battleofthebulge

Foliage at The Mandarin on Hyde Park. Very good food, a splendid view over the park, super-nice staff and amazing value at £27 (last time I looked). Watch out for the expensive glasses of champagne they try and foist on you at the start, though. Sarah

Glad you enjoyed it

We went to Perigee in Toronto a few years back. Four of us had the 7 course tasting menu - every single dish was different. In fact, I think other tables were having different dishes to us, as well. What made it an endurance event rather than a good evening out, was the staff having to explain every single dish AND all the matching wines. E.g. "Seared Langoustine topped with wild boar bacon over roasted blue foot chanterelle mushrooms with butter poached asparagus, rhubarb purée and tatsoi greens tossed with preserved Meyer lemon" Times four. For some courses the various explanations took longer than the eating. By about the fifth course we just wanted to be left alone! Sarah

Hi Roger, Does that include wine or not? If it does, I would suggest Lebanese or Chinese. Oh - or even Yauatcha. How about Bacchus Pub and Kitchen, if you are prepared to brave Hoxton Road? If it doesn't, and you want central London .. hmmm .. Magdalen? Giaconda Dining Room? 2 Veneti? Perhaps tapas at Salt Yard? (also presume you want 3 courses?) Sarah edited to add another suggestion

Oh that's interesting! Good find. Can't see any mention of a restaurant in the blurb though, just hotel and conference facilties. I suppose the restaurant goes along with. Explains where the money's coming from, anyway. Thanks! Sarah

Well folks, we went to Bacchus a few weeks ago, just as it turned into Bacchus Pub and Kitchen. The very nice new chef, who lives upstairs, turns out a mean potted shrimp. The wild mushrooms with deepfried polenta had far too much cream in the sauce (in the best possible way) and the chips looked delightful. Alas I didn't have any chips but that just gives me an excuse to go back. Anyway, the news is that Nuno has found a new place, but it's taking rather longer than he thought to start work turning into Bacchus II. It's going to be in .. are you ready for this? ...Bethnal Green. Bethnal Green Old Town Hall, to be precise, with a 100 room hotel. At least, that's what the guys at Bacchus P&K said, and they didn't look like they were pulling our legs. Are you thinking the same thing I'm thinking?? Sarah

How about The Giaconda Dining Room on Denmark Street? I went a couple of weeks ago for lunch, and agree with our Jay, who reviews it here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/200...ts.foodanddrink Talking to Tracy, Paul's other half, after lunch, she said they've had a very quiet start (been open since June) as they refused to take on an expensive PR person. Must say, if you told me one of Sydney's star chefs was going to open a place in Soho I wouldn't have expected veal in tuna sauce, and eggs in creamed spinach on the menu. It's very much comfort food, but at a comfortable price and produced by people who care. A Good Place. (Though the wine glasses are too small.) Sarah edited for speeling

Blandsville. If I had to live with it in my sitting room, I'd be very bored very quickly. It's well matched to the clientele: over-paid lawyers and bankers in expensive suits who go to fritter away their clients' fees. Thankfully, the food (at least when I went about 18 months ago) will grab your attention and the staff are delightful. I had a fantastic starter of soft shell crab. As far as I can remember there was a very hefty mark-up on the wine list, especially in the middle order, but as lunch was being paid for by my pal who's an overpaid banker with expensive suits, I wasn't really looking at the numbers. I think you're spot on that the menu will cover most tastes - let us know what you thought. Sarah

Found a monthly"cheese masterclass" here. From The Fine Cheese Co in Bath. You don't have to sign up for a 12 month contract; here's the blurb: "Every Masterclass contains around 700g of freshly cut and individual cheeses (enough for 6-8 people) PLUS a pack of our own The Fine Cheese Co. Crackers (a different one every month) and tasting notes. Our monthly Masterclass arrives on the first Thursday of each month, ready for the weekend. A monthly masterclass costs £32.50 including overnight delivery to UK mainland destinations. " Sarah

Great photos on your blog. Good to see he's made the egg cocotte more appealing, and also looks like there's a new pastry chef on board. However I still think the menu seems like it has a lot of sweet flavours throughout the mains (chestnut, mango, sweetcorn). Didn't you find the foie gras too rich at that stage of the meal? We may have to go back and check it out Sarah

Thanks Corinna. Gosh it has been scrubbed up! Am pretty certain I don't remember the cutesy wee trees ... Sarah

A tannery is not somewhere to immediately put you in mind of a nice plate of roast monkfish with chickpeas. Just as well the old photos don't come in Smello-vision. I visited the Tannery as a child, when it really was a tannery and my father (also a master tanner) bought leather from them. That was before competition from South America decimated the UK and Irish leather business. Hmmm ... a symbol of how our economies have been transformed from industrial to service-based? Sarah

Maybe make it cheaper? And lose the waitresses' "humiliating asymmetrical mini-dirndls"? That's AA Gill's description of the uniform, which is kinder than Giles Coren's. In fact the only people who seem to have eaten there are restaurant critics.

