battleofthebulge

Perhaps your perception that the portion of liver was rather large had something to do with having 2 starters and a lot of your DC's beef?? Sarah

Well, I'm a 20 minute walk from the second best butcher in Britain (2005, won in 2004) and the best in London and the South East - H G Walter at Barons Court. Went in to get sausages and pork belly the day after the awards were announced to find the staff looking hungover but pleased. More reviews here: http://www.urbanpath.com/london/butchers/hg-walter.htm Sarah

I've never seen that over here, and in fact at some of the Conran places like Quaglino's and Bluebird there's a warning in small print at the bottom of the menu. Something like 'It is not advisable to drink spirits with oysters'. Anyway, sounds to me like a way for a restaurant to cover up dodgy shellfish. Feeling poorly? Must've been all the vodka, not the mollusc. Sarah

The Atlas sounds like it should be right up your street. You can walk there from South Ken, or take the tube to West Brompton and it's just round the corner. Very good food (not especially British though) and excellent beer, in your price range. Here's a complete list of pubs in Kensington, and do check out the site's general reviews for Central London pubs. The Churchill Arms on Kensington Church Street just won some sort of Pub of the Year competition: very authentic and good beer, but the food is Thai. For Brick Lane, look for a place called 'Lahore'. Looks pretty shabby from the outside but it's the one most Indians would recommend. Sarah

Does somewhere like Gourmet Burger Kitchen count? It's a chain, and it sells burgers. But it's very good indeed! Haven't yet tried the Real Burger Co. Sarah

Eeek! Well I suppose it is a special occasion ... And if I go into Villandry I know I'll buy all sorts of other things. Handy for Paul for the chocolate cake, though. Oh dear and then there's the florist at the entrance.. must look for some 0% balance transfers. Thanks for the info! Sarah

Ah ha! I'll send the other half round - he can afford them Especially as I'll need 6. Any idea how much? (Will also have to buy a large new earthenware dish, as well. ) Thanks Sarah edited for presentation

Duck Confit I'm thinking of making cassoulet for a dinner party in a few weeks time and yes I know I could make the duck legs myself but ... is there anywhere I can get very good ready-prepared ones? Central London or mail order. Sarah can't be ***ed to follow the instructions in the Bourdain book

Back to the subject of Roast, dropped by last night on the off chance of a table. Place was completely packed out - all they could offer was a drink at the bar. FOH was very friendly (bit taken aback by the crowds, I think) - nice South African bloke. So no idea if service has improved since last week but if it hasn't they must have been in DIRE trouble last night! So we went round to Cantina Vinopolis instead and had excellent fillet and morels. (Tapas Brindisi and Glas were also packed out and the Wine Wharf was pretty much full.) Sarah

mmmmmmmmmm Greg's roasted marshmallow flavour .... Sarah

Sounds like you had a boozy evening :-) I've just been to Glas for lunch. If you like tapas, and are partial to a bit of herring, this could be the place for you. It's in Borough Market, opposit Neal's Yard cheeses, and is Swedish tapas. Forgive me if you've already heard about it. We had some great food and the service was fast (not surprising given they only had 5 covers) and chirpy. I won't write a review here as it's off topic, but do give it a try - they were undeservedly quiet today. Hopefully they pack out evenings and when the market is open. Cheers! Sarah

Oooch! Wow Cachan if these are the places you pop by for Sunday dinner, let me know if you need a Dining Companion!!

Racine in Knightsbridge is open on Sundays - very central and superb food. Not too expensive compared to some of the top end eateries (most of which are closed for Sunday dinner). That's in zone 1, a 10 minute walk from either South Kensington or Knightsbridge tube. Kensington Place will also be open. That's in Notting Hill, 2 minutes walk from Notting Hill Gate in an interesting part of town. What kind of budget were you thinking of? If you are on the South Bank (for the London Eye) then an option with an amazing view is the Oxo Tower Brasserie, but I'm not a great fan of the food there. It's fine, but you really feel that a significant mark-up is added to everything for the location. For brunch, try The Wolseley, if you're feeling flush or you have any space left on your credit card. It's very central, on Piccadilly, 5-10 minutes walk from Piccadilly Circus and close to the Piccadilly line tube stop so you can get to Heathrow (if you're going by tube). Have a great time! Sarah

Hmm not sure why this didn't work so well but yes, I would always recommend a relatively fatty cut, and don't cut the cubes small. I often don't bother browning (heresy to some!) and I'd cook for about 3 hours in a very low oven, in a stockpot with added greaseproof paper to keep a good seal. I think having too much heat to begin with dries out the meat, after which it's difficult to resurrect just through the stew liquids. Did you use plenty of onions? I find they somehow add to the 'juiciness' of the stew. edited for spelling Sarah

Yep, went a few weeks ago for lunch. The main restaurant area is downstairs, with a view into the kitchen. Unfortunately they cram a few too many tables in, and that, combined with the low (basement) ceiling made it very noisy. That's the only downside, though. The food was very good and reasonably priced. We had the stuffed courgette flowers with honey - very filling! Also the ribs cooked in Pedro Ximinex - not sweet as you'd expect, and a wonderful shiny dark brown sauce. The Gloucester pork belly was also very tasty, but rather small to share between two And a couple of other tapas dishes - can't remember what, but no complaints. The charcuterie plates being delivered to other tables looked pretty good. With two glasses of an excellent 2001 Rioja the bill was about £45, but we went elsewhere for dessert so we could hear each other talk! Sarah

