sunbeam

I'm not so concerned about the H&S aspect. I've never got food poisoning from friends or inflicted it on others. I assume any pop up person will have enough sense to wash his hands etc and not rub cooked meat with raw chicken. I've only ever got food poisoning in restaurants. I do think the tax thing is relevant. Most of these pop ups are done by middle class people with day jobs. Pocketing a load of tax free cash is just greedy.

In my opinion there is no reason to make your own corned beef as long as Fray Bentos are in business. Quite apart from the fact that the product is quite delicious, there is the added foodie challenge of not severing a major artery when opening the tin.

I think the real problem is that the waiters were wearing suites. In my experience it's very difficult to deliver good service when you have a Chesterfield hanging off you.

I ate the tasting menu for lunch last week and found it to be well up to the mark. I'm disappointed to see that 'Editor Food & Wine, the Journal of the European & African Region of the International Wine & Food Society', in addition to coming out with the tedious drips and smears argument, is taking pap snaps of her food like some young blogger. That in itself is bad enough, but it would seem you were using a flashgun too. Did you not consider that other diners were paying not just for 'fripperies' but to eat a meal in relaxed low light surroundings and not to be lit up by a strobe every ten minutes or so? And the result of the flash is in any case ugly photographs that insult chef's efforts an effect I hope at least was not intentional S

Of course the food is really not the point, it's a plot device. Mind you the show does accurately convey the tedium of listening to a waiter, his finger half bent, pointing at items on your plate and telling you what they are. That and the inevitable Sommelier show, the one where your food goes cold while he tells you which side of the bloody vineyard the grapes grew. And they always do that right when you are getting to a crucial point in a dining companion's story and just wishing they'd all naff off and let you get on with your dinner. It's a commonplace to say that the The Trip owes an awful lot to Larry David, but we shouldn't forget. I do like the idea that the critic has appalling hair, no taste and an ego you could power a small city with. I can't think who it might be based on though.

I enjoyed my steak there too, the crumble was no good at all, but let's not forget this is just a steakhouse without any windows. For the money charged you could eat a meal with a lot more happening on the plate than a piece of grilled meat. The current fad for steaks and burgers amongst the middle classes seems to indicate the recession is rather dumbing down dining. Ironically, and perhaps Lord Young would care to comment, in London at least people seem happy to pay more and more for such food Perhaps it's because it's 'only a burger' it seems less like raising a finger toward the increasing number of people out of work than going to a 'posh' restaurant would? Pictures of steaks, by the way, especially out of focus ones, are not pleasant to look at.

The Duck isn't really in London. I mean if you got a cab from Kings Cross it would be a bit pricey! Stick with Galvins Bistro in Baker St, as the man himself told me, Chapelle is just similar food tarted up for the richer punters - chicken tagine becomes pigeon etc I had a stunning souffle from the new chef at Roux Parliament Square yesterday. Best dessert this year, hands down

Am I alone in thinking pictures spoil the pleasure to come? Now, instead of being surprised by what appears on my plate, I already have a murky and off-putting picture in my head. Chefs spend a lot of time on presentation, to reduce their work to grubby little snaps insults their efforts. There is a reason why professional food photographers exist. There is also the issue of general etiquette - yanking a camera out during a meal seems rude unless on your own and even then.... Additionally the whole idea of reducing a restaurant meal to some kind of gastro train spotting outing is surely wrong. I know the bloggers obsessively photograph their meals and even Tweet while eating, but they are young and most do it because they can't write coherently. I would have thought this more mature forum would have gently dissuaded people from the practice? Yes I know I don't have to look at the pictures, but images catch the eye whether one wants them to or not. S

Not as good as it was, but at the deal price it's worth it. Old skool indian, innit? Can't go too far wrong but you're better off at Cinnamon Kitchen for modern cooking Shame about the pictures, I mean the fact that you took any at all. Leave that to bloggers, it's not fair on chef to take crap pictures of his dishes, gives the wrong impression of his skill, food photographers get well paid for a reason. S

It's unlikely any restaurant would claim to serve uninteresting,unhealthy unseasonal food. But to answer your question, the south side has a few restaurants, the pont de la tour springs to mind, but I haven't eaten there for a year, It was ok then and you do get a nice view for the money Its a bit of a gastro wasteland both sides of the bridge really, Cafe Spice Namaste can be okay if you can bare the decor!

Blogs and tweets are just PR and advertising in its new form. Cause a fuss, get the hits. They should stop listening to BS about 'social media' and stick to rattling the pans and getting the food out.

