Simon_S

I have sampled a pizza that had hoisin duck as one of the toppings. It was basically like a chinese takeaway on dough. Not for me at all. Still, I'm no purist...

And for Ireland I'm guessing... No change whatsoever!

Christ almighty, you had me worried. I'll sleep easy in my bed tonight now. Please accept my apologies for not spotting said sarcasm. Now, back to our regular programming...

So much in this thread is so random that I don't know what to say. However I have to ask: Have you really turned vegan, Steven? Did I miss a thread on this?

I don't know Limerick that well, but the Mustard Seed at Echo Lodge is probably worth a trip for some Irish hospitality. Depending on their tastes it might be a little stuffy, or pleasingly traditional. It's definitely also worth taking the short drive to Adare Manor, even if only for a cup of tea! Others will probably know more. I'm pretty much never in Limerick!

Well I'll vote for goose fat, for me nothing quite compares.

Well, I know that if you soak the kernels in water before popping, you get massive fluffy popcorn that doesn't make a huge amount of noise, but if you dry the kernels in the oven before popping, they pop like bullets but the results are very small.

An interesting twist. What's the rationale behind it? ← Well, I read it on the back of a packet of popcorn sometime! I *think* that the idea is that all the kernels have a chance to come up to the same temperature, almost at the point of popping, before you push them over the edge. If you have a pot that heats evenly enough, and you've got the temperature just right, you can probably forget this step. I find it handy as it means you can start on a very high heat, remove for a while to allow everything to even out, and then carry on at a lower temperature until they're all popped.

I also stopped using Microwave popcorn a while ago, because I discovered I just didn't enjoy it that much. Besides, popping it in a pot just seems so much more satisfying. I follow the Fat Guy approach with one small exception: when the first kernel pops, I remove the pot from the hob for 1 minute. When I put it back on and the popping restarts, a quick shake of the pot and Bob's your Uncle. Oh, lifting the lid regularly to let steam out seems to help as well. I don't even put butter on popcorn. Just salt for me, thanks.

As a wedding present, a friend bought us a subscription to Sheridan's Cheese Club, with monthly deliveries of cheese. We've just sampled some of the first batch, which included a totally delicious Langres, a very nice Beaufort, a suitably decadent Explorateur and one cheese that I enjoyed a lot less -- Milleens. I'm a fan of strong and smelly cheeses, but this particular example was just unpleasant to my palate. Perhaps it was past its best (the delivery arrived a little while ago). In any case, the Langres was probably my favourite, and both it and the Beaufort will be on my shopping list in future.

Where I come from, being served food before the wine has arrived would cause genuine annoyance. Certainly the servers tip would take a dent on the back of it.

I don't think there's a connection there. Chips are certainly sold at such events, but generally in a bag or a punnet - it's pretty rare to see a butty for sale. No, I associate the butty with takeaway (fish and) chips consumed at home. It's probably (although I've never thought about it) a way of stretching the meal and making it go further, and a carry-over from when times were tight. Incidentally, I was discussing this with my wife last night and she asked me to point out that mayonnaise is an integral part of the chip butty in her mind. I hate the stuff and never have it on anything, so that had passed me by.

A chip butty dipped in the runny yolk of a fried egg is a glorious thing. As are fried potatoes in the same role. It's not quite the same with US-style French fries, though. Crisp (potato chip) sandwiches are a common enough occurrence, but not the kind of thing you'd make specially. They're more something that happen on the fly as you eat a pack lunch or have a picnic.

I'm not in this year. Oh well, I really want another trip to San Sebastian first and foremost anyway.

You see, I probably should have read this before I sent off my request for late-April. As a bald, yellow man once said: "D'oh!" Still no word as yet. They do this every year: taunt me into thinking I might have a place, but then sending me a refusal at the last minute. Oh well, I shouldn't complain really, since we got in on our first attempt a few years ago. I'm just being greedy!

I tried emailing directly: "we're on honeymoon and enthusiastic about food, and Irish, and hey everyone loves Irish people, and we won't be in town for long, so...", which didn't work at all. So we got 3 phones going at 10am local time and after redialling for about 10 minutes, scored a table for 2 on the first day possible. It was all rather painless in the end, so we were very fortunate. Incidentally, I spoke to a few other guests outside before lunch, and they mentioned that they'd been on the waitlist and had long since given up hope, but they got the call. It was suggested that the current financial woes might have had at least one positive effect...!

They weren't. They were far more focused on looking good, pouting and regaling the captain with a Laundry-List of foods they didn't eat.