I trade you all the Bonny Doon you wish for whatever old Clarets you may have kicking around your basement. ←

Hi Tom, I too am a fan of the Doonery, and I chose the 'Darkness' because it was the first time I'd seen one of their wines produced in co-operation with a European vineyard. We live in London, so we are lucky enough to have a huge range of wines available to us. When travelling, I like to try things I know I either can't get at home or will be prohibitively expensive (like the '90 Summus we had in Montalcino in June). Hence the choice. And of course, to check out the label! I checked the Bonny Doon site yesterday - seems like they're on a mission to try out as many weird and wonderful European grape varieties as possible. I guess moral of the story is keep checking back at JK's to see what's new Cheers! Sarah

Oops! You are right - I must have consumed FAR too much :-) A splendid purchase and my apologies for wrongly maligning your speling. Umm .. and also for saying that the Burrowing Owl was perhaps ever so slightly not very good value for money; I'm sure I must be wrong about that as well!! Sarah

Hey Gordon we were following you round We popped by the bar last Saturday for a few glasses - no space for food, though. I like the space, and the staff were ultra-friendly. Had the Burrowing Owl Pinot Grigio (good but not worth the cash), an excellent Thornbury Pinot Noir (lots of jammy fruit) and what should have been a small glass of the Bonny Doon Heart of Darkness, but we got to finish the bottle Note to compiler of wine list - Tannat has two 'n's not one. The Doon was very very interesting - Randall is now co-producing (not sure of the details) with small vineyards around Europe. Heart of Darkness is a Madiran - BIIIG wine, think Shiraz on steroids - alas I can't find anywhere that sells it in the UK. Sniffff. Sarah

Hiya, Yes the four you had looks familiar - I remember someone having the goats cheese with quails egg. I'm pretty certain mine was the goat with corn pesto - quite bland (in a good way) and completely overwhelmed by the wine. But I still much prefer red wine with cheese - call me old fashioned! Dessert wine for me is best enjoyed with dessert - or foie gras. Which reminds me - in the intro, when our tastes and preferences were discussed, our patron asked if we minded having foie gras, sweetmeats etc. I said 'oo yes I love foie gras', and also admitted I didn't mind sweetbreads. So in the offal course the other three got variants on foie gras and I got the sweetbreads! Strangely enough, no one would swap their fg for my glands! Sarah

Perigee is the ultimate choice to be wowed by great cooking. But it's also eye wateringly expensive if you're not paid in UK pounds! I really enjoyed Crush, 455 King Street West near Mountain Equipment Co-op. Extensive, interesting wine list and superbly cooked meats - the duck confit got lots of 'mmmms' and my "wild" boar was also excellent. (It's not really wild, but comes from a farm in Saskatchewan. Mind you, I guess Saskatchewan's pretty wild.) Sarah

Well, I too was in Perigee Saturday 24th! Visiting with the out-laws who live in Etobicoke. We had some of the same dishes, but a goodly selection of different ones - a quite incredible tour-de-force. Some stand-outs were the squab (incredibly flavourful and juicy, well matched to the asparagus) and the shrimp ceviche on an oxtail and peanut 'stew'. The Whalehaven Pinot was superb - a nose that went on for hours and incredible depth of fruit. However, just a few niggles. Dad said the peirogi were nasty. The sweet wine which accompanied my cheese course was just all wrong. (I'm not sure I agree with serving a dessert wine with cheese - where did this trend come from? Mutter mutter.) And the busser KEPT opening more and more bottles of water, when we didn't really need it and certainly didn't ask for them. Is this the trend in Toronto? I know that, in a meal as expensive as this, 20 bucks on water is a drop in the ocean, but I found it aggressive and something which quite spoiled the evening for me. To be honest, we preferred our evening in Crush the following Saturday. Of course the cooking was nowhere near as spectacular, but it was also a much more enjoyable atmosphere. We felt like we'd been out for a good meal, with friendly staff who want you to have fun, rather than Perigee's succession of culinary fireworks served with much skill but also perhaps a little aggressively. Or maybe that's just me getting too much into the laid-back Canadian way of thinking! Sarah

Alas Frontline, just round the corner from the station, will be closed, but if you've got time to drop down to Notting Hill Gate, try Kensington Place.

Hey I live just round the corner Here are my West London selections: La Trompette is wonderful, but probably a bit late to book such a large party. We love Whits on Abingdon Road, but that might not be snazzy enough. The Belvedere in Holland Park is swish. Kensington Place has great food and a nice party buzz. Good luck! Sarah

Yep the Shiraz/Viognier blend (based on Cote Rotie) can be extremely tasty - cuts back the tendency for the Shiraz to 'thump' rather than cajole. Try D'Arenberg's The Laughing Magpie - if you can buy the 2001 or 2002 and lay it down for 18 months or more it'll be very good indeed. Sarah