grendelyn

OK back at work after a yummy weekend. Boo for work! We went to Le Gavroche on Saturday and had the tasting menu. I'm sorry to say, it would have been a great meal at half or even two thirds the price. It was simply not a £300 experience. First, we had to wait quite a while for the hostess to come take our coats and seat us. She was away when we got there, there were people in front of us, ok no problem. Then, of course, we got seated directly next to the GIANT arrangement of lillies. Unfortunately, I am allergic to them. Within about 30 seconds of being in the same room, my sinuses start to fill up. So we requested another table and got one -- 5 feet away. so sad. (We have encountered this in a few posh London restaurants. Why would you decorate a restaurant with such strong flowers that so many people are allergic to? People are there to taste the food, not the decor. I just don't get it.) The service was nothing too exciting. We had to ask twice for a copy of the degustation menu for the table (even though all the others had them). Otherwise, we would have had no idea what was coming. Our main waiter was ill and could barely speak. He apologised for his lack of voice but 1) we couldn't understand anything he said, since he plopped all the dishes on the table, said what they were in France and buggered off and 2) what is he doing working with food and the public if he is sick enough that he has to apologise for it? The speed of service was really variable. We waited ages for our first courses, while the last ones came hard and fast. The couple at the table next to us had the opposite issue (they were one course ahead). Their first dishes came bang bang bang then they sat with their empty cheese plates and wine glasses for half an hour. We also didn't get any bread at all until the third course. Speaking of the cheese course, I was a bit irritated when the server stopped in the middle of making my plate and backed the whole cart up and went away. Why? So that another waiter could approach the woman at the next table from the correct side to offer her bread. Just rubbed me the wrong way. (Though not as much as the drunk guy at the next table who just kept getting louder and louder and drunker and drunker. Trust me sir, I don't *care* about your wife and your sex life, or lack thereof. Really, not. Promise.) So yeah, I could forgive all that if the food was outstanding. But it wasn't. It was all ok, but just nothing to write home about. Nothing really worth mentioning. Of course, I was not at optimal tasting capacity from the flowers. My fiance enjoyed the food a bit more than I did. The desserts were a highlight, though! The chocolate sorbet and the mille feuillet were excellent. The petit fours were rather sad though, especially the stale macaroons. I can get better at any aiport in Europe! Come on now! As a poster above said, they were pretty good about refilling the wine glasses -- sporadically though. At one point, I had three glasses in front of me, at another we went at least 30 minutes with nothing. Sorry if that's a really nit-picky review, I'm not a professional critic at all, just a foodie who feels a bit ripped off at paying £300 for mediocre food and service on a Saturday night. If the bill had been more in the £175 range, that would have changed my overall feeling a bit. Maybe we should have known something was awry when we could get reservations the night before. In the past few months, we've had much better degustation experiences at both Club Gascon in London and Zarenda in Madrid.

We are off to La Gavroche tonight, and will report back. We were booked to go to the Greenhouse but had a massive stuff up with Toptable, who called at the last minute to say oops no tables, sorry. They tried to make it up (sort of) and got us the chef's table at Lindsay House. Unfortunately, they said it was in the main restaurant, which we didn't really dig, and by the time I found out it was the chef's table after all, it was really too late. Ah well. Next time I will not use TopTable and just make my own reservations. Stupid internet bookings, so convenient and seductive! I don't think I've ever actually heard anything about Lindsay House. Any thoughts? After all, there will probably be another first Saturday in the week to celebrate soon.

Lou, I don't know what you're missing, but if you find it, let me know. When we lived in Kensington, I really liked Wodka. We probably went there once or twice a month. The blini are really good, and I am fond of the fishcakes with leek sauce. But then, I'm polish, so what do you expect? I also really like Abbaye for Belgian. I think it's a thousand times better than the Belgos. Now that we live in Highbury, everywhere seems like too far of a trek for mediocre food, so we stay in more often than not. We pop over to the Kingsland High Street for Vietnamese sometimes, or to Booth's for excellent pizza and Budvar on tap. It's cheap and cheerful, and we can get the bus door to door. No walking required. We also like the Alwyne on St John's Road. They are better in the summer when they do angus burgers on the grill outside, but the roasts and sausages are pretty good during the week. Oh, we went to Bistro La Trouvaille with the £19 top table offer a few weeks ago, and that was good too. I wouldn't have paid full price, but it was totally adequate for what it was. I would say that's about the sum total of where we go regularly. We went to iznik last Sunday and it really wasn't very impressive. Living up there with two fantastic butchers, a knowledageble greengrocer, and La Fromagerie nearby, it's just hard to work up too much excitement about paying four times as much to eat out.

sorry, weasel, it's called fifty-nine -- fifty-six is the noodle place. I got out and went to nawaab last night. I had some bbq chicken and lychee stuff. It was alright. Nothing life changing but better than undercooked roomservice!

