Gary Marshall

(And Gary - no more mango with salmon cheeks, rhubarb with suckling pig, sweetbreads and mangoustines...?) ← haha good point ! cheers gary

Fruit features in a total of 5 of the 11 starters on the a la carte menu I ate from. As well as the rabbit and lobster, king prawn cocktail with avocado salsa came with pink grapefruit; chicken liver and foie gras parfait was served with pear and apple chutney and cured venison came with apple carpaccio. The set menu featured carrot, almond and orange soup, and the apple and pear chutney made a re-appearance with a duck salad. ← think it was one of nico ladenis's core thoughts that fruit with savory dishes should be avoided. I agree. though i'd feel compelled to order the rabbit tarte tatin out of interest!

well it did cross my mind it was a long way from le gavroche!

having checked a map i can see why i've not heard of it! it's more north east from where i am (east of york) near middlesborough. You are though near a main road (A1) that will quickly get you to the star! i haven't personally tried many other places in that region but there are several long established places that i'm sure would be good, i'll find you the names. a nice place to stay is helmsley which is a market town with some character accomodation, 2 miles from the star . cheers gary

i've never heard of it paula, let me go and check a map! cheers gary

friends recommend 'trenchers' near the station in whitby, not as picturesque as the magpie but fish n chips are apparently v good, it has just been bought by the company that own the crab and lobster and it is now open all year round. It would be good to have a decent alternative to the magpie. i never go unless out of season and am still baffled by the queues outside the magpie in all weathers! Such is the power of continual rick stein recommendations. Their fish and chips are fine but not worth a long wait imho. Also if you are a driving fan, the road from pickering to whitby is particularly good for a blast, lots of car magazines use it for testing and photo's. Glad to hear you enjoyed the star i nearly always have a risotto there and the black pudding/foie is one of andrews signature dishes (oh, how i hate that term) it's always on. cheers gary

me too.

i think you need to go to hibiscus in ludlow for the ultimate foie gras ice cream.

in the telegraph today too, from information revealed under the freedom of information act.

is it may the first or april the first ? what you need to think about is that many people love wine as much as food, if not more. as you don't drink much the pleasure that to me is very obvious of a meal with champagne, white wine , red wine, desert wine and digestifs will never compute for you. much as i don't smoke so can't see the point of it at any time, and i never will. cheers gary

err, i agree with matt and andy, gareth. cheers gary

you read it here. i think it is good advice. no, it doesn't make a difference, but might avoid expensive disappointments, nervousness over formal service etc. no, you don't need to know your bordeaux's from your clarets but you're paying for the cellar and not likely to be able to take advantage of it. so i can't tell if a piece of fish is over or under cooked unless i've had it before? interesting. agreed, if that's what you want to do and exactly what i and others said, but there may be a better way. gary ps if only i could multi quote i could be much more argumentative haha!

problem is that people aren't voting on cooking skills, they are voting on personalities. simple simon should have been first out of the door but as he is a 'character' he's still there. cheers gary

yes, much better to let them know, i'm sure they'll be able to help. cheers gary

i thought the same, i thought the science came first, not the combinations. i'm suprised that anyone would put the combinations together on a trial and error basis, i wonder where the inspiration came from? cheers gary

have the same at anthony's too, i call it attention to detail. cheers gary

Its always polarised opinion, i went full of excitement, i can see exactly where heston is coming from but found it interesting scientifically but poor delicousness wise, which at the end of the day is why i go out. i found the contrasts left me with a sensation akin to travel sickness. try the blog www.gastroville.com for an interesting view on the fat duck from someone i believe has better tastebuds than most! cheers gary

why you no read! obviously i only go when i'm on the chefs table mind! it is indicative of the ramsay style is what i'm saying, not that it's the best one star in town.

and don't forget hibiscus foie gras ice cream! I agree with matt about working up, and another factor to bear in mind is that, despite what michelin tell us, 3* are not all about the food, in my experience. so you are paying for that 2 inch wine list stuffed with the finest vintages but if you're not drinking them, you'd be better off somewhere else that is really focussing on the food, same with the service where you're not going to notice what you're paying for such as constant attention, and i'm not taking the p*ss - but things like sauce spoons and riedels, sommeliers etc. from my experience which was 1 stars in france, then UK, then 2* winteringham fields to a hell of a disappointment at 3* boyer les crayeres in reims i say work your way up, and also that don't expect a 3* to be the complete epiphany of dining as i've had more memorable meals in lower ranked restaurants than i've ever had in 3*. (however i've not been to pierre gagnaire yet and that's probably the excpetion!). if you want to jump straight in, it's your money and i'm sure you'll enjoy it but you'd find something like claridges would give a feel for what the experience is about without making such a dent (that's assuming you want to try the ramsay experience). cheers gary

hi adam thanks for the added info, the garfish was boned. i remember tony saying the mangosteens were very expensive and didn't yield much out of a fruit, but they were very good. cheers gary

