magnolia

Happy to say my galette - a rather workaday affair, from a very jolly patissiere at the Aligre market, compared with what was on offer at Aoki ! (thanks for introducing me, Loufood !) - nonetheless made it home in one piece. With two people eating a galette made for four, it was tough going ! But in the end I got the 'santon' (if that's the right term) without breaking my teeth, and got to wear the crown. All nice Jewish girls deserve an Epiphany at least once in their lives !

Can't hurt to try...The December issue has a picture of what looks like a papier mâché rhino with it's butt to the camera, against a backdrop of the Eiffel tower. The main feature is "special paris"- bistros a vins, restos a themes (something to add to our discussion of restaurant category confusion!)

I'm jumping in here without having scrutinized all of the posts carefully, but it seems to me that another salient - and possibly more 'satisfying' - way of trying to sort this out is to examine what distinguishes a café from a bistro from a bar à vins from a brasserie from a restaurant, just as there are differences between caffes, ristorantes, trattorie, etc. in Italy - and bodegas, restaurantes, etc. in Spain. Clearly there used to be sharp delineations but I think these have blurred considerably over time, and that's where the confusion starts - that and the fact that we are looking at one 'genre' as a 'starter kit' for the next, as it were i.e. a Chef can 'graduate' from one level to the next according to various rating systems. For example, Steve P., you may think that this has been sorted out in America, but what I would have considered a "coffee shop" (cafe) in, say, NYC - like the now defunct Shraffts - was surely considered a restaurant by my aunt who dressed up to go there, as well as by the bow-tied & aproned waiters. And a lot of the places discussed on these boards, where the food is pretty upmarket, sophisticated and expensive - have waiters that dress (and sometimes serve) as if they couldn't be bothered. I'd put both USC and Gram Tavern squarely in the brasserie category by the way.

Gault-Millau magazine has suspended publication as of the last issue of 2002. The cover date on it says "December 2002/first trimester of 2003". I called to see what this meant, as I was thinking of subscribing - and the subscription ticket indicates that there are 10 issues per year - and the customer service rep said they are no longer publishing but could not offer any other info. There's nothing in the magazine that indicates what happened, or why - no 'closure' whatsoever. I don't know whether this affects their books. This is a shame, as G-M, along with Saveurs, is the only French 'foodie' magazine of any consequence - one that makes me want to eat or travel, and that's any fun to read. At the risk of sounding snobby, the rest make a pitifully small handful of sort of down-market supermarket check-out genre magazines - low production values, recipes like"101 things to do with canned corn', that kind of thing. Anyone have any insight?

Having recently written an article about this (plug plug !), I had to do some extensive, grueling research on the subject. Before this research, I was a chocolate lover but not very 'knowledgable' about what goes into chocolate, how it's made, etc. Now I understand a bit more why X tastes the way it does, and how it got that way. High quality chocolate is like any other luxury that commands a premium - wine, spirits, art, etc. - preference is subjective, and the item is subject to somewhat ambiguous markup over and above the cost of the ingredients, labor, expensive rent, decoration, advertising, etc. However, what I can tell you is that *in my opinion* - after having tasted chocolates from all the premium chocolatiers in London and Paris (most of whom use Valrhona couverture), including the dept. store 'own label' brands and the premium ranges they offer, as well as the supermarket store own label and premium brands - Pierre Marconlini and Artisan du Chocolat are my top two for truffles and filled chocolates - special occasion stuff - in London. Dufour and Bernachon, and a couple of others in France. And yes, you pay for it. Rococo makes 'fun' chocolates, their base is good quality and they are very artistic. But you also can get Green & Blacks and El Rey, for example, at supermarkets in London for not much more than a large Cadbury bar, and they are wonderful as well. I am not a milk chocolate fan and I like Green & Black's milk choc. And "Ed l'Epicier" - that grotty supermarket in Paris - has a good own-label bar for a pittance too. Talking to someone like Pierre Marcolini is like talking to an obsessed artist, he gets this intense look on his face and he wants you to love his product - not just to buy it, but to *love* it. Buying his chocolates is like buying into that experience, and chocolate fans will pay whatever it takes to find their 'ultimate' chocolate. Either you think it's worth it, or you don't.

