TheBacchus

That, and the fact we could run some fab pics with the features. Also - and it was so low-key you could easily have missed it - we had teamed up with Audi who wanted to do a larger scale sponsorship job (ie bigger than spot advertising) around the notion of science and food (playing to their own perceived strengths as technological innovators). They had no say on the editorial, but it got us thinking and we decided to go well beyond the 16 pages which were part of the deal and dedicate the whole issue to the subject. Re everything else you said, Pipp dear boy, the cheque's in the post. ← Ahh yes - Audi - to be fair (and i know its been a tricky balancing act) it has worked and it doesnt threaten the integrity of the work. The wheels very nearly came off for us doing the film when they tried to get Nuno in an A6 - the poor chap was horrified. You have to bear in mind for those who dont know Nuno he's 33 years old and rides to work on his BMX! Funniest thing i've seen all year Your right about the pictures too. Working with John Reardon was nothing short of mental - the guy is absolutely BRILLIANT. Completely off the wall and to be as good as he is i dont think he could be any other way. That was indeed a privilage and we all agreed on that.

What? The man who came up with porco eccittato, a cooked salami placed vertically on the plate with coffee sauce mixed with eau de cologne. Pure genius

Bit difficult for me to post anything for obvious reasons but i feel compelled to make the following points: 1. The whole issue of OFM was, in my opinion, well researched, well written and perfectly targeted at its audience. Modernist cooking, and in particular, the scientific element to it means that its difficult to find an approach that is relevant, fresh, engaging and interesting. OFM achieved it and convincingly so. It is also the first major publication in the UK to attempt it and i think its a feather in the cap for them 2. The package that has been put together shows the different levels that a modernist approach in cooking can engage. OFM did a great job of appealing to different people on different levels whilst keeping on track with the concept of 'future food'. Whilst i love them dearly, my family know precisely zero about food, to be honest so far they have been more impressed with my swimming badges than the reviews or write-ups about the restaurant. Yesterday evening i received more than one phone call from family who'd had the 'Eureka' moment after reading OFM and proclaimed that 'they got it'. At last! To me this is indicative of where food and the understanding of food is headed in the UK - as far as the definition of your typical 'punter' and personally i think its bloody great 3. I think the decision to make an issue on the future of food was brave for such a widespread publication but the choice to do so is a compelling arguement for the state of the British palate, or at least i hope it is. I assume (and Jay feel free to correct me here) that the decision to write this issue was based on a belief that there is an interest in new types of cooking and new styles of cooking but the important thing to get across for me is that the modernist approach is not going to replace anything we have currently. In fact it is going to improve it and there will be a place for everything; sous-vide is not going to replace roasting, gelees will not replace jus etc etc and within the confines of this board i think most people know that. The great thing is that this was communicated to the public as it would have been very easy to sensationalise everything which would only have increased the misunderstanding of modernist cooking and would have served little purpose The exciting thing is that the massive buzz that is happening at this time is centred around development in understanding of food and this development will be used for the benefit of all cooking no matter what style or nationality it is and my hat is off to OFM for being a part of that

Article in the Observer's Food Monthly: Is this the most futuristic pub in Britain Like the picture, Phil - will you be using it as your avatar? ← Dont be ridiculous Charlie - i'd be a right saddo if i did that now wouldnt i.... awww what the hell

Lunch: Monday to Friday - 12-4pm (last orders at 2.30) Dinner: Monday to Saturday - 6-midnight (last orders around 10.30) Also got the lounge opening this weekend on the first floor - three rooms for pre/post dinner drinks and a 10-seater private dining room Phil

Dont worry Gav - I rent trainers out at the cloakroom. £10 for converse or if you want to splash out £15 for Nike Air Max... The aventura menu is available at lunchtimes Re wine - there is more information on the menus - i just didnt have enough space on the website so i kept it to a minimum. Its just to give a taster Look forward to seeing you Friday lunch

You make it sound like hestons success was only possible by appealling to punters who are offended by GRs personality. But what does the personality of a chef have to do with the food? I thinks its important that Heston is in the kitchen, and I'm sure that the experience would be 13% better if each dish had been indvidually cherished by Heston himself. ← I dont think so at all - Head Chef at Fat Duck is Ashley Watts and he's more capable and talented than most michelin starred chefs in sleb restaurants in London. HB is the face of FD and its founder. He has personally designed these things called recipes and spent a few years training his team to cook these recipes whilst he goes about the business of, erm building his business, which now includes highly lucrative book deals, tv shows, other restaurant ventures, talks etc etc I dont buy this artist thing and comparing chefs to painters. When a painter finishes his masterpiece he isnt expected to trail the world from auction house to gallery trying to flog his paintings so why are chefs expected to be in their kitchen 24/7? HB has made his mark - he has created his masterpiece and now his team of highly trained, highly skilled umpa-lumpas re-create that masterpiece for children of the world everywhere who make the magical visit to Berkshire

Phil - your website isn't redirecting properly cheers Tony ← Cheers Tony - we've changed provider ready for the website launch (current one is just a temporary thing) - the proper website is being launched hopefully tonight if not tomorrow.

Tim as ever your writing engages and entertains me at the same time - something that most things, given my rampant ADD, fail to do Its a familiar story and certainly one that resonates with me having been a couple of times earlier this year - i suspect that the emotions that FD draws from people are the same over and over for customer after customer and as you say long may it continue. And on a final note i am now satisfied that i am never going to convince you of the beauty of sous-vide salmon and therefore agree to drop the matter and pursue you on sous-vide sirloin instead Tim, thanks for taking the time to post what the rest of us are despairingly incapable and, in any event, far too lazy to do

Basildog - is this what you meant by educate them? Printed in yesterdays Metro...

