battleofthebulge

That explains why my husband kept staring over my shoulder. And I thought he was admiring the stained glass. Greedy friends are gay so didn't pass comment, but seemed to like the nice young French waiters. Sarah

Sarah - CHANGE YOUR FRIENDS!!!!! ← 'Greedy people have greedy friends'. Discuss.

Lunch today. Great. Wonderful. Deee-licious. Just what Sunday lunch should be: with good friends, beautifully designed surroundings and a cream-laden sherry trifle to finish. I allowed my husband to have the pike boudin, which means we must return soon so I can have it. Other reviewers have described it far better than I could: it (from the one forkful I was allowed) is smooth yet textured, fishy but not pike-y. Wonderful. The odd thing is, there is a panoply of hor-d'ouvres and starters, quite a few fish dishes (OH had the whiting with mini-shrimp in a marsala sauce, which was OK) but, by comparison, not that many mains. This lunchtime there was chicken, beef, lamb, partridge and woodcock. Friends had beef (w/roast potatoes and yorkshire pudding) and lamb (with beans), neither of which I was allowed to taste, so I presume they were satisfactory. The spinach was pronounced 'excellent' and the chips were good, but rather frite-ish, perhaps as a nod to the Macdonalds it replaces. The partridge was beautifully roasted but I think a grey leg (menu just said French, and I'm not enough of an expert to know what colour legs they have in France) and probably not as flavoursome as the woodcock, which I shall have next time ... Wine: very good Prosecco to start and a smooth, fruity Barbera d'Alba 2001 (£45) to go with all the meats. Service on-the-ball, friendly to the point of talkative, and clearly having a good time. As was everyone else in the room. The colour of the banquettes is eau-de-nil, for those who may be interested in refreshing their drawing rooms. We will be back .. before the woodcock season closes. Sarah

It's not just us twitterers. Here's the first post from a disappointed punter on london-eating. Even my local Italian bistro brings bread to go with the butter Sarah

The parmesan puffs (course 0) were very nice. As was the bread and butter. And they very kindly managed to serve all eight courses in under 2 hours so we could get a taxi home before Ken's rate kicked in. Most thoughtful.

Perhaps, like Rene Russo, he has discovered Frownies and has been wearing small brown paper patches to bed every night?

Dinner yesterday. A question: when is a surprise not a surprise? We decided we might as well pay £75 for the 'surprise' menu, as the unsurprising version is now £55. We expected to get dishes which were different to everyone else. However, we were surprised to get a long stream of starters, plus main and dessert, from the a la carte. Or, perhaps ironically, that was the surprise? The amuse has now been changed from the hibiscus cocktail which seems to have been met with universal cries of 'ick, where's the food' to .. an egg. Egg shell resting in a bed of salt, containing a 'lightly poached' (trans. near-raw) egg yolk and a bit of egg white, topped with a potato foam which tasted rather like the skins and some of the surrounding earth had been left on when paco-jetted. Hmmmm. No cries of delight from the surrounding tables, either, though there were admiring noises about the crockery. According to the bottom of my side plate, it's French and called 'Il Coquet'. The foie gras icecream arrived as course number 5 (groan) and has been changed slightly, with little puffs of celeriac scattered on top to relieve the gloopiness. We thought they were very like rice krispies. Best dish was the carpaccio of pollack with black radish. Beautiful to look at, not sweet (at least four of the non-dessert courses were mainly sweet) and lifted by just the right amount of truffle. Main was Shropshire veal - Shropshire is a nice place and this particular calf had obviously had a very nice life, ending up buttery and full of flavour. Roast potatoes were delicious - at last, something hot. But also on the plate was a small swirl of goats cheese which seemed rather redundant and neither of us bothered to eat it, though we were getting pretty full at this stage (course 6). Dessert was probably the least successful dish. We had eaten lunch at Apicius the previous day (yes I am terribly spoiled) and Tim's desserts were, as ever, miniature masterpieces. The basil sorbet was a particular stand out. Claude's whinberry cheesecake, on the other hand, was very sweet (aarggh more sweet) and the base tasted just like a factory-made cake. Whinberries, so far as we could tell, are blueberries who didnt make the grade. Came with earl grey icecream, for no particular reason. Service ranged from excellent (the sommelier who matched the bordeaux perfectly to the veal) to nervous (very young wait staff, possibly new, and who appeared to be scared stiff of forgetting what to say). Overall, worth the £100+ a head, but it would have been nice to have been just a teensy bit more surprised. And it was all far too reverential, but I guess that's the 'we're just waiting for the Michelin gongs' effect. Sarah PS Faith if you're reading this Steve was completely wrong about the rand, it's 14 to the £ so don't move anything.

Thanks everyone for your ideas - seems like Globe Bistro is going to be first past the post.

Perhaps your love of sweetbreads is a minority interest? Offal is offputting to an offal lot of people. The ones I had at Perigee a couple of years ago were pretty good, but I don't suppose that's much help. Sarah

As in "Kermit Lynch"? If so, pretty good indication of a good recommendation. ← Err no - Kermit Lunch!! 2005 Côtes du Rhône Cuvée Sélectionnée par Kermit Lunch, Rhône, France $55 Presume that's a typo!

