magnolia

Don't you mean, the food was offputting *and* the portions were so small?

In my limited experience, I'd venture to say the only really distinctive, desirable "Latin American" cuisine in general - one with with a historical context, lots of variations and major regional differences - is Mexican, and in London, there's not a single decent specimen at any price. Gaucho Grill is a good steakhouse but it's not particularly distinctive for any other region; and the only interesting "pan-Latin American" place I can think of is Armadillo.

What about the extortionate rents, taxes and utility bills that are integral to running a restaurant - to say nothing of the cost of good ingredients? £336K doesn't seem like much for the effort. As a customer, I feel you get what you pay for: if the staff are paid next to nothing and next to nothing is spent on the ingredients, with a few inexplicably successful exceptions, in general, a restaurant cannot charge enough to cover costs and still make a living wage. But Andy - you've been in career-change mode, I'd be willing to be one of 1000 eGers to donate £55 to set you up at Merchant House - the rest would be up to you (lifetime discounts for all of coure)

I second whomever said there's never a bad time to visit Paris - only worse times than others. I'll be there for four-five days, some time between January 26-Feb 2, anyone who wants to get together, PM me...Would be lovely to meet some new Paris-bound or Paris-based eG-ers.

OK, the punchline is that although I suggested going to Clarke's, the person I was meeting was in St James's anyway, so I suggested we meet and just try our luck at getting into Wolseley without a booking. As Dipardoo has indicated - at 16h00 - the time I had tried to book - we walked in and there were loads of tables. We had a pot of tea each and two giant pieces of superb cake, for about £7 each. And sat there for three hours, nobody said boo even though people started coming in for dinner. Theyeven asked if we wanted a refill.

Actually both of those are great. Person I'm meeting lives near Notting Hill so that may work. Thanks !

Thanks but it's too much of a production - also way too expensive. Thing I like about Wolseley is that it has unpretentious but very good service, nobody hovers over you - and you can get out of there for well under £15 having stuffed yourself silly. A proper 'cafe' in the old-fashioned Eastern European vein !

I guess I've been lucky with Wolseley at odd times of the day - normally I just walk in and there's no problem getting a table for one or two. But today I decided to book because I am meeting s/o I don't know well, and they're fully booked *all day*. I can't take a chance and just walk in - where else could I go around 16h00 or so, that has great pastries and is roughly on tne the Jubliee/Central line axis? Please don't say Patisserie Valerie. No me gusta.

Jaeggi 77 Shaftesbury Avenue, phone 020 7434 4545 and Pages 121 Shaftesbury Avenue 020 7565 5959 are restaurant supply shops, right near each other. Hansens 020 7 3516933 (also pro) is at 306 Fulham Rd in SW6 or 10, I forget which You said you didn't want a fancy shop but in case you change your mind, Divertimenti on Marylebone High Street seems to keep many cooking types happy - as do the kitchenware depts. at John Lewis/Peter Jones and Selfridges, and JL/PJ will 'never knowingly be undersold' though I've never tested their policy... So, when are you inviting all the London folks to your place for dinner? It's the traditional thing for the newest person to join the board to do this, you know.

Also you may have noticed that like women in Italy and probably lots of other places, at a certain age - and seemingly suddenly - many French women seem to shrink a few inches in height and redistribute those inches to their girth, becoming a bit more 'ronde'. Like the rest of us, they're no impervious to the effects of their indulgence, whatever form it may take.

Ooops - far be it from me to provoke a flashback !! I didn't realise my magazine (yes, it's that good ol' French Saveurs - argh!!) is so trendy. But so far the few recipes I've tried have worked very well. The recipe calls for cooking polenta in almond milk. I'm not sure if this is necessary - the taste of cornmeal and almonds?? but hey, I'll try anything once. Thanks for the explanation !

I have a French recipe for polenta cooked in almond milk, which you make yourself by pouring simmering milk over powdered almond and adding a spoon ful of "amande amère" - I know what this means literally, bitter almond -but in practice I have never encountered this as an ingredient. Does anyone know what "form" it takes? Liquid? Powder? Where can I find something like this? Thanks !

If memory serves, honey is seasonal so the Borough guy - I think he is is Steve Benbow, of London Rooftop Beekeepers - may only bee there :-) in the spring/summer. There's also an specific honey called London Rooftop Honey, which l'Artisan du Chocolat used in one of their choccies last year...

I think I know which one you mean. I haven't been there in ages. And yes, a homemade marshmallow could change my life just about now...

For a big deal, try the fabulous Auberge de L'ile - http://www.aubergedelile.com/2003/index.html - don't worry that it says '2003' and ignore the whizzy website, it's really fabulous. For a fab casual meal, I had dinner on a moored canal boat that has been turned into a wine bar with many great selections by the glass. I will try to find the name and post it... Great hotel, in case you're looking, is the Globe et Sicile. Lyon is amazing, can't wait to go back.

Was GR actually there? If not, who's cooking? Mmmm...donuts and Qupé...

I'd *never* eat them under any other circumstances. But I have to say there's something perversely yummy about toast that has been sogged up with beans in molasses or whatever they swimming in. Plus there must be at least three food groups in there: protein, carbs and...molasses.

Anyway, aren't those beans AMerican!!?? Aren't they 'Heinz Boston Baked beans'?

The Full English arose out of necessity, to provide whatever energy was needed for the day's work - fields, mines, factories, whatever. Same rationale as the Americans' ' "lumberjack" or "cowboy" breakfast of more or less all of the above minus the beans and stewed tomatoes/saute'ed shrooms/black pudding - plus pancakes, French toast, etc. Who's been to I-Hop or similar - puts the Full English or Scottish (haggis 'n' all) to shame. Sadly this girl had to give up her traditional New York breakfast - cold pizza out of the box or leftover Chinese food (en containeur). I'm almost -but not quite - over my withdrawal.

