Gary Marshall

I know 3 york place very well. It differs very little from when simon gueller was cooking. Martel Smith is a gueller/mpw/star at harome protege so has taken a lot of that style, well certainly the mpw-ness. i have written up my dinners there before i'll try and find them, coincidentally a certain andy lynes was there last week so when he gets his finger out and writes up his report you'll get a good feel for what they're up to at the moment i've been a couple of times recently for the set lunch which is good value at £14.95. although i am biased as they are mates of mine i'd still say its the best for fine dining in leeds, they know their stuff and denis the maitre d'/sommelier is very knowledgable, he'll certainly find you something of interest on the wine list. web site is usually updated promptly www.no3yorkplace.co.uk Elsewhere for brasserie/more informal there's 'la grillade' a french bistro which is the main business hangout, or in a similar vein 'sous le nez', a bit fancier but very good wine list and more seafood. Both in the city centre near the station, in fact they're all within 5 mins of each other. along with number 3 they're the main place for business dining. if you want any more specific info let me know.... cheers gary ps certainly one of my reviews is under 'guellers' oct 2002

That said, if someone out there is confident that althogh Smeg is the 'name' brand real home-chefs use Brand X then I could also delight in the snob value of the unexpected choice (that's why I have Wusthofs when all my vacuous loft-living friends have barely-used Globals in their knife-blocks). well now you're slagging off global's you can get lost (first my car choice, then my knife choice what next?) gary

morning thom i've got the cheaper of the smeg ranges, think it was about £800, got 5 burners incl a central wok one, and a single large gas oven. i've had 5 years cooking daily out of it without trouble, oven might not be very good for low temperature work as it does heat up very quickly and needs a separate internal thermometer to keep a check on it, but other than that no problems. looks the part with a stainless splash back and big chimney hood, my chef mate likes cooking on it too, i'd certainly buy another one unless i was prepared to spend a lot more. gary

try searching www.viamichelin.com it's the guide on-line under restaurants and you can search for 3 stars in an area eg paris

i had call from my friend last night who has eaten here for the last three days, thinks it is brilliant and is very grateful for the rec, apparently on sunday they shared the place with ex-james bond roger moore too! he was at la reserve last night but thought it would have a lot to live up to..... gary

True to my word, a swiftly arranged london trip saw me, after a lost taxi tour round some of the east-ends less salubrious spots, arrive at the Good Samaritan in time to meet Bapi. Considering I’d had lunch at the don and travel arrangements necessitating an early dinner I was slightly apprehensive about the challenge ahead, especially after joining in the barrage of abuse (quite rightly) aimed at bapi for being a lightweight non-curry finisher a few weeks ago. Luckily the combination of a few pints with bapi, and a shared bottle of wine post meetings sharpened my appetite I can tell you that we consumed (easily!) 6 seekh kebabs, 1 chicken tikka 2 tandoori chicken 2 masala fish 2 lamb chops (containing 3-4 chops per portion) 6 papad (oms, ) 3 batera (quails) 2 murg chana 2 dry meat 1 chick keema 2 tinda masala 7 breads 3 mango kulfi total £91.70 it looked a lot, and at first it looked like a significant doggy bag would be acompanying me on the train home but there were only a few scraps left, other than the bread which we probably did over –order The was certainly as good as I was led to believe, the nearest I know of in the north is the Mumtaz at Bradford whose best dishes do rival the NT but they don’t have anywhere near the selection. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that the currys were quite dry and comprised of highly flavoured ingredients rather than ‘meat in a sauce style’ more commonly found, I also thought the food did suit wine rather than my usual lager accompaniment. This did not stop me from encouraging others into my bad drinking habits (well it was £5 for 6 cans of 1664) but the riojas also consumed stood up well to the spicy onslaught, and the beaujolais was also no great hardship to consume either! The company was excellent, the staff friendly, food magnificent and all in all well worth getting home at midnight for as, not unexpectedly I was having such a good time I didn’t want ot rush off for the 8pm train. As for gossip from the evening I don’t feel its right for me to tell the world about the potential new TV star in our midst, over to you charlene..……. gary

dine by yourself, drink little and take a notebook. then see what good service is like! gary

i've flicked through a copy in watestones in leeds if that's any help but as i don't have kids (to my knowledge) i only gave it a cursory glance. it's more a cook with your kids book than any to to do with fat duckery from memory gary

tres bien!

