marc at fraiche

fantastic for jordi at cinq im really pleased for him and the team, but please whats is going on for roca?????????????? so deserved this year after eating a stunning meal there last month i thought it must happen for them this time around. everythings going for it now

i dined here this week and sorry to have to say it was a dreadful meal from start to finish, the balance and seasoning of dishes didnt work, some even clumsy on the execution, i was really deflated after leaving here, no fond taste memories to recall on a coastal walk. thinking over the dishes, in particular the white green and black dessert (which is shown above) was horrid for me with the use of food dyes to create the look shame about little effort focused on the taste. i can not even begin to compare this to ca cento or mas pau where we dined very well, did i go on a bad day?

Everything (the restaurant and Alicia) is in the same monastery. It is a huge complex. ← Yes, it is a big complex. I visited it shortly after it was announced that Alicia would be put there and work had started on it. Alicia was a planned destination for my next visit to Catalunya, now doubly so. ← had a great visit there yesterday and a very strong lunch at angle with jordi cruz, the set up is amazing at alicia and very much worth the visit, i was there for a workshop with joan roca and el poblet,oh and mugaritz crew so was a very interesting day. the restaurant is very modern with dark colours and lots of glass with a great terrace and had jordis full tasting menu

i ate there not too long back with chefs from the same level as pt and had great meal and fantastic service so id say not in my humble opinion, it is fair to say the cookery is on the safer side of modern cuisine, dishes are mostly built on well known and tried combinations on the plates.

to be honest with you, i looked at this option but i was warned off it as you would be very very lucky to find a machine in great condition second hand asd most people keep them for life you would be better going to trade show where magrini have a stand and doing a show deal as they bend a little more there, thats what i did also push for more beakers too you will be suprised how many you need

uh oh crash helmet where are you

just returned from l`enclume and visited rogan and co and was very impreesed with the new place and it does have a great feel to it, lenclume was better than all previous visits for me had a very enjoyable evening on the tour menu good to see it is still pushing forwad with new dishes, though i know its a very personal choice but i missed the clothed table service but i believe most people like it

they do sunday lunch but they are open sunday nights and its a great package the rooms are good and andrew runs a great relaxed service with the wines well priced and the list is building stronger every time i see it, very highly sugggest it for you to visit

super news well done

i love and usually always take the tasting menu in a good restaurant for me it allows more exposure to the food in a single visit, after reading previous comments i was curious to ask the question how many courses is too many? or again is this too subjective to decide

my own visit there produced the same reaction the hits diluted with poorer dishes lingering in the mind longer even the poor bread! and following a recent trip to el poblet where i had a similar menu in length it made me reconsider my own menus to which ive cut down the number of courses to make the experience more fluid and help consistency.in a sense it reminds me of the petit four,while dining at a 1star awhile ago i was given 15 petit fours with 3/4 actually any good the rest stale or bland or ill thought of but yes they looked impressive! though el poblet had 20 chefs they dont all have dacostas taste buds or skill, or i should imagine rogans skill level,when i eat out i love the theatre of it and the suprise element though after 20 courses im sure we become too weary and over exposed to more tastes textures and techniques in one sitting,or am i alone in this thought? and the service plays a huge part in this scene of multi course dining for your visit, a lot more than serving dishes from the roof or the bathroom yes ive seen it it makes all the difference to be looked after and not talked down to or lectured how to eat all your courses, and not to be bid good night is a poor show after spending £300 ← Marc - we had a 30ish course menu at the El Bulli Hotel which worked well. It started with a mass of small tasting dishes that came quite quickly, followed by 7 or 8 fuller sized dishes, then 4 or 5 deserts in decreasing size. It all worked really well, the rush of surprises at the start balanced by good pacing in the middle with time to savour the more complex dishes. I also think a lot of the initial dishes can be prepared in advance and therefore the chefs can concentrate on the more complex dishes during service. However, it would have been a little better if we understood the pacing of the meal as we were fearful the early pace would keep up and the whole meal would be over in 45 mins - it actually took closer to 4 hours. A couple of days before we had eaten anorther multi course meal at Tragabuches in Ronda, this one hadn't workes as well because the pacing was wrong. ← yes i know the feeling at bulli last year the pace started very fast with little interaction with the service yet i struggled with a couple of courses to eat them never mind enjoy but yes i appreciate your point,but is this because it is el bulli and our mental approach is very different in such as this has taken me 5 years to aquire a table and ive travelled by donkey and plane,train and automobile to arrive at this point so id better enjoy the experience of every detail?

my own visit there produced the same reaction the hits diluted with poorer dishes lingering in the mind longer even the poor bread! and following a recent trip to el poblet where i had a similar menu in length it made me reconsider my own menus to which ive cut down the number of courses to make the experience more fluid and help consistency.in a sense it reminds me of the petit four,while dining at a 1star awhile ago i was given 15 petit fours with 3/4 actually any good the rest stale or bland or ill thought of but yes they looked impressive! though el poblet had 20 chefs they dont all have dacostas taste buds or skill, or i should imagine rogans skill level,when i eat out i love the theatre of it and the suprise element though after 20 courses im sure we become too weary and over exposed to more tastes textures and techniques in one sitting,or am i alone in this thought? and the service plays a huge part in this scene of multi course dining for your visit, a lot more than serving dishes from the roof or the bathroom yes ive seen it it makes all the difference to be looked after and not talked down to or lectured how to eat all your courses, and not to be bid good night is a poor show after spending £300

funny you should mention it, i had the same sale pitch as above but they didnt mention a recording, though they tried to say somebody from the restaurant gave the ok,to which i could answer there is only me here so push off, had the food guide from sweeden too lol oh and had the good restaurant directory saying we have a fab write up and they will send copies , very generous i thought then they casually mentioned there is a charge of £150 to send the guides oh for the fly in the soup days!

