Gary Marshall

That looks good simon, I'm going to try this recipe soon, i recieved a copy of 'Brit Spice' for christmas which was supposed to be authentic indian home cooking but has not yet been particularly successful, but this looks like the sort of thing i'm looking for. Cheers Gary Ps Re: Quorn, i could never get my head around the fact that a 'food' could be made by a sudsidiary of ICI (imperial chemical industries) Have you ever seen a chemical plant!!!

Having tried Guy Savoy and La Tour D'Argent last year for dinner i'm returning for a few days as part of my honeymoon, time and budgetary constraints this may limit the no-expense blow outs but where can i get the most bang for my euro? I know LTA does its classic dishes at lunchtime on a prix fixe this is the sort of thing i'm interested in. What's Pierre Gagnaire like at lunch? Has anyone tried Jamin? any others? cheers Gary

They work in mysterious ways but perhaps they'd stand a better chance as the Real Gascon, St Jean and Le Moro

Sorry Tony you're wrong. (and it's not often i can genuinely say that!) the real greek, st john and moro are all in the michelin guide. (well certainly the web based viamichelin i use) I promise i've not searched to find a sector that suits my argument but a quick glance at the 'city of london' section of the guide shows 18 restaurants 5 of which i assume are oriental ( i don't personally know all of them). They are miyabi, tatsuso, imperial city, pacific oriental and sri siam. i reckon that's 27% of the total restaurants which seems quite balanced. You may be right to question why some have not garnered stars but to say they are ignored is incorrect. I'm sure the GFG doesn't award these places 10/10 either so i would say there is a reasonable concensus amongst the guides. (though i don't see how gfg award st john an award for seafood ) cheers gary

I'd be interested to know what is the split in GFG/AA, for example between oriental/anglo-french cuisine compared to michelin? I don't particularly use guides to seek out oriental restaurants so i've not been looking for them, but from memory as i've skimmed through various guides most don't seem to be particularly strong on oriental food. Most guides do seem to have a large degree of commonality, are you being too harsh in singling michelin out? cheers Gary

i'm not surprised the landmark closed because i read john burton-race was spending 6 months away from the kitchen in france filming a tv series. ps all real italian fans don't miss locatelli on telly tonight

Hi Simon though you seem to have enough recommendations, i had a similar problem and found 'la rotisserie du beaujolais' 19 quai de la tournelle 75005 tel 01 43 54 17 47. It is in the shadow (literally) of la tour d'argent (also open sunday but really not worth it), and serves the old classics i had quenelles de brochet which weren't a million miles off the ones L'TA charged me about £30 for the night before! and a navarin of lamb en croute which was marvellous. It's a small and bustling but suited me fine. I Certainly have fonder memories of that meal than L TA ! cheers Matthew

Hi Thom, thanks for that, i couldn't find it on the michelin site. it looks an exhaustive list if you delve further so i fear no 2 star for hibiscus or petrus which does surprise me. pied a terre the only upgrade and no new 3 stars For me it now means a trip to the devonshire arms which has done well to get a star but the chef is from the formerly one starred micheals nook and to the Yorke arms, i've seen the website and it looks very good. Guellers hit and miss luck continues, losing their star as does the box tree, a place i'd really like to try again with their new chef, although friends who live locally have had some shocking experiences there (for a restaurant in that category)

I hear a rumour that michelin are informing restaurants of their ratings at the moment. Any further updates on the public announcement of the stars? cheers gary

the only way i'd go back was if he invited me! and i can't remember where i've put my card

so you have heard about life in my house I'm not trying to be elitist, i don't look down on ready meal eaters, i used to be one, when i graduated it was a dream to be able to shop everyday at M&S and live on ready meals! it was only my love of restaurants that gave me the interest in recreating the dishes that gave rise to me teaching myself the rudiments of cookery and moving away from processed food. perhaps it's because adam and i are based in the north it gives us a different perception of this issue than the southern bias of the majority of egullet uk, i don't think it's us who are being 'self delusionary' about the state of the culinary habits of the UK.

Gary, how on earth do you support that statement ? macro i support my view by my own anecdotal evidence, i go to sainsbury's and i notice what people put in their trolleys, my office is food obsessed, not necessarily with quality but certainly with quantity and i know exactly what they eat, i know what my friends eat too, i wander round M&S food hall on a lunchtime etc. Ready meals are a huge feature of all of the above groups. from this i also know that the fact when i eat at home i cook it from scratch (save the odd pizza) and eat it at a table is also unusual. My love of food does mark me out as an oddity amongst my friends, at work they call me gourmet gaz, they are genuinely surprised at the time i spend in the kitchen and what i eat. I think we'd all like to think in the post jamie era that everyone sits down to 'my bloody great pasta' or whatever but it's just not the case.

