Gary Marshall

thanks! don't know the score, just got a letter confirming inclusion and how to download a copy of the sticker, which now adorns our window. book out october.

yes, i wanted to try that when i went with bapi, luckily at the pub our chef does a very good copy, we cook it for about 4 hours i think, v good.

thanks sadie a few more of you and a few less bapis would make this an easier job (honestly the special service he demands on the rare occaisons he ventures out of his mansion it's a book in it's own right!) cheers gary

Good News! Just found out we are going to be in the 'Good Food Guide' 2007!

march since i last went, a nice pre-cursor to three days of three star dining in france! it's been refurbed and enlarged but all remains good, i heard that they have recently upgraded the curries to compete with the grills which were being favoured. still very busy too, better book or go early.

Errr, Aberdeen Angus Steak House, mate? ← there's obviously another angle at AAS, no doubt the large portfolio of central london properties has some attractions, no quite the same as a small independent place!

well i didn't wait for friday had a quick couple of courses today. to the unitiated not a lot has changed, there are no table cloths (proper napkins though) but other than that it still has the same feel as the No3 of old, the staff remain the same too. menu is not casual dining but is simpler than before and attractively priced. the most expensive main i think was steak & bearnaise at £15 there's a good level of choice and the menu is not at all dumbed down, it's just the prices are more accessible. sad to see the old wine list go but there's still plenty of choice and for the serious oenophiles there's a 'fonds du cave' with a few of denis's specials that he was loath to sell on! i was particularly taken with the cheapest wine on the list, their house white a ugni blanc blend that was really drinkable and excellent value at £3 a 175ml glass. after a selection of sliced fresh breads & butter, i had a goats cheese & roasted red onion tart, this dish looked excellent, a small rectangle of filo, three circles of cheese with the roasted onions underneath, set around was an artfully arranged selection of sald leaves with pine kernals and reduced balsamic dressing. My main was a veal escalope, with pomme puree, caper & parsley dressing again very good about £14 i think. Didn't have a dessert but many of the old no3 favourites were present and correct at £5 a throw. i think it will work well in leeds there are many places at this price point such as living room/restaurant bar & grill etc but they don't match the execution, creativity and personal touches that you get at number 3. and it's now open 7 days a week!

I've never been and to clarke's and don't particularly plan to but given how long they've been in business they must be doing something right.

where's the proposed site matt? french food fashionable again

that's mont blanc to you - roller ball or fountain pen? i do enjoy being a walking cliche

As my poor memory didn't do the finer points of the menu justice here's the ALC from the weavers shed. For dessert i had the apricot tart which was very good, Bapi had the vanilla lollipop which kept him quiet for some time dipping it in the various coatings! SALMON & LEEKS seared home-cured salmon; potato cream; leeks in warm citrus butter; oxalis (wild wood sorrel) KITCHEN GARDEN VEGETABLES risotto of just-picked vegetables and herbs; frothy bouillon; balsamic reduction CURTHWAITE CHEESE RAVIOLI ravioli filled with Curthwaite goat’s cheese and herbs; broad beans; vegetable and cep broth SHETLAND SCALLOPS & AUBERGINE seared scallops; roast red pepper; aubergine caviar; rau-ram; Extra-Virgin olive oil DUCK FOIE GRAS seared foie gras; crispy potato; green tomato chutney; watercress --------------------------------------- TURBOT roast turbot; basil mash; roast vine tomatoes; sautéed courgette with fennel seeds; warm herb dressing WORSBROUGH RED DEER chargrilled fillet of local Red Deer; pont-neuf potatoes; creamed cabbages and seasonal greens; roast veal jus with mugwort LOCALLY-REARED LAMB roast rack of local lamb; roast Anya potatoes; green beans with summer savory; roast lamb juices with tomato GOOSNARGH CHICKEN roast supreme of Goosnargh chicken; tarragon mash; peas with lettuce cream and bacon; roast chicken jus ‘RATATOUILLE’ roast peppers, courgette, aubergine and shallots; chickpea cake; roast tomato and Kalamata olive sauce; basil and marjoram ---------------------------- BRITISH AND CONTINENTAL ARTISAN CHEESES with biscuits or ‘Old Peculier’ ale cake ECCLES CAKE served hot from the oven, with a wedge of Ruth Kirkham’s Lancashire cheese APRICOTS & ROSEMARY thin tart of apricots; vanilla ice-cream; rosemary caramel sauce TAHITIAN VANILLA LOLLIPOP iced vanilla lolly with dips (chocolate, nougat cream, muscovado - toast crumbs) A TASTING OF BRITISH STRAWBERRIES strawberry and clotted cream shortbread; strawberry juice; strawberry ice-cream; strawberry foam BITTER CHOCOLATE soup-soufflé of bitter chocolate; Scammonden milk ice-cream ‘GELATO AFFOGATO’ a scoop of Tahitian vanilla ice-cream, with a shot of hot espresso to pour over

