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did the tasting menu here last week, still very impressive. although there is nothing especially thought provoking on the menu, the consistency with which one course after another of very concentrated and well judged flavours, perfect textures and elegant, understated presentation were delivered was highly impressive. excepting one pre-dessert (rhubarb with mandarin sorbet, which was a bit heavy/cloying on the mandarin) there were really no 'misses'. one example -- tuna served two ways, both immaculately cylindrical and suitably raw but one coated in herbs and briefly poached, giving a hint of warmth and softness which suited the comforting tarragon-influence coating, then one elegantly surrounded by cooked red pepper and wrapped in fine crisp threads... a real umami hit, like a (meat free) distillation of the pleasure of a bacon sandwich, a great complement and a great contrast. and that's just for pre-starters... even better were the veal sweetbread (subst) and the venison (not that adventurous with a beetroot and port puree, just bloody good). surprising to see the chocolate tart and stout ice cream still on the menu, bit unconventional in form -- a very concentrated but light textured rectangle of chocolate, and most effectively partnered by its down at heel ice cream. wine pairings were good, though a red substituted in amongst all the consecutive whites would have been welcome. good service, space rather small but suits the location somehow, bar upstairs in particular not that appealing though.

I suppose the fact that "ethical" foie gras doesn't appear on the menus of restaurants of this calibre is because its quality is sufficiently inferior that (as a 2* or the like) they cannot make use of it -- is this the case? (needless to say, I'm not suggesting for a moment that any reaction to this sort of vandalism is worthy of discussion, just asking as a matter of interest... I don't cook with foie so haven't a feel for the difference in raw ingredient quality between the ethical foie and the real thing)

quite right. feb 14th has got to be the one day to wipe the annual grime off the pasta maker on top of the cupboards and spend restaurant money on some ingredients and wine that for once really will be amazing for the price... can anyone tell me if (top end) restaurants get busier on the 13th as well, or if they experience a lull?

very good. funny to see vague nods to foraging even here at palacio it girl. can't imagine many of their clients would know what their Blackberry's named after if they even got near a hedgerow... over to you, as they say.

Caramelised Shallot Tart with Tetilla, slow-baked tomatoes and chickweed ____________ Roasted Fillet of Hake with hedgerow garlic and Lebanese cous cous salad ____________ Baked Rhubarb Tart I'm afraid this one is ludicrously easy to google, but I know you're all far too sporting to do such a thing... I suppose the prevalence of tarts gives a clue in the comfort direction. perhaps a prevalence could be a collective noun for tarts, like a pride of sommeliers or a nicoise of it girls.

I believe the "on the plate" restriction does not apply to 3*. see also my comment above.

I suppose it can be argued that these are basic necessities for the proper judgement and appreciation of "what's on the plate", and hence pre-requisites of a food based rating, just like the plate itself...

more to the point (and in the correct thread!) is the issue of "category" -- http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...dpost&p=1527103

well, it's no doubt highly contestable whether it happens in practice (one can't imagine a restaurant that's truly unpleasant to be in getting a star), but in principle michelin stars at the * and ** level are only given for what's on the plate, not room, service etc. as for bistro style food, to michelin 1* isn't even "worth a detour" (let alone a special trip ) so easily justified...

(as to whether it will succeed... all I can say is it was pretty packed last night for a Sunday evening in late Jan, and this is some time after the newly-opened rush and presumably before its appearence in all the guide books)

