Gary Marshall

i went just after it opened in all the pre-opening blurb ramsay kept going on about his fab burger. i went specifically to have burger. guess what? no burger! at the time it was supposed to be 'competition' for the ivy but i found it much more of a full service restaurant than a casual dining experience. had the lobster and chips in the end, which was fine, but just not quite what i had wanted. cheers gary

a friend has just been and reports back very favourably on le meurice. it is definitely on my list and cheap flights are making a swift trip quite appealing at the moment gary

hey ho, another critic who really does his research. a 2 second detour to a bookshop for a quick scan of any uk restaurant guide would show that No3 york place is indeed open on mondays, so there's no reason whatsoever to go to room. giles coren loves this place, to me it epitomises all that is wrong with modern restaurants. obviously i am too old now and don't realise that a f'ing DJ is the hallmark of a good resto these day. cheers gary

whilst it might help the staff it does also provide a bit of atmosphere too, no? i can't remember much of the old box tree, it was '97 when i went so, i'm glad you approve of the changes! cheers gary

think he's busy enough just keeping up with bookings at the moment, but they are aware of this thread and egullet. cheers gary

yes, that's exactly what it is. gary

First the news... straight into the good food guide with 7/10 yorkshire life restaurant of the year ( Last years winner No 3, so they have good taste) regional winner in the restaurant remy's with the final still to come michelin is going to look very out of touch if they don't recognise them too.... and today's lunch..... apparently m roux from le gavroche is in restaurant mag boasting he's the only in london with snipe. Pah! London? schm-ondon Tony's got it, utilised as a starter with the pickled garlic ravioli, which if you haven't had, you need to. Today i had a Japanese tea and (?) foam (that momentarily escapes me) as a palette cleanser. a pear and yeast-y little amuse in a dinky bowl a taste of the homemade black pudding, salmon cheeks and mango starter. (outstanding black pud, they should start serving breakfast, they have the best sliced bread in leeds, with tony's love of pork i'm sure he could home cure some bacon and rustle up a few sausages too!). bread was loaf with parmesan. starter was red mullet, a crispy pan fried rectangle thereof, with langoustines wrapped arond duck fat confit'd potatoes in a bowl with a 'milk' made of tiger beans (apparently a spanish beverage), was very delicate and v good. main course was grouse, i was torn between a new dish of roasted and carpaccio vension with foie but went for the seasonal grouse option, since that's what i had on my mind when i went in. The grouse was served with sweetcorn quenelles together with kikos quenelles with sliced figs on top. the grouse was roasted but still rare and there was a super gamey reduction that was the dogs accompanying it. if you haven't been yet, why not? leeds is hardly the end of the universe. gary

ok so they're not foodies, but they want to spend £90 a head ? and they're prepared to wait, what a month for a table? because they saw it on richard and judy? hmmmm.

i think it's unlikely any known chef would want to step into shaun's 'big' shoes. there was a similar problem with with winteringham fields, no one was brave enough to risk their reputation and the chance of losing germain schwab's 2 stars. i suspect it will be the same issue here, that and the fact that £3/4m is a lot to find! cheers gary

from memory delaunay is the restaurant my friends (who told me about duchesse anne) go to when not in DA, they go every summer, usually culminating in multiple trips to DA. just remembered, actually when they were there this summer also dining was M. Vrinat, owner of 3* taillevent in paris. They recognised him as we celebrated my friends 40th there last november. the owner confirmed it and said he is a regular visitor, 6 times a year as he has a house nearby, they return the favour with an annual visit to taillevent. don't expect gourmet tasting menus but if you love the classic brasserie you'll like it, the steak bearnaise is, well i can't recall a better one the meat was just so, mmmmmm salty gary

if you're still in lyon it's quite a trek, even on the autoroute. viamichelin suggest about 7 1/2 hours! enjoy! gary

well i'm jealous ! i sent some friends there the other week and they loved it , i hope you do too. despite bricourt not being open there is a lovely parade of simple oyster/moules bars along the seafront in cancale, next to the oyster beds. it is well worth a visit for some oysters and muscadet and a pleasant stroll gary

it was a while since i went but i would concur with scott's thoughts. likewise i wasn't blown away by tom aikens, though it was in its first days when i went. cheers gary

sorry, can't help you there. don't 'ave 'em in yarkshire. if you want a dedicated carnivorous companion, give me a bell cheers gary