There's quite a decent offer on there at the moment too I see http://www.foodepedia.co.uk/food-breaks/2010/mar/rockliffe_hall.htm S

You're assuming bloggers have that sort of money and most don't, hence the plethora of ethnic restaurant blog reports containing the inevitable 'we ate better in a small shack in Northern China when we were travelling last year' type comments. Mendes wears a pair of bloody tweezers around his neck! To adjust the presentation. God help us. Surely this is now old hat? Recessions demand something different. Bistro is becoming boringly repetitive as a call to arms, but even so there's no doubting the joy of eating food that doesn't demand you genuflect before tucking in. As to the area, he's bang in the right place for his type of act. You can't question his savvy when it comes to identifying and locating the target market. There's a review here actually by the lady who was one of the stars, for my money, of Come Dine With Me a while back. She seems to know one end of a saucepan from another S

I'm assuming for some reason the Guardian and Observer turned your piece down? :-) Yes let's tackle the factory chicken farmers first, oh no hang on we can't do that because working class people eat those, let's focus on what we see as a 'posh' persons food instead. There's a lot of hypocrisy in food. Leave the French foie gras farmers alone I say. It's not as if they are some giant conglomerate, just a few old men smelling like badgers living harmless lives in the depths of the French countryside occasionally shooting things in between huge meals S

As long as judges remain in love with that style of cuisine then its two best exponents will continue to come first and second. It's as predictable as an English 'summer'. Age forces a sportsman to retire a lot earlier than a chef. I'm not asking these chefs to stop cooking, just to stop entering! Imagine if all the old Oscar winning films had to slug it out with each year's new films and, say, Citizen Kane won every year? It might be well deserved, but by christ it would be tedious. On the plus side, at least Orson wouldn't be making any boring speeches. Unless we had to sit through a prerecorded same one each time, which wouldn't be much different to what we seem to get with Ferran anyway. At the end of the day the whole concept of a 'best restaurant in world' is fundamentally flawed, it's like comparing oranges and apples to see which is best. It's a bit of fun and fluff, or at least it used to be. s

A) that there will be some food served this time, real food not chocolates etc B)that it wont be so drawn out and tedious C) that el bulli wont win again because it means another stultifying speech from the chief bully and I don't think anyone can take that for the (4th?) year running D) that fat duck isn't second again because that's also very boring and repetitive E) That judith's boy, if he must compere again, gets a proper script It's about time the bully and duck took honorary positions and 'retired' from the competition. Right now it's like the same film winning the oscars year in, year out. How silly would that be? I for one am debating whether it's even worth attending this year. It used to be a fun evening, now it's an endurance test for mind and bum. S

We should always remember that it is Andre Garret in the kitchen, not Chris Galvin and it is very much Andre's menu these days. I went for the credit crunch lunch a week or two back and it was excellent and excellent value. The menu prestige at £58 is a good deal too. Of course it always helps the enjoyment if you get a window seat and so far I always have. Personally Id never go anywhere on valentine's day, the wife and I prefer to cook something nice at home than play russian roulette in a restaurant, they all have problems on this day, possibly even Windows too

My heart bleeds for all those poor people living in Knightsbridge. As if they haven't got enough crosses to bear, such as being down to their last crate of foie gras etc. S

That'll be you then! Hix is not that marvelous these days but he still has a lot of influential mates around to blow smoke. S

Went for lunch, not bad, not great. Tables far too close together, I had my elbow in someone else's plate, confused young staff, rather up themselves senior staff. Food a curate's egg. They are riding a PR inspired wave right now but here in Soho we are nothing if not fickle and shallow. S ps for a proper curate's egg, boil for 4 minutes.

I'd have thought seating semi celebs near the front would put potential diners off, not on. 'London's hottest new eatery' sounds both a bit camp and a lot like PR gush. That's quite a big claim to make after all, but as it's in the next street to me I might amble in and see which seat I get. And I will take a torch. S

Foodies are the wrong sort for food critics just as film nuts make bad film critics. Bloggers are foodies and look at the reams of breathless rubbish they mostly write I think the Sindy hires boring writers as an editorial policy across all their departments. Terry was a nice enough man and certainly knew a scallop from a scallion, but he did rather send the reader to sleep. This Maxwell lady may get better, I've noticed most food critics improve once on the job. s

I prefer the Stone Roses as well, but they never did 3 courses for 18 quid... If you meet the chef, tell him to bring back my Mondays!! I don't like pizza or curry that much... ← I'll tell him you're not 'mad for it'! S

Happy Mondays were always overrated, I preferred the Stone Roses Gerard is talking about mandarin oriental re prozzies isnt he? I didnt read the rest of it, too boring. I think I am interviewing cheffy at Alimentum soon, I recall an email on the subject. Hope its worth the train fare S

Never mind about the sharks, what about all those birds with no nests to fly home to? It's a disgrace S ← The same could be applied to French gastronomy, what with all those limbless frogs not hopping about. H ← \ Ah but they are classified as mutiles de guerre and have seats reserved for them on the Metro. N