Sorry - this just sounds a heavy bias against Liverpool stopping you from appreciating what is available. There may be a shortage of 3-starred restaurants to tempt you, but I'm sure there are plenty of serviceable eateries to choose from. ← Havng lived there, gone to school there and doing forced family vists every year,I 'm afrad have to agree wth Gethin. My family however, would strongly disagree wth me. Thier favourite place however is caesars palace! www.caesarspalace.co.uk. They claim to be Britains largest family restaurant. Perhaps when you're just visiting there is nowhere that stands out as a quality place to eat- Marc this DOES NOT INCLUDE YOU!! (But we visit on a Sundau pm/Monday)! ←

ahh no but il give you some panettone when you come over as i bought a few lol got 3 months shelf life i may freeze them though? , shop is nothing special its nice but not as funky as say bubo or lenotre etc very nice tempering on the chocolates have el poblet menu here and pics of tasting menu and on my phone the creative lab which i had a little play with the toys oh you know boys and their......

very much echo rogelio,had both brilliant meals this year, the bread at abac i think is now one of the best in spain and roca in its new home is just stunning, you will enjoy cent jordi is a great cook try his suckling pig if you can, i spent a day with him a little while ago and its great place, the fish is very very high quality, also miss off moo and do abac and roca, i like moo and think the food is good but on a busy night beware of the cracks

call me old fashinoned but i do rather like that invention they call plates which keep food from running onto your table cloth, holds heat and doesnt normally have nail holes through them,not to mention washing plus i need the tiles for my roof it gets windy around here, im sure many chefs on here will agree space dust really really is not new anymore ive been using it off and on since 2000 i wont be rushing to bath priory if i want the healthy option il pop over to eugene les bains

Couldn't find any negative reviews anywhere (apart from a few predictable comments about portion sizes), not a bad sign. ← i got lost lost trying to get to etra and with my pigeon spanish ended up missing my lunch date shame i will keep the link for next time

just returned form valencia and had some great food, el poblet was not quite what i had hoped it to be maybe i hyped it too much in my own my mind, loved the place and the kitchen which i was very nosey into,service there is first rate with the rm coming from the fat duck, but yes there is a but everydish seemed to be a technique lead execution and yes it is very clever and there is no shortage of toys creating the finished article, though flavour wise it wasnt all singing on note for me, the forest dish though is superb and ice berg a twist on a el bulli dish id seen last year was very good, just didnt leave me as excited as say roca taste wise but my goodness the chocolate panettone from paco is seriously brilliant, tried his gateaux and some chocolates but the star for sure is the panettone. ca sento had me worried at the begining when the taxi dropped me off in a street with 2 staring gangs of youths and little sign of a restaurant i started to fear ive been dropped in the wrong spot lol, though once inside it is a different story and enjoyed the full tasting menu, the main difference to poblet was this for me anyhow is very produce driven rather than technique, superb fresh fish and great beef, bread is excellent here to, visited a new restaurant near valencia too which name escapes me now but was a stunning lunch with simple preperation and produce to die for

this is so true for merseyside also, im looking to open a pastry led place which may double as a dessert restaurant at night inspired by my time in toronto where i use to frequent such a place and not to mention epai sucre but its a minefield, units aren`t so much the problem unless you set up in the centre of liverpool then you need the backing of a footballer who seem to sprouting up places across town. the main issue here is the lack of skilled professionals to offer quality retail and plated desserts, and for cheese good god its an artisan free zone, but perhaps if we sold cheese and onion pasties on the hoof we may survive

I would give extremely strong first hand recommendations for Ca Sento in Valencia and Monastrell in Alicante for the kind of food that you seek and a strong second-hand recommendation for La Sirena in Petrer, which is essentially around the corner from Torreblanca's shop. ← hi do you know if sa cento has a web site i cant seem to find one cheers ← I don't believe that they do, but here is the page from the Campsa Guide. ← many thanks john that has all the answers

I would give extremely strong first hand recommendations for Ca Sento in Valencia and Monastrell in Alicante for the kind of food that you seek and a strong second-hand recommendation for La Sirena in Petrer, which is essentially around the corner from Torreblanca's shop. ← hi do you know if sa cento has a web site i cant seem to find one cheers

erate looks quite interesting, you sure have the views there and the decor looks good but i wonder if the tastes are there?

thanks guys ca sento for sure looks good and emailed sirena and will have a look at nou manolin, was going to have lunch at el rodat but is this still a good place to dine or should i sacrifice this for one of the places you chaps have listed, many thanks marc