ermintrude

Keep it simple. Great bread (toasted if you like) always works Perhaps on the side some cornichons (In vinegar rather than brine), good tomatoes etc. For me things more acidic than salty work as it cuts through the fat - but the fat taste is so good it's the sides are there for a change to refresh the palate. Or go retro and serve with slices of Mellon - again on the side.

Recently opened on Fleet Street, another D&D (Conran restaurant) http://www.lutyens-restaurant.co.uk/ open Mon - From 7:30 am - Midnight. And it's hard to find, you can walk past it without noticing - that's not a necessarily a bad thing especially after8pm. Anyway after a 10 hour overnight shift went there at 8am for "breakfast" with a friend as I'd read several good reviews - odd as according to their press release it's not open until June 29th. For breakfast only the main bar/casual dining area was open, the area feels a bit sterile. I can see why this would work in the evenings, if it get's to be a busy "city" bar (all those hard surfaces will make it loud). But it does not make it the ideal place to have breakfast. Also if you were there for a breakfast meeting, due to the hard surfaces reflecting sound, this may not be the best place as I overheard conversations from other tables.For breakfasts, table cloths and/or other sound dampening tricks could be used. Also I would say that the menu on (http://www.lutyens-restaurant.co.uk/Lutyens_Restaurant_Menu.pdf) should start with breakfast, then lunch, then dinner. Having Alcohol on the first page gives the wrong impression and if you want breakfast - how many people want the dinner menu! I must say, the staff were totally professional, efficient and friendly when appropriate. They did not give the impression of a place opend before it's launch. Also the food was as good as you can get for breakfast comparing the range on offer (c.f. "The Wolseley" - I felt like oysters as my body clock was saying 10pm when the real clock was 8am but I can forgive that) I hope this will expand once the client profile is established. And my companion thought the English breakfast was one of his best, as for my eggs Benedict well the muffin was the best, but the Hollandaise could have had more lemon (but tha's 1/2 a fruit for you). I must also note that my request for a glass of wine was dealt with appropriately, with no hint of (What at this time in the morning!) which could have been right for my companion but not for me and I can smile at other diners looks . Going to the toilet was interesting, as I had a peak at the restaurant/Members bar/Private rooms (More soft fabrics so less of a noise issue). Looks like this could be a place to get a decent meal for a decent price in nice surroundings, once it's bedded in. How it will fare in the recession (who knows - but around 20 people there for breakfast when it had not, according to the press release opened! ) So while breakfast was good ..... You guys want to comment?

I must add to the list above under: A good read, Why or how it works!, Challenging The Big Fat Duck Cookbook. Also under Challenging If you do not speak Spanish or one of the languages that the El Bulli books were translated into (In English they did not translate 1983-1993 and 2005 despite the web site saying they would). Ok the books are food porn and I would not mind that much if they were not translated but that would miss out on the notes on creativity, ingredients etc. But to not not translate the CD containing the recipes was unforgivable! I did buy them to complete a collection - but was not happy about having to do so when my order for the English books was in place for a year or more with my usual book supplier. Also only the full El Bulli cook books, The tome "A day in the life ...." - is a load of pretty pictures with maybe a few hours of reading, with a trivial amount of recipes, want to know about the restaurant (In pictures) that you can't get into, fine. If you want to use it for ideas don't bother. If I had purchased this full price I would have not been happy - I got it free at a talk.

To get the taste could try a red whine reduction for the outer layer and use Gellan as that has better flavor release. If you had access to some liquid nitrogen and could freeze the wine you could do a divided speriphication something like this http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=116055&hl=

Mix the Alginate with one and say calcium gluconate with the other. You'd probably need to be carefull with the acidity and also probably need to add sodium citrate with one or both the wines to get a good jell. You also probably need a thickener (E.g. Xanthian gum) expecially if doing reverse spherification as you'd also have to do it the hard way as you could not freeze the wine, due to it's alcohol content, in small moulds and drop into the alginate bath. Since your dealing with acidic liquids you may have more success with Gellan rather than Alginate some ideas here http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5456937.html

Had a similar problem. Causic soda didn't shift the block but concentrated sulphuric acid did!

Stove top creme brulee I believe gives the best texture of all when done right. I.e the standard recipe, no added cornflour or geletine, and cooked till just right (not immersion mixed as it split) and then left to set. It's risky, it doesn't set, goes grainy, set but watery you name it but get it right and it's perfection. The easy way it to oven bake in a water bath but you'll never get the same texture as a stove cooked brulee.

Had my AEG induction hob for 4 years now with no problems - love it.

