magnolia

A few places that might fit the high quality/low cost requirement: 1) get takeway from the Japan Centre on Piccadilly, very inexpensive (though not a huge selection) and fresh 2) even better, and nearby : upstairs at Daks (yes,the clothing shop) on Jermyn Street, walk through Waterstones on Piccadilly, exit the Jermyn Street side,and Daks is right next door 3) Colindale "Oriental City" mall, out there on the Northern line, has a large food court with loads of fresh Asian food - and there's also at least three sushi purveyors. The place has always been packed when I was there and the prices are very reasonable.

Mogsob - Thanks for this review, I have been meaning to try Roussillon for awhile but it just got a dire review from Jan Moir, one of the few reviewers I trust, in the Sunday Telegraph (I can't find it on line though, it was in last Sunday's...April 12). Also I'm a little confused, you mentioned that the wine list is good value at Roussillon but as you point out, the markups on everything you ordered were outrageous. What are the markups in NYC like? Roussillon (the wine region) is indeed getting its act together and making some respectable wine, priced at the affordable end of the spectrum. So those prices do sound like they're doing a real disservice to the eponymous region. But Roussillon (the restaurant) is not the only culprit...many UK restaurants have appalling markups. So...what on the Roussillon list would be good value?

Piping in late on this one, I know...but my two cents: I thought I had already posted on Pharmacy but my mind is a bit fried these days. I had eaten at Lola's when Hywel Jones was there, and liked the food, thought it was decent value in general - though I recall someone's portion was a bit stingy. They also had well-priced wine flights which I thought was a nice touch. Service was fine as well. I ate a Pharmacy about a month ago, and although the food was also good - when it finally arrived - the whole evening was basically a fiasco from the moment we arrived...to the moment I just received my credit card statement...on which I (and it turns out three other guests) had been charged three times...I had only been to Pharmacy a couple of times in the past few years (well prior to the new chef) and despite my revulsion at the decor (it was as if Boots had put in a lunch counter) I thought it had decent bar snacks and a good bartender, and didn't aspire to be anything but a trendy bar. As for my recent experience...we were a party of eight, booked for 21h00 on a Saturday night. I had convinced everyone to go to Pharmacy solely based on Hywel Jones's move, thinking that perhaps they had gotten serious about the food and that HJ would have something to say about the service. By the time all eight were there, it was 21h05. They had given our table away to a party booked for 21h15 and asked if we would mind sitting downstairs in the bar for a couple of minutes until they had a table ready...no problem. However it seems the bar downstairs is separate from the restaurant, and the waitress was none too happy that eight people were now taking up one of her tables but didn't want to order a round of £10+ drinks , knowing (thinking?) we'd be seated within 10 minutes. . Fair enough but the upstairs should have sorted that out. Anyway we stayed put, and gave up trying to converse (music was earsplitting) someone ordered a drink...and waited for our sign to come upstairs. And waited. At 21h20 we sent an emissary upstairs to ask about our table; he was told that as we had been late, we'd have to wait for a table to be free. Emissary then pointed out as the 21h15 party had been seated at 21h00, perhaps *their* table was now ready...he also advised that we were being hassled downstairs by the bar staff, who wanted our table for their own customers...and suggested that perhaps the restaurant could see its way to offering a round of drinks, which would placate both us and the antagonists downstairs. Receptionist said she'd see what she could do about the drinks. But before she had an answer for us, our table miraculously materialised... From what I recall, the food was fine...when it finally came. To be honest, I was so annoyed at that point - and felt kind of guilty for corralling everyone to try this place - that I don't even remember what I had. I do remember something about interesting flavour combinations, as others have pointed out. But everything else was so disappointing - rotten treatment, mains arrived at different times and were gvein to the wrong people (though I have to say our waiter did try hard and was apologetic); also the tables are very close together that every time someone at another table got up, three people had to shift...and the noise level was...one louder. Maybe I'm getting old and crotchety but it was total chaos, waiters running around madly, several hen parties...you get the picture... So however good the food may have been (and it wasn't outrageously priced either, though the wine list was but what's new?), I will never go back. We really could not wait to leave. And to add insult, as mentioned, we just received our credit card statement and were charged three times. We called to point this out, and the person who took down our details in order to send a cheque...got our address wrong... So whatever AA Gill wrote - I no longer read his reviews - this time it may have been true. By the way, he is not universally hated on this board because of his reviews, but because of his lack of review...who wants to slog through 1500 words of minutiae about AA himself, bodily fluids (his and other peoples') or whatever he conjures five minutes before deadline...before getting to the punchline? He's a fine writer, probably even funny. But not all fine writers can write fine restaurant reviews...on a related note, I fear Giles Coren - whose reviews I *have* been reading with interest...is sliding down the Gill low road too...see his review of some place in Stanmore last weekend in which he found it necessary to mention "wee" twice...I mean, does he think his readers are five years old? But I digress...

