Kikujiro

You are a fortunate man. Normal espresso macchiato is on the menu over there too. Maybe they look at you and decide that's not what you're after

It does seem that we're catching you guys up (along with the Germans, the Czechs, and Russian women). Stats.

I don't know what happens over there, but if I go into Starbucks in the UK and order a macchiato, I get a macchiato.

Bless you and your confusion of case and punctuation. I stand blessed dear, but not confused. I'm not going to argue this point as you're not actually wrong. All I meant was, while a word may be in the genitive case, the apostrophe that makes it so is more usually described as 'possessive'. Not true, as I can't work out how I'm being insulted here.

Ron, can I move to your Europe?

Bless you and your confusion of case and punctuation. Shall we quote the OED and call a draw? As for your quoting of comparable store names, do you seriously mean to say that you parse 'Starbucks' to mean 'coffee shop owned by the first mate in Moby Dick'?

Nor does it at SB. But if you order a 'caramel macchiato', you're on your own.

Made a booking at Zaika for a Wednesday evening. They want to turn us around in 2 hours and have faxed through a request for a credit card confirmation (party of 5). I don't remember such Ramsayesque behaviour. How long have they been doing this?

I understand there's one in Beijing inside the Forbidden City. Can anyone confirm? kit: yeah, so will I, but there aren't 80 (or however many hundred now) Monmouths. edit: Yep.

Just because you didn't understand Dancer in the Dark there's no need to get petty

I assume you mean the genitive apostrophe, although 'possessive' is the usual term. How about: because it's not in the name of the store?

Starbucks does better coffee than the Fat Duck ps. will a mod please remove Michael's erroneous apostrophe from the thread title? thanks

No. No.

I don't get this. Yes, they have a whole range of weird syntho-coffee-beverages. But they'll happily serve espresso, macchiato, etc. And as far as I can see 'normal' coffee variants are by far the most popular.

I get a bit bored of Starbucks bashing. Sure, the espresso is dishwater compared to the good stuff that we (all?) cherish. But compared to the average espresso or cappuccino in the average or even above-average British café, it's practically ambrosia. Therefore, stick me anywhere in the country that I'm not very familiar with, and even many places that I am, and I look for the nearest Starbucks.

They certainly did. London time: 7.55pm--9.59pm.

Yep, them some good lentils.

Thanks. Will see what happens ...

I tend to use Borough now but ... Doves on Northcote Road, and (to state the obvious) Lidgate in Holland Park.

Jim, Jon, Are you using dried lentils? Are you not soaking them beforehand? The Italian pack I have in my cupboard says it wants 12 hours soaking.

I'm not much of a BBQ person, not least because in this country we get about as much chance to barbecue as we do to sled down Primrose Hill. Nor is it really something I could try in my flat. So my standards aren't nearly as developed as those of the heavyweight pork-pullers on the US board. Nor, come to that, is Bodeans in Poland Street really aspiring to those critical heights. But I enjoyed lunch there. There's a downstairs restaurant and an upstairs counter service/takeout place, where the menu is a subset, at lower prices, of that below. The whole has been kitted out impressively, with serious attention to detail (down to the net curtains embroidered with the Bodeans logo, and the huge iron chicken art modelled on the Betty Crocker cookbook). There's a wood-burning smoke-pit which cooks most of the menu (both are on the website linked above). Only a couple of items (bangers and mash and lobster with curry mango butter) look out of place; the rest seems fairly on the nose. On Wednesdays only, in both rooms, there are burnt ends. Counter service is a very fast-food style operation -- you order and pay, and someone brings you your food on a tray without much in the way of real crockery. I went for the pulled pork sandwich, unnecessarily called a Boston Butt. It was £4.50. I asked for a side of pickles. The server told me it came with pickles. Okay, I said, we'll split a side of fries -- But it comes with fries. These are practically McDonald's prices. In Poland St. Everything tasted pretty good to me. The pulled pork was on a burger-type bun, not necessarily what I expected but fine, and laid on thick with coleslaw. The meat was soft and pleasant and the sandwich disappeared quickly. My companion, wheat-phobic, had requested his without the bun, and got two paper containers with even more meat and slaw than I had. The fries were crisp and enjoyable, and the waitress brought over a couple of bottles of sauce, hot chipolte and smoked hickory. The waitress, incidentally, was great: friendly, enthusiastic, helpful, informative. When we asked if they had desert, she said, I can bring you some from downstairs, and went off to check on the menu there. My apple pie (£3.25 -- this is the restaurant price, remember, as it was from that menu) came a la mode, and seemed convincingly US in style -- pastry very soft but the whole comfortingly warm and cinnamoney. Companion's key lime pie was, as per the TO review, really lime cheesecake, and served very cold. André, the managing director, is a Canadian who was part of the original Belgo team and turns out to be just as friendly as his staff. He was very open about the place -- opening in December was good, Jan quiet, last week better due to write-ups -- and took us downstairs to see the restaurant/bar, which has an alcove where on weekends kids eat free and watch cartoons on a big screen while they're looked after by the staff, which I guess is a good idea if you don't actually want to eat with your kids. So, real BBQ in Soho. Basic but well done in good surroundings at very low prices, with a team that really seem to like what they're doing. And right opposite Yo! Sushi, too. Oh, and you can so shut up about Nando's now.

Nah. Not being the big bully any more is a huge relief. As for doggie bags, whenever their mere existence is conjured I want to dive under the table and stay there. It's a cultural thing. In some countries I have seen people's jaws drop because I rested my foot on a chair. But why are portions so big that people regularly can't finish and take them home? (And when did this start? Is it a 50s-new-prosperity thing?)

Yes, this worked perfectly. Ed and Vanessa, please let me know how you will be splitting the cost of my liposuction.

Well, I'm beginning to be convinced that the Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy I have my heart set on isn't sold in the UK. Does anyone know differently? I was wondering if they just don't make a 220V version but then surely they sell them in HK and/or China?

Some excellent wine jams are/were carried by Stefano Cavallini over here (plug redux). The store is very good at pairing them with their excellent cheeses.