Yes ! Nautilus, that's the one. And now I understand why one of my Kosher friends, when she was visiting from NYC, made a pilgrimage there (this was when I was living in Fulham). I ate at Laurent last year and it was dire. But...now that I've gone off on this tangent, I ate at The Original Tajines last week and it was pretty good ! As for the Great 'Za, Simon I imagine part of your dislike is the 'carbs=death' factor. Another is that you just didn't grow up on 'a regular slice', consumed - almost daily as a 'snack' in your formative years - while upright and mobile, folded in half inside a grease-soaked paper plate, which in turn is inside a soggy paper bag...Pizza with cheese hot enough to burn the roof of your mouth (if it doesn't completely detach itself from the pizza - the cheese that is, not the roof of your mouth) washed down with coke from a can so cold it sticks to your lips...for a truly memorable, Proustian pizza experience... Tony the pizza at Il Bordello is just not much better than that of Pizza Express, no wonder you don't like it. I like other stuff they have at Il Bordello, and I used to go there a lot with a girl-friend who lives across the street - we were treated like princesses. But since that one time we brought our male escorts along, we are now all but ignored when we go there...

Kiku - You'd think there would be more, but West End Lane & Finchley Road are an appalling wasteland of chains and worse. Gourmet Burger Kitchen is a bright light, and "The Walnut" sort of across the road from GBK) is a bright-ish light - and is particularly vegetarian friendly. Food and prices are decent, but service is dizzy, and noise level is high. I also like the Pepper/Olive/etc. group, I think I've been to two...both in Maida Vale/Little Venice environs, is that W9? In fact there are a few good places there and I'd eat there more often if it weren't such a pain for me to get to. As the crow flies, it's really close. And when it's nice out, I walk. But when the weather's bad, the only way to get there is to wait for a bus that turns up when it wants to, or to take the tube from Finchley Road back to Baker Street !!! and change to the Bakerloo line. How inconvenient is that?? Tony I haven't been to La Brocca...not for any particular reason, except that it seems like another faux-Italian along the lines of Bella Pasta though perhaps that's not fair. I may be one of the few, but I find Time Out to be really unreliable (though admittedly I have only used the annual Eating & Drinking Guides, I don't read the weekly - so perhaps their weekly reviews are better - I just know I've found the same errors several years' running in the E&DG, which means they either don't revisit or fact check (a pet peeve of mine). Other than that, way farther up West End Lane - for all I know, maybe it's no longer West End Lane but turns into something else - across from the particularly pungent Fish & Chip shop (which I also haven't tried) is a little French restaurant I've always meant to try - the name of which escapes me - plus an Indian place that was *really* good but in an unfortunate location, which I just remembered... Then there's Finchley Road itself. Ugh. A really bad Moroccan place that is periodically cited as being good...Laurent's? Flavourless cous-cous with perfunctory, bland and watery accompaniments. Other than that, an OK Persian place (Vamak? ) that has decent food but has a depressing atmosphere, I can't quite put my finger on what it is...maybe it's the small, angled TVs that remind me of a hospital or a surveillance camera...and O2 Centre. No comment. Then down my way, the stretch that begins with Waitrose and ends with KFC...again, no comment. Friday I'm going to Bradleys nr Swiss Cottage, a chef-owned place that looks promising...

Yeah, I know. Yeah, I know. Yeah, I know. etc. Just living in hope there's more than one place in this giant city to find edible pizza ! Somewhere on the North Bank perhaps !! Battersea, me love-a you long-a-time...but it's a bit far from W. Hampstead.

Haven't been to that pizza place, but I'm always interested in hearing about good pizza finds - there isn't much good pizza in London ! FYI Chelsea Farmers Market isn't a 'farmers market' in the traditional sense - at least in the six years I've been here, there's never been any kind of set up with fresh food vendors selling their 'wares' - only what you probably saw there. restaurants and little gift shop type places

I think the Lavinia catalogues are now gifts - literally- I guess nobody was buying - or perhaps they got a lot of complaints - I believe they're giving them away. See anything interesting? Steve - the prices were just fine, comparable to (even better than in some instances) our beloved Augé, for example - in terms of the other shops, like Nicolas & Repaire de Bacchus - even Hediard & Fauchon - it's difficult to make a comparison at all because the stock is so different. I think that's where they'll succeed, if they can afford that space. That and customer service. But we digress!! Back to Passard...

