Trucie

My thoughts exactly. I normally eat late also but on this occasion we preferred to start earlier. I've cancelled with them and now have a booking at Le Manior, report to follow soon. I have also been "unlucky" at Bacchus, we wanted the degustation menu, ordered at 9.30 and we told we were too late. At no time were we told there was a cut off time.

The Square. They had a table available at 7pm to be returned by 9pm. Or they can do 9pm???

Are most of the fine dining restaurants trying to turn tables in one evening? If so, it is very frustrating trying to get a booking for 7pm having been told they need the table back at 9pm. Then they say you can't have the degustation menu because there is not enough time. So how do you get a booking for 7 or 8pm? is there a trick? do you have to waive loads of money at them and book both time slots?

Thank you! I also went to Akelare on the same trip so I'll be posting pictures from that desgustation menu soon. Very interesting comments about the beef. This was my first proper Spainish beef. Yes it had a full flavoured meaty taste with a muscle bite, if that's the best way to describe it. I'll have to try more Galician and Pay Basque beef next time. Oh, if you look at the beef picture careful, you can see the grilling gave it a crunchy charcoal texture - this was my favourite - looking for meaty charcoal bites.

Etxebarri in a nutshell - A Food Lover's Dream. The second best meal of my entire life, the best being Tetsuya's in Sydney. This was estupendos! you will never think the same about grilled food ever again. It's not just the food, it was the whole experience. A great day trip out of the city into the countryside, blue skies, picturesque scenary and riedel glassware. Ha! i have never drank from riedel glassware before, can't say the water tasted any better :-) We drove from Bilbao with our little matchbox GPS connected via bluetooth to the Nokia mobile phone which had Tom Tom loaded with the map of Spain. a LIFESAVER i tell you. Got us there even when it got lost because of a new roundabout that was not on the map. As mentioned in other posts, there is a guy who speak english there. He is the sous chef. He comes from Australia. He is very friendly and was not in a rush to spend time talking to us about the produce... he emphasised alot about the freshness and the quality of the produce. The degustation was not on the menu so you need to speak to the chef. Once the price was agreed we got very excited and became worried at the same time. It was much more than our budget and through the excitment we forgot to ask how many dishes we were getting... Well...here it goes.... Wine: Pazo de Señorans Seleccion de Añada 2002 Albariño 1. Chorizo De Caserio Homemade chorizo. 2. Mantequilla Lets not get confused here, its simply grilled bread with a heavy handed portion of butter. I swear it tasted like foie gras, but it's just butter! 3. Cigalas Langoustine, half portion each, most expensive langoustine I ever had, best we ever had. Unbelievable seafood-sweetness. I noticed the shell as very soft - slight tougher than a prawn but still your able to crack the shells using just your fingers. The chef said they deliberately catch it at this stage because it gives maximum flavour. Due to my upbringing, I sucked on the shell and the head with glee, oblivious to my surroundings. Nothing, nothing was wasted at all. 4. Ostras Oysters on seaweed. I asked the chef where he sourced it, its was massive. Came from France. Size 00 !!! 5. Caviar Brasa Before the grilled Iranian cavier arrived, we were brought a palate cleanser - something milky in the glass. The grilling brought on a hint of smokey bacon. 6. Espardenyas Can't give you a direct translation - but it was so devine and super sweet, tasted like a razor clam/squid but it's not. From looking at other egullet posts i believe this is the sea cucumber. 7. Chipirones Brasa The dish I had been waiting for, baby squid is in season. How can i describe the ink: sweet, seafood like and the texture is creamy smooth. The charcoal smell brought a smokey bacon flavour. 8. Hongos Brasa OH WoW. Here comes grilled cepes and aubergine. Out of this world. Sorry the photo does not do this dish justice. 9.Ventresca de Bonito Grilled bonito (spanish tuna) and tomato. Simply succulent. 10. Chuleta What were they thinking? Final course was a hunka chunka grilled steak from Pays Basque served with green salad and a plate full of chunky chips. Tender but not in the same league as argentian or wagyu beef. 11. Infusion de fruots Homemade vanilla ice-cream with red berry sauce. Followed by coffee and petit fours. Inside the dining room. Front entrance to the grill house. The courtyard And finally... the good stuff.

Can anyone please recommend a Vietnamese grocery. I am told there are some in Hackney but I don't know the location? I have been to chinatown and the chinese groceries there do not stock the Vietnamese ingredients I am after. In particular, does anyone know where I can get BETEL Leaves? the recipe I want to make is beef wrapped in betel leaves. Thanks Truc

Had an exceptional time at Arbutus. Noticed that the maître d' at the Ledbury has moved to Arbutus as waitress? funny we remembered each other due to a funny bleach smell incident at the Ledbury last year. We initially were concerned about quality of carafes but the owner ensured us he would replace if not fresh - indeed he did because the barolo was opened for too long. We got over excited about the carafes and ended up trying 9 different wines. You must try the roussillon white wine. You don't save money by drinking carafes, you get value for money because you get to taste many :-) I love the whole concept. The food was faultless. Best dishes were braised pigs head, rabbit and lamb. Also tried all the cheeses, treacle tart and warm choc soup -- all recommended. Tables wobbled a fair bit even with help. The lounge seaters are not comfortable, it makes you sink low and back, so you need to sit on the edge where it is firmer. Previous posts mentioned bread plates? who cares :-)

Hi, This is my first eGullet post after being a silent reader for many years. I hope you will find my comments useful as I have found yours :-) We were a party of 7 with much anticipation on trying the tasting menu. Our booking was for 8pm but unfortunately 2 of our friends were delayed by a crazy cab driver who took them for a ride up and down the A40. By 9.15pm when everyone was ready to order we were told it was not possible to have the tasting menu. Very dissapointed :-( When the booking was made we informed the restaurant that we wanted the tasting menu. I wished the waiter told us when the cut off time was. A friend tried the bloody mary with a twist. We asked what the twist was and the waiter said it was a secret. It came with a wilted spring onion? hanging over the glass? The best starter was the langoustine, best main the squab and best dessert warm chocolate cake. 3 people ordered the steak - one was perfect and pink, the other less pink and the final one was medium-well done. How did that happen? The portions of the mains were huge. Quite a few flavours going on. The truffle potato puree was heaven !!! We requested for the 65oC egg, absolutely delicious! Oh yes, there was something special and addictive about the butter. It tasted like cheese-butter ??? we loved it!