A quiet night in on Saturday saw me raring to go for a trip to the Box Tree on Sunday. It's amazing how much time you release by being full of beans at 8.30am rather than neurofen on a sunday morning! A simpler-than-it-sounds car and two trains got me to Ilkley in plenty of time for my 1pm reservation. (Ilkley is about 1/2 an hour from leeds station, trains run once every hour) The restaurant is easy to find being on the main road through Ilkley and once inside the miserable sunday weather was quickly forgotten. The interior has been completely re-furbished, re-upholstered and re-painted nothing jars, everything looks like it has been there for years, which in most cases it has. It's just had a face lift. And immediately it is a very welcoming space, both guellers, simon and rena, appear captivated by the place and think they are lucky to have it , they are right. It has a certain magic, somehow the atmosphere of thousands of dinners over the years are soaked in the walls. That's just the walls, the plaster ceilings are another delight and you've not even had a drink or anything to eat yet! So i settled in with a glass of champagne and had a quick tour of the new dining areas. To regulars the layout is pretty much the same, a bar area with low level arm chairs and antiques, the middle room split in two with a large range fireplace separating and the main dining room at the end. Upstairs is the traditional coffee lounge and the not-quite-finished private dining room. In a marked departure from their usual menu and the box tree's traditional offering, the sunday menu is a bit more relaxed and casual. It offers 3 choices for each course, from memory; a pumpkin soup with parmesan crouton, chicken mosaic and seared scallops with beurre noissette, celeriac puree and fried lovage as a garnish. I think you can guess which one i had the scallops were decent sized and each were seasoned lightly with a few grains of salt, the celeriac was pureed to an inch of its life and almost double cream consistency. And it looked great, simon's plating has always been very clear and precise. On the mains were roast pork, roast beef with yorkshire pud and jus roti and john dory with beurre blanc. Can you guess what i had? Now that is a difficult one because all 3 are personal favourites If it wasn't for the fact that a quiet night on saturday found me clear of head and palette on sunday it would certainly have been a soothing hangover clearing roast, but my love of butter, (second only to my love of salt) won the day. That and the thought of a nice bottle of chardy that would go with the scallops too made the decision. It arrived in a plate-y bowl with two decent fillets of dory on a melange of perfectly prepared veg. Very few people treat veg with this sort of respect nowadays. Each potato was barrel turned, each head of asparagus had the bottom centimetre trimmed and the thicker stem was trimmed at both ends. The fine beans, well, there's not a lot you can do with them. But you can glaze them with butter, which they did, and there's not much you can do with carrots, but you can julienne them into perfect rectangles. Which they did. Stick a slick of lovely beurre blanc in the bottom and you have a classic dish. As my american friends would say... it rocked! It's not new news that i'm a greedy git and with 'nowt better to do than spend the afternoon marinating myself, i added a cheese course to the set 3 courses (£18 for 2 £25 for 3 i think). The cheese was pre-plated selection on a stone/granite plate with grapes and walnut bread. It was a generous selction of a salty yorkshire blue, wensleydale a smoked cheddar and some others that escape me, about 6 in total. A glass of, i'm going to say barbera, italian red stood up well to this. I should have ordered a bottle as at this point my friend turned up. He had hoped to join me for lunch, but as his wife was away he had the kids for the weekend and babysitters were not forthcoming. If you were in the box tree on sunday, apologies if we disturbed you, i think they may have been the youngest guests in the restaurant ever at 2 and 5 but a supply of grapes and ice cream kept them reasonably contented whilst pete and myself worked our way through another couple of glasses of red before mounting our assault on the desert list. I had already ordered the white chocolate and gingerbread cannelloni and pete had a souffle. The Cannelloni was very much like my childhood fave of brandy snaps and very more-ish, the souffle looked good but between pete and his kids i didn't get a look in so can't comment on that! Coffee and Petit fours followed the p4's little macaroony type thingies. I scoffed a lot of these. With regards to the wine they have bought the old box tree cellar which is pretty impressive in its scope. They have tried to rationalise it from i think over 800 bins down to a more manageable level but it still runs to over 400 names. I picked a 1993 olivier leflaive bourgogne Les Setilles at £34.30. It was a bit cold to start with but out of the ice and in the glass for a while it opened up, a nice drop. Simon gave me a tour of the kitchen, it looks very smart with a bank of induction hobs, which appear to work by witchcraft. together with some new toys such as water baths and low temperature ovens (for resting meat). Although Simon and Rena have been out of the restaurant scene for 2 years they show no sign of being ring rusty, if anything they have come back brighter than ever, full of enthusiasm and with a restaurant that really suits their cooking and where they are personally. It's been hard work to get the box tree up and runnning with several 5am finishes for the brigade, but on sunday's form it was well worth it. I look forward to a full attack on the a la carte sooner rather than later...... highly recommended. www.theboxtree.co.uk (not quite up yet) 01943 608484 gary