Went there last night... I'd agree there's a slightly institutional feel about it it's more 'in' the shopping centre than I was expecting, you can imagine the space used to be occupied by a huge McDonalds. the decor was rather less lavish and more dated than some press reviews seemed to imply... however, it has to be said that some of the dishes were really very good, in a comforting butter-and-egg-white sort of way, and although some of the mains may be ambitiously priced, it's also possible to eat very inexpensively here. With the small starters at £3 each, a decent sized roast free range chicken leg/thigh for £5, excellent frites for (?) £3.50 and wines by the carafe at bottle matched prices (with some pretty cheap bottles on the list) he's certainly able to offer an affordable 'haute experience' for mass consumption. For the record, the anchovy toast and parmesan custard and the pike boudin were incredibly rich and rather wonderful; the chicken was pretty good with a really very strong lemon thyme flavour, came with some sizeable roasted garlic cloves, the skin could have been crispier though; the frites, however, were very crisp and not over-salted, and the chocolate souffle was pretty sound too. some other dishes were surprisingly poor (the aubergine and leek and the red pepper and anchovy starters were dull, the anchovies small and over-pickled, the artichoke rissotto was low on artichokes and very over-salted) and service was friendly rather than slick (had to request missing knives for one course). Anyway, wouldn't hesistate to go in the future for a cheap lunch of a few starters and a roast-something-and-frites.

sounds like they are reading a section of the guardian they're not interested in (there's only so far you can go with fish and chip shop reviews) then complaining the content's not of interest to them. I could do the same in the sports section. regarding the stars, I don't understand why Morgan M hasn't got one yet, would have thought it was right up their street. it may not be perfect but it's surely 1* material. perhaps it's the holloway road that isn't up their street as for more informal pub type places, there must be hope for the Sportsman etc. with The Olive Branch in Clipsham having a star -- it's a very good food pub which, not unusually, also claims impeccable sourcing, but has fewer links to local farms (esp for vegetables), doesn't have a tasting menu like the Sportsman, and based on a recent visit is variable in standard and not really doing anything unusual. not had a chance to get the the Sportsman yet but from what I've heard, I hope they get it.

I prefer the room and atmosphere at the square and the food is a very safe bet (though the service, albeit good, may not be quite so friendly), so for dinner I'd also incline towards the square... if that's not mixing a geometrical metaphor

had a very good lunch here on new year's eve -- it seemed to be one of the few places open, and although this mightn't be the most propitious day and (not wishing to enter the recent debate) monsieur chavot wasn't in the kitchen, I enjoyed an excellent and pretty much faultless lunch, all for under £30 a head before drinks etc. (a fair selection by the glass albeit not cheap). a bit of a bargain for this level of cooking and a reasonable choice at each course (4 or so); degustation was also still available at £48. amuse fairly simple and very good, a light and not unduly frothy shellfish soup/veloute sort of affair with langoustine tortellini (x1) and a very subtle touch of slightly spiced oil -- put me in mind of The Square and stood the comparison very well, a great improvement over the grilled cheese and bacon they were doing last time I was here. The starter was of similar construction (no bad thing) with some fine pasta on the foie gras tortellini; my unsibilant other pronounced the liquorice-cured salmon and soft shell crab also excellent. A strikingly presented main of monkfish, served in three neat, lightly spice crusted cylinders each with a portion of amazingly powerful, bitter-and-treacle caramelised endive, was pleasingly bold without overcomplication, and the assiette of pork has been on the menu for ages here I think, still good if rather lacking in vegetation for my tastes. Desserts were very nice but not the high point; mine was a rather unusual combination of a sweet, cold almond soup with a dark red fruit-based sorbet (forget which), and some jelly lurking in the depths -- a healthier and rather more mediterranean take on trifle? perhaps not dairy-free but conceptually could have been... would certainly make a nice change if so. service was flawless, good wine recommendations, and I would suggest trying a champagne other than the house as this was not particularly good and there are some others offered by the glass. overall a great lunch and standards still seeming very high.

