Gary Marshall

i did take to writing on our menus 'all dishes are accompanied with complimentary vegetables' to make the point, still didn't stop people asking for things that weren't on the menu eg 'i usually like cauliflower cheese with my roast beef' hmm really how interesting, lets start taking individual requests for veg now shall we to really make service swing! i can't tell you how pleased i am not to have to spend valuable and ever decreasing brain cells worrying about these things

good news, much as i'm looking forwards to returning to the UK for our lunch i'm not sure that the view from juniper can match where i'm having lunch tomorrow! http://restaurant-alpette.com/index.php?ac...e&sujet=setting

i also have a slight reservation, about bapi's ability to stick to plans made months ago. scared of rolling with the big dogs are you?

hey, don't blame us (ex) owners we'd happily save on food costs! It's the market that demands it and you can't always swim against the tide. an aside, i was customer number one at anthony's - food of that ilk had never before been seen in leeds, customers 2 & 3 on table opposite took one look at main course 'where's the veg?' wouldn't mind if people actually ate the bloody stuff

hi alan i've no idea of the dining scene in newcastle, i suspect it's like manchester, enough cash around to support some serious gastronomic restuarants but it just doesn't happen, my sweeping generalisation based upon terry laybourn downgrading his place to a bistro! in terms of general restuarant economics the problem is that excluding rent, food costs, utilities, taxes etc are the same as in london as up north and you don't have the expense account diners midweek. In my experience the success or otherwise of the week was predicated by your weekend trade, if you can be busy at a decent margin midweek you've cracked it. I would also go as far to say that staff cost may actually be cheaper in many respects in london due to the influx of eastern europeans , i can assure you can't get staff for minimum wage in rural yorkshire but i bet you can in the major cities, and that is usually the biggest cost for a business circa 25 - 30% if you're running it properly. although rent is london is no doubt prohibitive you're noot exactly talking cheap to rent or buy anything up north, the pub route used to be a cheap way in but you're looking at serious money to gain a foothold now freehold or £1000-odd a week rent, you need to take proper money to cover those costs. and i would entirely agree that the 'foodie revolution' is no where near as widespread as we would like to think, the big portion mentality is alive and kicking and woe betide if you don't give oodles of free veg!

you know i could have stayed in france another day but no, i'm coming back just for lunch at juniper, and as inexplicably the 2* treat i had planned for my last night is closed on wednesdays i'm very much looking forward to a good feed. Obviously the chances of me having any money left are minimal so i hope bapi once again has collected his rent before we go.

..................................where in Leeds and beyond does this proliferation begin ← it's not exactly a leeds phenomenon, as there aint really a fine dining 'scene' you know what i mean, every box ticked that they think michelin want, different breads, someliers, amuses, overly staffed , veloutes, lobster raviolis, canon of lamb, choc fondants. they aren't necessarily bad places, i'm just saying that anthonys doesn't fit that mode. I could mention the now defunct establisment in manchester to that list and probably every country house-esque dinign establishment in the lake district, current example hipping hall where i spent a very pleasant evening, drank remarkably good value wine, ate excellently prepared and served food but it's text book we'd like a star please and whilst i'd recommend it for a 'nice' weekend out i wouldn't drag my foodie mates from darkest london or new york to dine because they can eat that food at countless places whereas i would for an anthony's or a champignon sauvage as they are doing something diferent. going to juniper on friday i hope to add that to the above list, but however much i like it i doubt i'd send my parents there for dinner.

i'm sure you'll be fine, hit him for the tasting menu and see what comes out. Whatever you think of the meal it will be interesting, and a change from the proliferation of michelin clones that dominate the fine dining scene.

saw Olga at lunchtime and just realised it's anthony's third birthday this week, how time flies, it only seems like yesterday i was tucking into the jacketless potatoes and upside down guinness, parmesan air risotto and pork belly cannelloni. mmm jacketless potatoes

i don't want the joe public one, i want a special one ! (actually that menu sounds really good bas)

can i have a tasting menu?

somewhere on the viamichelin site there is a history of all the uk stars so that i assume will provide a definitive answer

bloody hell where did you drag this thread from? last post until today 2004 !

