ajnicholls

I loved it...

We've booked in to la Becasse for the food festival weekend. I really enjoyed my meal there the other year. Fishmore Hall was very good cooking, but we did a tasting menu and the pacing of the meal was far too fast for the number of courses. We felt unpleasantly full afterwards.

The new tasting menu is going live at the Fat Duck. The foie gras dish has changed, the mock turtle soup is now on the menu. New dishes of flaming sorbet and Taffaty tart have appeared and the chocolate wine slush that Heston created for the Manchester Festival 2 years ago are on there too. The much-publiscised sweet shop idea is also in evidence. Should quieten some of the people that say he doesn't ever change the menu. Now if only I could get a bloody table! Adam

It is possible to die of thirst waiting for a drink in Cloud 23

Just back from the Star. And what a superb trip. Stayed in the rooms and Room 5 is a great place to stay. Can't complain about having a snooker table in your room! Anyway, to the food. A pre-dinner pint in the pub was a great place to start. Very homely and warm. A read of the menu was causing me great dilemmas. There are few places that I'd eat everything on the menu, but this was definitely the case. So I went with black pudding and foie gras. I couldn't resist it. And bloody hell, it was good. An amazing combination of flavours and textures. The caramelised apple works as a sweet foil to the rich black pudding and perfectly cooked foie. The other half went for soft boiled duck egg with a crab and Morcambe bay shrimp sandwich. This was the kind of dish GBM was crying out for. A great sense of humour in the presentation; the egg cup was Humpty Dumpty, and truly did have the taste of home that the brief was all about. Mains rate amongst the best things I've eaten in a restaurant in a good number of years. I went for a tasting plate of duck. And where can you go wrong with confit leg, rare breast, poached duck egg, duck foie gras and a duck sausage. This was amazing cooking. Everything worked together and was above 1* cooking. Katie had suckling pig. 24-hour cooked belly, loin, black pudding, crackling and a glass of mulled cider. Desserts were the taste of Star desserts in miniature. Gingerbread ice-cream with chocolate chips in a brandy snap basket, an incredibly rich chocolate mousse, spiced ginger parkin, rhubarb panna-cotta and a lemon tart. Katie had the Yorkshire rhubarb, which had the parkin and panna cotta, with a glass of rhubarb schnapps. So back to the pub for more ale and a long chat with Andrew and the staff. Fuzzy head as we ambled back across the road at 1am! Andrew firmly wants to aim for 2* and there's elements of the place that are already of that standard. If I lived nearer, I'd be there every week. Chef's table for my 30th I feel Adam

The Beijing dumplings are more addictive than crack

On the basis that elBulli takes 50% of its' tables for diners who've eaten there previously, it's not preposterous to think that a significant number of those judges have managed to go on a semi-regular basis. Surely the list, like the Michelin guide and every other list that's published, should be judged with a pinch of salt. It's entertaining. I think the main thing from it is noma's improvement in the rankings. Now it'll be bloody impossible to get a table there too...... Adam

Went to the new branch in Manchester last night. Positively quiet compared to the hustle and bustle of the Portland Street branch. Spring onion bread, Beijing dumplings and steamed pork buns went down well. The dumplings are the best value foodstuff in Manchester, with 10 for about £4. I went for the mixed meat hot-pot. Never has so much offal been put in one dish. And given that I'm a doctor, it felt like an anatomy lesson. Some stuff was unidentifiable. And it could have served 6. But it was tasty and interesting. Think I'll go back to the poached lamb dish next time. The other half had the mixed seafood with rice crackers, which was a good combination of scallops, squid and random fish in a spiced and slightly sweet sauce. Bizarrely served over what seemed like snack-a-jacks. I like the new place and hope that they can sustain two branches in the city. Service was better here than the city centre place and the room is better set out. It will become my regular stop-off when I move to the new Children's hospital that is next door. Adam

None. Quite a casual restaurant; certainly less so than it's previous incarnation as le Mont.