Heston's TV prog this week incidentally confirmed (I believe) that Artisan use imported couverture. Very few chocolatiers can afford to make their own couverture, this involves making a deal with a cocoa grower and it's mostly large outfits like Valrhona that can afford to do this. I forget the 'tonnage' that makes it worthwhile for a grower to deal directly with a chocolatier, but Marcolini has critical mass I guess, maybe one or two other European chocolatiers as well. Aside from them it's just large companies that have the wherewithal to buy their cocoa straight from the producers, then make up couverture and sell it to chefs, chocolatiers, etc. Otherwise it's the equivalent of you or me opening a single coffee shop and going straight to a coffee plantation in South America or wherever and saying "Hi, I want you to grow such-and-such beans this way, just for me...but I can only afford to buy a few sacks a year" - vs. Acme Huge Conglomerates which buys vast quantities, and so can dictate what is grown and how...it's just more efficient for growers to deal with big companies with reliable quantity / quality demands.

Surely you can ask your Chef to rustle up his finest example for you?

actually I never had such bad luck with either the produce which was always fresh and varied - or the prepped foods. Beside Bluebird, Waitrose has long held the monopoly on premium food in Chelsea, Safeway is a pretty sad example of what could be a real rival. But I had a huge problem with the prices, they were really taking the piss. It's as if they said 'let's see just how much people in this 'hood are willing to pay for a chocolate chip cookie (£1.50 for ONE small one)'

Proof that denizens of those rarefied post codes don't always have more money than sense, Bluebird on King's Road is closing or closed, to be reincarnated as a Con-bury's jv in the Spring, according to Time Out. Bluebird had some very good stuff, good produce, Hill Station Ice Cream, good coffees and prepared foods...a cut above what you'd expect from 'Habitat for Food' - but inevitably, way overpriced - probably due to the extortionate rents which I have come to believe are the reason everything in London is so expensive. Also Bluebird's flowers lasted and lasted...

There's an Ethiopian restaurant called Mikasha (or something like that) in Swiss Cottage, on Fairfax Road I think. I've passed it and thought 'this looks intriguing' but have not gotten around to eating there. But it has been there for at least three years and it's off the main road, so it must have its fans.

Also http://www.donaldrussell.co.uk does excellent meats, I've only had beef & lamb but it is out of this world (and as they say 'it's expensive, but I'm worth it') I have a list of other suppliers throughout the UK at home if none of the above works out, let me know & I'll dig it up.

OK, there used to be a Spanish bakery on Queensway just across Westbourne Grove from Whiteleys, on the left-hand side - somewhere near those Victorian loos...It might have been called the Churreria but now I can't remember, and I haven't been there in at least two years. Anyway they had that wonderful Spanish hot chocolate, but ONLY until 10am. They also sell - or used to sell - the chocolate itself (for you to make hc at home) at Brindisa. For the record, l'Artisan du Chocolat's hc is not at all milky.

Au contraire, I'm glad you posted it ! It got my hopes up that good pizza can be found in London, and because of all the other factors mentioned, I'm willing to give it another try and eat in, particularly as others chimed in with good reviews too. And re: Basilico, that whole story did sound a bit weird. E. is going to dig up the review that he's "sure" was of Basilico, and I've bet him a pizza that the reviewer meant a different place. Fingers crossed...I won't be paying for pizza

