Bapi

Nice reviews John. I especially like the sound of the venison dish at Linthwaite. Wouldn't mind a return visit in the New year. Cheers.

Wholly agree, I haven't laughed like that any any comedy all year. Brydon was on inspired form. And as mentioned, great to see Franc on top form. We have only had one meal at t' anvil ( he hints very unsubtley to wife reading this as I write), but remembered him as being a really excellent host when he worked at the White Hart in Suffolk; back when M Roux sr still part owned it.

Er, yes. We went in th summer, the day that England were knockded out of the world cup. I only mention that as the hotel had declared itself a world cup free zone! Nice location above Windemere, the food was very good I not stellar. I loved my veal sevrved with its sweetbreads. My Mother and wifey both opted for fish courses which were accurately cooked. But note portion sizes are not huge. Slight cock up on the wine offered not being the one I chose, but the wife didn't check the bottle when I was attending to the five year old asleep upstairs. A nice apology and some comped digestifs rectified that minor aberration. Nice little wine list offered a Massaya Lebanese red at about 30 notes which was very drinkable. Our room was rather close and the small window didn't open far enough hence the fan , since no air con, remained on all night. But that won't be a problem at this time of year will it? Make sure you bag a decent room. Enjoy.

Thanks for the heads up John. One of the Mothers at our little chaps school did some secret dining for the Ramsay programme and Prashad was the place she raved about. Only half an hour away from us, so I have no excuse really. I'll be sure to read your review again before we head over.

Cheers mate. Will bear that in mind for future trips to pick the mother in law up. Probably passed you on the A1 last Friday on 8 hour roundtrip to Suffolk! Meant to say that The Three Horseshoes in Madingley near Cambridge would be worth a go, but this sounds better. Glad you are introducing Charlie to the finer things in life already :-) Get your Aldeburgh reports posted and get green card stamped for mid November.

Oh dear, apologies again for the dire spelling above. The bloody thing won't let me edit properly. Gary- the only time I came close to that amount at the Church was with you, pre Hibiscus a few years back! As you will soon find out mate, you won't be allowed now that the little fella is here! David- sadly I didn't see any others suppliers within the castle grounds, where the festival is held. I went to the only butchers open on Sunday to buy some flesh, but there was no game available.

Hi apologies for the tardy response and the brevity of what follows and indeed the spelling . Laptop is dead so writing this on an iPod which as some will know, you have to have the digits of a one year old to use. Weather was awful last Friday but that didn't deter a bloody good turn out. lots of good demos in the olive sponsored tent. Will Holland, his mentor Alan Murchison, and an excellent one from Chris Horridge. He of the ill fated Great British Menu appearance a few years back. He came across very well and talked intelligently about his craft. In fact there was a bit of a GBM reunion going on as onlooking were Daniel Clifford, kerridge? From the hand and flowers in Marlow, and Martin blunos turned up too. Also doing demos was a chap called bembridge and the guy from last years F word best restaurant - Lasan in brum. I didn't get to see all of them- I have a missus and a five year old ,so was summoned away. I was sad to see the excellent Willo game suppliers were not around this year, but made do with buying some ecellent Jamon and Salchicon from the Bellota guys who supply Sat Bains, instead. Bloody marvellous stuff. Later on Saturday we came across the UK street food finals tucked away in the car park. Very poorly advertised and I felt for these guys as they were quite hidden away. A very eclectic group of stalls and vans selling their wares to be judged on Sunday. My five year old took to the hand dived scallops served in the shell with celeriac purée, with pancetta and herbs, which going forward, will be nice and cheap for his parents. Also on offer, some delicious home cooked food from the guys at the greengages van, some wonderful churros elsewhere. A tiny fish and chips stall was doing well and oddly, there was one van cled the Chipper, selling just that. I mention this as on Sunday they were judged by Mark Hix, Thomasina miers and sadly Antony Worral "Gimli" Thompson. Don't worry- I didn't twat the latter, but was sorely tempted. MPW was also supposed the to be judging but went AWOL bless him. I spoke to the Chase vodka guys again this year. The product is eponymously named after the owner of the Tyrells company and produce an excellent drink from, yep, potatoes. Apparently, it takes 32 pounds of them to make one bottle.They recently won a competition in las Vegas being voted world's best vodka, which I assume pissed the Russian and Finns off. I not a spirit drinker, but really rather liked it, it's not bloody cheap though. All in all a thoroughly pleasant way to spend a weekend, eating far too much with the odd tipple here and there. Nowt wrong with that in my book. Chatting so

