Richard_D

Hmm, there's quite a lot to choose from in the area. Here's a few ideas, hpe they're useful. In central Cheltenham the George Hotel does a weekend deal and it's got Monty's brasserie and Monty's seafood to choose from which are both good. The "hotel on the park" in Pittville has had rave reviews from friends who have stayed there. If you're looking for a b+b there are quite a few around the northern end of Bath Road - which is handy for the Suffolks area and LCS. In the Suffolks is also 'Brosh' which has had good reviews for it's mediterranean/middle eastern food. The Daffodil, which is between the two, has a great room (it's an old art deco cinema) but the food is just OK. Generally it's advisable to book ahead otherwise you might find the only choice you've got is Zizzi's or Prezzo. Just outside Cheltenham is the Greenway Hotel which has got a good rep for both accomodation and food and if you're there at the end of May it's handy for the cheese rolling

Which presumably must mean Leicester polled SMALL. Nothing within 27 miles even in our regional category. Must do better. ← And it seems that there are very few places in the South West that people would recommend outside of Bristol Related to another thread on here - Nottingham appears to have done very well.

Wish I'd put a bet on Peter winning 'cos I spent yesterday telling everyone that Dean should win but that they would pick Peter. This was, in the most part, greeted with howls of laughter. I was sadly proved right. 'gulp', does this mean I think like John Torode and Gregg Wallace!?!?!?!? Oh well, just got this to look forward to now.... The Great British Menu

Went to the Exeter Festival of South West England Food and Drink last year. It's back on this year so thought I'd flag it up. I only went last last year 'cos I was doing a demo (I'm not this year) but had a great time, so this year I'm going again just for the food and beer (and cider)

Just watched tonight's episode . More swearing than usual in my house. Unbelievable judging decisions, not only did they have (IMHO) respectable food writers/reviewers but chose to ignore them. grrrrrr! PS Digger Driver Dean for the win!!

I'm ashamed to admit I'm getting hooked on it. It's kinda relaxing to come home after a hard day at the office and yell obscenities at Wallace and Torode. It's much better than sweating it out at the gym. Today really got to me - what is the point of going off to cook for the royal marines in sub zero temperatures???? How does this make you better in a hot, steamy professional kitchen??

Just seen this in the Observer today. Looks interesting. Real chefs representing regions of the UK cooking dishes to be voted for by the public. The end result - a menu for the Queen's 80th birthday. It would be good if they could carry on the format.

He's back tonight on UK Channel 4 in a new series of Kitchen Nightmares (in case anyone hasn't heard of it, he turns up and tries to turn around failing restaurants) It sounded like the same as the previous two series but some reviews have given away the fact that halfway through it turns out the chef has a problem with alcohol and this is contributing to the restaurants problems. Apparently Gordon Ramsay addresses it in a very considerate manner and brings attention to a little talked about issue in the restaurant trade.

He does seem to find a load of duff ones compared to his predecessor, Matthew Fort, who I felt gave good balanced reviews. I don't think reviewers should be writing for entertainment as their primary focus - they should be factual, after all they could ruin someone's business...

Thanks Paul Beandork - I'd be interested to know if it's really that bad

I've seen it and it really makes me want to cure things, although I could do a with copy of the Ruhlman book 'Charcuterie'. This site also looks pretty good and I would quite like a sausage machine but I don't have room for anymore kitchen kit

Reading the thread on egullet about the best guide to London restaurants got me thinking - who has found the most reliable/consistent restaurant reviews in UK papers/magazines? I say this, because reading the Guardian this morning there was a dreadful review to a place in Bournemouth. (0.25/10) It may well have deserved it and the critics job is to give their opinion but I'm finding more and more reviews focus on the negative only. I think this is more justified if they can offer ideas for other local alternatives (such as Jay Rayner did for Cheltenham a few weeks ago in the Observer) as this helps put their standards in context and gives a visitor an option, rather than a simple 'don't eat here' Perhaps there should also be a right to respond in the columns for the restaurant? - Let the critics be criticised?

After painstaking (and painful) research at several locals - esp the excellent Horse And Groom at Bourton On The Hill - I'd say it's more an ale/lager cross than the name suggests, and a whole lot heavier than Budvar. Definitely worth holding out for if they start bottling, though do be warned it's a real meal in the glass sort of drink, so maybe not one a restaurant might shift many of. Not to customers working their way through a gourmand menu, at any rate. Which reminds me, must get down to Fairford... ← Do you think so? I thought it was wonderfully refreshing and so good I had two, but perhaps my stomach had been stretched by the vast volume of cheese I'd eaten that day.

