Gary Marshall

Not something i regularly do as i tend to eat anything my girlfriend doesn't, however i think its perfectly acceptable. recently a colleague did order a cheese selection in guellers that we really didn't need so i asked them to wrap it up, bread and all, and it was no problem. gary

I had a very enjoyable evening in the company of mr and mrs bapi on tuesday night at the star. It was quite a change not to find the bar packed with diners but the separate restaurant area did fill up by the end of the night. you've got to love a place that as an amuse bouche serves minature shepherds pies, personal favourite. One problem with having good company and being a regular is that i spent far too much time talking rather than ordering and enjoying the food, i knew i should have picked up a menu. Hopefully Bapi has a better memory than me, but given by the time he returns he'll have had almost a week of gourmet dining i suspect his brians cells will be much reduced, but to give you an idea... for starters i had one of their 'signature' dishes foie gras and black pudding. A dish i've enjoyed several times, basically rounds of B pud sandwiching f gras topped with caramelised apple and surrounded with a couple of reduced sauces. My main is very sketchy but i think it was braised venison steak with savoy cabbage and other bits and pieces that escape my mind, it was good but there were some lardons in there that i think pushed the dish into over salty territory. Desert was the selection of star deserts which is very good value for £7.50 i think all the deserts in minature, including, lemon tart, eccles cake, rice pud, ice creams and a jelly. All much better than my crap descriptions i assure you. coffe was taken in the coffee loft, up in the rafters above the restaurant and than followed by a lager nightcap. wines were a decent oliver leflaive bourgoune blanc and a crozes hermitage both £20 odd and a couple of muscats at £4.50. Think the total for 4 was about £170. lucky mr and mrs bapi only had to stumble back to their lovely rooms but unfortunatly we had to drive home and get up at 6.30 the next morning, the only flaw of the evening! gary

I've got a night in london before embarking on honeymoon and wanted a proper, unfashionable restaurant to go to. Le gavroche sprung to mind but i wasn't sure, however the votes of 2 of the boards elder statesmen has made my mind up so i'm booked in now cheers gary ps the set lunch at £40 with 1/2 bottle sounds attractive

Much as i applaud JO's venture i've no interest in visiting, i'm still traumatised about the hygiene of the trainees Locanda locatelli though is great (see previous posts) but i've never been pleasantly surprised at the bill! maybe because i'm a greedy git and insist on starter, pasta, main, desert, coffee, digesitve, plus wine of course. PS i second the rabbitt with parma ham and polenta, simple but great. gary

It's good job then that 'publicity' is legal tender and can be spent on ingredients, staff costs, rates etc. excellent food at commensurate prices make for successful restaurants not over-hyped column inches. gary

i had lunch a few months ago at the much hyped (and very good) locanda locatelli in london, i told georgio locatelli it was a great meal and he replied (very politely) that lots of people said that but it really meant something if they made another booking. i did gary

according to my restaurant magazine weekly round -up matthew norman gave the restaurant a good review, if a little pricey. it was in the sunday telegraph, no doubt available on line somewhere.... gary

What had you been eating? it doesn't seem to make much difference

it never opened, turned out the 'owner' selling them the lease for the premises didn't actually own it. Or something. i second stringy's, although some of my guests have on occasion left via the fire exit courstesy of the doorman's boot, they always seem keen to go. That may say a lot about my clients. Apparently Embassy is a members only club downstairs but if sufficiently a la mode you may be allowed to 'go down' post dining. Needless to say i wasn't asked. This may say a lot about me and my clients. gary

they have a comprehensive web site on www.tourdargent.com. although it does not appear to have the menu online? the duck is the most obvious house dish and is on the lunch menu, as are many of their specialities i believe. It is good value compared to the evening a la carte. from memory the quenelles de brochet and poached peaches are highlighted as specialities for starter and desert. regards gary

Hi Paul I don't know if you're driving to Lyon? When i was in that neck of the woods i stopped at boyer les crayeres in reims on the way down south it's a further piece to add to the jigsaw! Although i was staying in roanne i hadn't really planned ahead and although checked out the menu at troisgros i couldn't get a reservation. I satisfied my lust for 3 stars at bocuse and i have to say it wasn't great. The great man himself was there but service was v slow, exacerbated when you are dining solo as i was and the food although technically well prepared wasn't earth shattering. i went in my pre-egullet days so had no idea of what to expect , just that it was supposed to be one of france's great restaurants. from what i have read here troisgros would have been a better choice. These were the first 3 star places i'd been to and i wasn't blown away. I think usually there's a big jump in quality between 1 and 2 stars so i was hoping for a similar jump from 2 to 3 but i found the difference is much more marginal. hope that's of some interest gary