Hello there. I haven't been round these parts for a while. Yes we are venturing down Ludlow this weekend, so I will post on our return. cheers B

Intersting..... Tony Naylor who writes for the Guardian has a piece in this months Restaurant magazine. He writes about my very own valley in West Yorkshire- the Ryburn, where it transpires, he used too live until recently. He mentions, amongst others, my local-The Millbank, the Deli in Ripponden, the F Word lauded El Gato Negro Tapas, other GFG recs and the chaps at Pike End farmwho provide premium Dexter beef. It's not a bad place to live trust me, but more importantly he writes articulately that such places which have so much to offer should collectively champion themselves. Such as they have done very successfully in the Ribble Valley, Ludlow et al. Mmmm, mooted something similar a while back, but it might be worth another punt.

No change there then Gary Please bring your wallet this time. I too am very much looking forward to it Marc, but not however, to meeting up with with two blokes who have been swanning around Mancunia for five hours before I get there. See you tomorrow.

The missus and I are hopefully trying Van Zeller in March. They have a daft £10 lunch deal on at the moment.

What with Marc from Fraiche cooking at Harvey Nicks later this month, I thought I should mention that a few of us a had a very enjoyable tasting menu lunch at the Second Floor last month. Food was very good on the whole, actually surpassing meals at Abode I have had in the past. A brill dish was perfect in executon, with spot on saucing the only slight aberration on the plate was the addition of "squeaky" baby leeks. But hey- that's a minor infraction. Service was spot on (Abode take note), being both genial and informative. Especially a star of a chap named Felix, who guided us through some unusual, but splendid wine choices. One minor quibble- leanings towards pretentious language should be stamped out. One dish was described as a "compression" of foie gras. Er, that would be a terrine then. That aside, a very pleasant lunch and much, much better than I expected.

Winner, is a rude, odious prick of a man, who knows less about taste and basic manners than my five year old. I read that review about a week before I was taken there for my 40th birthday last June. He referred to Steve Smith as a "non-chef", now I am not a believer in the Michelin chaps being the arbiters of what is deserving of recognition- (Anthony's- Mr Bulmer, ever heard of it?), but even they have awarded Smith a star at his last three places. Er, yes that's another meal I never wrote up. The tasting menu was very good on the whole. A mushroom dish with a delicious ice cream was a standout, as was a turbot dish. Problems were the length of time between our pre starters and the first "proper course" coming out. It was nearly fifty minutes by which time we had consumed nearly half the bottle of very decent Burgundy we had splashed out on. The Sommelier never pitched up at all so we had to pour the wine ourselves. Maybe he had his nose out of joint as the manager had taken us to the (quite marvellous) wine cellar to choose our wine. An enjoyable meal and a lovely place to spend the night, but we would probably eat there and give the stay over a miss to give the superb wine list a test drive next time.

The Pink shirted one will also be joining us I hear.

Aye. I will be attending along with at least one other reprobate.

No, to answer your question- they have stopped the live music Robin. Popped in to see them after transmission and David's prediction above was correct. The phone hasn't stopped and they are booked up till next year now. Gulp makes on a bit worriedd about getting in again but delighted for them nevertheless.

Cheeky bastard and what make up? Bird????? Are you aware it is 2009 mate? It was our friend the lovely Sarah who also works at El Gato every now and agian. Yes, delighted for them Gary- they did really well and sea bass dish is fantastic to eat. Aye Sir , that was I.

Wherever you plan to go, do check in advance that they are open. For example, I know that Hibiscus is closed from 24th December to Monday 4th January (inclusive). It is, but I know that they are now open for lunch on a Saturday as of the new year- I think. Best to give them a ring if you fancy it.

Late lunch at Harvey Nichols tomorrow. Anyone been recently? The sample menu looked a little odd for my liking and the seem to be still trading on Alison Seagrave's name, eventhough she left to set up a Patisserie some time ago.