The frozen reverse sperification technique works well. So far I've found 1/2 spheres frozen if dropped into room temperature alginate make satisfactory spheres. Even did some huge 3" ones filled with tomato soup once. Then after the alginate had set warmed in hot water and served in a bowl of parmisan foam with deep fried parma ham. The effect was great as my guests had a red sphere surrounded by white foam and spikes of parma ham and 'bingo' when they touched the sphere they had a bowl full of soup. The problem was the alginate skin that was left, it tasted of nothing and was just some horrid jelly in the soup so not so good. Going to try it again but next time plan to use a flavored alginate bath or perhaps a flavored gelan bath that is supposed to have better flavor release. And also with frozen sphere's you can do things like this:- http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...ivided+Alginate And for > Carol @ Alinea At Home recent little trouble... When using frozen spheres, I've found it best to make the alginate up the night before and leave in the fridge overnight to remove the bubbles that will be introduced by the immersion mixer (These will cause weakness in the alginate wall) , then bring it up to room temperature or warm (say to 50C) but not boiling before adding the frozen things (You can heat them later as the gel is thermo irreversible) . Surface tension will try to make everything spherical anyway, perfection requires a sphere but you can get away with all sorts (including ice cubes) if your not doing this to perfection.

Try and bend it? Or stick a skewer in and see if you hit bone? It should be obvious, otherwise if you've got 3lb of proscuitto for $5.00 please post the name and address and do they ship to the UK.

After flowering I find sometimes the leaves get a bit to thick and peppery however leave a couple to go to seed, save them and grow your own Arugula (Rocket)

How about using Gelan instead of Agar Agar - good flavor release

Had a nice lunch in the bar last Sunday - I was working nearby (no one else fancied it). Welsh rarebit - very tasty, Squirrel broth - light but a nice meatiness provided by the squirrel and a glass of red. A great lunch for £18.

Well I went there this Friday for a pre theatre meal (£25 for 3 courses) and was taking a friend for her birthday. Could not get a 6pm booking so had to go for a 5:30pm. While I was looking forward to 3 courses at a 2* reasturant for a reasonable price in online reviews I'd read I was concerned about the service we would receive as there were several negative comments. We arrived at 5:25pm (The opening time is 5:30pm) and were informed our table wasn't ready and would we like a drink in the bar - I like a good cocktail so we went for this option, the bar staff were friendly and recommended a grapefruit twist rather than lemon for a Tanquery 10 dry martini (this was a good suggestion) - £24 for 2 cocktails. After about 10 mins were told our table was ready and would we like to go down or finish our drinks - we decided to finish our drinks as the bar was very pleasant. We'd almost finished our drinks when we were again asked would we like to go down and take our table (hint taken) so we went. Through all this staff were very frendly and not pushy or 'snooty'. We were sat at the bar around the kitchen (Perfect - last time was on a two top and missed watching the kitchen) We both went for the pre theatre menu (my companion is a fisharian) but decided to add a some dishes from the 'small tasting dishes menu' these were:- Me: Salad with Foie Gras shavings, Pig trotter served on parmesan toast, Companion: Sautéed courgette with thyme, mozzarella and basil confit vegetables Wine started at £20 but we chose a bottle of Chateau neuf de pap £54 to go with the meal. And very nice it was to and our glasses were filled just before we needed it. So we had in the order served:- Me: Soft poached egg with braised celery, hazelnut and beetroot vinaigrette Beautiful presentation and I enjoyed this, if the poached egg was warn it could have been better. Companion: Sweet onion soup “Andreï style″, crunchy croutons This was declared to be gorgeous. ------ Me: Salad with Foie Gras shavings Ok, but the shavings did not really let you get the taste of the Foie. Wished I'd picked something else. Companion: Sautéed courgette with thyme, mozzarella and basil confit vegetables Presentation on this was stunning and was happilly eaten but no rave comments. ----- Me: Pig trotter served on parmesan toast,. What was nice here as I'd orders 2 extra dishes and my companion 1 the split the dish into two smaller portions so we could both have some. The thought was there (un)fortunately as she did not eat meat she could only eat some of the parmisan flake. Loved this dish, rich, powerful flavors but all working together. ----- Both: Monkfish coral sauce, carrot and celery fondant This was a bit of a disappointment, my monkfish was slightly overcooked, there were large chunks of carrot that were a bit to firm for me and the sauce was nice but nothing to write home about. ----- Me: A selection of tarts. The highlight of the menu - all were delicious and again great presentation. Companion: Chocolate Sensation This was wolfed down and declared delicious. ----- Ok the verdict on the £25 for 3 courses menu - it's worth it. The worst thing is the very limited choice and while I make criticisms above, for the price it's good value. We had excellent service throughout and there was a great atmosphere in the restaurant (I even got to taste some of the diners next to me food and vice versa!). However there are so many tempting things on the other menu, good wines on offer and excellent cocktails in the bar above it's difficult to resist. So unless your careful the bill soon mounts up and so it was not an inexpensive meal. (But that's my fault). Overall enjoyable, worth the money and would go again. Also the cocktails were so good we went back after the theatre to get another :-)

Well as I'm taking a close friend to the theatre for her birthday, this Friday so I thought it would be a great time to try the £20 meal here. So booked a table at 5:30pm for the Pre Theatre Menu. I'll report back........after the weekend with our comments. PRE THEATRE MENU Available from 17:30- 19 :15 (last order) *** L’OIGNON DOUX En soupe légère “ façon Andreï’’ et ses croûtons gourmands Sweet onion soup “Andreï style″, crunchy croutons OR L’ŒUF Cuit mollet aux céleris braisés, vinaigrette noisette à la betterave Soft poached egg with braised celery, hazelnut and beetroot vinaigrette *** LA LOTTE Sauce coraline, carottes et céleris fondants Monkfish coral sauce, carrot and celery fondant OR LE BOEUF La hampe servi à l’échalote et son gratin dauphinois Hanger steak served with dauphinoise potatoes a red wine and shallots sauce *** LE DESSERT DU JOUR Dessert of the day OR LE FROMAGE DU JOUR Cheese of the day

I wasn't keen either when I went there.

