seanw

I think Thomas needs to explain himself if indeed he said "I want to make an asparagus soup that taste's more like asparagus than asparagus"

Bux, Excuse the slight detour! " In this dish (Duck breast, its lacquered crisp skin, papaya condiment & honey tuile), you can find the entire philosophy of my work. The duck genuinely evokes a dance. I have put it through everything. I have truly opened it up to release its spirit. The breast is roasted, then boned, then cut into salmis. I have toyed with the skin, glazing it, rendering a musical crispiness. I am particularly fond of this approach to a dish; you are immediately at its heart. It is dazzling, even resonant-the jazzy side of my cooking, with its dissonance, its rhythm, its direct approach to a theme. The flavours revolve in a loop, & then the sauce calms the melody.In the end, the dish fades out like a jazz tune-the music quiets down, the instruments stop shaking their hips." Pierre Gagnaire 'Reflections on Culinary Artistry' I believe he wants purity in flavour & that flavours can be supported in a tempo of a dish- choice of ingredient is essential, creative...necessary The olive thing i find interesting because i find it bizarre that he should take it process it & then make it look like the original item. Why not leave the olive alone? why this should make it essential i'm not sure, isn't there a danger of confusing novelty with essential creativity. I was impressed by the start of 'decoding Adria' when bourdain was shipped off to sample Pata Negra & other hams to prove a point, but there should be limits to the latitudes or am i misunderstanding the term essential. I have upmost respect for El Bulli & unfortunately until i can partake of the experience myself i have to live vicariously through others so i really appreciate thoughtful reviews of those fortunate enough to have eaten their. Pedro you could always post some more, personally i'm not convinced about the gaining momentum(only based on similar seasonal restaurant experience, & i'm sure the chef wouldn't want that to be the case......afterall prices do not vary from first to last diner!but it may happen)

Docsconz, I'm keenly waiting for your explanation of how " the result comes out even more essential than the starting product". I think i know what you mean but an assumption exists that you have tried the starting product & that it is somehow less essential than the final product because of Adria's processing, i would take a different stance but i'm interested in how you explain how the product becomes more essential. Thanks & look forward to your pics & review. By the way i could not care either way as far as chefs/patrons allowing photos or not, afterall it is their intellectual property .Bux how long is Spain going to remain a rising gastronomic star, i can assure you that their is a huge admiration shared by both nations for each others cuisine.......the rising gastronomic star thing is getting boring. I'm intrigued at what Pedro thought of his experience......Pedro?

Carlsbad, I tend to agree with you, i lived & worked in Paris last spring/summer & this year went to NY, not really in the same league. As i'm sure has been mentioned Spain offers v.similar menu structure to France, especially michelin rated. Seems fairly redundant topic especially so as i assume Robert never tried the surprise menus. Robert i tend to agree with you as far as economics driving restaurant ops, i think it's a shame that the consumer has to pay for all the PR crap & associated bullshit that comes with sleek haute cuisine operations, it used to be about the food(& credible critique rating system!)......i have come to appreciate more restaurants driven by chefs who cannot afford the trappings of michelin(although i believe michelin is recognising as much themselves slowly) & cook for themselves & the integrity of the ingredient & season. The more haute cuisine restaurants that inflate their prices the greater the expectations( with more likely negative results) of the consumer. Should the margins be at the expense of the employees??(in Spain, France, US or wherever) the food... ? ? I would hope that the humane response would be no. I have become bored of tasting menus myself, yet if a restaurant cannot adequately perform a degustation menu why should they be so much more competent at a la carte??? I would like to pick Senderens & Guerards brain over recent trends in France i'm sure it would be enlightening!

Noticed in Paris last year that the pastry chef of Le Bristol has a rather nice book out on all preparations Strawberry, & seemingly has provided half of them in the dessert offered to molto e.

Moby, Sorry you missed out on the unique Michel Bras experience. I was fortunate enough to be their when he was 2 star & we won the third the following year. I can assure you missed something special, i doubt any 3star chef worked like this man, he needed to be fit enough to run a marathon(he ran several). The growth of the restaurant operations has been phenomenal over a short space of time (considering his lengthy involvement in restaurant operations). Books have been written, a restaurant exists in Toya, Japan & recipes have been licensed for mass production etc......But time exists in winter for such activities & considering the energy of the man it does not surprise that so much has been achieved. I think the whole modern dining experience(at that level)is a problem, in that it costs so much money! Large revenues need to be made to ensure survival, all the big names will whore themselves out a little(easy money). Maybe fine dining experiences are increasingly about entertainment rather than soulful satisfaction, the experience is important but i go to restaurants to eat & drink, i gave up playing with my food as a kid. MG movement seems a little like smoke & mirrors,& apt for contemporary desires, my particular sensibilities make it difficult to invest passion in such novelty(although of course others do,& not consider it to be novelty, in fact i do not discount modern scientific understanding of food just the overkill of it). The process can supercede the end product......Interesting question can you tell the difference, when a chef has invested a profound understanding of the ingredient & creatively considered it's means of preparation? (the critical part of the question being profound understanding of the ingredient) When i was at Bras i could answer yes to the question posed. Bit of a ramble......& contentious.