As always you can rely on the simpsons for a quality cultural comment. A personal favourite is an episode set in a mall where as the episode progresses the stores gradually all become starbucks, until there's only one free store left with the banner across the window 'coming soon-starbucks'. i don't have a problem with starbucks, as seems to be the concensus, yes there's better available but they are very convenient. Though you metropolis dwellers may spare a thought for us country bumpkins, if i need to feed my addiction, it's a 10 minute drive to the nearest starbucks! gary

i've seen a picture of president chirac entertaining president putin in d chez eux, paris it has 2 knifes and forks in michelin, i've never heard of it, anyone have any knowledege of it? gary

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/food_an...sp?story=377560 story about independent's food critic who slated juniper and ends up cooking for the chef and his wife. gary

sorry I was only working on the info provided by michelin, i did not realise the restaurant had closed. this has been a problem with the uk guide too, making restaurants look demoted when they had in fact closed. are you still working together? cheers gary

thanks for that list fresh_a i've just spent a fruitless 20 mins searching the net for the full details i think i must be jinxed, it seems every year at least one of the 1 starred restaurants i visit loses its star! last year a la duchesse anne in st malo lost, and this year assiette gourmand in honfleur and montrachet in puligny montrachet have slipped. I have to say in the last two instances, deservedly. interested to see foch in reims promoted. good rating in gault-millau, not visited but have scanned the menu several times. gary

Zagat reports the following: "Richard Neat: The English chef of the eponymous restaurant in Cannes (Neat) is scouting a location for a Paris restaurant." and he's lost his star in cannes. are the two issues related i wonder? gary

I was until yesterday a costco virgin. Unitl i hit the leeds uk branch. Many of my colleagues are big fans and kept telling me the wines were very good and cheap. I was expecting the usual UK supermarket selection but cheaper. I couldn't believe the range when i had a look, and this was before i hit the speciality wine section. As a taster i picked up a couple of bouchard pere et fils morgons for about £5.50, i checked the price on winesearcher.com and they were nearly double! they had a very tasty range of white burgundies too so i will be heading back to join up shortly! Ps our office is addicted to the giant muffins and 18 inch pepperoni pizza's. pps we also get kirkland branded goods too. gary

morning tony The american was not on the revised menu at the york branch i was in, american hot remains. The new menu has less pizza more salads and pasta than before and pizza's are now 10 inches. menu is on www.pizzaexpress.com gary

Just to clear this up the 'american hot' pizza at pizza express is peperoni sauasage, hot green peppers, mozzarella & tomato. it is to my mind the king of pizzas in the uk. the 'american' on the other hand is simply the same without the hot peppers. (however this is academic as it has i think now been taken off the revised menu) gary

However, horrors of horrors, I do actually like Pizza Express, even if it's not a wood burning oven there!!!! Unfortunately I hear that Pizza Express are losing money and closing locations every day. Does anybody know if that's true?

yes, it was giles coren in the saturday times. didn't pay much attention to the names of the places but that was certainly his tale. cheers gary

I went in december prior to the egullet lunch. i will dig out the menu tonight but my memory of the night is not fond, it was very quiet, the staff although friendlier than i'd been led to believe didn't particularly explain the concept of what they were trying to achieve there (which i eventually discovered through the restaurnant magazine article on david thompson) so we were confused to be served our soup with our main courses for example. it was all very hot & spicy too, not a massive problem but if you're not expecting it... despite having a fairly sizable tasting menu we were in and out in about an hour. so probably up there in simon's mirabelle league of most money/hour extracted. cheers gary

A friend has asked me for some recommendations on bordeaux, assuming i am the font of all knowledge of the french restaurant scene and not realising i get it all from here I see from a search la tupina seems to be an old favourite i think recommendations in a similar vein would be warmly received, simple rustic cooking rather than formal stars me thinks any thoughts? thanks gary

I didn't realise it was one of your publications. It's a bit disjointed, it looked v simple starting with the basics spices/pastes etc and moving onto the recipes which i assumed would dovetail back into the basics, but the recipes don't seem to refer to exactly which 'basic' you should be using. As a novice of indian cooking it was difficult to see what would be appropriate. However all will be forgiven if the CTM recipe works out ! cheers matt