No, just 2 bottles of wine. And one coffee, for one person. £44 each, despite the pheasant, foie gras et al.

Decanter reckons "The awards leave London lagging behind New York, Paris and Tokyo in the gastronomic hierarchy with only one three-starred restaurant ..." Are we concerned? Personally I think the rise of the one star eatery is all to the good. More excellent food, well sourced, at reasonable prices, and less foam, I say.

Really excellent meal on Saturday. Our pals misread the Open Table email and arrived half an hour late, but the staff were very pleasant and didn't fuss at all. Restaurant was almost completely full - we sat downstairs by the bar, which was a bit distracting with staff to-ing and fro-ing. I recommend you book upstairs which is cosier. Starters: Watercress and potato soup with oysters. Rather peculiar texture combination, with cold raw oyster in the warm creamy soup, but very interesting tastes. Alas was not profferred any of the foie gras with blood orange - dining with the same greedy friends who didn't share any of the Cafe Anglais goodies either. Main: Pheasant and bacon pie to share. Wonderful presentation: enormous pie arrived in big white dish with deep golden pastry and a lump in the middle. Lots of speculation about the lump, which turned out to be a marrow bone, which is why they also provide a picky thing to winkle out the marrow. Pastry was delicous - quite thin and not at all flaky and probably loaded with butter. Oh dear. Lots and lots of meat, though the pheasant wasn't as gamey as I'd have liked. Served with a big bowl of red cabbage which was mostly hoovered up by Greedy Friends as we were full of pie. Dessert: Rhubarb and custard ice cream - did what it says on the tin, pretty good. Came with home made (I'm pretty sure) shortbread which I though had too much sugar on but Steve didn't, so he ate that as well as his mille feuille. Chestnut and pear mille feuille - deee- licious. Again a very short pastry, full of flavour, with the sweetness of the chestnut countered by tangy pear puree. No petit fours with coffee, but that might be because only one person ordered. Wine was reasonably priced; I ordered the white in a hurry and chose an Italian Chardonnay which was fine but nothing outstanding - but also about £17 I think. And a good bottle of Rioja (Crianza) matched well to the pheasant. Total bill was startlingly good value at under £50 a head for three courses, 2 bottles of wine, a coffee and service. Sarah

Deletions - sorry the formatting is lousy. Birmingham West Midlands Jessica’s Bolton Abbey North Yorkshire The Devonshire Arms Country House Hungerford Berkshire The Hare Padstow Cornwall Ripley’s Stockbridge Hampshire The Greyhound Taplow Berkshire Waldo’s (at Cliveden) Taunton Somerset The Castle Tetbury Gloucestershire The Trouble House Wight (Isle of) Yarmouth The George Windermere Cumbria Gilpin Lodge Winteringham Humberside Winteringham Fields LONDON City of Westminster Mayfair Angela Hartnett at Connaught Regent’s Park & Marylebone Orrery Strand & Covent Garden The Savoy Grill ENGLAND Ludlow Shropshire Hibiscus

HIBISCUS - one star.

Yaaaayyyy I was right - well done Tim and Faith at Apicius. Sarah

There is a specific UK team lead by a bloke called (I think) Ian something, but of course nobody knows Sarah

Agreed. In Kent, Apicius is always wonderful and I hope gets upgraded from a bib to a star. However I would be surprised if The West House keeps its star. We ate there in spring last year, and whilst the food was mostly good, the service was amateurish. Sarah

For a brasserie, you must do Le Cafe Anglais - see the thread below. I go to Marylebone Farmers Market on Sunday, as apparently does the saintly Nigel Slater ('cept I've never seen him there). Full farmers market details here. And you get to see Marylebone High Street as well - The Ginger Pig will be open, as will Daunt Books, and you could stop by Paul for a coffee and macaroon. Sarah

How about Vaudeville? Quite close, just down Rue Quatre Septembre towards Bourse,and a very typical Parisian brasserie with excellent seafood and (for Paris) charming waiters. Sarah

Have a browse around the wine shop next to the Gaucho GRill on Swallow Street: http://www.gauchorestaurants.co.uk/wineboutique/ They certainly have a great range, at rather eye watering prices for the very top end stuff. If you have a specific wine in mind, the best place to start is wine searcher. Sarah

Did you have the egg amuse?