sounds like you greatly enjoyed the experience in spite of disliking the majority of the food... a fair comment on the Marvellous Mechanical Fat Duck Cabaret and Late-Nite Magic Club? ALC isn't a bad move, especially if you persuade them to add an extra starter course to the proceedings, allows some good things not on the tasting menu to be tried... I rather liked the cauliflower risotto, which renders from the combination of chocolate, cauliflower and a generous dusting of cocoa powder an unexpectedly successful dish (in a similar manner to the rather odd combination of fine ground coffee and onion risotto at Anthony's). Then again, I'm sure others found it quite revolting Agree that some of the novelty items not so good, e.g. the parsnip cereal, which is not a patch on corn flakes and milk. Still, must book a visit before the prices go up in March (ALC increases £15), it's been a while. Also, any clues as to when the new Anciente Feastes and Daiyntee Delicasiyes of Grate Brittain menu comes into play?

perhaps they should lubricate the burritos with a mild anaesthetic, to reduce the level of sensation and help prolong the pleasurable experience.

local reviewers... "calamari was melt in the mouth, complimented by a rich sauce and the sea bass was an exquisite combination of pure white tender flesh and crispy skin" http://www.localsecrets.com/showreview.cfm?id=10775

One could say, grass-fed beef eats very well. Or at least, ate very well. And was probably very well hung.

I am reminded that the beer was called Liberty and it was from San Francisco, for those who are interested in such things.

had the tasting menu here last night, and I think the mean of the positive and negative opinions that have been expressed is about right; some of the courses were excellent, some flawed, none categorically bad, and the oft-mentioned combination of tea pots and test tubes was indeed ott and inappropriate to accompany the otherwise excellent and minimalist jerusalem artichoke. more 1* than 2* I would have thought, but overall I was happy enough to waste my money there. points of interest... well, firstly some novelty in the drink pairings; I'd normally say wine parings but I was very pleased to see them offering a beer with the suckling pig, which was an excellent course and very appropriately accompanied thereby. a fairly conventional treatment, but nicely done and served with some pork belly and a piece of squid which was scored and presented (I suppose ?) to imitate a small slab of pork fat; this may not sound entirely appealing but was an entertaining touch. the pigeon was accompanied by a dry oloroso, which was again a good and somewhat striving-for-novelty pairing, although I felt the strength and serving size was rather inappropriate for such an early stage of a tasting menu (indeed, in general I felt we were rather over-plied by the accompanying drinks, although needless to say none went to waste this was one of the better courses, the excellent pigeon being nicely paired with sweetcorn and a sweetcorn based puree; I felt the accompanying bacon popcorn was injudicious and should have been kept to amuse bouche duty with the opening champagne. the red wine essence was also not really needed. less successful courses included the cod brandade, which although perfectly nice and competently done was far too straightforward and uninteresting against the remainder of the menu, and the lemongrass and ginger soup, which in its attempt to be refreshing ended up far too acidic. service was less slick than I expected from the reviews, but perfectly fine, only a couple of minor errors and an annoying tendency to describe each wine as "very nice", which is hardly informative and ought to go without saying... the room is great, with the (shall we say) intimate grandeur of its Georgian origins undiminished by fairly minimalist furnishings and the few pieces of strikingly coloured Icelandic artwork. the champagne bar is good if rather small; beware the mounting costs this can incur... also don't allow me to spoil it for you by mentioning that the under-banquette lighting feels somehow redolent of public transport

certainly an interesting book, if one can stomach all the horrifically sycophanitc copy. however, although it does look like the food will taste as wonderful as one would expect, I have to say I'm not particularly enthusiastic about some of the presentation. I think this is more down to the plating than the photography, although more trendy/passé blurred and film-grained shots would certainly better disguise the problems, which to my mind are a combination of over-formality, some injudicious colour combinations and a generally unartistic air. By this, I simply mean that although the choices of arrangements and shapes are striking and have impressive attention to detail, they often seem artistically injudicious and unsatisfying. This especially applies to some of the entrees and desserts (mosaics with borders and circles of dots, platings surrounded by symmetrical rings of square slabs etc., almost the opposite of aiken's superficially random and messy plating) Some of this may be down to his attempting to capture some notional 'golden age of classical cookery' within a still contemporary and modish aesthetic. Perhaps I just feel that this union seems awkward, dated and uninviting. Am I the only one to have this reaction...?

