nikkib

I had a very disappointing meal at KP a couple of months ago, will not be heading there anytime soon.

We will be going to the Brooklyn Botanic gardens for the japanese festival they are having the first weekend of may and was wondering if there was anywhere "unmissable" in brooklyn either for lunch en route or dinner and drinks on the way back - it would be a sunday, not sure if taht makes a difference? Apologies if tehre is another threda like this but i did a search and couldn't see anything....

this is a huge issue in the uk at the moment - i use http://www.whalebags.com/

happy april fools jay!

is this the official ko website? I cannot seem to enter a phone number - doesn't recognise any of the formats i try...

http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/food/s...2268171,00.html from this weekends observer food monthly - should be of use?

Im sure people like corinna will have more infromative comments to make on this but what exactly are you basing this "theory" on?

Thanks for all the advice - soo much to think about! I'd be glad to give sushi a miss altogether but we'll see!

i tried to get a table at petrus for dinner in april and unless i wanted to eat at 1030 the earliest i could get was the 3rd week of may which suggests not much needs fixing? ← I tried in January to get a table in march exactly 2 months away and i was told i could only get a 10.30 table! It was a saturday night but still. I don't mean to go off topic but i do find it odd in London that you can get a table at some 2 *'s easily enough but other equally well regarded restaurants seem to be very difficult indeed. Is it perhaps because Petrus leave a lot of tables aside for certain people? ← They only have about 14 tables or so at petrus if memory serves me right - although having said that the capital can't be much bigger?

An enjoyable lunch here yesterday, started with the crab spaghetti - good but little of the advertsied chilli (or fennel tops for that matter) My friend had the scallops with chickpeas which looked great. Follwed by the turbot - i had a piece from near the tail but it was plenty big enough for me and very tasty. My freind had monkfish with fritto misto in a chilli and mint sauce - very generously portioned and delicious as well. Cheese was ok - i found them a little "blah" nothing majorly interesting though - and it just came with ciappe - am sure it used to be served with walnuts/grapes etc? We shard a chocolate nemesis and some caramel ice cream to follow which were perfection. Some very good wine (2 aperitivos, £30 bottle of collio and a glass each of sweet red and sweet white for cheese and dessert) saw the bill pushed up to £220 but whilst as in Matthews experience it wasn't perfect, it was another enjoyable meal there all the same.

Whats jewel bakao like?

i tried to get a table at petrus for dinner in april and unless i wanted to eat at 1030 the earliest i could get was the 3rd week of may which suggests not much needs fixing?

Thanks - i will check matsuri out!

i wish it were that simple - we have been to sushi samba, megu, buddakan, nobu etc as one fo my friends is partiularly keen on asiatic cusisine but she is fixated on koi and i am running out of excuses! Am planning on spotted pig as we have been there before and are staying in meatpacking district and i suppose this will be my trade off for ssam - in fairness i get to choose every other place for the 5 days we are there and have done on every other trip (will be putting in appearences at public, tailor, the modern, EMP, union square, ssam so all in all not too bad ...)

yeah i thought as much... just trying to dissuade my friends

is the menu at the bar the same as teh restaurant? Am planning on coming with some friends but tehy are not the most adventurous eaters and am not keen that keen on the menu ( i had to do WD50 on my own last time) am desperate to come so was thinking of maybe combining it with somewhere else fairly nearby - even if we eat elsewhere and then move on for dessert tasting at tailor (am sure i could sneak a couple more dishes in too!) thoughts?

Anyone eaten at Koi? Can't find any mention of it on the forum here which leads me to think it is best avoided?

white chocolate with tiffany blue marbled through them, edible gold leaf on anything or you could make a large marzipan box coloured tiffany blue witha ribbon and fill that with goodies of anysort?

I ate at Kitchin last month and found it to be far far far superior to many of the one starred establishments i have dined in in london - posted about it on the edinburgh lunch recs thread..

ok so i thought i would post on my favourites in case anyone is heading to Havana anytime soon as i had some really great meals there, far improved from a previous visit 10 years ago. We stayed at the Hotel saratoga in Centro Habana just across from The Capitolio (based on the designs of The Capital in Washington as its name suggests) whilst we didn't actually eat there it had a couple of restaurants - one tapas bar and one restaurant that both looked very nice. The first night we ate at la Bodeguita del medio one of ernest hemingways old haunts and one of Havanas most famous restaurants. Despite fearing that it would be a tourist trap we had a very good meal - traditional Cuban smoked pork loin, whole prawns in tomato salsa etc served with black beans and rice washed down with a bottle of Cuban wine (actually pretty decent - like a spanish viura) but i gather they can be pretty hit and miss.. Cocktails at another Hemingway favourite - La Floridita were great. Proudly declaring it was "la cuna del daiquiri" (cradle or birthplace) i was again not expecting much but was pleasantly surprised. Cocktails were obviously twice the price of anywhere else but well made and the bartenders take a real pride in their job, we didn't actually hear anyone else speaking english - seemed to be filled with south americans and Lots of smoke - everyone seems to smoke in cuba and everywhere! The papa hemingway was a classic combination of rum, grapefruit and i think cointreau - and boy was it strong - you have been warned! Daiquiuris as expected were great! There is a life sized statue of hemingway too, propping the bar up, book by his side. we didn't eat here - it looked pricy too.. Lunch at El Patio in Plaza Viejas was a beautiful setting but the food was not great. My Marlin steak was pleasant enough but the squid and "monkfish" were tough and tatseless however the beef stuffed with a local cheese was great. The local beers seem to be Cristal - a lighter lager (still around 5%) with good flavour or Buccanero fuerte which was a darker beer and a bit stronger. The chocolate museum (in the guide books) had great handmade chocolates and either a classic or "aztec" style (spiced) hot chocolate as well as iced chocolate drinks but is actually more of a cafe with a couple of pictures on the walls so don't go expecting a big tour! El Templete (Avenida del Puerto, esquina Narciso Lopez, run by a Basque chef and said to be one of Havanas best restaurants was a definate highlight - generous portions of chipperones (deep fried baby squid) and seafood plates with prawns, lobster, marlin etc The Steak was also delicious - perfectly cooked and presented too. It is nice sitting outside the hotel inglaterra too and having a cigar and cocktail overlooking the square lsitening to traditional cuban music Those are the only ones i can remeber i'm afraid but hope they are useful to anyone else planning a trip to Havana.

Angela Hartnetts new place The York and Albany suggests he probably did....

slow braise them with star anise, pepper corns, cloves, cinammon, red wine, soy and sugar for about 4 hours and serve in the braising jus with mashed potatoes mmmmmm

I'd second Reads, absolutely delicious and a beautiful setting too

When i was there ona thursday a couple of weeks ago they were doing brisk trade - must have been 30 covers there - one large office party being most of the covers in fairness though.

Great Queen street (on - funnily enough Great queen street between Holborn and Covent garden) would be your best bet - otherwise book now for lunch at Gordon Ramsays newest The warrington in maida Vale