I know someone at Q hotels i shall pass your comments on

slightly off topic but what's the food / wine list like at the french thingy at the midland?

as an owner i had a big objection to these eat out for a £5 type offers. they usually came with a list of conditions, must be specific telegraph menu, offered at certain times etc etc. but my biggest gripe was we either compromised our standards to do a menu that we cover costs on at £5 which wouldn't be representative of what we did (don't get me wrong we weren't £17 scallops type of place) or we lost money on it, we couldn't do our usual thing on those prices, and lets not forget the VAT man doesn't heed special offers he still wants his best-part-of-20% so it's actually 2 course for £4-odd! the previous owners did the telegraph offer the year before and we very busy people were bringing in handfuls of tokens apparently, however none of them returned to pay full price which is surely the payback for the restaurant concerned. so we declined their offer to do it and got loads of calls asking us to reconsider, we didn't. I later thought maybe we'd slipped up and i checked the list of north yorkshire pubs involved, none of the main players had bothered either it was just the chains and the carverys, so i think we all came to the same conclusion. you hope it will bring in future customers but you just get the cheapskates who will be somewhere else next week wherever the offer is. i'm so glad i don't have to worry about this shit now! bapi, don't waste your money on a highlife card, sarah got bought one , we never used it and we even got a free one , never used it. You can only use them once in many of the places, and as thom says if it's a regular haunt you'll just look tight.

good reviews bring in business, the two comments we had, andy's olive mag piece and jay's review brought in a noticable amount of business/ comment, and from precisely the customers we'd been looking to reach, the interested foodies. I don't think we pandered to them. I drank most of jay's wine and proceded to replace his empty riesling with a gewurztraminer by mistake

i watched this last night, can't see why it provoked such a strong reaction. tony said he wanted to do something different other than the usual 'here's me in my kitchen plating a dish' scenario and i think they certainly achieved that. ← Obviously, the 'here's me in my kitchen plating a dish' scenario would have been out of place considering that this is a commercial for Audi. The whole thing seemed uncomfortably contrived, and could only have been surprising to those who hadn't realized that car engines get hot. Somewhat worryingly, this group included Guardian Science Correspondent Alok Jha. ← err, if you watch the other films in the series, they are essentially 'me in my kitchen plating up food', with a few arty shots of audi A6's for good measure. so when does imaginative become contrived? they are trying to link cars and cooking, not natural bedfellows. fwiw i thought they were all good, the l'enlcume one especially made me want to try it again.

i watched this last night, can't see why it provoked such a strong reaction. tony said he wanted to do something different other than the usual 'here's me in my kitchen plating a dish' scenario and i think they certainly achieved that.

i think we did achieve a lot in a short space of time, i particularly wanted a good food guide entry and a national review so that was box ticked. The business was developing as planned, it was more a personal decision than a financial one to sell from the outset i expected to have more time to dedicate to the business, things worked out differently and you just need to be there, there was only so much of me and sarah to go around. We increasingly found ourselves without much of a life so you have to question why continue!

Indeed it is. Time for a rest and plenty of time on the right side of the bar. Thanks to all those who ventured up and wrote kind words about us, it meant a lot. No, we won't be doing it again

i don't think this was intended as a practical demonstration of what you can do with your new audi.

let's not forget he was the youngest chef to ever be awarded 3 stars, it is a great regret i didn't get to eat his food and if he ever came back properly i'd be there like a flash.

personally, i can't wait to see this.

fans of l'enclume (or anyone with an interest in modern cooking) should check out the fascinating film on the observer/guardian website. Sponsored by audi so plenty of moody shots of an A6 in the lakes but the cooking shots are very interesting and show some of the dishes mentioned above. Tony flinn has also filmed one, but this isn't your standard kitchen shot film, i won't spoil the suprise.....