OK - two weird things. 1) Had takeaway pizza from Zuccato last night and sadly, I had a different experience. I was really hoping to love it not least because I trust Charlene's taste - but also because all the 'signs' were good - the employees were Italian; they had good customer service (I didn't have a menu, so I called ahead and just started describing what I had in mind and they were very patient, made suggestions etc.); and the pizza was ready when I arrived 15 minutes later (I get the feeling that most places that do takeaway wait until you get there before they start your order, perhaps for 'security' reasons). So all promising. But when I got it home, it was pretty bad. Ordered one with spinach and mushrooms, another with anchovies. Both were kind of blah, the crusts were "fluffy" (like you get when you freeze & then defrost a bread product - though I have no evidence that that's what they do) and the ingredients were kind of piled on & not integrated...the spinach had no flavour whatsoever and there were only about five anchovies on the other one. I wanted to cry ! Perhaps their pizza is really best eaten on-site and not taken away? I might give it another try... 2) the other weird thing is that originally, I was thinking of ordering from Basilico anyway, and my beau (aka Green Card) insisted that he recently saw a review of Basilico on Finchley Road, which indicated that this is not actually one of "the" Basilicos, but another place altogether, that kept the name but is actually a multi-food takeaway and not a pizza specialist. The reviewer supposedly went in in person looking for pizza, and found that it was a totally different joint than that which he'd believed - yet when he went across the street and called from his mobile, they still purported to be Basilico's pizza. So he ended up reviewing another restaurant in Belsize Park. This sounds really fishy to me, but there's no arguing with him until I have proof to the contrary so I deferred. He can't remember where he read this or who the reviewer was, but says he thinks it was in a Saturday paper on one of the last three Saturdays...Does this ring a bell for anyone??

No, I didn't know there was one. A branch opened in Fulham just before I moved NW, so I never had a chance to try it. Maybe I'll give it a try - and also Zuccato - all this talk about pizza is giving me cravings...

By SW3 I guess you mean Chelsea - and do you mean 'ritzy' Indian restaurants? Vama, Zaika, Haandi, Chutney Mary (which is technically SW10 I think) and Painted Heron (or something like this, which has recently opened to mixed reviews - I've been to the first four but not the latter) are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. The relative merits of most of these have have been the subject of many a lively discussion on these boards, just do a search. If you are after standard take-aways, there are loads of them. In fact you can just plug in 'Indian restaurants/London' or 'Indian restaurants/SW3' in google, and several 'by-postcode' restaurant guides will pop up.

Hmm...I may have to break my self-imposed ban on rising above the ground floor at the 02 Centre to try this pizza. I have almost given up on pizza except for Pizza Metro & Il Bordello (both of which are a real trek from where I live). In case I can't bring myself to take the escalator to the egregious food court, do you think Zuccato delivers?

La Trompette in Chiswick or Chez Bruce in Wandsworth for great Frenchified food & wine lists; a bit less formal and a bit less French (but also great atmospphere & wine list): Ransome's Dock. I think there is a lot of commentary on this board about all of these places if you try the search function. If none of these sounds appealing, can you give a bit more direction as to what you like (type of food, atmosphere, price range) and maybe we can be of more assistance?

LML... Re: Mould; I suggest you consult a dictionary of British English, i.e. not Webster's. Thanks for your gentle suggestion, I stand corrected. Buried among the several definitions (in my Chambers English Dictionary), the last of three lengthy entries, in fact - after 'loose soft earth' etc. etc.; and 'wooly growth on bread, cheese or vegetables' etc. etc. - is indeed the alternate spelling of the US word "mold". However, that the English word for template, and the one for fuzzy growth are one in the same strikes me as even funnier than before. Re: Coren; does it not strike you as extraordinary that of those who presume to write with authority on restaurants.... Does he presume this? I imagine whomever hired him presumes it, and perhaps those who read his reviews.... I also imagine that the guy's job - as it is for all restaurant critics for UK newspapers - is to review, with only a few exceptions per year, restaurants in the UK. And the few exceptions most likely are a result of the critic being on holiday. As for whether Coren is 'unique in visting the most important restaurant of out times' - are you saying you have *never* seen a review of El Bulli in a UK publication? I am sure I do not read as many restaurant reviews as you, but I seem to recall reading one on El Bulli in the Independent not too long ago, and one in the Observer Food Monthly. Surely there are more. So whose review would you most like to read? Re: perhaps you think arrogance, ignorance and pomposity are necessary conditions to pursue this office in the UK.' Surely not. But I do agree with Mrshugget's comment that given the time, money and effort involved in his trip to El Bulli, it's a bit rich if Coren refused to review Sketch on the grounds of expense.