We're back from honeymoon, and from our trip to TFL. Overall we had a fantastic experience, and despite my initial misgivings at starting lunch at the ridiculously early time of 11:45, when we staggered out at 5pm we were relieved we hadn't started any later! First off, I had no problem whatsoever with the atmosphere in the room, if anything it was a little livelier than I was expecting. Compared to some other 3 (Michelin) star restaurants in Europe, I found it slightly less cathedral-ish, and maybe a little more relaxed, although our most excellent captain (Milton) contributed greatly to this. He figured out early on that we were very enthusiastic, and he spent a lot of time talking to us and bringing us little extras here and there. When Hazel expressed an interest in salt, he brought over an array of many and varied salts for us to try. When the discussion turned to olive oil, he brought out a certain oil they use there. Later when we were discussing some other aspect of food, he disappeared into the garden and returned with a particular kind of lemon. Coupling this friendly service with the occasional extra dish here and there (the fabled coffee and doughnuts, for example) and the excellent wine suggestions, I left feeling that I had been treated as well as I had ever been at a restaurant. This, as much as the food, contributed to a tremendous sense of well-being that's extremely hard to reproduce. Bravo! So what about the food? In many ways it was exactly what I was expecting: precise, focused, product-driven, clean flavours, nothing OTT, nothing extraneous. I've seen it written that some consider the food soulless, but neither of us felt that way. Of course, it's hard to imagine that anything every makes it to a table there that isn't exactly right, and isn't exactly as intended, and this kind of "perfection" can rob meals of a certain excitement. Again, I didn't feel that, but maybe my expectations had been dampened in advance. We enjoyed pretty much everything we ate, and thought everything was first-rate. Aside from that, the lack of "chefiness" and the focus on produce left us with a bit of a quandary. On the one hand, the food was top-drawer, beautifully prepared and presented. On the other hand, genuine "wow" moments were few. There is a definite sense that the kitchen does its utmost to get out of the way of the food, and let the ingredients speak for themselves. Those ingredients were, of course, top-class, but I didn't always feel that they were better than I've had elsewhere, or in any way revelatory. This sounds like criticism, but shouldn't be construed as such. It's merely an imbalance between the kind of high-end dining I especially enjoy, and the kind of dining that TFL offers. For some reason, the first time I heard of TFL it was under the guise of "modern" (read: molecular) cooking, but nothing could be further from the truth. El Bulli it ain't!! Of course, a dinner is not made of wow moments in any case, and I thought that in every other way the French Laundry experience was second to none. The progression and pacing of the dishes was superb, and the sense of "whole" that came with the menu meant that I left feeling complete and satisfied, without being stuffed. This is not always the case when dealing with multi-course menus. All-told then, we had a marvellous time, one that I would genuinely hope to repeat, and one that I would recommend to anyone. I certainly felt that the more you "give" (in terms of interest and interaction) the more you get back, and we were treated royally (to the apparent annoyance of some other guests, even). French Laundry is a restaurant I've wanted to visit for many years, and I'm delighted that I've left with such happy memories. PS Having now read Nick's missive (excellent work, man!) I have one more thing to add: the bread wasn't great. Not great at all. It was the only thing that I genuinely thought could have, and should have, been better.

Hmmm, somebody I trust was there twice in a week recently and didn't have anything good to say about the place at all. Actually I lie, he said the chips were good. It's impossible for me to tell whether I'd share his view or not, but there's at least one dissenting voice... I won't be making it there anytime soon, so I'll have to live vicariously through the rest of you.

This is a regular hot-topic in Ireland, and apparently the rate of closure of rural pubs is very high with more stringent drink-driving laws having come into force recently. Some pub owners have even taken to running minibuses to get people to and from the pub. Obviously, this is a land where binge drinking is acceptable to many, and the norm among certain fairly wide circles. Even this week, on telling a friend that we'd scored a reservation in French Laundry, his response was "watch their faces when you try to order the amount of wine you normally would". California and Ireland might be at opposite ends of this particular spectrum, but I think we're both equally confused by the opposing stance!

Nick, thanks so much for that report. I've read some of it, and the rest I'll save until I get back. I don't want to know TOO much in advance after all... Getting an idea of the price of wine pairings has been very useful. Oh, you've also made me realise how lucky we were to get a reservation on our first day of trying. Since we're only there for 3 days, a reservation after 5 days of attempts would not have been much use to us!

Well, we're in. 20 minutes hitting redial on 3 phones reaped the reward of a lunch reservation, so our honeymoon will now have a fitting end. Can't wait!

Thanks Bryan, what an enjoyable blog that was.

Interesting. I obviously don't have any Hamptons baggage (it was our first visit and I knew and know nothing of the "scene") but I was impressed by the ingredients and the standard of cooking. Alright, it was fairly generic fine dining in some ways, but that's become true of so many restaurants I almost can't criticise it on that basis. Admittedly, we were *very* well-treated at the restaurant by our Irish waiter, and by the captain who seemed to very much enjoy our choice of wine, so maybe it was as much the experience as the food. Also, we were seated outside amongst the fireflies, which is a huge novelty for us. Still, I was impressed overall, and it certainly didn't suffer from big portion syndrome (something I find extremely off-putting). In any case, it's probably an academic discussion as regards your plans for this year!

No use whatsoever for West Hampton, but I really enjoyed dinner in the 1770 House in East Hampton last year. It was probably the best meal I had there.