Weird...I also had lunch at La Trompette on Sunday, and I think that it's the bargain of the century at £23.50 for three very generous courses. I had never eaten there before though, so I can't comment on whether it's better/worse than before, but I can say it was pretty terrific and I'd definitely go back. I was wondering about the fennel fondue, Paul, nobody at my table had it. Two of us had butternut squash soup which was creamy and delicious, and I was afraid it would take up too much room..but I had a little help from my friends, one of whom had pate on brioche (good but I thought it was a boring choice) and the other had spinach salad with blue cheese & pears. There were even a couple of other starters that I might have tried...so points for making it hard to decide. Pig's head was one. I had magret of duck with sour cherries, and all I can say is, yum. Large portion, moist and meaty - with a bit of crispy edge. One person had chicken with wild mushrooms, which I didn't try because I'm not a chicken fan...and someone had the lamb which Gary mentions, outstanding. Still another person had venisonI believe - not my thing though. There were a couple of interesting-looking fish entrees, but I just don't know about ordering fish on sundays. As for desserts, it has been a long time since I've been excited about a dessert menu before, and this one did it. Of course I had to go for the Baked Alaska. I have only had it twice before: once when I and my classmates made it in kindergarten (long story) which I don't remember, but my mother swears by it...and once many years later at The Monkey Bar in New York City. This one had a Christmas twist to it - panforte or something - that Italian christmas cake with dried fruit peel. I was also impressed by the cheese plate, lots of choices and proper presentation thereof...and profiteroles, which don't appear enough on menus these days in my opinion. Plus there was a twist on creme brulee and at least one other pudding that looked promising. I will post on wines later...we had a fantastic odd-ball Champagne, a couple of reds, and a Chilean sweet wine that I'd never seen before. Even the bread was good !

I think the Lavinia catalogues are now gifts - literally- I guess nobody was buying - or perhaps they got a lot of complaints - I believe they're giving them away. See anything interesting?

An interesting aside, Alain Passard is now endorsing/involved in one of those medical/diet companies that seem to flourish so much in France, Switzerland and Italy - I think the new fashionable term is 'neutraceuticals' or something like that? This one's called Proteika. I don't know a lot about this industry sector, 'diet' being anathema to me, but from what I gather, a lot of it's based on powdered food substitutes, like Slim Fast? This particular one seems protein oriented. The November 25 issue of Elle has recipes developed by AP for Proteika using the Proteika product, and various food critics giving their opinions of the results...which were polite at best. No disrespect to AP, and it's none of my business - but while I'm at it..why does he need to do this sort of thing? His restaurant is always full, he seems like he's got plenty of creative challenges/ideas, I can't imagine this Proteika company - a new one - has so much money that it should be so enticing to someone of AP's stature in the culinary world..but what do I know? Anyone know anything about this?

This is endemic to UK restaurant reviews, along with herd mentality that results in nearly all the weekend papers reviewing the same restaurant, the same week. I haven't figured out whether this is because the editors all demand that their reviewers review the same 'new' place as quickly as possible, to be 'first' or at least not last...and that they believe there's only one obviousreview-worthy restaurant per week. Or perhaps this is actually true, as I get the feeling there just aren't that many new restaurants opening throughout the UK (not just London). LIkewise if a reviewer knows his/her counterpart at every other paper will be reviewing the same restaurant, maybe they feel the only way to distinguish their review from all the others is to include a load of irrelevant personal details. Whatever the reason, it drives me nuts.

I heartily second Jon's assessment, I had a delicious meal. I was a bit reticent after the disappointments of late but whether you think this food is old fashioned or not - as Steve P. asks about whether people care about this food or not, in fact, I've seen variations on many of last night's dishes - stuffed trotter (off the top of my head: La Trouvaille, Crescent etc. ), venison in a chocolate sauce (Harrow Inn, maybe Oxo Tower if memory serves?), even lobster with curry-esque spices (ultra moderne Chamarre in Paris) - on menus at about 10 restaurants in the last six months. So obviously people - chefs and diners alike - *do* still care about this kind of food. The decor could use a boost, certainly. But that's not something I care a lot about anyway. It was luxurious, comfortable...and expensive. But you can bet I feel a lot better about spending the kind of money we spent last night on good food and a satisfying experience, which I consider value for money, than I do at paying over the odds - even at 1/10 the price of last night's meal - for the OVERpriced disgrace that I'm sorry to say masquerades as dinner at many London restaurants.

