malcolmwilliamson

It could have been worse for Jan Moir; she could have been en route to a flight from T5.

There's more on Heston's forthcoming attempt to revive Little Chef here: http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/food/s...2268254,00.html. I offer a Little Chef all day breakfast to the first egulleteer who correctly identifies and reports which outlet is being featured. T & C 1. Reports must be first hand and posted on this thread. 2. Link(s) or references to website/newspaper/radio/TV/magazine reports not accepted. 3. A picture of a Little Chef receipt from the identified outlet must accompany any claim to the prize. If I could afford a second prize it would be two free all day breakfasts. Happy hunting.

When he was the Times restaurant critic Jonathan Meades gave one of the Harvester chain the funniest review I have ever read. The review was written pre-internet so its beyond the reach of Google. My powers of recollection are sometimes a bit hazy (that's my defence in court sorted) but I think he scored it zero or one. I believe the piece is referenced in his book Incest and Morris Dancing: A Gastronomic Revolution.

I made a return visit to the Modern yesterday to sample their lunchtime Spring menu. Unfortunately the Manchester weather showed scant awareness of the change of season. The food raised my spirits though. I had soused sardines with tomato and onion salad, the Goosnargh chicken on spring greens with morel sauce, and rice pud with rhubarb. Difficult to fault any dish, especially at £15.50 overall. Service by the young waitress was attentive and efficient. With only two others dining she told me that they'd had low numbers at lunch all week but are usually fully booked on Fri and Sat evenings. IMHO the Modern is an asset to Manchester dining.

Googling didn't help. The same question as posed on this thread was raised about half a dozen times on the first couple of pages in forums or articles with no definitive answers given. The exercise was not wasted though. It yielded this gem from 'The alternative A-Z of Yorkshire': "The Yorkshire Post once celebrated the growler by asking journalists to take into the office their favourite pie, the offerings to be judged for listing in an article by those well-used to the liquefied jelly running down their chin as their teeth sank into pink filling. The result was unanimous; the winner was a small shop on Kirkstall Road in Leeds. Weeks later the self-same shop was closed down by public health inspectors."

I read online earlier today that the MH management have agreed to stop serving fois gras. Having seen the threatening of Oxford Uni staff and students (including my son) as well as workers involved in the building of the animal research centre there I can understand that decision. Sadly, however, the question is where will they strike next?

Jan Moir has a dig at newspaper offers in her intro to a favourable review of lunch at Galvin @ Windows: http://www.areyoureadytoorder.co.uk/ .

The FT launched its 2008 ‘Lunch with the FT’ http://www.hardens.com/ft/lunch-with-the-ft.php?location=All in Saturday’s edition. Unlike in previous years, participating restaurants don’t have to offer a menu to a price point. The only constraint is an upper limit of £20.08 (why the odd 8p?) for a minimum two courses. I assume this means that restaurants will be using their standard lunch menu, in which case there is no benefit to booking the FT offer at a number of restaurants that are charging their normal prices. I plan to sample lunch at one or two London restaurants courtesy of the FT deal. My shortlist includes outlets where the offer appears to give added value compared to the standard Prix Fixe: La Trompette The Ledbury Chez Bruce The Glasshouse Arbutus Any opinions on which of these I should go for? NB No tokens to collect; you simply have to mention the FT when booking and take a copy of that day’s FT to the restaurant.

the buggers gave us four stars originally (I have the evidence) online and then reduced it...grr. In Restaurant mag this issue... ← Their award of 3 stars is both mean and out of line with their reviewer's description of the Modern meal. On my one experience of eating there I'd rate the modern 4 stars. I'm trekking up to Manchester in early March to re-evaluate. PS Is finding your way into buildings not taught up north? Or is the Modern entrance deliberately placed to be found first time only by southern pedestrians approaching from Piccadilly train station.

Jan Moir has been and didn't much like the experience : http://www.areyoureadytoorder.co.uk/ .