Any details there Jon? ← I now know where nuno gets all his ideas - both the bad ones and the good ones!!! ← Cheeky sod Dont know what you're talking about. We clearly get them from the BBC, Tuesdays at 8.30pm...

They will be when we open for lunch (and breakfast) from December 1st

Yes here is a lack of decent bars in close proximity. Now wouldn't it be grand if some young and enthused entrepreneur were to come along and, say, buy the Macbeth then that would surely start to change things...? ...Please note: there is nothing that can be done about the quiet stabbings - sadly they are part of the scene Gareth, really glad you had a good time here on Saturday - i was in myself with my family and new baby - only to be greeted with two other new borns staring down a plate of pork jowl. Was impressed with how well things went You will have been one of the first to see the new and improved menu including the new 9-course Aventura menu for those who are particularly brave We are having a lot of fun putting these together and it is really really interesting listening to how one person loves one dish whilst another hates it with a passion. There have been several 'heated' discussions on many a table And you know what else? Its Xmas coming up so we thought sod it - we've gone and bought new chairs!!! Dear customers you may now lean back at Bacchus! (although i'm still going to booby-trap Guy Diamonds for being so mean to us ) Website is nowhere near finished. A total utter cock-up if ever there was one. Its been designed by some award-winning animation company called Model Robot who are friends of ours. Unfortunately for us they got called away to shoot some film for MTV (nice work if you can get it) and then to America leaving us with an embarassing pants round ankles scenario and no website for a month after we opened. But they are back now so expect weekly updates to it including some video deconstructions of some of our dishes...now where did i put my Dyson?

Ah ha Mr Lepard - that is the most impeccibly timed entrance to a thread i have ever seen! Bravo sir

Your wish is my command Charlie.... www.bacchus-restaurant.co.uk Very excited about our new menu too. I'll post it on here later today Phil

I agree with Tim. The FD still gets much of its press from snail porridge and egg/bacon ice cream because that's its USP for the global audience. Sure, those in the know appreciate that HB is a superb chef whose talents run far deeper than the sum of his menu but at the end of the day its a business run to a specific model and if this were to change then you can bet your bottom dollar that it would have an impact on the custom base and subsequently turnover. Until FD has an empty table for dinner i dont think it will ever really change. Fair enough too. IMO there's more chance of HB opening up a new place like he did with Hinds Head that will enable him to diversify than try to mess with the FD model On a personal level the two most recent times i've been there have been little extras here and there - everyone gets that - its a thinly veiled attempt to make you feel special and to keep your interest from waning because the truth is once you've seen the spectacle its never the same again. FD fact: over 80% of the diners at FD have the tasting menu. Anyone who has had it will tell you. It's not something you'd keep going back for time and time again which makes a nod towards Tims culinary tourists theory

Congratulations Gary and all the team at Blacksmiths. It's no mean feat to set something up from scratch with little experience and i wish you every success in the future Best wishes Phil

I know that they've been busier of late. We took a call at 8.45pm from a table of 4 last thursday who were booked in with us for 8pm. They asked 'sorry but we were just wondering what the full name of the restaurant is?'. 'Bacchus' came the reply. 'As in Vivat Bacchus?'. Erm, no. They are about a mile and a half up the road' Silence. 'Oh shit' They'd already sat down, ordered wine, had bread and a discussion as to what all the fuss was about with these strange combinations of food as they thought the menu looked fairly straight forward! To their credit they had starters, paid the bill, got a taxi and came and had the tasting menu at ours.

And I have indeed just posted. What a piece of old bollocks. ← Yup - just submitted my tupence worth

Ha ha - how incredibly misinformed. What kind of restaurant PR firm gives a quote like that? Obviously well up on the industry. We are going to start an experiment today to see what happens when we "boil meat" for 48 hours. Although i'm pretty sure it will simply regress me to 8 years old at great grandmas for sunday lunch Ahh. Memories

Actually i thought that Fay's report was very much like Gustav Klimt's 1907 painting, The Kiss...

Now that is funny Well ok, maybe not Burnley itself then. But just think of the fun you could have up here. Sous Vide Hot Pot has got to be a winner, or even better- Sous Vide Bury Black Pudding ← As i have said on many occassions sous-vide is not suitable for everything and some things should be left as they are. My black pudding is most certainly one of those things!!! Speaking of sous-vide(ing) unusual foods we are back in Helsinki this Xmas with our new addition to the family (t'other half is due next Saturday!). I'm cooking at a restaurant over there and am doing elk and reindeer in the circulator with elderberry foam I need locking up, honestly I cant wait...

What? So why are you opening a place for poncy southerners? Come back up here to Lancs immediately please. ← It's true i'd like to in the future but sadly Burnley is the only place i know that had to shut Buger King down because people thought that McDonalds was better value for money. (this is 100% true) Even the Pizza Hut downgraded from restaurant to just takeaway...

Tony, now your talking. It's uncanny how much that looks to our first draft... (I'm from Burnley and you can take the man out of Lancashire...)

You've obviously not been to Bacchus then. Believe me we are not pretentious. Asking for feedback muichoi is simply my way of finding a sounding board for our ideas; Bacchus is my first venture in the restaurant business and i dont even have a hospitality background, but because i'm not arrogant or naive enough to think that I know it all, I like hearing the different opinions by people who I believe have a treaure trove of information on this type of thing, including this website. It certainly doesnt mean that i'm going to agree with all of these opinions and alter the restaurant accordingly though... The reason it says codfish is because it is Nuno's (Head Chef) dish and Nuno is portugese. In portugal it is codfish and therefore we decided to keep it the same. Hope this clears it up Phil PS. we can be a bit silly though