magnolia

She specified Anglo-Indian, New Tayyab is neither anglo - nor Indian, Discuss. And it's "licker", moy fren! I had forgotten about Vivat Bacchus - it's related to Brown's in Jo'burg, but as Stephen says, above, it's more South African+French fusion - and yes, there are a lot of South African wines on the list but at least as many French ones, including old vintages. And their reverence for cheese is definitely French - they have their own cool room. Curious to know what PotjieCheffie thinks if he ever gets there...!

PS. Fresh_a decined to promote himself, possibly out of modesty, when he could have pointed you to his own published opinion on Bouchet (and others) from the Easyjet magazine. I take the liberty of excerpting it herewith: Dominique Bouchet 11 rue Treilhard, Tel. +33 (0)1 45 61 0946 www.dominique-bouchet.com The former two-star chef at the Hotel Crillon’s Les Ambassadeurs, Monsieur Bouchet left the Michelin star rat-race to be the master of his own gastronomic destiny, and after a short sojourn in Japan (a country he knows almost as well as his native France), returned to open a fantastic little establishment in a quiet side street at the limit of Paris’ eighth arrondissement. Neither bistro (because of the very high quality cuisine) nor formal restaurant (because of its relaxed, simple atmosphere, and concept), he’s created a place unlike any other in the city. Look forward to his new boutique/salon/cooking school concept opening up early next year just next door. Approximately ¤50-¤70 per person, excluding wine.

Necessarily so, because copy closing dates for magazines like F&W are...months ahead. I imagine they've finished commissioning most of the features for 2006. So Gourmet etc. are not the place to go for food "news" - which is why anyone who's consulting this board is doing the right thing. Unfortunately I haven't been to any of those, aside from Benoit, and that was a long, long while ago. It was great.

1) Cockney food. Looking for the best of the best of the eel, mash and pie shops. Thetwo easiest to find info on - Goddard's and Manze's, have had both favourable and unfavourable reviews. Is there anything else to try besides the pies and eels? And are the eels really like pickled herring? Eels are nothing like pickled herring. I think they're horrible but the handful of Cockneys I know swear by Robins in East Ham, I think this is it: J Robins Pie & Mash Shop Tel: 020 84721956 105 High St Nth, London E6 1HZ 2) Looking for good value lunch fixed-price menus, especially near Chiswick. Also, any good dinner fixed price menus? Chiswick-ish : Le Vacherin and La Trompette, if they're open for lunch, are excellent 3) Real "British" Indian food. I've had Chinese-Indian, American-Indian, and Indian-Indian. Looking for something the makes the Anglo versions better. (There's an Anglo-Indian takeaway in my neighborhood here in Brooklyn, and one at a chip shop two neighborhoods away.) You asked for it...Gaylord. They even call male diners "boss". 4) South African food. Was excited to try Fish Hoek in Chiswick, only to find that it is closed. Any other good ones out there that are reasonably priced? no suggestions, that was the only one that I was aware of 5) New Zealand/Australian food. THe Kiwi Kitchen at Baroque sounds interesting - any other recs? There are probably loads of talented Australian, South African and New Zealand chefs here but I think those who have tried to open restaurants devoted to their home cuisine have struggled mightily to define for diners what exactly it is. As a result, Fish Hoek, as well as East West (I think that's what it was called, the place next to the Ivy); Osia; and Sugar Club - all of which I think were Australian, and which initially seemed popular and well-reviewed, have closed. Providores is the only restaurant that I can think of where the fact that the Chef is from New Zealand, is highlighted in any way; he serves "Antipodean fusion food". It's good and expensive. Their downstairs informal dining 'Tapa Room' has gentler prices but I haven't eaten there so I can't say what the difference is. 6) A nice meal for the weekend. Sunday dinner or brunch maybe. Was thinking maybe The Glass House in Kew, but I'm sure there are many more that you recommend. Looking to spend less than 30 quid per person if doable. If you go to La Trompette, Glass House is very similar. It is lovely though the last meal we had there didn't get raves from all diners. I always recommend Ransome's Dock, which is my favourite go-to for all meals. Great food, relaxed and friendly service, attractive room. Excellent wine list and they let you linger as long as you like. They're not open for dinner on Sunday night though. You might want to get your Anglo-Indian on that night (if Gaylord's is open). 7) Fish and chips. Have two prospects - Faulkner's and North Sea Fish Restaurant. EIther one better, or should I choose an audible? What's an audible? 8) Coronation chicken salad. One of my favorite dishes, and a true British invention. Who does the best one? I think you're best off going to a high end deli section - I bet Selfridges do a good one, or maybe even the fancy Waitrose on Canary Wharf... 9) Anything else I may have forgotten that is a must try/do in London. Depends - where are you from? High end Chinese lunch at Hakkasan or Yauatcha. I really like The Wolseley for a mid-afternoon pig-out, decadent hot chocolate/chocolate sandwiches, excellent "Viennese" pastries.