? i thought bapi was there? hope he managed a drinkable bottle of red this time, he has form gary

you might want to check the date on the original post there marlena cheers gary

Wine was the 1989 Chateau Musar as recommended by someone who eats here only rarely . It was good but I agree it kicks off serious sediment - the last glass had to be left half drunk . Many have mentioned the portion sizes and I certainly don't think they were small but I was only in physical pain because I went for the assiete of desserts. Its do-able comfortably normally. Seasoning was nearly all spot on too. A good meal then and at £170 for two possibly slightly more than Anthony's. A's remains my favourite for the moment though. ←

Rena said they'd been suprised by the number of people who had asked about lunch so it is not fixed in stone, they thought the demand wasn't there and in the early days doesn't put pressure on the kitchen. they still have the outside catering business, they could come to you once a week cheers gary

well the contrasting views haven't put me off, i'm heading there in late november. Obviously i shall mention my great mate matt and expect nothing but the best that they have to offer cheers gary

well, mrs marshall has revision to do and the choice was go to the box tree or accept the invite from mrs marshall senior for lunch, so i'm going on sunday! had pleasant chat with Rena Gueller, it sounds like the refurbishment has been a much bigger job that expected but they have tried to stay true to the identity and history of the box tree so expect a sympathetic update. they were hoping i think to open quietly and get the place running smoothly but demand has been very strong so far. they seem acutely aware of the heritage of the box tree and the chance finally put some cooking that is worthy of the restaurant was too big an opportunity to pass up. If the food is anything like rascasse/guellers then i think it will sit well in the surroundings, although they too are fans of Anthony's, i expect the food to be more at the 'haute comfort food' end of the spectrum. Which is fine by me. the 'no lunch' policy may be re-visited if there is demand, there wasn't under the 'old' regime, it also takes the pressure off the brigade but may change in the future. hopefully the website will be back up and running shortly. gary

'Wareing was not surprised at the restaurant's success and said he would have questioned the decision if Pétrus had not achieved the maximum five rosettes.' very confident isn't he? i loved original petrus, haven't tried the new one but have heard little but mediocre reviews about it since it opened and it appears to have drifted off the radar, oh and did you hear the one about the bottle of.... not suprised at all about le gavroche, a shame but it seems they exist to serve a core clientele of regulars rather than michelin groupie foodies. Their choice obviously, but don't think the cooking is in the same class as say hibiscus or winteringham fields. hibiscus to get 3 stars campaign starts here! gary

No, there was no chutney. It would have made a good addition. We had celery, grape and whole red pepper corns in a sort of salsa. It didn't really do a lot for me I have to be honest. The more I think about it the more I am convinced that the bread was totally wrong. Have you been to the Box Tree yet? R ←

i was nearly tempted into set lunch by the corned beef hash! another nice touch, they had a dish of the day each day of the week, when i went it was braised beef and mashed potato. cheers gary