sunbeam

Those self serve scanners are a pain though Funny how many celebs, when stressed, resort to shoplifting. He may have money worries but I expect he still has more in the bank than most of us!

Gill can write him into a cocked hat. Gill is a writer, not some overgrown playground bully.

Yes the issue is not about foie gras per se but the fact that he broke an agreement. He should either have accepted Selfridges' rules or terminated his business with them. I suppose he wanted to have his cake (or foie) and eat it and he got found out. I remember during the BSE crisis my butcher would still sell beef on the bone to those that wanted it (me for one), we conducted our transactions in nods, winks and opaque carrier bags. It was rather fun.

Seems clear cut, Selfridges decided not to sell it and he undermined their position. Only one thing they could do once faced with the evidence. So much cant about foie, I love the stuff. Not so keen on halal meat though, seems wilfully cruel to me and does not make a nicer meat product as far as I can tell. Dont see anyone trying to ban it though. As for the evening standard and their 'sting' what a disgusting paper, no wonder they have been reduced to giving it away. S

Some people eat slow because they eat slow, some people eat like a starving raptor. We're all a bit different and sometimes hungry and sometimes not. Rayner does the 'critical bite' trick where he snaps the fork to his mouth as if adding a sample to a lab machine, then stares off into space while pretending to crunch numbers under that Capt Pugwash/Shoe Bomber wig. That's pretty irritating for everyone else at table. Essentially he's just being a bully, like his mother always was. For a Guardian/Obs journo he's very intolerant and fascist about things, which is okay as a platform to write from, but on a rightish paper he'd be required to be witty too.

There is always the possibility he doesnt want his 'creations' represented by amateur photography, having presumably put a fair bit of work into them You could try reviewing with words, radical I know, but it has apparently worked before. s

In my considerable experience tasting menus always carry the caveat 'must be ordered by the whole table'. It is a quite normal and understandable request. They were lax to not do so in this case. That tweet from chef is a perfect example of why professionals should be very careful indeed what they tweet. For some reason people often forget that tweets can be read by anyone who cares to. One's boss for example!Tweets can so easily turn someone into a twat. In this case you have every reason to complain that, by his own admission on Twitter, chef should not have been on the pass that night anymore than he should have been driving a fork lift truck or performing brain surgery. Tired people make mistakes. S

Well its very blogger friendly, which seems to be all anyone cares about these days. That makes it flavour of the week this week as proved by your hasty charge to get in there and eat. Next week who knows? Russell is smart, he keeps opening new places in a blaze of social media so that he is always riding the wave and leaving the old ones bobbing behind him. He understands that all people want is novelty so they can be first to tweet from table. I was in at Arbutus on Tuesday, rather quiet and yet still great food. They offer consistency but no one seems interested in that anymore. The lads should move to Paris where they'd be appreciated. s

'First of all the negative points....or should i just say `point` ?....The restaurant lighting.The lighting was horrendous for anyone who enjoys taking pics of their meal , flash photography isnt allowed in the restaurant in respect for other diners so food lovers.So bloggers and those wanting to show others their wonderful meal on their phones or cameras have to rely on the available light' The lighting is designed for people eating food, not food anoraks. Perhaps you'd prefer the rest of us to dine under 100W bulbs just so you can more easily photograph your food, perhaps standing up or ducking around the table to get a better angle? The solipsism of bloggers is quite breathtaking. S

Personally I felt he was a fraud from the day I ate at his original pub place in Hoxton. He was hiding lack of basic skills behind a smokescreen of 'clever' and big talk. He chooses his locations well to do that kind of thing. Sometimes a dish comes off , most times it doesn't. It's not professional and it's not cheap. He is now obviously getting cocky thinking, and with good reason, he can get away with it. You can't blame him, there are a lot of mug bloggers out there who are happy to kiss his rear.

