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As indeed it still is, please excuse brief moment of confusion I certainly left wondering whether michelin's inspectors are entirely consistent in their 2* expectations between London and the provinces. (notwithstanding that there may have just been a recent dip in standards... will wait till I can make another visit and a more studied judgement before reporting)

Along similar lines, and rather cruelly given the season, the Michelin website is advocating reindeer

Yes, they should have to put "truffle flavoured oil" on menus, to ring the same alarm bells as "chocolate flavoured topping". I think, unbilled and subtly used, it can provide an interested dimension to dishes that can remain affordable for diners not accustomed to paying for £100 for a pizza, etc. (Am dying to try that pizza... )

Am I right in thinking that, at the 2* level the establishment is not “supposed” to be judged on the surroundings, etc.? Of course, these are highly subjective anyway – exterior setting aside, we dined in the conservatory and thought MH to be provincial, predictably decorated and frankly awash with middle-class smugness (the risqué pictures in the toilet are exhaustingly canonical). I can’t properly judge the food until I’ve at least tried a recent tasting menu offering, but my sceptical initial reaction wasn’t because I was put off by adventurousness. Sound amuses, starters good but hardly exceptional, and both mains went unfinished. A (pretty ordinary) shared tarte tatin was ludicrously oversized, then coffee was accompanied by an enormous basket of sweet, deep fried bready items (posh donuts), far too inelegant and overfacing for this stage of a large meal. As has been noted elsewhere, some of the menu offerings are surprisingly derivative - e.g. skewering items on a plastic syringes of sauce - and I found service to be underconfident and far from relaxed, although I must admit The Square can be a little stuffy and pretentious in its way. Experiences at The Square (still under PH, spring 05) and The Capital (more recent) were diametrically opposed to my experience at MH – both were sublime. Perhaps it just goes to show that laymen like me shouldn’t attempt to judge restaurants on too few visits...

any views on midsummer house's rating? I didn't really get why michelin had it on a par with places like the capital and the square from a recent visit, although I must confess we ordered a la carte rather than the tasting menu.

That's a shame, they used to be handy for their apple cakes when passing through stansted. Will have to boycott them now

Well, not a particular recipe as such, I just think savoy cabbage, and the various other less-identifiable 'greens' that randomly turn up in my organic box, are fantastic ingredients. For deep-frying I just tear the leaves into big triangles (ish), deep fry them till lightly browned, then dry on kitchen paper and sprinkle with the dark sugar and a tiny bit of salt. They're nothing more than big bits of chinese "crispy seaweed" really. Have to experiment with the oil temperature to avoid them being too greasy. Another common childhood vegetable, cauliflower, although hardly underrated (in fact seemingly ubiquitous with scallops) also benefits from alternative treatment.

If something tastes good and, used correctly, has a beneficial effect on other ingredients, why should one care if it's exclusive? the expectations of the word "truffle"?? Truffle oil is often over-applied, and sometimes to inadequate underlying ingredients, but a judicious drop or two needn't be unrefined, and the fact it's inexpensive at this dosage shouldn't matter. (so long as the menu is not listing it in some pretence at exclusivity..) overrated - oysters, lobster, wagyu beef, undercooked eggs and bloody swordfish. underrated - cardamom, beetroot, mackerel, cooked lettuce, roasted almonds, cabbage (deep-fried with muscovado sugar).

Anyone heard of / tried this? Apparently it's the only appellation gin other than Plymouth, but 'finest gin from Menorca' doesn't have a very plausible ring about it. Is it just a bit of marketing speil for some dodgy budget gin...? ("the brand has a strong connection with Nelson, given his many visits to the island, which is rumoured to be where Nelson’s famous affair with Lady Emma Hamilton took place. Its traditional serving is with cloudy lemonade to make what is known as a pomada.") .. While we're at it, any views on Plymouth vs. London gin?

You'll doubtless end up wanting to escape hall food now and again (don't know about Trinity, but Emma's aforementioned everyday catering, including the daily 'formal hall' dinners, can leave something to be desired). If so, I'd recommend Limoncello on Mill Road for some ingredients. There's also an okish organic shop (Arjuna) and various oriental supermarkets on Mill Road. The cooking facilities in college are likely to be somewhat wanting, but there's plenty at Limoncello that doesn't need heating. Should Dr Perry's reserves prove inaccesible, Veritas on Cherry Hinton Road is an excellent wine merchant.

Back on topic, MH have just cancelled my reservation for tomorrow. Restaurant closed for the rest of the week due to, er... waste water problems or such like. I dread to think. Perhaps the undiscovered bodies at the FSG have finally contaminated the Cam.