Well done to Marc for winning best chef at the Northern Hospitality Awards.

We were at Le Champignon in January for my other half's birthday. We had a similar meal to Ravelda, as David had also agreed to do a surprise menu. I think we started with a veloute of jerusalem artichoke, but I have to be honest and say I can't remember precisely! The bread, which as mentioned, is fantastic. The onion and bacon brioche is reason alone to go to LCS. Our first course was the lobster, glazed with miso, on the oat and bread risotto. There was a very strong hit of orange, which was a little cloying, in all honesty, but the sweet miso worked with the succulent lobster claw. Scallop, belly pork, peanuts and peanut foam was up next. The only problem with this is it isn't quite as good as the old signature dish of scallops with ras el hanout caramel, which was a dish of such perfection that I stopped eating them in other restaurants! The belly was rich, fatty and flavoursome. The peanuts added a great textural contrast and the foam continued the flavour. Rabbit ravioli with loin of rabbit and kidneys followed. Perfectly made pasta, plump with rabbit were combined with the tiny, perfectly cooked kidneys and loin. A fine example of what David does so well - combining different cuts of an animal. We also had breast of partridge, although ours came with confit duck hearts. This was a dish of incredible quality. The partridge was moist and flavoursome. The duck hearts provided a rich, meaty contrast. Our main (yes, the others were essentially starters) was an asiette of mutton. This was LCS at it's absolute best. A canneloni of leg meat, the pasta replaced by thin slices of celeriac. A patty of shoulder was herby, rich and earthy. The loin was served rare. Accompanied by ceps, parsnip and celeriac puree. This dish was phenomenal in the flavour it delivered. A much under-used meat was the absolute star of the dish and the different cuts delivered layers of flavour. The pre-dessert of rose geranium cream came, and desserts proper began. The first was something I wouldn't have ordered but having had, was amazed by. Passion fruit cream with mango and coconut sorbet. A cylinder of passion fruit cream had been gently caramelised on top and was gentle in acidity. This was served with caramelised mango, mango puree and a quenelle of coconut sorbet. The combination was genius. A mini-tropical paradise on a plate. Final dessert was a black olive and chocolate tart, served with fennel ice cream. Words can't do justice to how good this is. The dark chocolate is given extra depth and earthiness by the black olives. The fennel ice cream has a beautiful, gentle anise hit and sweetness to offset the richness of the chocolate. Matched perfectly with a Pedro Ximenez sherry. To anyone who hasn't gone to LCS, then you need to. David is one of the most creative chefs working in the UK. He uses local ingredients and wild herbs in a way that I haven't seen from anyone else. His dishes are 2*cooking its very best in the UK. The wine list is phenomenal value and the front of house is superbly run by Helen. I truly love this place!

My feelings are that it has very little to do with the name and much more to do with the quality control. Ducasse has run 2 3* restaurants for many a year by keeping solid head chefs; Franck Cerruti and Christophe Moret. Keller has 2 head chefs at the French Laundry and Per Se. Ramsay seems to genunely care about RHR and despite, every year people saying that will it be the year it's demoted and it never has. However, much of his empire seems to have been rapidly expanded and lacks the individual level of control that he is able to hold over RHR. It doesn't surprise me that standards slip when you're operating such an array of restaurants over many continents. In this financial climate, there's also no surprise that places are going under.

I couldn't agree more

I was fine after the Fat Duck, but have certainly had some experiences bordering on the painful following large and elaborate meals. Especially if there's been wine matching involved. The pacing of meals often seems to make this worse. A meal this year at Fishmore Hall in Ludlow had us asking for a break as the speed of the courses being served was far too fast and made me feel like I was going to explode. This wasn't the case with Fraiche, the Fat Duck and el Bulli, where they seemed to understand how to serve a multi-course menu a little better.

