't seem to direct to heston story direct, scroll down and it's there , ramsay link at end of story £2.1m bonus for Gordon, nice work.

i thought one of the attraction of le villaret was its well priced wine list? food i remember as being very 'liquid' lots of soupy preparations, nice cheeses though. i think we drank very well on coche dury a year ago and similarly at it's sister resto, astier which i enjoyed much more. tubot and beurre blanc and a top meursault couldn't go wrong.

and your quality drinking in padstow is facilited by EG-er slacker who in the real world has a very pleasant wine shop cum bar near the harbour called BinTwo. The only stein establishment i frequent on visits to padstow is the fish and chip shop on the harbour which is very good and shouldn't be dismissed. It's always my first stop after a long travel down to padstow. www.margots.co.uk www.bintwo.com