Another meeting (or should that be meating?) of the triumvirate of fat bastards with nowt better to do on a friday afternoon* than convene and consume far more alcohol, calories, salt and anything else deemed dangerous by our beloved nanny state. * it's nice for bapi to have something to look forward to, thom and myself have 'to do lists' longer than our respective arms, bapi's usually says 'get up'. As is usual our carefully arranged meeting went completely to pot with all three of us arriving seperately in taxis from the station. I was first to arrive and as Bapi had said several times until i got the hint 'get the champagne in' so i duly obliged and eventually we were all ensconced in the bar/lounge area of the 'shed. Despite tracy's best efforts to seat us and stop cluttering the place up i was not going to be parted from the bar, stephen came out to say hello and we chatted through the menu and wine list. The concise menu was all very desirable and after trying to work out just how we could scoff as much as possible of it we came with an old favourite of two starters, main, split a cheese, dessert. I do believe i heard bapi mutter the possibility of smaller portions of the starters but the evil glance thom and i shot him soon put him back in his place. From rapidly fading memory we settled on... Risotto with veg from their own garden (as you will gather these are not actual descriptions) we all had this and it was a major success lovely risotto, with nicely cooked veg, a sort of risotto take on bras's garigallou (sp)-thingy. Excellent. next up thom and i had a goats cheese ravioli again with more garden veg, very good, but bapi 'won' with his foie gras, i had completely forgotten about the foie incident up thread but can assure that the small pieces bapi deigned to pass over were excellent. my main was lamb whilst the others had deer. The rack was well cooked and very tender, all nicely trimmed up too. By this point we had moved on to a very big red recommended by tracy & stephen, they have an excellent list chosen with real care and attention, focussing particularly on south-west france with decent prices and good tasting notes. Cheese followed a nice plate of cheese from kevin gabbitas who seems to do the best cheese in the area, quicks cheddar and lincolnshire poacher being my favourites as i left the strong ones to the real men. There was dessert too, which i am embarrased to say i can't remember (having forgotten to bring camera, forgotten to pick up menu and forgetting to pick up the bill and been out pretty much continuously since friday lunchtime you'll have to forgive me!) Coffee p4's and calva concluded the meal as thom was joyously re-united with his mobile and could continue his plans for world domination - food and drink related exhibitions. By now it was 4pm-ish and given thom & Bapi were in possession of full green cards and in no rush to head home it was to the bright lights of Huddersfield that we headed and spent the next ooh, five hours talking b*llocks in various licensed establishments before a sudden wave of commonsense saw me back to the train station and even more remarkably awake at malton to leave the train. Unfortunately the same taxi driver who had driven me to the station 6.30am was on duty to see me return from 'lunch' at around 11pm. What shred of reputation i may have in the local area is vanishing quickly (and of course when sarah was asked where i was on friday night in the pub she wasted no-time in saying 'he's out for lunch' - 'oh no, it's not unusual for him to get back at midnight'). Anyway despite its seemingly out of the way location the weavers shed is a short taxi from huddersfield station which in turn is only 20 mins from leeds station and is well worth the journey, an excellent lunch, stephen and tracy are passionate and knowledgeable foodies and run a very professional operation, we will be back.

maybe at the next refurb david could kindly consider moving the restaurant back 10 feet from the road? or perhaps a small by-pass would suffice?

yes, it is a new restaurant. Well new owners the site has been there years and it has been for sale for a long time. no idea who's running it now but menu sounds interesting. you did well to find decent food in york without careful planning!

let's look at the facts... for the last 8 odd years Bapi has resided in london happily and the bosi's likewise in ludlow. bapi now moves out of london and hence the frequency of visits to hibiscus increases. Result, hibiscus moves to london.

reasonable jan moir review today in telegraph, looks like it's fitted out with the rhr cast-off s from the tone of the article, also sounds more casual than haute from that review....