I only got it last week so it is still in the browsing rather than cooking phase at the moment. Managed to get it for £25 so quite pleased! It's a very interesting and well presented book. It has a similar feel to Essence, which is by a very long way my favourite restaurant cook book. And I have cooked a good number of the dishes from that, so I can't see why I won't from Food for Thought. I was impressed by La Becasse, and very pleased when it gained it's star this year. It doesn't seem to get any publicity and Will has some serious talent. I've met him a few times and he's a lovely bloke who is passionate about what he does. Adam

I've been to La Becasse and posted a review bloody ages ago. I found the food highly accomplished and well executed. Will Holland's the head chef there and there is a major overlap between the menus there and at l'Ortolan. Also have Murchison's book, which is a very pretty and interesting take on modern British food. Adam

I've been to La Becasse and posted a review bloody ages ago. I found the food highly accomplished and well executed. Will Holland's the head chef there and there is a major overlap between the menus there and at l'Ortolan. Also have Murchison's book, which is a very pretty and interesting take on modern British food.

Just to add a bit of anal, mundane detail. Food poisioning, whether proven or suspected, is a notifiable disease to the Health Protection Agency. There are legal steps that have to be taken, and judging from what Heston has said publicly, The Fat Duck seems to have gone above and beyond any restauranteur would do. The HPA and environmental health would never have let the place re-open if there was still a case to answer. Reading Jim Rosenthal's experience (however depressing it is to have had to open a Daily Mail story on my computer) sounds suspiciously like a viral-type illness, and if I had to hazard a guess, Noro or Norwark-virus. It would have helped if the affected people had investigations done. Food poisioning from Salmonella, Campylobacter or Listeria (yes it still exists and it kills newborn babies. That's why we tell pregnant women not to eat unpasturised cheese) is easy to prove from stool cultures. Viral cultures can also be done, which are bloody rare as a cause of food poisoning. This would have helped all concerned and ended the speculation. I think Heston Blumenthal's been brave, open and honest about everything. Dealing with these cases when you're the highest profile restaurant in the UK can't be easy and I respect him for how he's handled it all. I would go back to the Fat Duck tomorrow. If I could ever get a bloody table again! Adam

I'm surprised by that; Helen was delightful when we were there last month and I can honestly say that she gave some of the best service I've ever had in this country. And the food was incredible, which reminds me, I desperately need to write it up. Adam

I'm off there on Monday. Does anyone have any recent reports. Just weighing up whether to go ALC or tasting menu? Adam

Metallica?!?

The Cook's Book is one of my most used and referenced books. It's a mine of techniques and decent recipes from high end chefs. Most provide a "signiature dish" that represents what they do in their restaurants. McGee is a fabulous book for information and an understanding of the science of cooking. However, from your original post, it doesn't sound like it's what you're after. There's not much that will teach you technique or precision. It does however, explain why flavours go together, which cooking medium to use for veg etc to get the best out of them. I can't agree with the recommendation of A Day At elBulli or Alinea as books to take you onto the next level. Both are beautiful and I love them, but elBulli is mostly a photo-essay with only about 10-15 recipes in it. Alinea is a professional book for the serious molecular gastronomist (I hate the term at least everyone knows what I mean). You only have to look at Alinea At Home to see just how complicated trying to replicate these dishes are. But as food porn goes, they are both wonderful and worth owning. I like Bouchon, which is the only one of the books you mention that I own. However, there are better books on classical French cookery out there. Adam

Don't forget The Angel if you're around that area. Rob Owen Brown's boozer is doing a fantastic line of game and it's really well priced. Some interesting ales that have a habit of changing a little too often are also available.

The Modern's cocktails are the best in the city. And a very good house champagne in the Laurent Perrier 1998.

My experience of the Fat Duck was superb and I felt that it hit the mark far more often than el Bulli. I think this is mostly due to the nature of the relatively minimal change Fat Duck menu to the constantly evolving el Bulli one. Owning the Fat Duck book has shown me just how much work and precision goes into Heston's menu. The flawless foie gras dish comes from them buying foie that is frozen in liquid nitrogen so that the enzyme breakdown doesn't occur.