Gary Marshall

keith's bar has been there for years, a popular hangout even in my student days that are now, errr 13 years past. Is marantos still there? That was a popular italian and a l'ouette french resto was about as haute as it got in the 'pool.

vineyard is owned by sir peter micheal who, to coin a phrase is 'significantly richer than youse' he's got a californian vineyard too, no doubt going someway to explain the new world bias. it looks like a bit of a vanity project to me. that musar price is unbelievable!

and no michelin starred restaurants in manchester (or leeds either (yet)) the best cooking is in the sticks, not that i am in any way biased

that's good timing! i shall look forward to reading the article, in my room at northcote awaiting my birthday dinner on sunday night! then onto sharrow bay for lunch on monday marvellous, especially as there's no-way i can be expected to drive on my birthday

wednesday lunch not exactly prime time but for the record i called on monday to reserve.

i had lunch here last week. sat under the glass kitchen window and as i arrived early i had time to gape through the window before my guest arrived, plenty of battered cookery books on the shelf sat rather incongrously with the very nicely designed restaurant i was very impressed by the room i thought it might be a bit more 'rustic' for reasons best known to myself! glass of 'poo to start whilst deliberating over the menu, if it had been on i'd have had the crab lasagne and the oxtail parmentier but unfortunately they weren't. ended up having steak tartare to start due to an unsatisfied craving from my recent trip to paris and although not bad it wasn't as spicy as i had hoped, but fret not the one i had later that evening at the ivy hit the spot . Main was a braise of veal cheeks with artichoke puree (i think), was perfectly good though looked a skimpy portion at first glance but given the prices something has to give. lemon tart to finish bottle of white picpoul du pinet and a 'pot lyonnais' of red were the drinks although waiters kept trying to steal my white wine glass (eventually succeeding), obviously the switching between white and red is not allowed! Wine list was comprehensive with some interesting regional things too and i liked the glass/pot lyonnais idea too, i mean it's barely worth a waiters time to bring just a glass to the table is it? coffee & calva to finish. seemed a buzzy place, would make a very pleasant regular haunt i would have thought, very parisian style-y and does pretty much what it says on the tin.

Not a suprise about tour d'argent, did they wait until claude terrail died before downgrading? I can't remember when he died?

i noticed there was a new one star in reims announced in this years book www.lemillenaire.com don't know what it's like though. there's plenty of places on the main drag place drouet d'erlon. l'apostrophe is quite a fun brasserie. i like la vigneraie on rue thillois. in epernay la table de kobus is good near the station and les berceaux brasserie/restaurant are decent (was once starred don't think they regained it).

thanks, come and say hello, i'll be around

aagrah is nearly always worth the trip!

healthy eating isn't really my specialist subject, seeing as if i'm not out for lunch i'm tucking into a calorie laden pret with crisps n latte! the japanese places yin mentions might be your best bet i did have lunch in little tokyo last friday which did place a lot of emphasis on healthy eating, i obviuosly ignored it and had a curry. i'm going to try fuji hero for noodles and si sushi, both recommended by anthony's who seem to get a lot of their staff meals from there, mind you prior to that they lived on mcdonalds other than that i can't really think of much, you've got to get out of the crown plaza though! on wellington street alone you've got a few decent places, nawaab indian, la grillade (french bistro) and if you have expenses to burn number 3 is only 5 mins away and anthony's not much further either, just past the train station. cheers gary

annie schwab knows a thing or two about decent restaurants also!

apologies in advance erica.

As recommended to us recently by that well known starred mushroom fancier of cheltenham!

sorry can't help you there, my antipathy with sam smiths comes from growing up in a town where they owned a great many very nice pubs that you would like to drink in but couldn't due to the poor beer. the co is still family owned and they are amongst the richest in the UK so what do i know

Not in England so I don't know what may be available to you, but Samuel Smith's makes a good lager. ← i think that is the only sentence that i have ever seen the word 'good' used in connection with 'sam smiths lager' if we are talking about the tadcaster brewed stuff. They have a fantastic estate but the beers are awful, and everything is sam smiths they have virtually no other brands in there! not sure i've ever come across british lager, our local beer specialists are www.beerparadise.co.uk or www.jamesclay.co.uk

popped in today for a swift lunch. lots looked appealing but chorizo risotto got the vote. peach beer to start, in the interest of finding new product for the pub and a rioja with the risotto. all very good. (the 2/3 course set lunch read well, and good value btw)

can't do that, but would a free helicopter shuttle help?