Well the two extra dishes mentioned plus a sublime lemon tart for me and a "Dominic special" - i.e. Marshallows, space dust,vanilla ice cream and a Tasmanian Devil inducing amount of Chocolate sauce which Hugo drinks through a straw; plus a red wine for dad brought the bill up to just under £60. Trust me, I can live with that. Stop now John- a meal out and then two weeks away. My heart is bleeding for you Sir! Do let me know when you guys are heading over (as indeed should you David). I'll see what I can do.

I haven't posted about this place for quite a while despite numerous visits- more than I can remember to be honest. We did pop in again yesterday and opted for the deal which quite frankly ludicrously good value. £30 for six dishes of chef's choice. Not bad eh? Even better when the also chuck in a bottle of house wine. Padron Peppers and chicken and mushroom croquettas came out first, followed by my son's favourite-tortilla. We never get any. Sadly he now also likes their meatbals with fritada sauce. Mussels came out with a glorious sauce enhanced with fino. We also ordered a couple of new dishes from the recently changed menu. Gressingham Duck, savoy cabbage,chestnuts and crispy pancetta was just joyous. I hadn't realised this before but the prepare their meat and some fish dishes using the sous vide method. The meat was beautiful, pink and as tender as one could hope for- the skin having been crisped up before plating. That was great but even better was Baby monkfish, roasted squid tentacles, pickled cucumber, avocado puree and pancetta. Glorious presentation, with a swathe of squid ink having been brushed onto the plate and three succulent on the bone pieces of monkfish were surrounded by little balls of the pickled cucumber. Bloody sublime and thankfully they have other new dishes for me to try over the next few weeks. Lovely to see it so busy in there of a Sunday afternoon. Unsuprisingly, it has a very loyal following, so much so that you will be able to see the guys on The F word tomorrow night at 9pm, as it was voted for as part of the Best Local Restaurant part of the show, er not by me I might add as I didn't even hear about it. Oh and for those of you who know me and Rosie, if you are unfortunate to spot a chap who looks like me on the box tomorrow night and he happens to be sat with another woman. No, I am not having an affair!! El Gato Negro Tapas F Word link

Popped into Glamorous for some dim sum on Saturday. Sui Mai was rather good as were the prawn and chinese leek dumplings. Paper wrapped prawns was not a very adventurous choice but enjoyable nonetheles and we both enjoyed the pork and prawn dumplings, with a quail's egg perched above it.Steamed ribs were delicious, redolent with heaps of garlic and sweet lord did it repeat- but it was worth it. Star of the show was a broth of pig's skin, turnip and fish balls. The skin had become very gelatinous but gave a nice porky hit of flavour. A bit of a mistake as we didn't realise it was a soup. With some rice for the little one, one beer and chinese tea we paid just £26.

Damm, quote thingy didn't work. I am referring to The Pheasant at Burwardsley in Cheshire below. We stopped here on the way back from from Ludlow earlier this week. As Harter's writes above, the views are lovely from its perch up on the Peckforton Hills-looking over as far as Wales. A starter of Pil Pil style prawns was blah, but my special of a lamb hotpot ticked all the boxes, served with some some well spiced red cabbage. The other half's Fish Pie was generous and rich- perfect comfort food but the accompanying broccoli was just on nodding terms with hot water, being virtually raw. Our horror went for Chicken goujons and I rather liked the fact that they had taken the time to use Reg Johnson's cornfed chicken and then coated it in beer batter. A perfectly pleasant stop off for us, but not a destination spot. Website

Ditto, we had a truly stellar lunch back in August taking the private dining room downstairs. I know - I have been crap at writing meals up of recent - but briefly. We started with Chilled water melon soda, tomato foam with tiny globules of pineapple that popped in the mouth, was a genius and refreshing way to start. Mackerel was served two ways as a tartare with begonia and bergamot oil and then a divine smoked mackerel with a rich almond butter. Ravioli of spring onion and lime, with broad beans, mint pureee and carmelised cevenne onions was summer on a plate. A requested dish of my favourite foie gras ice cream with slivers of green mango and warm brioche emulsion elicited the response I was hoping for with one of our party declaring it to be " so wrong but so right at the same time". John Dory waas spot on served with girolles and then perfect shropshire veal, with aubergine and miso caviar was stunning. Service was top notch, especially from the new young female sommelier who explained everything beautifully. A joy from start to finish (unlike Le Gavroche the night before). Better get down there David.

Aaah, you've been to my neck of the woods again John. I've been to the White Hart a few times myself and have always been a little underwhelmed to be honest.