Wouldn't the gay version be just 'no trousers' ?

Oh dear Now you don't want people to think you're becoming low maintenance now J ← I agree - a bad precedent to set, as they will give you a lower budget next year !

I think we'd all agree that it's good compared with what else is generally available in London.

Well that's as good a reason as any and thanks for reminding me that there are lots of reasons to love a place, not just because of the food. I haven't had their cheesecake, to be honest, I've just had bad luck with their chocolate & fruit cakes. But I'm willing to give it a shot based on your description ! Speaking of bread & pastry shops...I've just been informed that they're opening a Paul on the concourse at Victoria.

This is the Laduree "Baiser" which is coconut and fruit based. ← Yeah one of the recent creations. Of the top of my head white choc on outside. ?strawberry confit/compote inside, poppy seed cream. Could be wrong about the compote. My memory clearly not what it never once was... The straight patisserie is genuinely impressive, although would say there isn't much competition in London... ta J ← There was definitely coconut in it.

Origame and Jon were more laconic herewith than they are in person. I think Ladurée deserves a bit more elaboration...though the macarons were perhaps not up to snuff, everything else was really good - the mille-feuille, in particular, stood out for me. Plus the pot of hot chocolate - which is exactly that - a long, slow, yummy pot of melted chocolate. And they were very accommodating, on a two-Saturdays-before Christmas shopping day at prime eating time - with all the frayed nerves and ratty crowds that this implies - two a table of shifting numbers (ultimately six adults) and a baby. We pigged out (albeit mostly on sweets!) for £11 which is not bad. I'd go back. Well after Christmas...

The way I see it, in theory any restaurant with a fine wine list - assuming the wine was acquired at a 'good' price in the first place, possibly awhile ago, at auction or whatever - would benefit greatly in terms of profit and good will, because many of those wines are within the window of 'ready to drink'. By applying a sensible mark-up to a fine wine, rather than doubling or tripling it, restos would in theory encourage people to try spend more than they might otherwise, and shift the wine when it's ready, and release the funds that have been tied up for so long. If the wine is faulty, it's faulty - charging over the odds for it won't fix it. In fact if it's a one off or rare bottle, the client may just ask to substitute a lower priced wine rather than take a chance. We recently ordered a bottle of Au Bon Climat (at a place with a relatively sensible mark-up) and it was corked, and so was the second one. Probably there was something wrong with the whole lot, and the restaurant was going to keep the bottles and returned them, along with the others, to the importer. But we gave up and ordered something else. Also restaurants get themselves into all sorts of cash flow situations, partially by being...over-ambitious...and end up flogging a load of fine wine at auction or through the trade, because they're desperate for cash and that 's the one major asset they have. This is an unhealthy way to raise funds, whereas selling fine wine steadily, is more efficient. You probably know this but when you see on a wine list a bottle for £10-15-20-25 that means it's actually £5-7, and probably available at any supermarket, and the restaurant is basically ripping your face off by trebling the price and offering you something you can get around the corner. Likewise, offering a £75 bottle at £200-250 puts it well beyond most peoples' reach, implying the bottle will sit there. But offering it at £110-125 or whatever puts it within a more reasonable reach, and also enables the restaurant to make nearly 50% or more profit, and sell more of it, faster. Win-win. But I'm not a restaurateur, and clearly most restaurants have found that the first strategy works for them. Then again most restaurants go out of business pretty fast. Of course these scenarios could be completely unrelated...