and just as i'd dug out my old merchant house menu! to celebrate out new found euro friendly-ness.... huitre en nage glacee bar en ecailles grillee au epices douces pigeon poche grille petit salades les abats en millefeuille de betteraves et champignons bon chance!

i will have a think.... can't look online otherwise basildog will just google it again gary

loiseau?

is it in burgundy?

le jardin des ramparts- beaune

what sherbert? Jelly Tots? Space Dust? fir tree?

can you please do me a favour and stop telling me how good this place is, i've got serious curry envy i am definately heading here on my next trip down. gary

well here's hoping..... and bapi, i am very envious! gary

i was just thinking about rottisserie beaujolais earlier today, great little place, only closed monday. i enjoyed it a lot more than its neighbour la tour d'argent.

what tony said. I like culinary ingenuity but hibiscus remains rooted in classical french cooking, not a science lab. food certainly deserves 2 stars but i wonder if they will be held back by michelin on the non-food side of things, eg no sommelier, lack of luxury toilets? silly things, but i get the feeling they are higher than they should be on the michelin check list. as an all-round experience, food, wine, service, ambiance, value, close to perfection in my book gary

the names ring a bell but i can't place them gavin, where are they?

absolutely, spend years in education, get good job, climb the greasy pole of careerdom, to reach the pinnacle of achievment. .... Being able to waste your day writing about food and drink on a website, without anyone shouting at you to do some bloody work I was a cambridge man myself, as noted by my best man recently, i'd told him in his speech not to worry about 'the truth getting in the way of a good story' (a motto i have built said career upon) but when he started talking of me being educated at cambridge i thought he gone a bit too far, but of course he meant the pub. it was rather conveniently located 2 doors down from my fabled seat of learning the economic history department, a whopping 3 hours of lectures in my final year and 2.1's seemingly awarded on the basis of being 'bloody nice fellows'. Great times. I loved the old photos in the pub, especially one entitled 'men waiting for pub to open 1895' dockers sat on the very steps where we'd wait ourselves, thirsty work those early 10.30 lectures! Obviously i wasn't clever enough to hang out with the true academics in the AJ!

me too, what a great advertisment for the establishment we are I think you've covered the obvious spots in previous threads, in my student days the 'est, est, est' in the albert dock was the height of sophistication (and where the stars hung out, they had pictures and everything to prove it!). recently i had a chinese at the restaurant on the pier head where the 'ferry cross the mersey' goes from. As a client lunch had gone slightly awry, the pre-lunch drinks lasting till the best part of 4pm i wasn't holding out much hope for 'lunch' but it was A) open B) quite busy and C) actually quite good. Oh and d) much better than the berni inn it replaced! a great city, a night out in liverpool has to be seen to be believed. gary

I can testify to the quality and weight of the mandolin, me and a chef friend lugged a mandolin and a fruit de mer platter and stand across paris to the train home to the UK, not easily carried items i can tell you!

i've been to savoy and thought it excellent, however a friend of mine in the trade who is not easily impressed has just eaten at gagnaire and thought it one of his best meals ever. Unfortunately he said he might have to mortgage his restaurant to pay the bill! (As an aside, on the same trip he managed lunch at arpege and dinner at boyer les crayeres, now that's dedication!) gary

a favourite haunt of the UK's wealthiest restaurant reviewer michael winner , but my friend a mere mortal chef, has booked himself in for dinner but is unsure if the high prices are justified, even though it has 2 stars it looks expensive. anyone been? thanks gary