The Arrogant Frog (http://www.arrogantfrog.co.uk/ ) appears to be picking up some favourable reviews according to my online research. Its in Church Street, one street back from Hove's Kingsway seafront. No prizes for guessing the chef's nationality or style of food he cooks Has anyone been?

Paul Kitching and his partner and Juniper manager, Katie O’Brien, are set to leave "in order to pursue more Michelin stars." Other subscriber's to Juniper's email updates will doubtless also have received the information. There's no mention of where the two of them are looking/moving to, nor who'll replace them. Perhaps I should have gone to Juniper instead of the Modern on Tuesday .

I had a very enjoyable lunch at the Modern on Tuesday. The £15.95 three course experience was: Corned beef hash potato cake, fried hens egg -The plate and contents should have been a bit warmer, otherwise very good. Grilled Goosnargh maize fed chicken, braised leeks and Cheshire smoked bacon & a grain mustard sauce -An excellent plate of food, well executed and presented and full of flavour. Warm parkin with spiced roasted William pears -Not as spicy as I was anticipating but still very good My 250 ml glass of Lonsdale Ridge Semillon Sauvignon 2005 was a bit tart but otherwise good QPR. There were two other couples in the restaurant along with a group of five from work (BAe) and a lone diner. A few dishes were also delivered upstairs to the bar. The welcome in the bar was a warm one, as was the goodbye. The waitress service was efficient and friendly. I liked the fact that a service charge wasn’t added to the bill. That provided extra motivation to leave a well deserved tip. IMO the Modern deserves to succeed. I look to the support of northern egulleteers to ensure its open for future visits to Manchester. (The only disappointment was that the potentially grandiose view from the 6th floor was severely restricted by the mainly frosted window glass. The narrow clear slits made it akin to looking through the rear window of a car on a frosty morning shortly after switching the heating panel on.)

We were both favourably impressed by yesterday’s lunch in the Orangery Restaurant at Danesfield House. The three course menu consisted of 5 choices for each course including dishes that in my experience often come with a supplement on a Prix Fixe menu e.g. fois gras (with pan fried duck) as a main and cheese as a 3rd course option. Cooking, saucing and presentation of the dishes chosen was uniformly good to excellent. The lunch menu is available on weekdays, with a glass of wine, for just £20 (about half the usual price) until the end of next month (Feb 14th excepted). This offer has to be quoted when booking and a downloaded voucher presented on arrival. The food experience was enhanced by a sweeping view from the restaurant down to the Thames and across to the Chilterns, attentive but relaxed service, and extensive landscaped hillside gardens for a post lunch walk. (I have no connection with Danesfield House)

Yes, I bet that was difficult. Go out the door, turn right and stop at the first school you come to. ← That's unfair and demonstrably untrue Andy. I trust your restaurant reviews are better informed, more accurate and show greater respect to the people who work in them. ← I have two children, aged 14 and 10, both at different schools in Brighton. Both take packed lunches. That's my experience, which seemed to be echoed in the Jamie's School Dinners series. I take it that your's is different. Do you, or someone you know, work in the industry? ← I respect your experience and action regarding your childrens’ dinners at school. However, correct me if I’m wrong, I interpret your earlier post as meaning that anyone following your walking instructions would be certain to pass either a school serving crappy dinners, or a crappy school. i.e. you are implying that all schools are crappy in one or other regard. I'd be interested in your evidence for this.

Yes, I bet that was difficult. Go out the door, turn right and stop at the first school you come to. ← That's unfair and demonstrably untrue Andy. I trust your restaurant reviews are better informed, more accurate and show greater respect to the people who work in them.