Yes, but bear in mind the chocolate calcium bath will make it difficult to see your spheres. Also alginate is not a good flavor releaser so you may not get as much chocolate taste as you wish (perhaps use Gelan instead of alginate but not tried that)

Anyone tried this, when I was walking past looking for a place to dine, from the menu there was a pre theatre option as well. I was up to try but my companion was not what was on the menu (I did try to explain deep fried egg was probably not deep fried egg as they knew but it wasn't happening so had to go elsewhere) and they were intimidated as it looked "posh". I've eaten there before at full price and was impressed (but overpriced) . For pre theatre Arbutus has always been a staple for great food but is it worth giving Joel a go ?

Piddan eggs stuffed with skata (icelandic fermented fish) gently poached (just warm) in Nato (fermented bean). (If I could add a fourth it would be served with a garnish of durian colis - just a little, I find durian is lovely to eat if you take a big bit but vile in small quantities)

OK I've had issues with the service at the fat duck (this occurred just as they got the 3*) , at one point when we had ordered the tasting menu with wine parings something was going on back stage (my dining companion is a head chef and picked up on it) and were left sat there with no food and no drink for 20 mins (so we ordered a extra glass of champagne and griped - it was a dual birthday but didthey not pick up on that) then thimngs started moving again. But in defense to your asking to add an extra guest - I'm not surprised they say no. Some of the food your eating takes weeks to prepare (See Fat Duck Cookbook) and my assume they make extras to cover when things go wrong but if you add an extra diner (and the number of covers is small) the risk of a foul up rises that you can't fix and you cant have if you aspire to perfection. However that said, your contact with the restaurant was not not good. It would be better for the staff to explain the reason rather than just giving you a response that you experienced as offensive or arrogant.

How about deserts Black Truffle Sabayon I also once made a white truffle ice cream, very nice it's more a savory than a desert as it has a garlicky taste and a bit strange on it's own but with something saulty like caviar or avruga is lovely.

Spam as Spam is not that good...... BUT fried spam sliced thinly (0.5 cm) and it get's high amounts of the mallard reaction also the sugers also get caramelized it's great. (Slice to thick and it does not work) Cool and then dip that spam into batter and fry and serve with HP sauce- it's a so good taste - even though it's bad for you. Spam has it's place. And 90% of the time I can't stand it but sometimes SPAM ROCKS (Could be a childhood thing - perhaps like the big mac taste for the USA)

The ideal situation goes like this:- Water: Can I get you a drink while passing round menus + wine list If yes: Get aperitifs to table then when they look ready to order get food order and then departs. (If no sommelier the waiter should then ask if the diners wish to order wine and give advice, if they have knowledge, based on what they ordered for food). (Waiter then informs sommelier of food ordered and send them round) Sommelier enquires "would you like to order some wine" if yes wait's to see if a direct request or one for advice, then asks for personal preferences (ideally the customer will give a guide price here and any likes dislikes) then based on the response and the food they ordered make recommendation(s) for the table. HOWEVER I've seen this not work so many times for so many reasons. 1. The dinner does not trust the sommelier and makes their own choice. 2. The dinner does not give the sommelier correct guidence - price/likes/dislikes 3. The sommelier is made to up sell Personally 9 times out of 10 if your in a reastaurant with a sommellier your parameters they will make a better choice than you (They may have wines that they've only been able to get 6 bottles of and they may not be expensive) also they may offer more expensive/cheaper wines than you can afford if they don't have an idea of your budget (It's your fault not theirs if you get a shock when you say yes). Trust the sommelier - it's what they are good at and paid for BUT give them the information they need to work and do their job. One only one occasion have a had a sommelier get it so wrong I had to send the wine back (bunch of gold grapes and all) and it was corrected with no fuss and a one off in 10 years. However back to should the wine be served before/with/after the soup well normally either before or at the same time the wine should arrive or if you still have full glasses of aperitifs and/or the wine was matched to the main course you should be asked would you like the wine to be served then.

A rejection here as well - oh well 2010 not that far away

Risotto machine? All you need is a cross between a thermomix and a KitchenAid-type mixer. But that wouldn't be much fun, some things are better done the old fashioned way (I still prefer kneading bread by hand). ← No, just a thermomix will make a good risotto when your in a hurry so long as you monitor the last few minutes, but for a perfect risotto by hand is still best