Gary Marshall

the bone marrow and parsley salad i suppose is their most famous dish. the phrase 'try everything once' springs to mind though.

i don't think things will change that perceptibly on the food front. i get the impression robbie thompson has had a lot of input into the menu and has been head chef for some time now. If the new owners want to keep the standards and go for 3 * then the old adage 'if it 'aint broke, don't fix it' hopefully applies. last time it was 'sold' though (about 2 years ago) bookings went through the roof!

i think germain is hanging around in a consultancy position for a while too.

i have been many times, a truely individual restaurant run impeccably by the schwabs, a real chef's chef if ever there was one. being nearby i have heard various tales of who it had been sold to and i am relieved the new owners are committed to carrying on the high standards set by annie and germain. germain is one of the last of the 'old school' that was interested only in his restaurant and being there for every service. To me it is a text book example of how a 2/3 star should be run, i have not had better service in the UK. by all accounts robbie thompson is an exceptional talent and can carry the restaurant, when an earlier sale was proposed that was a major sticking point, no chef was willing to fill germain's shoes. hopefully i'll see a bit more of them in my local when they retire, my mate loves the extra pressure of cooking for a 2* chef!

missed that, sky + full of a weeks worth of tour de france but that line sums up top gear, the best programme on tv at the moment by a long stretch. Also deleted a lot of best dish in the world (?) that didn't look too bad but being on friday night i always had pressing meeting with the publican to fit in and never seemed to get around to watching!

as my wife discovered on an early trip to france, bursting into tears in charles barrier in tours saying 'I just can't eat any more'. we cut a day off the holiday and returned home, where i promptly went to winteringham fields for lunch. That's the difference between amateurs and professionals!

let me guess, it wasn't the best meal in the world? ← You guys are depressing me. We've wanted to go to the Fat Duck since it first opened and never got there. Rather late to jump on the train, husband just booked a meal for my birthday, which took some doing since we waited until it was named "best in the world" to go and now after reading all of this I'm just not so excited any more. Maybe we should just save our money but after waiting so long.... ← i'd never tell anyone not to go. i agree in essence with dirk, a lot depends on why you go out to eat, for sustenance? for the wine? eat delicous food? eat 'clever' food? the atmosphere? to 'collect' 3 stars? to be at the 'in' place? all seem valid enough reasons to visit a restaurant the fat duck will certainly tick several of those boxes and i am certain after you've been you'll have a view, you'll love it or hate it. but at least you'll know!

let me guess, it wasn't the best meal in the world?

what is it now? eight UK restaurants? 6 -odd michelin stars? dubai, Japan, and a few million a year profit for ramsay holdings? that would suggest he's not a bad restaurant entrepreneur . he wasn't suggesting it become 'me too' he was suggesting that they needed to cut prices to get people through the door, see how great it was again and regain the regular clientele to spread the word, once you've got the regulars incremental price rises are easy to adopt, which is exactly what he said they should do. he wanted to keep the owner out of the kitchen (where he was cheffing and doing FOH) and concentrate on, yes selling the wine. if you have a struggling restaurant, regardless of legacy you need customers.

i don't think either of them were mentioned

yes, i still got the impression that they were clinging on financially and just couldn't/wouldn't take the gamble that more punters eating lower priced food might equal more profit than fewer eating expensive. also that dining room looked shocking, no character/atmosphere. no-one seemed to be controlling the chefs ingredient costs, why use 3 large, no doubt diver caught, scallops - because the chef likes to cook with fine ingredients! no doubt it will be for sale soon.

i've always eaten well at jardin des ramparts, and it would be top on my list again when i head back to beaune. Most of the restaurants in beaune are very traditional (not necessarily a bad thing) but this is quite modern in a lovely old building. ciboulette is nice for casual dining, and i too have heard good things about the hostellerie du levernois.

DO we know? C4 are advertising for places wanting to be on the third series. ← from memory they didn't last very long and i don't think either of them are cooking professionally any more.

yes, the comments at the end were the most interesting part. funny gord didn't mention how they got on in his restaurants did he

agreed. the mid re-cap re-cap was particularly irritating, looks like more of the same next week....

he sounded more confident when i booked for dinner on the 6th!

whatever you may think of dirk's view on MG, his explantion of the lack of MG in london sounds pretty coherent to me.