This is a fascinating thread, I wish I'd seen it earlier. I find I am getting more and more food/restaurant assignments, and writing for a larger and larger audience (though clearly not as large as eG's as this is infinite ! I do have a dilemma in that there still are so few decent places to eat in London (a good thing I'm posting this on the Paris board so I don't get slaughtered :-) that what has been suggested herewith about a place being over-run, service stretched, prices increased and experience diluted* could in theory happen. Also I think inexperienced businesspeople and restaurateurs exacerbate the problem. (This all has been discussed at length on the UK board about St John, New Tayyab, and many others.) Do I share my 'secrets' or ask others to share theirs, for the sake of my editors? Or for the excitement I have experienced in discovering things, and bringing these worthy places to the attention of those among my readers whom I think and hope would be amazed and delighted as I am? It may be redundant to say that I like to think all of my readers are like you and me, people who look for a special experience - something that is all too rare in *any* city, though rarer in some than others...ahem. I can barely define it for myself but I know it when I see it; and when I do, it makes me want to tell someone. (By the way, I certainly don't *expect* a great meal just because I'm spending a load of dosh) My response is a resounding...the latter, but with qualification. All that said, a restaurant, no matter what the owner may say, is a business. It needs customers. The more the better - not at the same time, mind, but long-term. A smart restaurateur of a "good" restaurant (however you want to define good) depends on *repeat* custom - of course it's fab to have people come once and go home and rave about their experience, thus encouraging their friends etc. to go - and even visits from a annual or biennial customer can add up over time. But it's the monthly, weekly, neighbourhood customers who count most for the long-term viability of the business. Only the restaurateur has the wherewithal to maintain the standards and keep up the initial good work that made me think 'wow, what a find' and presented me with the agonising dilemma 'should I or shouldn't I?' in the first place - and it's nobody else's fault if they don't. If they don't offer the experience that pleased their fans in the first place, eventually their fans will stop going, and as several among you have said, word will spread fast that 'service has slipped, prices have risen etc. etc.' and it's a lot harder to get people to come back to - or even try for the first time - a place that 'used to be great' once this happens. If the restaurant nevertheless flourishes on the first-time diners, trend-chasers, etc. then the owner has made a business decision that made it so, not the behaviour of the diners. *Incidentally...I may be in the minority but I never found that to be the case with La Regalade; I found it harder to get bookings, and I seem to recall they used to be open on weekends...but there are lots of reasons why they could have changed this policy, aside from being invaded by American tourists )

I'm looking for the best of London's gourmet food shops/delis/and outposts of market stalls (i.e. shops that started as market stalls, became so successful that they opened away from a market) around London. I've searched the boards, and have unearthed some good ones thanks to you guys - but also every post with the word "delicate" and a lot of peripheral stuff, and basically it's Sunday and I'm feeling lazy so would appreciate your insight as follows: - across all 'ethnicities and 'hoods within Zones 1-3, let's say - so Italian; Portuguese (what's the name of that huge place on the end of P-bello Road?; Lebanese (like Green Valley for example); Italian; French; other... - not a chain of more than three, so no Carluccio's for example - newish or off the beaten path would be ideal: so Ottolenghi (newish), Rifettorio (newish) are good...the new Brindisa tapas bar at Borough which opened this week is too, as an outpost of Brindisa's deli and market stall. But Ginger Pig shop isn't because it's really a butcher with only a handful of take-away items. Not sure about Flaneur because it really has been there for several years, and doesn't do a lot of takeaway and if I included that I'd have to consider the food halls which I don't really want to; also Terroni has gone way downhill. Maybe Gazzano... And anyplace in your 'hood that you think shouldn't be missed but if it doesn't get more foot traffic it may shut down... I will be visiting all venues that seem viable so if anyone wants to join me at odd hours during the day this week...

I remember hearing about a performance-art type ''happening' in Paris several years ago called Le Gout du Noir in which diners were served in the dark, but it didn't have anything to do with blindness, if I recall it was more about experiencing a meal without one of the main senses associated with enjoying something. Then a restaurant called Blindekuh (translates to Blindman's Bluff) opened in Zurich a few years ago. I believe it claimed to be the first of its kind - e.g. a restaurant staffed by blind employees whose goal it was to serve good food in an interesting atmosphere (the pitch dark). I wrote about it a few years ago for ontherail.com. At the time, they had a fully-sighted manager and a partially sighted chef. But the servers were all blind. http://www.blindekuh.ch/

Marco-P - your photos made me salivate. I didn't realise you were Out West. However I might have hit the jackpot as well; I just asked the butcher at Ginger Pig (London) if he knew what short ribs were, described the Jacob's ladder thing, etc. and he said he'd be happy to do it if I asked in advance. I'll keep you posted...

"Example: layering your phyllo, sprinkle some sugar in between layers as you brush on the butter. If you add an accent like cinnamon,ginger, cookie crumbs, etc...as a flavor enhancer, it also will carmelize your baked phyllo too. Cut your multi layered phyllo into squares, place them inside a standard muffin pan. Bake until golden, their shape will be a pretty as you formed them before you baked." I have just started working with phyllo, so please indulge these fairly basic questions. 1) If I bake the phyllo baskets, as you note, in a muffin tin - should I butter the tin (I think it's non stick but I usually butter it when using it for other things) or will the baskets come out easily? 2) How far in advance could I bake the baskets before filling them (i.e. how long will they keep?) I want the phyllo to remain crispy so I want to pre-bake these, and fill them at the last moment before serving them, to avoid the baskets getting soggy 3) What's the best way to keep left over phyllo usable for the future? How long will it keep in the fridge? Thanks !