I have the unfortunate task of having to head back to this atrophied monstrosity of a city in the nexy month, so tell me where this place is and I shall give it a fair hearing, er drinking. I have me doubts though S 171 blvd du Montparnasse (6th) TI can't comment on whether they do good cocktails but for such a tourist trap - and one of the reasons to *like* Paris is that even the tourist traps do good food - they have good standard hearty brasserie food and it's not horribly priced (last time I ate there - a little over a year ago - I think the prix fixe was around 45 euros for three courses and half a bottle of wine). If you do eat there, be sure to specify you want to eat in the brasserie part - there is also a restaurant, where prices are much higher and I can't imagine the food is better...maybe more choices and more 'refined' - but that's not why you go to Cl. de Lilas, you go for the night-time live jazz piano; the 'if walls could speak, they'd cough ' atmosphere; and the bespectacled and black-turtle-necked guys named Didier. Simon - you'll hate it.

You call that small? Clearly you're spoiled as that was a meal in itself ! 'Course we made short work of it...

I don't really understand what "mould" (hope that was intentional, 'cause it was funny) or mold - for that matter - he is breaking? That he deigns to review a restaurant in another country? Because while he devotes marginally more than the usual (his own and the standard) amount of space to El Bulli rather than to himself, his family, himself, his friends, himself, his love life or the myriad other topics most restaurant critics seem to rabbit on about (anything but the hard toil of writing about the food itself - in their introductions - read: 50% of an article), it's only because he seemed to find so much more to write about El Bulli than other restaurants. From what I gather, it definitely has that effect on people. But yesterday's review was more of the standard - mouldy/moldy - ilk. In defense of the reviewers, I know they all have editors and it's the editors' jobs to make the reviews the best they can be. And if an editor says 'oh, I don't give a toss - let's just fill the space', so be it. But I am interested in why you think Coren is onto something, and what it is?

J Sheekeys (nr Leicester Square) and Incognico (Shaftesbury Avenue), nr Charing Cross Road) or Mela - but only for post-theatre as their service is slow. or The Punjab Other than that it's a wasteland. Including Joe Allen !!!! I'm surprised at you Simon !

That sounds like something a rich uncle would keep on the side. I can hear the mutterings in the kitchen about someone's brother-in-law's "fancy aunt" as if the kids would not understand. I wonder how old one would have to be to understand that one didn't take a "fancy lady" to Schraffts. Well come to think of it, she dressed up - hat, fur, gloves - for everything, including an outing to the also now defunct grocery shop across from her building (ironically named Gentiles! though I'm sure the real pronunciation was originally 'gen-TEE-lays' ) ! So maybe I just associate her dressing up for Schraffts with the fact that it happens to be Schraffts that we frequented together. Wonder how she might have dressed for that French place 'Le Viand' .

It was in the Wall Street Journal December 27, Personal Journal, page 2. Unfortunately it is only available to Factiva subscribers ! I asked my editor if I'm allowed to post it with due credit to he WSJ etc. and she hasn't yet gotten back to me and I certainly don't want to run afoul of their policies (or egullet's)... However I've just attempted to email it to you using the e-gullet email function. Let me know if it doesn't come through and we'll figure something out. I'm flattered ! Enjoy.

Depends how formal a commitment you want - one off courses on specific subjects, or a whole 'genre' of cuisine? also how much money you want to spend, and where you are located. London options seem to be: Leiths and Le Cordon Bleu - expensive, but comprehensive Asian and Oriental school of cookery in Hoxton Square - inexpensive Books for Cooks - one off demos (no hands on) on a variety of cuisines which take place during the day. Their website is www.booksforcooks.com. They also have a cookery school in Italy. This shop (in Blenheim Crescent) is a gem if you don't know about it already - they also have a booklet which they sell that lists cookery courses, plus they'll probably be nice enough to tell you over the phone if they know of anything off hand. Various London borough-based offerings by the local colleges offer cookery courses, call the council for details. I know Westminster Kingsway (or something like that?) is well-known for this, Hammersmith has something pretty evolved as well. These tend to be inexpensive but very professionally-oriented so require large time commitment. Outside London: Bristol: I know a cooking teacher there with whom I can put you in contact, she may even have a school. Other: I have a list somewhere which I can fax to you, if you want it, of people who give cooking courses around the country. Give me a few days to find it.

Beachfan - too bad no Ogier - maybe you could have asked the source for a special delivery of your '99 !