Might be too late but perhaps Anchor & Hope at Waterloo...or somewhere with a communal table, there's an Italian place also near Waterloo (near County Hall perhaps) that serves high quality antipasti etc. etc. the name of which escapes me, Jon Tseng help me out here...

If only there were more places that did this, but the only other one I've come across in the whole country (and I'd like to be proven wrong) that actually makes it their USP is the Garrack Hotel in St Ives. If more places were willing to take a chance with this kind of policy, I am convinced people would be more adventurous with their wine choices, and ultimately drink better wine in restaurants. Restaurants could then move their higher-cost inventory faster, recoup their investment faster, and free up cash to purchase more interesting wine. The knock-on effect for consumers and the trade would be very positive: diners encouraged to trymore interesting, higher quality wine would then, in theory, trade up when purchasing for home consumption. This in turn would encourage retailers to carry a larger proportion of higher quality wines...which would then help the wine industry. Or maybe I'm just dreaming. Anyway, the food probably will not knock your socks off, but it's perfectly pitched for the 'business model'. Very smart people behind it.

Bernard Antony 17 rue de la Montagne Vieux-Ferrette, Haut-Rhin 68480 antony.fromager@wanadoo.fr phone: +33 3 89 40 42 22 fax: +33 3 89 40 31 03 If language is an issue, tell me what you want to know and I'll send an email.

Vinoteca, 7 St John Street, occupies the spot that was briefly a sandwich bar (owned by the folks who also owned the Italian caff on the corner that wraps around onto Cowcross Street, which alas is now a Pret-a-Manger). It is a breath of fresh air in this neighbourhood which, aside from the stalwart St John & Club Gascon, has stagnated of late, due to a lack of new openings, or worse -has slid downhill (in the case of SoS bar & mid-range brasserie, my former go-to; and Sutton Arms since Rosie's departure). The short menu - about four-five starters, four-five mains, four puds - is designed to be quick and easy for the kitchen, mainly to complement the impressive wine list. There are a decent number of choices by the glass as well as many great, some hard-to-find, bottles at a very non-greedy mark-up of about 50%. The portion sizes are large and dishes, very modestly priced. For those who don't want to choose their own wine, there's a glass recommended for each dish - or either of the owners - former wine tradespeople - will be happy to advise. It's also an offie. Dishes are simple - only a handful of ingredients, easy-assembly type things - but creative, with good ingredients. A starter - a generous plate of Spanish chorizo, excellent capers and olives - for around £6 - easily fed two. I had a glass of the recommended manzanilla, and E ordered a glass of Brunello di Montalcino 1999 (can't remember the producers). I then had a salad of roasted pumpkin with a poached egg and curry dressing over rocket, technically a starter but large enough that I didn't need to order anything else. E had beef in red wine with mushrooms and mash, which was lovely. We were both too stuffed to order pudding but I had a moment of regret when I saw the puddings come out...Total bill for two was £40. The place is small - but not cramped; there are a few seats at the bar, too. Even though the place was packed at lunch, and there were only two servers (the owners) and a couple of large office parties, they were able to keep up the right pace for everyone, with none of the rush to empty your bottle so that you buy another one, a terrible habit that is now so rampant (even at Troisgros!) that I have taken to holding my glass until it's almost empty, in order to control the pouring. At lunchtime there is waiter service, at dinner, you order at the bar and the food is brought to you. Last (food) orders at lunch are 14h30, but there is continuous bar service (and I'll bet they'd serve you some cold stuff, olives or whatever, too). Last food orders in the evening are at 22h00, and the place shuts at 23h00 in order to avoid the clubbing crowd, I guess.

Glad you posted about this, I just remembered that I have a tin with six molds in the shape of very elaborate roses. I haven't tried it yet but I recall wondering about how a recipe would retain its shape. I think the key is a better that incorporates as little air and/or as small a crumb as possible. Unfortunately the ideal is jell-o ! But this gingerbread one looks amazing too.