Not at all - great post, and welcome to the board. Sounds like you have some special knowledge of Chinese cooking - and can really shed some light for us on how others, like Gagnaire, have adapted it. Is this a professional interest, or just personal? rd ! Hope we hear more from you soon.

Hey, I resemble that remark ! Anyway, obviously the pen is mightier than the sword...after that article was printed, so many people started bringing their own wine that the restaurant changed its mind !

Adam - my Latin is a bit rusty, does you signature mean - 'I hate frogs'? Is that a) an indication of your anti-amphibian stance, b) a food allergy, c) an ethnic slur ? - signed, "an ironically challenged American" (this means I don't get enough iron) (full disclosure: I edited this because I didn't realise that the 'quote' I took from Adam's comment did not include his signature, and the quote itself was irrelevant to my post)

Yes of course he meant "pundit" Seriously - Peter - if you do a search, there have been a lot of Strasbourg recs in the last few months, Lizziee and JayRayner come to mind - probably there are others too. What is it with you guys ? You must have all taken your meanie pills today.

Egad ! Subdivisions in the Hamptons ! Steve, you've just busted my romantic, nay, aspirational vision of Eden...I guess even the Hamptons have no charms to soothe the restless dreams of youth...

I was on a road trip this weekend and there seemed to be loads of pheasants hopping about - and, er, formerly hopping about. Maybe they were avoiding the shoots, but apparently they weren't fearful enough of motor vehicles either ! Basildog - what's your policy on road kill?

I agree it`s great to BYO and I think most restaurants will indeed allow it, but that restaurateur who was quoted as saying restaurants should actively encourage this was being a bit disingenuous... Isn't this the biggest area of profit for a restaurant, Basildog ? Surely a restaurant would rather make the markup on the Ch. Decru - probably would be listed at £130-140 or something - than encourage you to bring your own... As for your wine... Is your Leoville a 'grand vin', or is it a Lascases or Barton or something? '97 is considered an 'early drinking year' in general so if it's a generic grand vin then you could drink it sooner than later. I don't think you need to hold onto either the '85 or the '89 for so much longer, the French drink their wines earlier than we do anyway, and I just called some friends who opened their Ch. Decru Beaucaillou '89 last week and said it was fab. Enjoy ! If you had a load of this wine in bond or not easily accessible to you, and you didn't want to break open a case, I'd say you'd be better off ordering it at the restaurant to test it out before opening yours. All that said...yes you should definitely call the restaurant ahead of time and let them know you're bringing your own, and do bring the wine ahead of time (a day is good) This should not be a risk at a good restaurant. Also make sure the sommelier knows what time your reservation is so he/she can make sure to decant it however far in advance he/she sees fit... Nice also to offer him/her a taste if you particularly like the service and are feeling generous ! They should treat you just as well as if you purchased the wine from them.

I agree about le Gavroche, excellent value, wonderful classic food, over the top silver service with high waiter to diner ratio. But for something completely different, I'm a fan of Mju. I fully realise though it's not for everyone, i.e. the portions are small, the ingredients rich and oddly combined, it's for someone fairly adventurous and willing to eat "weird food". It's kind of hyper-nouvelle cuisine redux, though without the abstemious obsession with healthiness that I think tainted the first go-round of nouvelle cuisine (i.e. there IS oil, butter, foie gras, caviar, etc - at least there was when I was there. They'll fax you a menu if you ask. And their wine list is a knockout in terms of variety, price and appropriateness for the food. I also hear good things about Bonds - I haven't eaten there myself but I loved the chef when he was at New End, and some friends say it's wonderful. Not to put too fine a point on good value again, but I loved the food at Rascasse (I had dinner there twice) and I imagine lunch is probably dinner food at knockdown prices...

Almost all the places that have been much-praised on this board for service, cooking etc - Capital, Foliage, even Connaught, Gordon Ramsay etc etc - are offering 'bargain' lunches these days...

Well someone had better start supervising the Savoy, from what I hear from a friend who was there last weekend, the floor was basically a moving carpet of mice. Yuck.