martinwa

Does anybody have anything more recent to add to Ile de Re? We're there for two weeks in June.

"He implored me to give the place another try, asking me to phone him in advance, so that we could sample his food at its best." Blimey! Loosely translated as "Let me know you're coming and I'll cook it properly otherwise you'll get the same crap as everyone else." Oh to be in such a privileged position. I can't believe you made that public.

I would recomend Fire and Knives, a quarterly publication. It isn't so much about cooking but contains some of the best food writing around, great art, typography and, essential I think, a sense of humour. It's philosophy seems to me to be, it's only food, let's have some fun with it. But surely you don't need to buy yet more glossy mags from supermarkets to work out what to eat this week. You've got shelves full of cook books going back to before you were married. And the little shelf under the kitchen counter is groaning under the weight of recipes torn out from Sunday supplements. However, if it is food porn you desire go no further, simply pop to the UK dining thread and check out the meaningless shots of platefuls of grub from restaurants nowhere near you and way beyond your means. You'll be relieved you can't hear the panting and the tearing of tissue paper. Add to that the tragic loss in the quality of writing on this site recently and the hijacking of egullet as some kind of live chat room pointlessness, "might go next week, yeah?", " anybody know a good Sumatran place between Gatwick and Crawley?", and you'll be rushing back to the safety of Elizabeth and Nigel like a scalded cat. Good food writing is out there. Just not in the UK section of this site any more. And no. I am not the publisher, printer, writer or otherwise, of Fire And Knives.

Tea in America's weird........ http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/video/2011/feb/04/paul-simon-pegg-nick-frost-clip

I have to travel a little further north and would appreciate any overnight stop recommendations within an hours drive of The Borders.

Try typing "wine" into the iTunes app store and you get 2 pages of em.

27 quid at Mark Hix Lyme Regis on Friday night. Bread sauce, parsnip chips and some lovely cabbage. Marvellous. My local butcher didn't bother last year, too expensive, even for SW London.

Saveur - singular - from the US, in English is easy to get here in the UK. Saveurs - plural - in French from France is what I'm trying to find.

I did that already. Unfortunately it's all about the US and no mention of UK source for magazine.

I'm trying to get a subscription for Saveurs for delivery in the UK. The French website won't work for me and says it's only good for France - even though they offer a drop down list of hundreds of countries including Royaume Unis. A lengthy Google trawl came up with lots of dead ends. Anyone know where I can get a subscription or at least find a stockist?

My previous post got moved to a global thread where no-one in the UK will see it so I'm trying again here. I'm trying to find properly labelled gelatin. i.e. bronze, silver, gold, platinum. My local Waitrose has 2 brands, neither labelled with any grade information. Where's a good place in the UK to source an accurately labelled product?

Here's an update. The gelatin I used was indeed the platinum grade so brilliant work Nickrey. That's why my panacotta came out like rubber. However a quick browse of the shelves in my local Waitrose - that's in London by the way - yesterday revealed 2 brands of leaf gelatin and one powdered, none of which displayed it's strength. So how do you know what's inside? Second question therefore: Where can I get properly labelled Gelatin in the U.K.? Thirdly: And what about agar agar?

Bar Italia - it's legendary, Flat White, Monmouth.

Nickrey Thanks for that, I'll look closer at the packaging. MW.

Tried to make a simple panacotta last night from a recipe in Silver Spoon which, you might imagine, should work, it being the Italian housewife's bible bla bla. Bloody stuff came out like putty. The recipe called for 10grams of sheet gelatin dissolved in a little warm milk and added to 500mls cream with the usual vanilla and sugar. Simple enough. It's got to be too much gelatin right? Any tips, favourite recipes from you pro's?

Just back from Sicily where we used Osteria d'Italia from Slow Food and were never disappointed. The emphasis is firmly on the local and traditional which means many of the entries are somewhat idiosyncratic. They also tend to be significantly cheaper than the "high end" restaurants.

Just back from our trip to Sicily. Went to Duomo in Ragusa and plumped for the tasting menu, 11 courses in total if you include ameuses and petits fours etc. We went for the "mixed" i.e. with a bit of meat thrown in towards the end. It's still mostly fish though and even the tuna that preceded the pork - the only meat course - was done as if it was a fillet steak with a red wine and meat stock reduction. Very clever cross over dish I thought. We paid 340 Euros for two inc the wine matching - Billecart salmon, two whites, two reds and a pudding wine. Erica, I've got to ask. Does your child have the most enormous appetite?

Went last night for the first time and frankly I was blown away by the food. Everything I ate was surprising, witty and superbly presented. Four of us ordered 5 small plates each plus dessert. With pre dinner drinks, lots of fizzy water and 3 bottles of wine it came to a hundred quid a head. Not too bad considering location and quality. There's a botoxed, trout pout vibe about much of the clientele though. I guess that's modern London on the Volga.

Blimey I get 2 posts to respond to in the same day! Just bought 6 x 3l cans from Elanthy, website below. They only do one oil, it's an EVOO from Greece and it's a very lovely all rounder. Lovely drizzled over your sea bass fillet. It makes sense and saves a fortune in Waitrose. http://www.elanthy.com/welcome.asp

It may be lovely but being 20 miles away it's not exactly in the Richmond or Kingston area.

La Buvette in Richmond. Eat in the courtyard unless it's pissing down like today. Petersham nurseries Cafe in erm Petersham is the best food for miles. You might struggle to get in so hurry. The Petersham Hotel has a fantastic view across the river. Pretty good food too. I think Gaucho is overpriced for what it is. You're paying for the no doubt extortionate - can't spell that - rents for a resto on the river. Naff concept too. Have a pint of Youngs in The White Cross, Richmond again, before lunch and don't bother with Kingston. It's a shopping precinct. You could also take the river boat to Richmond from Hampton Court or vice versa. Weather dependent though. It really is awful out there today!

Not any guide book you'd actually buy though!

Blimey Erica ! I'm booked into Duomo in a couple of weeks. Was it worth it? We're there for 10 days or so. Any other recommendations? Nobody replied to my post on the Sicily thread. Miserable lot. Sorry to go off subject! To make amends..... My own most expensive bill would be every time we go to the River Cafe. Silly prices really but worth every penny. The risotto with white truffle last autumn was a stunner. £50 quid a head in London is all too easy to break. Even our local places in Richmond and Twickenham are beyond that with a decent bottle of wine. Ok maybe too decent but I've spent as much in Manchester and Leeds recently.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/trave...ite.html.co.uk/ New York Times has....

Mimosa's? No alcohol with breakfast thanks, I've got to work. You must be thinking brunch late on a Sunday. A mug of hot steaming tea, builder's, milk, no sugar for me. Bury - the town - black pudding, try RS Ireland for mail order, smoked back bacon, best eggs you can find, fried. I'm not too fussed about your Brit banger but a couple of chorizo from Brindisa with eggs and toast is sublime. Tinned toms are good! I haven't had them for years. One thing you can't serve a full English without is a spicy brown sauce. H.P. for me, Daddy's for some. You'll find them in that Tea and Sympathy place down in the west village.