I got some of these at a cheese festival as a promo item from a particular brand of cheese and they are fab! I wouldn't have bought them myself but once these wear out I'm getting some more. I've cooked bacon in them and baked beans, you can even reheat soup if you're careful. fab!

There is a Cotswold brewed lager that I had at the Great British Cheese Festival in Cheltenham last summer. It was called 'Cotswold lager' and it was fab!. It tasted something like Budvar and was about the same strength. Apparently only a few pubs in the Cotswolds do it. I just did a quick search and got this site up which I think is the right one. There is a picture of a bottle on the site but I've only had it from a pump and yet to find a local pub that sells it If you get that in then I'll come to your restaurant!!

Haha, I might try that one next year, judging by his recipes I doubt I'd get very far . I have to admit I did enter this year purely because I thought I could do better than last year's winner (I think I mentioned in a previous post I was a bit competitive ), but I got a phonecall for a screen test just I was going on holiday so I couldn't go When I was a poor student in 2001 I got to the semi's of the old version and in my phone interview this time I told them that they were too quick to diss the older version as I reckoned the contestants might have been seen as 'dinner party specialists' but they were of a much higher quality and would have kicked these half-baked upstarts who 'wanna be a chef' around the kitchen and back.

Are there any egullet-eers out there who have been on it, or are involved in it? and are willing to stick their head above the parapet and tell us what it was like?

It's a major flaw with the programme. I can't understand why anyone would want to put themselves through a process where there is no clearly defined judging criteria or reward at the end, apart from appearing on TV which is no reward at all. When you have a competition that is completely dependent on two people's personal tastes which seem to change on an almost daily basis then no one, including the viewer, is going to learn anything from it. ← Well said. I'm sick of hearing that this series is 'edgier' and more 'spontaneous'. From what I've seen that just means no-one really knows what's going on. There is a potentially good concept underneath it all but every single contestant says 'I want to be the next Ramsay/Blumenthal/Worrall-Thompson'. Yeah, right, get a grip! most of them are stunningly mediocre cooks, one or two have some ability, whilst the rest are godawful. I like entering cookery competitions, it's fun (and I'm competitive like that), but I don't think I can skip 10+ years of hard graft by winning one and being catapulted into chef-superstardom. At the end of the day it is currently thought to be very trendy to be a chef, but it's damn hard work (one reason I don't do it), not that many people have the skill and it is so far removed from anything any of these contestants has ever tried. Phew, rant over

Also just got Ferguson Henderson's Nose to Tail eating. All sounds great and is a good read, but not sure how much of it I'll cook

Any idea when this is on? Not sure I can stick watching them all but would be interested to see this

Or bring back the Gary Rhodes version! They tried to stop the accusations that it was just people with a high disposable income cooking dinner party food that they'd practised all year. They gave you two weeks notice of the main ingredient or technique you were supposed to use and the budget was smaller so you couldn't turn up and wow the judges with expensive ingredients. Most importantly the judges made constructive, consistent comments. I'm going have to watch it tonight, just to see if it's as bad as last nights.

Anyone see this today? One interview I saw said that this years contestants were supposed to be better cooks than last years. Didn't look like it tonight.... Most of it seems to be grovelling to the judges, 'please give me a second chance, I can do better'. At least no-one said 'I am food' like one of them last year (it still makes me cringe every time I think of it).

Thanks, these are just the sort of recommendations I'm looking for. R

A big hunk of Spanish black pudding on a piece of bread in a bar in Bilbao, followed by a big hunk of hot Chorizo in the next bar, followed by a bit of tortilla in the next bar followed by some elvers (baby eels) in the next bar, followed by...... you get the idea!

It depends what you're going to do but if it's to get you cooking at home I have to second the recommendation for Leiths Cookery Bible (get it in hardback - my softback is nearly dead despite careful handling). It is light on pictures but packed with recipes and techniques and is the result of many years of experience of a cookery school. It was one of the first books I got and it has been hammered. Anything by Nigel Slater also gets my vote, I picked up Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's River Cottage Cookbook today and that looks very good. I've also recently have got Simon Hopkinsons Roast Chicken and Other Stories. I find Gordon Ramsay books are a bit cheffy but not overly so and the same with Les Halles which I like as it's quite straightforward These are all books I find you can use often and as inspiration, I find books like Bouchon, French Laundry etc nice to read but fairly impractical for the home cook