Thanks for the ideas, guys. I *love* salts! Yummy snacks to try while you're waiting, and a great selection of spanish meats! Yum! I will def try art's cafe, and some of the others. I know, I know, relative intake and all that. Still, the same old pret everyday isn't good for anyone, no matter how delicious and convenient. My favourite place for a sandwich is Fifty-six. It's right across from the hospital, on the same street as the big church with the crypt (St. George's?) and the Virgin Active. They do great coronation chicken, and anything else you want, as well as wonderful homemade cakes, all for under £4.

My 'healthy option platter' at the Crown Plaza last night consisted of some fatty turkey on a white baguette (undercooked, I might add), three lettuce leaves smothered in dressing, and a handful of crisps. The situation is getting dire. Normally, I wouldn't mind too much, but I have a wedding dress to cram myself into in May. After that, it's totally back to tetley's and chips.

Hi guys! I am working in Leeds for the next, oh, eternity, and it seems like someone is holding all the salad in Yorkshire hostage! Can anyone recommend some places in Leeds, or the UK in general for quick, healthy food? I am looking especially for lunch places, in the £5-15 range. Vegetarian is not required, just something not deep fried. Please help, I can't take any more Tampopo!

We were in Bratislava about two weeks ago and didn't have too much all that great. We attempted to go to the Slovak Restaurant, which I'd heard wonderful things about, but sadly the other couple we were with are a, uh, little on the cheap side to say the least and reused to go, since it was 'too expensive'. Instead, we went to a little place a few door up from the slovak restaurant (away from the river) called something like Treasure? Something like that. Anyway, service was awful, but had some really really nice pork with broccoli and blue cheese sauce, and of course, prefab croquettes. My companions had lots of soup and goat cheese spread, and also perfectly passable Wienerschnitzel. At about $30 for 4 with one drink each, not bad. We also had really nice nibbles the night before at a wine bar right off the main square, lots of slovak and balkan cheeses, and slovak ham. No full meals, but a wide selection of good slovak wine, and very helpful staff. Recommended.

I *loooooove* Vietnamese food. So much so that I'm learning some Vietnamese and dragging my fiance on a weeklong trip to Hanoi and around in January, purely in order to eat ourselves silly (and recover from 30k miles in flights and 2 weeks with out parents... well deserved!). Trouble is, my fiance know pretty much nothing about Vietnamese food, and I pretty much just know what I like. I just moved to London about a year ago from the DC area. I used to live in Seven Corners and could see the Eden Center (giant Vietnamese extravaganza shopping center) out my back window. I used to eat there quite frequently, but pretty much just asked for 'whatever's good' so I never really learned much about what dishes are called, what to look for, etc. SO: I have two requests. Tell me about good Vietnamese in London. I know there are a number of restaurants in Dalston, and we've been to a few, but don't know which ones are really good for what, etc. We live in Islington, and can't find any local Vietnamese restaurants that don't cater to the western palate. Yuck. All so bland and just somehow unimaginative. (We cruised all the places in Islington the Guardian recommended in its 'Top Ten Vietnamese' feature a few months ago, and came away largely disappointed.) Is there anywhere we can get hotpot? Esp with seafood? Second, tell me where I can learn a bit more about what I should be looking for. We have the Lonely Planet guide to Vietnamese Food, but are there any other great resources out there? Any regional specialties in the north not to be missed? TIA! gren

Last weekend I was in Munich and drank *all* the Hefeweizen. All of it. I would be amazed if there is any left. Paulaner, HackerPfschorr, lots more I can't even remember. Last night I had two pints of draft Kirin. Was kind of meh. Could have done without it. Luckily, I am off to Vienna and Bratislava for a week, will report on the Happy Monk when I return!

Well, I am no expert on Bulgarian cuisine, but it is generally typically balkan. That means all sorts of street food, lots of Kofte and Cevabcici kind of things, all of which I think is absolutely wonderful. Lots and lots of meat: vegetarians need not apply, I would think. (Hope it's ok to post photos here... others seem to do it...) Wandering around the markets in Sofia is a wonderful experience, stop at the little stalls for various meat dishes. No one speaks english really, but pointing should get you far enough. Otherwise, it's all about the wine. Lots of wine bars, etc. I wish we'd had more time. One word of warning -- all the wonderful looking ice cream on the street is (to my palate) AWFUL! It looks so fancy and nice, but the base tastes like banana. Not to my liking at all...

We were only in Sofia for one night a few weeks ago and went to Pri Yfata, as I have a friend who swears by it. The service could have been better but the rabbit in clay pot was amazing and the baked farmers cheese was life changing. Many locals and locals bringing foreigners along. We really enjoyed it.

Polska Tradycja is where I always take first timers when I am in Warsaw (I used to live there). They serve really nice typical Polish food for reasonable prices. Excellent for Sunday brunch, or dinner any time. http://www.restauracjapolska.com.pl/ The in your pocket listings are pretty good and up to date. I have heard good things about Sense, will let you know in December.