Tent not required after all. Have just been awarded the final table available for lunch - a week on Sunday! Reminder to self: beans on toast for supper the night before.

Wow. Perhaps we should merge this thread with the - is there anywhere to lunch in London that isn't boring - thread, because it would seem to be the answer. Am off to Milletts to buy a tent so I can camp on the doorstep .. Sarah

Oh - very interesting! Nice line up in the kitchen and front of house. The wine list is v different - first time I've heard of a Cote du Rhone selected by someone called Kermit! I hear there's an ice storm on its way, so do wrap up warm! Sarah (in sunny London)

OK we have one available slot to take parents-in-law to dinner when we're in TO for Christmas. Currently Starfish is favourite, but we've been there before and we like trying new places. Last time's blow-out was Perigee but by the end of course 7, when everyone had each of the four different dishes per course described to them, plus the wines, we all wanted rather more eating and relaxing and a lot less pfaff. So, nowhere pfaff-y. We like Crush, and JKWB (going there the following night). Also, the buck is now much stronger against sterling so we won't be throwing money around. Any ideas for a place that has excellent wines, very good food, nice people, and doesn't take itself too seriously? Sarah

Fay M has given an excellent review with the disclosure that Rowley is a pal of hers. I called on Sunday to book for this week, but was told they were full all the time every day for dinner. More of Rowley's friends ... Will try and get there for lunch.

Or Lille is even closer .. I'd also recommend Foliage. For something slightly different, there's Le Cercle - very sexy room, and the 'Fermier' section of the menu currently has some interesting bits like teal. How about Hibiscus? Or is that just tooo dull?

Looks like it's back to Arbutus, then Sarah

Ooo err £100 a head to sit on a brown banquette? Should we go? Sarah

Le Caprice has seats at the bar which are usually free if you turn up on spec, except at weekends. I've squeezed in there a couple of times and had a good meal. Only problem is you have your back to the room so it's more difficult to people watch. Though they do have cute barmen Sarah

Agree that the food is superb, at that price range. We ate there a few weeks ago and had grilled duck breast, which was perfectly cooked and full of flavour. To start we shared the cream cheese pot, which was rather like tsatziki on steroids. Ultra creamy, loads of garlic, but not quite enough toast for two greedy people. The wine list is a bit of a challenge. All local producers and mostly unidentifiable appelations, and the waiters aren't very good at recommending a very dry white. The only wine I recognised was the Madiran, so will have to go back again and try it with some steak. Plus, the tables are about 2" too low and quite small; it's rather like eating off a coffee table. However, minor gripes when set against the quality of the ingredients and the cooking. Sarah edited for typo

Why didn't you have to pay?! If I get an egullet t-shirt and wear it, do I get the same treatment? But seriously, how easy is it to get there if you don't have a car? Taxi from Whitstable? Sarah

Pah. I just re-joined my gym and will be sunning myself in the garden all weekend. So 'pale', nope, 'plump' - not very, 'menu caresser' - absolutely. Sarah

Went there once with a bloke who was making money shipping "machinery" to Baghdad, around 1989. On Walton Street, I remember it being quite cramped and very dimly lit. No doubt to disguise the wrinkles of the Belgravia set who camped out there. As for the food? No idea! I think there was lamb done three ways, but other than that really couldn't tell you. And I didn't pay the bill so not sure what the damage would have been. Sarah

Positive review in the Weekend FT: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/88cfd576-ec97-11d...00779e2340.html Sarah

Mr Hayward was instantly identifiable by his solitude and large grin. His status as Important E-Gulleter was confirmed at the end of the meal by his order of a carafe of Sauternes. Style! Our impressions were, well, mixed. Step-mother-in-law deemed the nude piccies of women in the washroom to be '"unneccesary" and the design of the lavs "stark". Overall, I thought the design was good, but not outstanding. Lacks a certain warmth; felt a bit sub-Malmaison, if you know what I mean. And the acoustics are loud, though that could just have been Giles. Food: the pigs head was certainly pig, but thankfully completley unidentifiable as head. Very rich, great fat, but not quite warm enough and had a slightly doleful air as if it had been made to wait around for s-m-i-l's asparagus. I LOVED the rabbit saddle and, to contradict another august member, felt it could have been served without the cottage pie which I thought was underseasoned. Other half opined that the pesto and olive oil in the soupe au pistou were terrific and he would have been quite happy eating it without the veggies. His lamb was deep red and very lamb-y. Don't know what they put in the grass in the Elwy valley but it definitely adds to the flavour. S-m-i-l's bream was "very good". Wine: we ordered a whole bottle of the French Sauv Blanc, thus avoiding the unchilled carafe issue. Not at all Old-world-y, fresh and good length of flavour. The Marlborough Pinot Noir went reasonably well with the lamb, but wasn't outstanding; not much fruit. My Pinotage (bit too hefty for the rabbit, but never mind) was excellent. Nice example of what they're now doing with this maligned grape - lots of spice and fruit, quite sweet. Tasty! Thanks to the offer, came out at just over the ton for four starters and mains, lots of wine and a glass of fizz to start. Even without the half price food it would still have been reasonable value overall for food of this standard. We will definitely be back, with ear plugs. Sarah