phew, we've got them covered. You can still smoke in the bar but it isn't that bad actually. I can't wait for a full ban though, it is overdue.

and i did indeed go on the said wednesday, with scott & sam friar we had the tasting menu and although we didn't initially go mad, we did end up doing a lot more chatting than observing the food and drinking santenay, aided and abetted by tony snr, so with it being (then) christmas and all the usual factual reporting went out of the window, i remember it being very enjoyable but unfortunately can't remember what exactly we had! i do know that the next morning words such as 'an embarassment' were used to describe my demeanour. oh well it was christmas. However i did go the other friday, hoping to celebrate the gaining of their first star. Obviously they were disappointed not be awarded a star but their enthusiasm is in no way diminished. They have a lot up their sleeve for the coming year and it would have been nice to have a star to back it up and start the work on gaining the second! I think by now there will be a new menu in place, but there are some new touches to be unveiled. They have revamped the amuses. Rather than a 'cocktail' on arrival at the table and then an amuse they now do a plate of three. I believe these will change every few days i had beetroot cannelloni with oxtail, parsnip veloute with toasted oat, and baby squid and pomelo salad, A good start. i went for an old favourite the parmesan air risotto with espresso, again as good as ever, perfectly cooked soothing risotto with the hit of coffee to finish, certainly no complaints there. bread was next the usual three butters & oil. for my main i had john dory with baby squid and garlic cream. Having had the squid and cream as part of past tasting menus that was what tipped the balance (and obviously with champ sauvage the next day i had to have a light lunch!). Fish came neatly cut into diamonds, cooked nicely 'a point' with baby squids on little skewers, there was definitely beetroot there too, and the garlic sauce, poured at the table hit the spot. unfortunately there was no time for deserts and i would have been happy to linger as anthonys beer supplier was hosting a lunch for the head brewer of brooklyn beer, so i was quite happy listening to his tales of beer & food matching, certainly an area worth investigating, i was also very envious of their matched beer n food tasting menu too! i'm looking forward to sampling the new menu in a few weeks time......

the black pudding was very popular, unfortunately we ran out of eggs to poach but luckily being in the sticks we managed to get 60 from our neighbour. We might not have a shop for miles but produce we can usually get hold of! i had the mushrooms, the garlic butter was obviously pretty potent as mrs m was complaining about it later, the beef and then apple & rhubarb crumble.mmm

well we finally made it to LCS on saturday, and it was well worth the wait and 6 hour round trip on virgin trains, which remarkably ran on time (so much so i was back in time to do some work on saturday night ) I'll write it up in more detail later as the spectre of monday morning and 6.30 am start looms large but just to say if you've read the (many) glowing reviews and think it sounds like 'your sort of place' then i would suggest it almost certainly is. That was certainly my feeling. David Everitt-Mathias's cooking is exemplary and for a 2 star restaurant it is remarkable value, especially the wine list, i thought ours was good value but considering what comparable places charge it really is a foodies joy, the wines recommended to us by Helen were all in the low £20's, and very good, and she certainly knew the menu inside out and what would complement the cooking. David very kindly offered to cook for us, and forewarned us it wasn't going to be small portions, what better news could you get just before lunch? this is what we had, a mixture of ALC & some new things.... Foie gras royale, choucroute foam Chestnut veloute,bay boletus froth Seared scallop,cauliflower puree, cumin sauce, ras el hanout caramel Roasted langoustine, cocks kidneys,langoustine tortelloni. Parsley root puree,warm langoustine jelly,lanoustine sauce. Canelloni of veal breast and burdock, celeriac, horseraddish sauce Smoked ox tongue on compote of cocks combs and cepes, sweetbread with cocoa grue and lapsang souchong. Wood pigeon, date puree, black olive goats cheese emulsion. Perlagonium custard, lychee granitee. Lemon and pine kernal parfait, fromage blanc and black pepper sorbet Chocolate and salted caramel delice, malted milk ice cream Petit fours it seems harsh to pick favourites from the menu but things that stick in my mind include a huge perfectly cooked scallop & spicy caramel, the ox tongue & giant sweetbread, the goats cheese emulsion, and the salted caramel (like a giant rolo sam decided!). And let's not forget the perfect gougeres to accompany our champagne, and the excellent house bread that we had to hold off eating to leave plenty of room (mmmm bacon & shallot bread!). so all in all a great lunch, it's only 5 minutes from cheltenham station so it's easy to get to and just the sort of place anyone with a love of food & wine should be supporting, here's to the next 18 years of LCS!