Where would people recommend right now on or near the Norfolk coast? Either serious fine dining or something simpler in more dilapidated surroundings (but equally wonderful...)

Just tried the latest 9-course menu at Bacchus and thought it was time for a new write-up. They are changing the menu monthly now, and currently doing a half-price offer on food. It was my second visit; overall I found pretty much the same combination of hits (either sublime or just pleasingly weird) and misses as on the previous occasion. Also, although there are still more than enough varieties of crunchy powder scattered about, they have mercifully reduced the tendency from the nearly-every-dish level of the previous menu. We began with three bread/amuses, at least some of which were familiar from my last visit. The soft, doughy saffron-egg bread is served hot and is very good, more of an omelette than a bread in fact; there was also a thin crispy strip with black olive and coffee which was very effective, and some crostini presumably to be dipped in the nicely dark, dense substance (olive/caramel/coffee? two out of three aint bad) provided in a separate dish. The amuse proper, a cube of something like panna-cotta but with a strong seafood flavour, topped with a seaweed jelly, was almost overpoweringly rich /sea-flavoured, but was saved by the accompanying micro-herbs, which gave a strong injection of aniseed. Interesting rather than sublime, but worked well. The cocktail we ordered from the list of two (green bubble bath something or other??) was not available so we had to endure straightforward champagne… it’s tough, I know. Onto the tasting menu courses proper: Warm tuna toast. A small slab of tuna gradient-filled as to cookedness - raw on one side, cooked on the other, at which it was attached to a slice of fried bread ‘toast’. Served with hijiki fennel and various other bits... nice spicy sort of cherries… this dish had a great umami hit, far-eastern overtones, not especially sophisticated in flavour or texture but an enjoyable combination. Presentation was excellent -- I think overall presentation has improved since my last visit in the summer. Yuzu crab. Wonderful, I love yuzu and although prominent there was enough restraint so as not to completely overpower the crab. Lemongrass gel was served in thin sheets that effectively acted as ravioli to the crab, as well as extending in a stylish manner across the serving dish. Coral crumbs and tobiko were as effective as you would expect, and shitake added a subtly disparate savoury note for interest. Sublime. Calamar a la plancha with squid ink porridge. This was real oat porridge, albeit black, and worked very well. Coconut gelled cubes gave a subtle but required relief from the salty umami-seafood flavours (becoming perhaps over-familiar after the last two courses and the amuse). Good but not outstanding, and I did feel it was a bit over-salted. Confit potatoes with 25 minute quail eggs, roasted potato jus, yoghurt foam… This was fabulous. Completely obscene. Goes against received culinary conventions about offsetting richness and oily textures… three intact but very runny egg yolks and three balls of soft yoghurt foam slipping over oil and jus, with just a couple of very thin, waxy potato slices so as to provide minimal relief from the oily/yolky textures; this served with a smear of dense, black olive migas (which seemed to have an undertone of truffle)… no bread to accompany… an ordeal in richness and yolkness, but one that leaves you grinning. Hot foie gras mousse. Definite miss. Seemed more like a somewhat veiny slab of foie, not what I’d term a mousse -- perhaps this refers to the cooking technique, which left all but the veins extremely soft and, to my palate, not at all pleasant. Wild sea bass. This came with a slightly sweet aubergine consommé, which was very good although not exactly ‘essence of aubergine’, rather a derived, more caramelised sort of flavour. The fish was cooked to the correct degree, and combined well with the aubergine and lemon; the only thing that didn’t work was the deep fried crispy mange tout skins -- there were far too many of these and the texture was too unsubtle against the sea bass; also they added too much bitterness. I’d have preferred the bulk of the mange tout to be incorporated into the dish in another less texturally conflicting way, and then a very small amount of the crispy mange tout added. Suckling pig. Excellent, albeit not particularly unconventional (e.g. roasted figs with soft iberico ham iirc), but the almond basil powders on the plate added a distinctive note and worked well. Roasted nectarines. Not much in the way of nectarine, and came with a fromage blanc and champagne gelee… sounds good but the flavour combination just didn’t work for me, the champagne and nectarines conflicted and the overly goaty notes of the fromage blanc did no good at all; there was a certain bitterness to the nectarines too. Pistachio custard. The custard itself was sound, but the “wrapping of milk” was rather like a cold, dense version of the skin you get on hot milk drinks, may be just me but I wasn’t keen on this. Rhubarb flavour was not as pronounced as I’d have liked. Not a bad dessert overall, but couldn't really compete with the wonderful one I had last time… forget the details, chocolate and something floral, rose perhaps, were involved I think? The wine pairings were generally effective and interesting, although not outstanding. I did find myself fancying a change to red a bit earlier, suitably light and slightly chilled if appropriate, as it’s a lot of consecutive whites otherwise. The wine with the confit potatoes (austrian?) didn't work for me with the quail's eggs, bit too fragrant... but hard to say what wine would work well really. I did wonder how a manzanilla might go. As before, great place, nice relaxed service and some very exciting food. Doesn't reach the level of consistency and assuredness of top-end places, and I don't think it's just the psychological effect of the latter’s choreographed service and upmarket decor... but then again, you could do the bargain mini-tasting lunch at Foliage (which I'd very strongly recommend at the moment btw) and the half-price 9-courser here for the same food price as a top-end evening tasting menu, and get the best of both worlds. Plus, for the numerically minded, twice the aggregate course count