I've been meaning to post but just haven't had a moment, I went to Moti Mahal on Great Queen Street the other evening, and it was terrific - fresh ingredients, interestingly prepared - and they serve until late too. Delicious food, decent prices, good service.

True - the chocolates barely taste like chocolate, they're all sugar and no flavour. But they are beautiful.

Yes - a whole new thread. Gross generalisation, but part of the issue is - whether accurate or not - 'foodie-ism' is a new phenomenon in the US and UK, people feel they need experts to guide them in the right direction or discourage them from making an error. Same with wine. For some reason, the food and drink choices one makes carry a lot of "baggage" in the US and UK In France, good food has always played a huge role in the national consciouness - indeed, the national sense of worth and self. And the French have always been as happy to drink crappy wine as they have been to drink wonderful wine - it's just part of life, some of it's good, some of it's bad, they don't particularly need someone to tell them which one it is. So the concepts of food and wine "criticism" per se - in the sense of someone reviewing and telling you what *they* think, with the idea that you may follow their advice, is not nearly as "evolved" as it is in the US and the UK.

I love the Spice bazaar too. Did you see the sweet shop that sells foil-wrapped chocolates for weddings, and little crunchy chocolate bits that tast like cocoa puffs? A word of advice - don't save your spices - special saffron either - for a special occasion, they lose their potency so just enjoy.

I can confirm that FS does indeed ride a bicycle, but he doesn't dress in any particular way - certainly not like a 'dandy'. Maybe he's never been photographed, but neither does he take any particular steps to disguise himself. Restaurant critics in France seem neither to be as vilified nor as elevated as they are in the US or UK. Although FS has carved a niche for himself, the comments of a paper's restaurant critic don't seem, by and large, to be taken as seriously by readers in France as they might be elsewhere. Maybe this is because, as FS asserts, most of his contemporaries are well-known suck-ups and actively seek to be friendly with the chefs they review, so anonymity is really irrelevant - they don't even pretend to be impartial. As he says he doesn't do either of these things, perhaps that's possibly why he's not recognised and why he gets hate mail.

Never tried pollen but I love polenta. I wouldn't really call it an ingredient though, it's an entity unto itself. I think red peppercorns and nutmeg are underrated...

I used to really like a couple of the above-mentioned fast-food places - notably Pret and Eat - which started out as kind of 'anti-fast food' fast food. Eat, in particular, had really good brownies and other baked goods. But both chains grew and/or were bought out, started carrying brands in common with everyone else, and they are now really poor. The sandwiches at Pret (which is or was owned by McD's) have a very high bread-to-filling ratio, which I find very mean, and they put stuff in one of those heated glass cabinets, which is the equivalent of leaving food under a hairdryer for hours. Nero has decent coffee but its pastries &tc seem identical to Costa, Starbucks etc.etc. - and taste like cardboard. You'd think that these places make such a huge margin on their coffee they could throw a little money at the food.

I had a discussion about this with the owner of Burnt Chair in Richmond - a restaurant with an amazing wine list - possibly the best selection of American wines in the UK. The food was fabulous, once, but is now just decent*. On a fine Friday night, there were only two occupied tables. The restaurant has been there for 13 years, and the owner says that the neighborhood has changed such that few people who live there would consider going to a restaurant such as his, just on the doorstep - rather, if they're going to go out, they get either go out right after work - in town - or get a babysitter and go to central London. This theory could probably extend to Putney and other 'family' friendly areas that don't necessarily support a premium-oriented restaurant, even one with relatively gentle prices compared with those in central London. As Ian points out, advertising and PR definitely have a role to play: Chez Bruce, Glasshouse and La Trompette are just as 'far afield' as L'Auberge and some of the others mentioned above, but have very media-savvy promoters (and have the benefit of being part of a group)... *He is planning to move to Ludgate Circus next year and open a less formal place. I admire him for not giving up.

Actually that point was also discussed at the conference (and I believe in Guasch's paper, though my New Yorican Spanish isn't up to the task, unfortunately). Apparently much of the residue is thought to come from pomegranatest. But in the case of King Tut's tomb, it was concluded that the wine found there was made from grapes.