Does anyone know of a UK retail source of Label Rouge birds? They account for 35% of French chicken sales but the only UK source revealed in the first ten pages of a Google search was a meat wholesaler with a stall on New Covent Garden Market. Label Rouge birds also cropped up in the search as menu items in a few UK restaurants. For those interested, these are the (exacting) Label Rouge Standards : Breeds: Only certain breeds are allowed and these are slow-growing breeds suitable for outdoor production. Buildings: Area of buildings must be no more than 1324 square metre with no more than four buildings per farm. Each building must be a minimum of 30m from each other. Stocking Density: The maximum stocking density is 0.3m square metre per bird. No more than 4400 birds per building. Approximately 1 kg of bedding material is required per bird. Access and range size: All birds must have access to the range from 9:00am until dusk after six weeks of age and must be outside for at least 42 days of the grow-out period. Range area per bird should be 6.5 square metre. Approximately 2 acres are required per house. 0.37m of pophole exits are required per 31 square metre of building. Feed: Ration must contain at least 75% cereal and be non-medicated. Starter rations can be 50% cereal due to a higher soybean content. Rations cannot contain animal products, growth stimulants or other additives. Fishmeal is not permitted. Synthetic amino acids are permitted. Veterinary: Coccidiostats are allowed but must be withdrawn 5 days before slaughter. Vaccinations are allowed. Antibiotics can only be prescribed by a vet. Other: Beak and toe trimming are not allowed Slaughter age: Birds must be grown for a minimum of 81 days Minimum dress weight: 1kg without giblets Sanitation period: Minimum period is 21 days between flocks Transport: No more than 2 hours or 64 miles to processing plant Processing: Air chilled post slaughter Shelf life: Sold fresh within 9 days post slaughter Inspection: Annually per flock (twice a year for hatcheries). Each visit includes bacteriology tests and process control inspections. Taste tests occur five times per year. One article in my Google search suggested that lack ( therefore high cost) of space is an obstacle to rearing chickens to similar standards in the UK.

I will be visiting Manchester on a rail awayday late January. I've never visited the area before and can't find much advice on this forum. Can anyone recommend somewhere within 1/2 hour or so of Piccadilly? Thank you.

This review by Mr Jancis Robinson (aka Nick Lander)http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/20071216 is generally positive about the early performance in London. Lander does reckon however that Claude Bosi could do with reducing the ingedients in each dish by one. For me the most disturbing part of the review is Hibiscus' experience of diner cancellations (no problem with this in Ludlow). Claude Bosi states “Last week we had 134 cancellations and we served 450 customers in total”. I remember when eating out in restaurants was a gentlemanly activity. Not now in London on this evidence. Hibiscus have had to start taking CC numbers with bookings to limit the damage to their bottom line. BTW Happy Xmas everyone.

I often use the Good Pub Guide. You can roadtest it online at http://www.goodguides.co.uk/pubs/search.asp before committing to buying the book.

It's gone now click here. ← Well this Tom Ilic guy'd better be good because I loved the Food Room. Mind you, whenever we went we were generally the only people in there, so I suppose I saw it coming. ← Linking to the Food Room from sites such as Toptable takes you to the French Table which was, of course, its sister restaurant (they previously had a joint website). The closure of the Food Room gives an sad resolution to my contemplation before reading this thread as to which of the two to eat at.

Laowai? ← Foreigner?

My copy arrived in the post this lunchtime. (Anyone else remember when post was delivered in the morning?) Its a combined London & UK guide. Labelled on the front cover as "Reporter Edition" and described with a quote from the Daily Mail as the "Restaurant lovers bible" . On the back cover "Not for resale". No warning against giving it as a Xmas present though.

'Eatery' is new to me so I've looked it up in the Oxford Dictionary. It's there with this definition: eatery > noun (pl. -ies) informal a restaurant or other place where people can be served food. The BBC is also using it. E.g. in this news item http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6658871.stm entitled 'Manure dumped at Ramsay's eatery' . With such a pedigree 'eatery' has been added to my vocabulary. With the distinction between restaurants, gastropubs and other sources of food becoming increasingly blurred it could come into more common usage. Does the food have to be cooked for the word to apply?

I have just opened the following message from Hardens: "Thank you for participating in our annual restaurant survey. Over 8,000 people took part this year, giving us nearly 100,000 reports on meals eaten collectively over the preceding twelve months. 1) YOUR FREE GUIDE Your free guide -- which incorporates all the reviews both from our London guide and from our UK guide(published today) -- will be sent to you in the next couple of weeks."