Chocolate mousse season, look out chocolate mousse.

Andy, Visited Pembrokeshire as a kid & was blown away by the natural beauty. Touring around the caves & cliffs in a zodiac being a memorable highlight. Anyway the food....best fish & chips of my life! seriously stunning, can't beat sparkling fresh fish cooked simply, it became a benchmark for me in judging all that followed(i wish sometimes that i could subdue this tendency to relate experiences & compare)

TFC, Genius?(no disrespect intended, just respect for the definition) Enjoyed the weekend up in Pemberton @ Helmers farm, wonderful people, scenery & experience . All part of slowfood cycle sunday.

Hi Jen, Depending upon where i am in the world, i generally would like to trust the taste of chef, its his/her work that i am tasting, i want to be engaged by reaction(no influence from me!). Does that make sense. However there are times when of course the establishment will offer the preference, but i find that this is still far too open for abuse. As far as the server knowing the specifications of the chef is concerned there can still be alot of inherent misunderstanding- so why not have a chef whose cooking you trust & enjoy the experience as he/she sees it. By the way, what do you think of Ruth Reichls' truism.

chocomoo, You should try Samurai sushi on Davie, its really cheap.

Ducky, Sure it wasn't Constantinople ?

Good luck Lolita's, nice review & interesting comments from A.Gill.

Hi, Ate at SHH around 3 years ago, for my wife's birthday. Really bad, but could have been an off day, but wine dude with ponytail was particularly offensive. Anyway also did a stage at Herbfarm, i see the similarities as far as pacific NW cuisine is concerned but the service & preparation are alot different imho.

Jamie, Who devised the menu? The potential for the location is incredible, for year round dining.Maybe the owners would be sage to leave the menu up to chef Larouche & Go Fish can set up in the concession below.....sod the kids!

Winegeek, with all due respect they have everyday to prove themselves! Do they reduce their prices at the moment ? I guess they are busy so that should be taken into account, WTF excuse is that. Gill gave her impression of her experience, i'm sure Watermark will have numerous opportunities to rectify the situation concerning the press, should the dining public be protected from a negative opinion? Also the comment pertaining to West is somewhat ridiculous dont you think. I sense the press & the public are more critically aware, the nature of competition no? So it will be interesting to see the response of Watermark to the criticism, will they react as Chambar who seem very adept at resolving issues encountered by patrons or... Daddy-A considering the barbs of wisdom from say an AA Gill or Jonathan Meades 'crap' is positively kind by comparison & not as funny I prefer to hear opinions, negative or positive, surely that is more relevant to the public than a re-hash or verbatim rendition of PR, whom is serving whom here????

Andrew, Fair, if indeed that was her opinion. If the information is to be relevant it should at least be honest. Would you suggest giving the restaurant more time before you write? What about reviewing the restaurant when they open, at the same time as they advertise!(they probably dont advertise that their food is crap) I think the journalist in question is doing her job, & providing her opinion. Is timeframe an issue if the restaurant is open & even provides menus that it cannot honour, i guess an excuse can be that they spent 7 million bucks & need to start getting some of it back. Side note(but for Andrew)sorry arne, please see the postings on Per Se in food media, as far as tips are concerned this is the way to go! Dont you think?

Arne, Unfortunately i have a 145 excuses

Hi Memo, Sounds really nice, what else did you eat? As far as indigenous plants go, i believe C & probably Tojo are using seaweeds, which are collected off the west coast of V. Island & probably elsewhere. A recent article in EAT or Cityfood covered some wild foods that can be collected locally(i 'm not sure if any restaurants were linked to the feature). Wild Food by Roger Phillips is another good reference although unfortunately not all is applicable.

A 'quasi potato' has a protruding lump on the back i believe.

cayenne, Totally know what you mean...I saw the Letterman show too. He would have been better served on a show like Craig Ferguson & Jimmy Kimmel. Leno & Letterman appease a broader market but what i want is for the conversation to draw more out of Bourdain than what Letterman achieved, he could have been coked up, but i think Bourdain was on something aswell!

Neil, Got something against SdeF? You will have to wait six weeks while they are on holiday to find out your answer.

Revasser, Can you explain how hiring a publicist "will not only be good for the restaurant but good for the people". How does the general public benefit? Surely the parasites need to be paid & who do you think pays them? What are restaurant critics for, & as far as the Chambar experience is concerned they seem to be busy enough with their own methods of PR, like providing a great evening experience.....When does hype trump actual substance?? Afterall this is Vancouver, not New York why pretend that the 'city' is bigger than it actually is, but of course the publicists interests are not served with that rationale.

3WCardamoms, Zen Baby.

Very nice, reminds me a little of Bras. He could add a couple more items on the gourmand menu, bit stingy!