a bit of a tangent here but stick with me... i don't know if anyone else saw this wife swap programme on c4 this week. But the premise is as the name suggests a 2 families swap wives for a week and see how they get on. One family lived entirely on ready meals, in front of the TV, and in a particlarly memorable shot for me, hadn't even bothered to put the 'food' on a plate he was eating what looked like sausage and mash straight from the plastic carton! this is a far more realistic view of family eating in the UK in 03 than the world of egullet. Most people in the UK would claim to like good food, who wouldn't? but whether they can be arsed to source ingredients & cook them rather than hit the ready meals/take aways is an entirely different kettle of fish. It will change eventually but for the next, say 5 years, an overt interest in food if not elitist would certainly be viewed as esoteric.

i think it has its relevance for several reasons, certainly the chefs put great importance on it, i think MPW was the first of the modern generation to bring it to prominence and ramsay certainly seems to respect them, and they did make him wait another year for his 3rd star. The general public do seem more aware of the michelin ratings than say 5 years ago. It also has the history and the integrity, i can't imagine the AA/petrus debacle happening at michelin and it's the only guide that uses it's own trained team of inspectors, also the fact it says v little about its workings only adds to the mystique. I agree it's not much use away from classical cooking. i suppose i use it more for destination restaurants or when i'm abroad but i like the fact that just because they are 'grown up' restaurants they are not necessarily expensive, i've had some great meals at the basic 1 knife and fork recommendation. and i have no problem booking a restaurant on spec from the guide if its got a star, i know it'll be what i expect, so far i've not been let down and it's led me to places i'd never have ventured into without it. cheers gary

that doesn't bother me because i like that style of cooking, I suppose it's about finding a guide that matches your taste. I also find they are quite consistent and don't get sucked into raving about this years hottest new place. I don't use it so much in england as i'd use this site now but in France i've found it indispensable. Many may feel it is weak on ethnic/'fusion' food or whatever but you know what you're getting with it and i think its good at highlighting what i'd call 'grown up' restaurants ie half decent service, decent food, wine list, napery etc, all of which i would class as michelin hallmarks. I also find the mapping extremely precise, especially comapred to the likes of Fodors/Frommers. cheers Gary PS the web site www.viamichelin.com has all the guide on line and is very useful for planning trips

I believe there is, i'm sure i read somewhere michelin forbade it but i have seen recently (mainly one starred) some places do mention their rating in their marketing but many still do not. Michelin certainly don't issue plates, plaques, certificates or the like

the guide is usually published 1st feb. We go to Winteringham on the nearest weekend to this hoping he'll get the 3rd star, i assume as it's for sale he's got a fairly strong steer from michelin that there's no upgrade. In comparison to Ramsay RHR i'd say it deserves it. Elsewhere i'd second Petrus for 2, locatelli, embassy deserves it but is hollihead still there or at the marquee? I'd also not be surprised to see hibiscus passed over. Deserves it but does lack in the grandeur stakes, although that's a bonus in my book! on a local basis i'd be interested to see if martel smith can retain simon gueller's star, pretty sure he'd be the youngest holder of a star in the UK if he did. someone often tipped for 3 is micheal caines, i hear v good, but expensive reports, anyone been recently?

cabrales apologies for the delay there are 3 set menus at barrier, saveur, gourmet & degustation this is the degustation foie gras de canrd des landes confit sel au gris queues de langoustines panees, chapelure au thym, riz sauvage lie au fumet de homard saint pierre roti cuit a l'arete, legumes d' ete a la francaise filet de boeuf roti au poivre de sechoouan, sauce au vin rouge fromage dessert a la carte petit fours regards gary

cabrales there is definately a tasting menu as we had it i'll dig the menu out tonight.

morning basil page 22 on mine says 'survey-best by cuisine' lots of top fives but no top tens! anyway i can judge winteringham for myself as i'm going tonight cheers gary

i am reminded of a quote i heard recently (or read on the board) about a provincial restaurateur 'i could open only 2 days a week and do well, as long as they were both saturdays' £400 dinner on a wet monday night?

i had dinner and lunch at aux armes de bruxelles (i think the main room is best there not the side room) and dinner at comme chez soi. so didn't have time to try anywhere else. the sea grill does appear worth a trip too. Food was good where i dined but bruxelles itself i found a bit dull.

do they roll around laughing when another empty plate returns? ie i can't believe they've just eaten the pheasant carpaccipo with lime curd what can we try next? sorry, i'm becoming v cynical in my old age but an eagerly anticipated visit just did nothing for me. I enjoyed his Q & A session and the science makes sense but the combinations??? Just too far out for my tastes.

also comme chez soi is definately worth a journey, they do have a kitchen table but its so big you don't actually see much of the kitchen workings, i think i'd go in the restaurant if i returned.

Comme chez soi is in the town centre, so it's easily reached from bruxelles midi. How long depends on the time of day, we stayed at the radisson sas (btw v cheap on the weekend for standard of accom, check expedia.com, also houses the 2* sea grill which my belgian sommelier friend rates v highly). it took over 1/2 an hour to get from the station to the hotel in friday rush hour but about 10 mins sunday morning to return. hotel to Comme chez soi was about 10 mins on sat night.