exactly, i don't understand reticence to book, it helps the restaurant, you're likely to be better looked after as you're expected, it makes the whole experience less stressful in my experience. I rarely go to places that don't take reservations and i'll even call ahead to book if i'm just popping down the road, just to ensure my fosters is waiting for me when i arrive

try the claridges number, i get the impression the calls are routed through to ramsays office hq rather than the individual restaurants, i'm sure they'll be able to help

quick-ish lunch today, well 3 ALC dishes and a few bottles. Of beer of course. The amuses were a yeasty concoction in a shot glass and a little squid dish, i've had these before, perfectly good, just can't remember the exact combinations! Bread next up, one advantage of solo dining, a whole loaf to myself, obviously i scoffed the lot. starter, roast monkfish, foie gras cocoa and muesli. The foie was in a cylinder rolled in the cocoa museli. Nice textural combo and the foie reminded me of France. (which is good seeing as the last foie dish i had was the signature foie at 3* auberge de l'ill) Monfish was good, coupled with the usual-unusual leaves and some excellent artichoke crisps finished it off. Suckling pig for main, tiny canon of pork loin with great crispy skin on bulgur wheat with beetroot & juices and scallop and goats cheese ravioli. (there's a close up of it on the website actually) Very good dish. Waiter said he thought it was the 'best plate' at the moment, i agree on the basis of my not statistically significant one dish effort! I also had time for dessert . pre desert first up though, a carrot pannacotta with ginger ice cream, v good. I ordered the coconut parfait with licorice and black cardoman ice cream. Really lovely dish (we had a prototype version of this back in march) three balls of coconut parfait, on a strip of licorice with a quenelle of cardoman ice cream plus a caramel tuille type thingy. Just a really enjoyable dish, the light coconut contrasting with the cloying (in a good way) licorice. no wine today i had a couple of bottles of scheinder weiss beer which Olga recommended as a match for the pig (wheat beer with the bulgur). very enjoyable lunch, i forget just how good the cooking is here sometimes. i will look forward to a proper lunch/dinner in the near future with plenty of wine!

Oh Yes, Anthony's are very well known to us i don't know how to link the thread but there's plenty here on egullet, it is definitley worth a trip anthony was a chef at el bulli and his partner olga was front of house, they certainly know what they are doing. for a more casual take on their cooking they have another place in leeds, anthonys at flannels.

The most popular guide for pub dining is the good pub guide it has some on-line searching but it would be well worth picking up a copy before you leave on when you get to the UK, it is readily available in most bookshops and on amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0...7718311-3307865 http://www.goodguides.co.uk/ North Yorkshire is the spiritual home of pub dining, although you'll have plenty of choice many are more restaurants than pubs but that guide should see you right. The really special place is the star at harome, it has a michelin star and it isn't cheap, but it is very special www.thestaratharome.co.uk without knowing your budget it's hard to recommend, the good pub guide has a good price guide. (and their recommendation for yorkshire dining pub of the year is spot on )

indeed, one of the times my sky + subscritption was worth every penny to fast forward that particular crime against humanity

To paraphrase michael winner, 'calm down dear'! It's light entertainment. It happens to have food theme, Yes, i'd much rather it was an hours masterclass from pierre gagnaire on cooking fish but that aint going to get the viewers in is it? so why aren't we up in arms? because we really couldn't care less who cooks for the queen and don't watch it, or are so obsessive that we'll watch any old shite if there's a half decent chef cooking. be thankful roxy beaujolais isn't on

had lunch at middlethorpe hall last week. It is very convenient for the racecourse so i go reasonbably frequently It's a beautiful setting but one of those places that i just can't warm to, everything is just that little bit more expensive than it needs to be, and just a little bit over formal than it needs to be, they pour the wine but aren't quite up to speed at re-fills i thought we must have finished our red only to find upon asking we had nearly half a bottle left, and it has an undercurrent of attitude about it. The first time i went we were asked to keep our jackets on 'because their chief executive was having lunch' it's irritating enough at gavroche but at least they've got the gongs! Dining rooms are generally very quiet clinky -clink affairs. Food is good, breads were excellent. Service is usually slow, having a drink on the outside terrace is a lovely way to start a meal but i don't think i've ever got anything i've requested in under 20 minutes. Wine list is extensive but big mark-ups ahoy. eg sauzet bourgogne blanc 00 £27.95, £18.95 at my place (didn't stop me ordering one though ). The rooms are very nice, and i suspect most of the trade is driven via the rooms rather than the restaurant as a destination. (If i may be permitted a little trumpet blowing a regular customer of ours had dinner with friends on consecutive nights and they reckon our kitchen is better). Having said that i know what i'm going get when i go and i will be back over summer, though unlike several of their regulars i won't be arriving by helicopter! I haven't been to the feversham for a while, it was bought by an ex-manoir manager a while ago so may have changed its spots. It is also a very attractive spot, and again i suspect it's more of a hotel than restaurant, the dining area though is in a big conservatory so it can be a bit echo-ey when not full. It's only 5 minutes from the star so to be honest there's no reason for me to go there over the star if i was in the area. if you want to anything more specific matthew, feel free to pm me

no, not far away at all. there's a picture-esque scenic route or a stick to the 'A' road route! let me know if you need any help cheers gary