Mark Donnelly

D90 What was the damage to your wallet if I should be so crude?

Stephen I've just returned to Vancouver after 18 years in London. So a question for you is do you prefer Borough Market or Granville Island Market and why? Two things I've noticed upon my return are (i) the incredibly restricted range of products (organic or not) that are avialable in Vancouver (nothing that even comes close to a Waitrose) and (ii) Vancouver everyday prices are much higher than London organic prices. Still I'm thankful that I only have to pay $2 duty per bottle on my fine fine cellar.

Hi I've just returned to Vancouver after 18 years in London. Sorry to be a bit of a party pooper, but Kerrygold is a bog standard, mass produced butter, as is Lurpak. I wouldn't bother seeking it out. Unfortunatley my limited experience so far of (West) Vancouver is (i) very limited choice of organic and small scale production produce and (ii) prices that are higher than London. I just don't know how anyone can aford to live in Vancouver. Having said that I think I might start up a Vancouver version of Waitrose. There are many gastro pub cook books on the market if you are interested, although most of them are British.

Sounds like he either got the big things right but the little things wrong or the big things wrong but the little things right. Either way it seems like he opened too soon. Fatal for someone with no reputation. Sean has one, well sort of, and hence may eventually pull it off.

How much did you pay for said Cassoulet? I've seen a medium sized jar/bottle in Waitrose for £14 I think. Personally, I never shop in Tesco and never have. That means I am in no position to jusge, and probably better off for it.

Presumably duck features heavily on the menu...

JT Absolutely agree on the Basics section of Canteen. The funniest thing about WH was MPW recalling the moment when he was a comis and was asked to strain veal stock through muslin/cheesecloth. He did so, but the stock was cold - and hence gelatenous. Took four hours.

Sorry Andy, we'll have to agree to disagree. I think many of the recipes in WH (roast foie gras with Puy lentils and Peach Melba) are very dated. personally, I actually think White's Canteen bok is better. I've never used a single recipe from WH, whereas I use many from Ladinis. Some of us are old enough to remember MPW's TV series on (I think) Channel 4. Each episode was devoted to one dish. Hence a whole episdode was devoted to Pig's Trotter Pierre Koffman. Great series.

Too many things influence a stock/sauce for anyone reading a recipe to faithfully reproduce a restaurant version. Taken to the nth degree, why not suggest a particular supplier or breed of chickens. Keller does not use celery in his chicken stock, and for the same reason that I don't: we are sensitive to the taste. But I don't need a chef to tell me about this. Besides, ther are books dedicated to stock/sauces, A Roux's being a particular favourite. I'm not knocking DEM. Instead, I admire chefs that ply their trade and shun commercial limelight. I'm just saying the the book is good but not great. In this way I disagree with Andy. For me Keller's book is innovative and ground breaking and as such sets avery high bar. White Heat is now very dated - but this merely shows just how far we've come.

How do you back up a filofax?

My critque is with the book, not the restaurant. Since my dinner parties involve 7 or 8 courses, and since I have about 100 cook books, I am looking for something new and/or additional. Why every book at this level of cooking insists on devoting pages to "basics" (such as veal stock) is beyond me. I'd much rather prefer a section on amuse bouche. Hey ho, back to work.

Salty Why did you stay? I mean if I'm paying a lot of money, I certainly wouldn't have waited 90 min for my first course. The timings at restaurants are staggered so as not to over-load the kitchen. I've walked out of local restaurants if the first course does not arrive within 30 or so minutes; but I've never experienced it at starred restaurants. Did you complain? If so, what was the explanation (other than culinary perfection).

Obviously there's a love affair on eG with LCS. The book landed on my door yesterday. It's good but not great. Similar in style to Trotter's books and nowhere near as innovative and comprehensive as Keller's French Laundry. But a welcome addition given some of my more recent purchases.

If I had all the money in the world, I wouldn't spend too much time at Borough Market. It's over-rated, over-crowded and over-priced. A sad state of affairs when a market becomes a tourist destination. It is no secret that supermarkets cater to their catchment customer base. If you live in Dalston you won't get goose fat or leaf gelatine, but may do if you live in Stoke Newington (as I used to) I do a monthly delivery from Sainsburys which, where I live, does goos fat, gelatine leaf, typo OO flour inter alia. I suppliment this with a weekly shop to my local Waitrose for fish, meat and dairy products. Fruit and veg are picked semi-weekly from our vegetable allotment (currently enjoying a bounty of strawberries).

No luck involved. Just lots of hard work. We grow just about everything: cherries, strawberries, plums, onions, potatoes, leeks, corn, leeks, parsnips. chard, herbs, etc. You name it, we grow it. We think it is important that our children realise that potatoes come out of the ground with dirt on them; that tomatoes come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Supermarket packaging drives me to dispair, as do green beens from Kenya. It's all organic naturally.

Tomatoes in May! Not grown locally methinks. How many food miles? I wait untill high summer then pick them fresh from my allotment.

Was browsing through the book that accompanies the series and discovered that Angela Hartnet, who is representing Wales, was born in Kent and her mother is Italian. How Welsh is that? Still I'm glade that risible TWA got unanimously thumped last week. Same for SR this week. I mean a pancake for Mains.

Blackiston clearly has preconceived ideas about TWA (talentless, insoucient celebrity short order cook) that, in his mind, have all proven to be true. Like when he went to TWA's restaurant and called it a "pub": it met his expectatoins. I think yesterday the penny dropped for TWA that his main course was a disaster. Meow.

If AWT has contempt for Blackiston, it can onlt be to deflect away from his own inadequacies. Just rearrange the initials TWA and add a T. Don't know what TWA is doing representing the Midlands, but of course his mid rift is the size of the Midlands. If TWA wins this heat, then someone has a cruel sense of humor.

I mentioned in an earlier post that JBR comes across as a total prat. Sure some of it was for the camera, but this guy really does think his waste product smells of roses. I'm so glad he lost. Quite a lot of humble pie methinks. A complete Richard Cranium.

In episode one JBR said Michael will be 'cooking in the style I did 15 years ago. I've moved on to simpler food, simply presented' (or something to that effect). Low and behold, JBR's fish course was, well something you from John Campbell, whereas MC's dih was, erh, very simple, simply presented.

I'm worried about the judges. Couldn't they find someone other than the ubiquitous Matthew Fort. JBR came across as a complete prat. Since he does this consistantly, he must be one naturally. The 30min format is too limiting. Two chefs, two courses - too much for 30min. Stll, it provides the fix I soo need that Masterchef (I still cring just thinking about it) singularly failed to in the one episode I watched.

Oh dear. I just get my butler to do all my chopping. Maintenance free...

If I remember correctly, Wendy's claim to (burger) fame was a square patty. Stephen, surely the best chain hamberger joint (in Vancouver at least) is White Spot. Don't ask me where the name comes from.

I've never experienced anything like this, but Izabel, sounds like you're passing the buck in thinking it was the pub's responsibility. I'm afraid in life you get what you are willing to tolerate (take the Undergound for example - shocking service, expensive, but no one can be bothered to complain). I may have misread your post, but filling in a form at the end of the meal is like shutting the stable door.... Sorry to be so harsh.