and today (sunday) i even managed to have lunch myself, the sauteed mushrooms,then roast beef, followed naturally by apple & rhubarb crumble (first of the season!). So far january has been very busy, hopefully it will continue! Starters Cream Of Parsnip & Roasted Vegetable Soup £3.95 Mrs Kirkham’s Lancashire Cheese Hash Brown, Cider Reduction £5.50 Saute Of Wild Mushrooms On A Toasted Crumpet, Garlic Butter, Blue Cheese Beignet £5.50 Potted Local Game Terrine, Grilled Plums, Mulled Wine Syrup, Warm Toast £5.00 Grilled Blacksmith’s Inn Own Recipe Black Pudding, Air Dried Ham, Toasted Muffin, Poached Egg, Plum Tomato Sauce £5.00 Main Courses Roast 21 Day Aged Fletcher’s Of Norton Sirloin Of Beef, Yorkshire Pudding, Red Wine Gravy £9.95 Roast Fletcher’s Free Range Loin Of Pork, Apple Compote, Black Pudding £9.95 Braised Shoulder Of Lamb, Root Vegetable Pan Haggerty, Pearl Barley & Rosemary Juices £10.95 Blacksmith’s Inn Fishcakes, Wilted Spinach, Plum Tomato & Chive Cream Sauce £9.95 Pan Roasted Local Pigeon, Parsnip & Apple Rosti, Black Pudding Faggot, Beetroot & Lemon Thyme £10.95 desserts First Of The Season Rhubarb, & Cox’s Apple Crumble ‘Proper’ Custard £5.00 Blacksmiths Inn ‘Eccles Cake’ Caramelised Puff Pastry, Spiced Cream, Oven Dried Raisins £5.50 Glazed Fresh Lemon Tart, Lemon Curd & Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream, Blood Orange Coulis £5.50 Dark Chocolate Pudding, Black Cherry Ice Cream, Dark Chocolate Sauce £5.00 Sticky Toffee Pudding, Dark Muscovado Sauce, Clotted Cream £5.00 Yorkshire Blue Cheese, Stem Ginger, Celery, Wafers £5.00

glad to see slacker, despite the fug of alcohol reminded me we didn't have nuits st georges, we had giradin santenay instead! whilst i was working my way back from a very enjoyable lunch at le champignon sauvage our guests were feasting upon... Starters Cream of Celeriac and Roasted Pear Soup, Home Made Bread £3.95 ‘Mrs Kirkhams’ Lancashire Cheese Hash Brown, £5.50 Bramley Apple Puree, Cider Reduction Nobles of Whitby Oak Smoked Salmon, Toasted Muffin, £6.50 Cucumber Pickle, Shrimp and Caper Vinaigrette Potted Local Game, Grilled Plums, Mulled Wine Syrup, Warm Toast £5.00 Grilled ‘Blacksmiths’ Black Pudding, Champ Mash, £5.50 Poached Free Range Egg, Tarragon Hollandaise Main Courses Bradley’s Of Staxton 21 Day Aged Sirloin Steak, £18.50 Béarnaise Sauce, Triple Cooked Chips Pot Roasted Local Pigeon, Root Vegetable Pan Haggerty, £13.50 Crispy Parma Ham, Beetroot and Lemon Thyme Juices Ryedale Venison Haunch Steak, Parsnip and Apple Rosti, £16.50 Black Pudding Faggot, Pearl Barley and Tarragon Seared Salmon, Wilted Spinach, Mini Lobster Thermidor, £16.50 Melting Potted Shrimps Pan Roasted Fillet of Cod, Curly Kale, Jerusalem Artichokes, £13.50 Dry Cured Bacon, Plum Tomato and Chive Fish Cream we've got our butcher making us our own recipe black pudding with sweetbreads and coarse ground sausages too.

funnily enough in the short time i've been an owner i find the basil fawlty mindset a very easy one to slip into