So saturday morning appeared and with it the thought that curry and bed at 1.30pm probably wasn't the best preparation for a full-on day out at Anthonys, but with thoughts of going to the farmers market before catching the train to leeds put off, an extra half hour in bed ensued and i was soon on the way to leeds. By 11.40 we were in the 'scabby taps' and Simon did the decent thing and got the beers in, though not being a conossieur of the amber nectar, thinking they were all the same ordered a pint of stella. Forget hogs lungs, getting that down was the biggest challenge of the day! soon bapi and rosie arrived and the rest decamped from a seemingly jacquesson 728 fuelled GNER and we shot round the corner to Anthony's. With a couple of bottles of Champagne ordered and Yin introduced to the rogues gallery we left the bar (now nicely refurbed with big sofa's that easily swallowed up our large group) and headed down to the restaurant. First up the welcoming cocktail APPLE, BLACK CARDAMON, DARK RUM the rum was in a foam ontop of the apple and cardomon juice, quite a leathery finish to it. JACKETLESS POTATOES were next, and greeted with incredulility from many 'how on earth does he make those' being the common thought. For the record they are still fine doughs encasing smooth pomme, i think everyone could have dispatched a handful without difficulty. MONKFISH LIVER PARFAIT, BISCOTTI, CAULIFLOWER TRIFLE . The monkfish liver parfait was original devised for a visit by pierre koffman and was smooth as you like, a light macadamia nut shaving on top. For me the cauliflower was the stand out. The first mouthful intensly cauliflowery and salty, with a balancing grape jelly in the bottom. whatever way you eat it, it's a bloody good dish. PIGS CHEEK, HOG MAWS, STUFFED HOG LUNG. Another one to strike off the list of bizzare body parts i've scoffed! The cheek, a nicley braised chunk, the maws apparently similar to pork belly but further round the back in crispy strips and the hog lung a six inch tube filled with pomme that bapi i think would have eaten for ever. Once we'd discovered it was much easier to eat with a knife than a spoon it went down well. MARINATED ESCABECHE OF GARFISH, ICE LEAF. Hands up who's heard of garfish? not me! Tony is adept at scouring leeds market for gems. And believe me there's a lot of coal to sift through in leeds market before you find the diamonds but the suppliers are cottoning on that he'll have a go with anything unusual so are starting to come up with the goods. Garfish are like mackeral but with a longer 'nose' escabeshing it worked well (it's a cure of sorts) and there were plenty of interesting leaves with it too such as the ice leaves and shiso which were a first for many. DUCK NECK, DEEP FRIED DUCK EGG YOLK I suspect for most the dish of the day. Not two weeks ago this was a completely different dish, now it's a neck stuffed with its own liver with a poached and deep fried egg, with a passion fruit sauce. Quite sublime, just all complementing each other nicely. PAN FRIED TURBOT, SMOKED EEL. FOIE GRAS TERRINE. A chunk of turbot with a puree and a yoghurt sauce to accompany the small terrine that was highly flavoured. LAMB, MANGOUSTINE. SWEETBREADS. I've had lamb before, i've had sweetsbreads before but i've never to my knowledge had mangoustines! i think this was another leeds market find, a tiny fruit that didn't look unlike the pieces of sweetbread and accompanied with small pickled onions too if memory serves. The lamb was cooked in the 55 degree oven again for about 4 hours. CHEESE was taken at this point 7 i think english cheeses with the pickled celery, mini bread and home made biscuits. Slacker suggested calvados to accompany cheese so we did, always keen to find another way to work calva into my eating habits! I'm not sure if this is a cornish practice, french or the product of slacker's fevered imagination! SWEET CUCUMBER CANNELLONI with muscovado sugar, which reminded me of the licorice in sherbert fountains i had as a kid. one day i will remember exactly what the cannelloni is stuffed with but i think it's cream cheese PINEAPPLE TATIN . I think is a really clever dish. Two items that just shouldn't work but do. I noticed the pineapple was thicker this time which made the contrast more obvious this divided the table but i think it's one of their great dishes. soon it was time to head upstairs to the bar for the usual coffee/calva/raspberry beer/grappa session and judging by the smoke a who can smoke the most competition! With 11 of us in a small restaurant there was always someone to have a chat to, so it was good chance to catch up with everyone, tony was prised out of kitchen for a 'meet and greet' and a discussion on bread making lead to a quick lesson from tony, and me leaving with a bag of fermenting rasins to start a leaven with! a great day out, though wallet and liver will need a little rest before the next trip! cheers gary

Well spotted. She is obviously the Edwina substitute, and Stein is the Al Murray type and Sam is the Abby character etc etc. ← indeed the sun today has lined them all up with their celebrity counterparts. and shock horror, useless simon is acually an actor. cheers gary

my geography might be askew but isn't staffordshire not too far from ludlow? even with the closure of the merchant house there's several good places in the area, the top being 2* hibiscus but there's mr underhill's with a star (but a no choice menu) or dinham hall/ overton grange. the 1 star pub the stag at titley not too far away. try www.viamichelin.co.uk it might bring up a few places you weren't aware of. or alternatively get to paris, and learn at the feet of the masters! cheers gary

the official menu... Saturday 16th April 2005 APPLE, BLACK CARDAMON, DARK RUM JACKETLESS POTATOES MONKFISH LIVER PARFAIT, BISCOTTI CAULIFLOWER TRIFFLE PIGS CHEEK, HOG MAWS, STUFFED HOG LUNG MARINATED ESCABECHE OF GARFISH, ICE LEAF DUCK NECK, DEEP FRIED DUCK EGG YOLK PAN FRIED TURBOT, SMOKED EEL. FOIE GRAS TERRINE LAMB, MANGOUSTINE. SWEETBREADS SWEET CUCUMBER CANNELLONI PINEAPPLE TATIN P 4’S if only hell's kitchen wasn't on i'd have time to write it all up cheers gary

it means the front leg rather than the rear one, if he's in a bad mood - you don't get it! it used to be on his menu, sounds better in french as do most menus! short odds on squeamish shaving and stuffing of said trotter at some point. edit: just read the menus, JC definitely sounds better, i can see the discrepancy in orders now.