FFS it's 23 degrees outside and i really should be out on my bike! whether Matt had them as 'his' dishes is irrelevant. He's tasted them and chosen to pick them out and use them to put forward his argument that anthonys is 'no different to dozens' of others and 'not worth the trip'. my point is that's unfair, it gave the impression to me on first read that anthonys are serving a dull starter and desert on an a la carte menu, which has been pointed out to be expensive eg 'Given the prices tha they are now charging it is only fair to compare it to a lot of London restaurants' and that is misleading, it might be a small point but nevertheless i think it should be made. you may disagree, think i'm too close to the restaurant or whatever. But having eaten similar dishes a few days earlier (and not being knocked over by the salt cod either) including the cocktail amuse, pre-starter, the bread with 3 butters (all unmentioned in the review) i thought matt's verdict on the food was overly harsh and certainly his conclusion unjustified. going out on my bike now!

it is, and I know the frustration when you travel a long way and don't get what you expect, and i know matt knows his food and his opinion will be taken seriously so it's only fair to point out where i think he's been a bit over zealous when i read the review i first thought the dishes were all ALC and fair game, but when i discovered they weren't, i only think it fair to point out that two of the dishes used to illustrate the uninspiring menu were simple lunch dishes, made to a price point not a specification i imagine. likewise i think it harsh to claim it is 'no different to dozens of restaurants' when it quite patently is. most UK restaurants at this level have their roots in classical french cusine and Anthony's doesn't, they're spanish. So you should eat something here that you won't get anywhere else in the UK, that's what makes it special and why it is worth making the trip.

from the anthonys LUNCH menu on the website Braised Beef Rib Ravioli Carrot Puree Potato Veloute Salt Cod ~0~ Pan Fried Bream Crushed Jersey Royals Roast Quail Cassoulet of Beans ~0~ Rice Pudding Poached Apricot Selection of Local and British Cheeses 0~ Coffee and Petit Fours £2.95 2 Courses £18.95. 3 courses £22.95 apology accepted. edit: for the record, the A LA CARTE Roast Langoustines Roast Water Melon, Horchata £11.50 Risotto of White Onion Espresso, Parmesan Air £7.25 Squid and Jabugo Ham Crumble Jersey royals £11.50 Braised Pigs Cheek Maws and Lung £8.50 ~0~ Whole Roast Squab Artichoke, Peanut and Cocoa Reduction £24.50 Salt Cod Fern Asparagus, Roast Chicken Jus £22.95 Roast Monkfish Fresh Crab, Avocado Mousse £23.50 New Season Lamb Quinoa, Fresh Mangosteen £25.00 Sweet Cucumber Cannelloni Cream Cheese Mousse £6.45 Lemon Chiboust Barley Ice Cream, Sumac Caramel £6.45 Journey of Chocolate £12.95 Selection of Local and British Cheeses Five Cheeses £ 8.00 Seven Cheeses £ 11.00 ~0~ Coffee and Petit Fours £2.95

bit harsh to have 2 courses off the set lunch and then complain that food is dumbed down and expensive no? didn't you have any interesting cocktail amuses / pre starters that were unlike anything available elsewhere? i continue to wrack my brains for any london restaurants that would have the balls to put pigs lungs and chicken hearts on the menu, never mind jambugo and squid, horchata, roast water melon, parmesan air, mangosteens & sweet cucumber cannelloni for example on any menu. the menu is changing frequently too, the squab dish you had wasn't on the menu when i went 3 days previously. I'd rather have a regularly changing menu and risk a few 'misses' than them simply turn out favourites for months on end.

sounds a lot like atelier robuchon, not suprising as atherton worked there for a couple of weeks on his grand tour picking up ideas. as i've heard good things about athertons cooking i'd like to go, but do find much of the ramsay empire cooking to be very similar.

and next week they return to the glasshouse.....

derek brown didn't go for the simpler dishes on the menu, he went for the lamb which had about 10 components to it including about 3 herb garnishes. at the end they brought out the chef to meet mr brown and he told him that in his opinion he needed to guess what - simplify the cuisine. chef didn't say much but it appears after 2 inspectors and one 3 star chef told him to simplify his food he got the message reckoned he was very near to star level cooking though. gordon revisited the restaurant at the end and it looked very smart, almost ramsay-esque i thought! cheers gary

i thought that was a good 'un too.