To be fair, they don't use the term "mission statement" on their website. I think what they are doing is excellent; I wish more top-end restaurants gave similar assurances: "The choice I have is to purchase the cheapest meat I can from intensively farmed systems to increase my profit, or to stick to my principles and source it from animals that have enjoyed good standards of welfare, even if this means I have to pay more for the produce and ultimately charge my customers more. I’m going to stick with my principles and hope you agree this is the right thing to do. It should be a given that the menu is seasonal, sustainable and sourced locally where possible. [...] I think it’s imperative we be given information about the food we eat in order to make an informed decision as to whether or not it is something we would like." http://blog.restaurantalimentum.co.uk/?page_id=53

I ate here last week and was also pleasantly surprised by the standard achieved (had to pinch myself whenever I remembered I was in Cambridge). I'll do a proper write-up after another visit, but my first impression from an improptu tasting menu of three of the starters (gazpacho, foie, eel) was that the cooking was restrained and disciplined, with no particularly major fireworks but a good overall standard, and smart but equally restrained presentation. The gazpacho, as reported above, was excellent, very fresh and subtly flavoured so as not to overpower the lobster. The much-advertised ethical foie wasn't particularly remarkable (at least, not with the divine foie-citrus preparation at The Greenhouse fresh in the memory...), the eel was good but the smoke flavour was pretty strong and combined with truffle oil (if I recall correctly?) left the fresh summer truffle rather overshadowed, also the potato variety used was also insufficiently waxy, but the dish was well presented and very enjoyable for all that. My dining partner was also impressed, the only slight issue being that the seabass skin was not as crisp as it could have been (though no worse than at plenty of other places). Were I not worried about what they might put in my veloute next time I visit, I would venture that the decor risks verging into brothel-boudoir territory (black lightshades, quasi-booth recesses lined in red, lots of black and red in general), but I'm pleased it isn't bland and is aiming in an urban/cosmopolitan direction, a welcome contrast to the middle-aged scheme at MH. Service was excellent, with just the right level of formality, and at least some of their wines do indeed come from Noel Young, as I asked. Bit of a short wine list but the bottle we had was good and not too outlandishly priced. All in all a very, very welcome addition to the Cambridge scene; indeed without it the nearest thing to a scene would be a small house by a river with a conservatory...