Bloggers tend to have no calibration and rave about any old thing as long as they feel they have discovered it first. They are stamp collectors really. Street food doesnt really work when the streets are full of rubbish and half the time wet and windy! Fish and chips? Well with the price of cod these days its a luxury item. The idea that seaside towns do best fish n chips is something of a romantic ideal. The cod was probably caught off the coast of Spain! Go for what is really local like mussels and crabs in Dorset etc S

If they were in the colour mags then lead times mean they may have been written a while back. Mind you I was sick of hearing about burgers months ago anyway. Mince in a bun, wow. Props to the journo tho, getting paid twice for the same piece is as good as it gets. S

Quite right not to want critics in straightaway, a new restaurant like a new show needs some time to bed down and as long as prices at the time reflect this 'testing' phase it's fine. I cannot understand bloggers' obsession with being 'first in'. Seems less to do with enjoyment of food and more to do with some kind of 'twitcher' mentality. S

Sounds a lot of money for that. Norman's ability to mesmerise bloggers is remarkable.

We grow these on the allotment but they are not entirely happy with the english climate and can fail. Not quite as tasty as stalwarts such as Boltardy or Action, the visual appeal makes up for it. Best eaten as a mix on the plate ideally with goats cheese, walnuts and a simple green salad. s

Ive eaten the steak and kidney pie, the omelette arnold bennet, the herefordshire snails and the souffle, admittedly only in the kitchen whilst interviewing the aptly named chef Andy Cooks. I found it all delicious eevn when eaten standing up. Plus they have a Josper grill for steaks! Monday night could be quiet, thats the cliche anyway, but its a lot cosier as a room since the relaunch. Friendly team s

Be careful. The last time a restaurant said something like this here a certain london restaurant reviewer who hovers like a vulture looking for sick animals (as it makes for easier kills) flew down and **** all over the place in a nasty and boorish review. I'm surprised the local papers don't do reviews. Not even when comped? They are supposed to support local business, doesn't mean they can be less than honest in their opinion but they could at least have one! S

mathew norman isn't always wrong. I went to Barbacoa some weeks back for lunch and found it perfectly acceptable and the steaks and ribs excellent. It could do with more 'proper' Kansas style BBQ dishes though, far too many standard restaurant dishes on the menu to really justify the name. Its a nice 'space' with the sun streaming in, although the mall around is like being in Croydon. The early reviews majored on bad service, not unusual in a new place, and I think were written in a spirit of jamie and banker bashing. It is obviously full of the latter and its not a pretty sight seeing them drink and eat our money, but that's another issue. S

I'm not jaded I'm just not starry eyed, I know my stuff and I'm not one to be easily impressed or gush. The blender was a gift btw, it's actually not a bad machine if you can stomach the price point and the crass marketing James employs in search of even more money. I dont know the viewing figures, but I'll trust your research to have been thorough. What's the demographic? I'm not one of the audience anyway, I'm up the allotment actually growing food not sinking into the sofa watching a bunch of chefs sharing 'witty banter'like a rugby club for dimwits. S

I have a James Martin 'Executive Blender', which is false pretenses of me as I am not actually An Executive. Perhaps I am meant to blend Executives in it? Anyway, it seemed rather expensive for what it is, perhaps that's why it's not aimed at workers on average incomes. Mr Martin knows how to make a buck that's for sure. Free advertising for his restaurant on telly, even if the only people watching are small children who can't find the remote, is but another facet of his marketing skill.

Which bit of 'Managing Director of Waitrose' do you not understand? S

Unless it was on someone else's money I already had no intention of going in here. It was obvious it would be bad from reading all the pre pub. If a 'big name' does review it, it will be because he scents an easy piece of copy and I think I know just who that reviewer will be. Let's see if I am right, already I can hear his wings beating as he circles overhead!

Trotter is not everyone's foot of pig but not liking it is no reason to ask for your money back. I would say it's like andouillete; you need to know what you're getting into before you order it. My mother has eaten trotter for years and what you got sounds right to me. It is horrible I agree but it was correct.

When anything is in demand there's an opportunity to make money. Hestons xmas puds were also on ebay. All one can do is decide how badly we want something

It's good but Iberica is better for that kind of money, nicer decor and buzz too. Bloggers tend to always rave about places like this, it's a kind of agenda they have.