I initially thought that Juniper might not fit the bill on reading this, but on reflection that isn't really the spirit of what they seem to do. Dehydrating fruits and incorporating intense flavours into purees are well established methods, the intention is not to shock/amuse with chorizo pannacotta or whatever. However, flavour combination are designed to be intriguing and unanticipated, and presentation is sometimes striking and unconventional. Earlier-mentioned Maze is not remotely Fat Duck in terms of composition, and would be safe in this regard I'd say.

Had the lunch there recently, written up here, but didn't try any of the above.. the cough medicine may have transformed itself into a liquorice milkshake. Certainly an interesting experience.

Melted butter for basting was great, got some serious flames for a nice bit of charring. Did various vegetables on skewers in different marinades, all very successful, althought the cauliflower worked best in the fan oven. The marinated tofu with satay sauce was good too (although the coconut milk I used was perhaps a bit thin, as the sauce came out too runny and had to be corrected). Manage to find egg tofu as well, but unfortunately it was too insubsantial to stay on the skewers.

Sounds good, I've been reading some of the (extensive!) thread on roasted cauliflower, but the original recipe link is now dead. Anyone tried this on a charcoal grill? I think I'll try cutting a whole cauliflower head into big slabs, with as much stem intact as possible, so that they'll look good and lie nicely on the grid without falling through. Does one precook the cauliflower in any way, or do you close the lid of the OutdoorCharcoalGrill (i.e. barbecue ) and allow that to do the roasting?

ah, I see. all I know about is silken tofu and firm tofu (the latter being the kind the man brings to borough market in his bicycle trailer!), are these both forms of tamago tofu?? are there any other names the egg tofu goes by, to help me find it in an oriental supermarket?

Please do rename my thread, but you'll have to call it "outdoor charcoal grilling", or us Limeys will think you're talking about broiling. At least I remembered about eggplants...

Isn't tofu a bit, er, fatless, for barbecuing? I guess if I can get enough oil to stay on it...

cheers all. flash baking aubergines - how long and how hot? and yes, they do eat dairy, so covering stuff in butter/ghee is doable.

I must admit that for me, barbecuing is about meat fat falling onto hot charcoal and making smoke, etc. etc., but I have vegetarians coming to a barbecue, and am after inspiration for some things I can do that are more imaginative than vegeburgers and meat-free sausages. I reckon aubergines (eggplants) might have some good barbecuing potential, as well as chillis, peppers etc., and smoked paprika could be a good complementary flavour. Any advice from experienced vegetarian barbecuers much appreciated...

Wow, what a charmingly English way to get bladdered. As a confirmed real-ale drinker now, I can only lament a more snakebite-and-black youth. (v off topic, sorry, but this might amuse...)

Sorry, my mistake! I buy mostly organic food - indeed, I only avoid it when the food miles benefit of buying local/British produce seems to outweigh the organic benefit. As you rightly say, the supermarkets import far too much of their organic range, and I respond by not buying it. I used to be a member of the soil association, but in recent times their website and whole attitude has become nauseatingly agency-driven and cynical, and their claims increasingly outrageous. Rather than concentrating on ecological issues, they seem to have an incredible focus on the spurious health and taste benefits of organic produce. I'm skeptical enough about the former, and plenty of SA-certified produce is very much inferior in the latter respect to good quality non-organic produce. As far a supermarkets are concerned, I don't believe they are remotely altruistic, I think them entirely cynical, and am not surprised at their initial negative impact on the organic movement. However, I think that what I said is none-the-less true, the supermarkets were an essential medium for bringing awareness of organic produce, global cuisine ingredients, etc. etc., to the masses. Of course, they did not lead it, they just brouhgt it into people's lives, in a similar way to the medium of television (another evil). I don't think it would have happened so quickly and effectively in a country of Arkwrights' stores.

Ha ha! Not sounding too great, I must admit. It's been a few years since I lived in that area, it must have de-gentrified. Nice old building though, shame it's such a managed pub. Bet their menu is less pricey than next door's...

(I hasten to add I've not seen the programme, so I've no idea how organic and ethically produced a Tesco organic chicken really is... I've certainly no love for the Soil Association, which seems to be a highly corporate, cynical propaganda machine)

Yes, I've always thought it odd the way journalists tend to equate the supermarket movement and the closure of local shops with a move away from local sourcing and 'ethical' farming and towards the corporate. Although this was doubtless once the case, the kind of Arkwright stores that have been swept away by the supermarket were so often repositories for the terrible, mass produced corporate rubbish that nestle, heinz, kellogs, findus, er.. fray bentos, etc. have been churning out for decades. Supermarkets, in contrast, have (however cynically) been instrumental in bringing organic food, a massive variety of produce and an unprecedented awareness of global cuisines and ingredients to the masses. Farmers' markets and gastronomically-minded independents have surely benefited from this.