CalumC

As far as the fish and chips are concerned, this thread is well worth a look http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...3&hl=fish+chips As general foodie areas to look in try the markets, borough is fairly good. Some other people might know more about it. Fine dining theres obviously a fair range. Ramsays place, which is royal hospital road has obviously had great reviews, but im sure if seen a few iffy ones around. Also worth a try might be Maze, which is Jason Atherton, owned by Ramsay (he must own half of londons restaurants by now), and Hibiscus which was originally raved about in town called Ludlow (which itself is worth going to) but recently moved to Mayfair. Thats my input anyway. I dont know london incredibly well, theres plenty of people who do. Hope that helps.

£100? This is elbulli all over again

Any chance of a paypal function? I don't have a credit card, only Solo at the moment. I imagine maestro would be ok, but i dont have that.

^ yes it is, he is Sat's sous chef i think. He gets to taste the dish with the chef at the end of each episode too. Which i find unfair

I was slightly confused by Hartnetts inclusion the other day, i wasnt at all interested in that menu she gave. And today, i would much rather have had the chap from the lock instead of kochar, wasn't at all impressed compared to what hes put out before.

One assumes so. I thought id heard something a while ago about Oliver buying them all. But yeah, its certainly not a small project, but then he seems to be completely changing it, historical dishes will be interesting, what with his previous looking at it in "perfection".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/homepage/d/int/ent...ent/7314918.stm Thought this might interest y'all. I can't yet see how it can be a bad thing, theres not really any more dishes to perfect as such so we shouldn't really miss that. Should be quite interesting to see what he does.

I'm very keen to go here, after seeing it on great british menu. I knew of Jessicas previously, i believe Purnell worked there before? but i will certainly give this a go. Good price for set lunch too.

Quite simply much better than previous series. Actually seeing some decent restaurants in action is much preferable to just them being in the kitchen for the main programme. Shame they've still got Bond on there though, there must be someone better for the job

Cookery shows with the chefs children doing things should be banned altogether. Absolutely hate it.

tv, i havn't had a chance to try the chocolate. I'd like to taste it to see, but 100%, as said before seems pointless. If i can't taste anything for bitterness then i dont see any point. I think my personal limit is around 70%, i'll stretch to 80% on rare occasions.

Interesting idea, badly produced. Good work channel 4, good work. He comes across a tosser too.

Whats that in the distance. Oh, its a man screaming pretentious. Thats right.

I know what youre getting at, ill post a little recipe later for what i consider to be perfectly gloopy brownies. Nothing at the moment (except the anti-foie gras stuff) annoys me more than dry brownies.

What annoys me is people that attack foie gras for the class it seems to represent. Apparently, people working hard to earn money and consequently use that money to enjoy incredible food is wrong. Its just sour ignorance and fear of another class. Someone from a bbc article defined foie as "snobfeed".

Its fairly sickening whether you personally choose not to eat foie gras or not, its just plain wrong to do that. Basidog: Do you generally sell it anyway/do you eat it.

I'm going to be honest. Being bullied into removing it after vandalism. That makes me sick. I just don't know what to say to that. Just read the links from the midsummer house thread. Even more angry now. Ignorant wankers. I'm in a bad mood now.

You have no idea how easy it was to write all that, i wasnt even trying. Glad you enjoyed it

I certainly am very lucky, but i know very few other 18 year olds really bothered with food, if you put interest in then you get something out of it. I can talk about the white wine, i really havent gotten into red wine at all so i cant say much to that, my mum certainly liked it though. The white was, as described on the lcs website QUINCY Denis Jaumier 2005 "Situated next to Sancerre this wine has an excellent nose with elderfloweraromas with a crisp zesty palate and a lean minerally finish." I think that the red was: CHARLES VIENOT NV Excellent blend from one of Burgundy's oldest négociants based in Nuits-St-Georges. But ill check that. Gary: I did wonder if that was the case, ive been incredibly lucky to have le champignon virtually on my doorstep.

Right then. I guess i promised Had a lovely birthday dinner, albeit 2 days after it last week to celebrate my 18th. We wandered in around quarter to 8, coats taken by the ever friendly helen, unfortunately for us the sofas were taken, so we went straight to our table for a drink. The nibbles arrived, and so the food beings. There was 3 of us, so ill try and remember everything, not competely possible, but ill give it a go. First, some little cheese savouries. Lovely crunchy warm cheese crisps, 3 plain, 3 with a red onion sauce compote thing. I don't like the word compote, not sure why but i guess that is was. There was a little cheese melted onto the top. Very nice start, went well with my gin and tonic. We were given our menus to peruse, a set menu and the a la carte. Being the pig that i am, i went for the a la carte, i liked the look of that menu more. The set menu had some good stuff, not that i can remember now, but preferred the other. Next was a pre starter, which was salt cod mousse with i think a sorrel vichyssoise, it was certainly green on top, and i think thats what the waiter said. This was a very nice cool, subtly flavoured cod mousse mixing with the warmer vichyssoise. The flavours were very nice, quite an odd texture contrast, as the cod had almost a more solid texture. Anyway, very nice. Now, the starters. I had kid canneloni with goats milk curd and landcress puree. I think this is already demonstrating why people see David so well. Landcress is one of the most common weedlike plants going, but it was lovely with this. The kid was cooked til tender and falling apart, holding a lovely bite. I believe that the canneloni was made with celeriac, as it is in Essence, with canneloni of veal breast. This gave the dish another element of interest, a bit more bitey if that makes sense. The milk curd was a lovely creamy, tangy counter to the rich sauce made presumably with kid bones, though i imagine a lamb stock would have substituted. The landcress was smooth and soft. I was happy with this, as you can probably imagine. If it was missing anything, it was probably a bit of twang. My mum had ling with chickpea puree and chickpeas, with a lemony foam, which was almost scarlet. I have an inkling that it was made with sumac. I tried a little bit of this, was very nice. The chickpeas had a pasty softness with went nicely with the ling, which we were told by helen is a member of the cod family. It was certainly believable, but it seemed a little more interesting than cod, and of course there is the sustainablity issue at the moment. My dad on the other hand, went for cauliflower soup with cumin brown butter. Let me make this clear. Best. Soup. Ever. Warm, delicious, nutty and spiced from the cumin gradually mixing through. Gobsmackingly good. After this was cleared away, new cutlery was placed down, a fork and fish knife for all of us. We were thoroughly confused now, myself and my mum were due lamb, my dad was at least having fish, a mistake maybe? Quirky cutlery setting? Fortunately, no... The next course was scallops with with jerusalem artichoke puree, thinly sliced apple and a little artichoke veloute, courtesy of David as a birthday present. I was smiling a bit by now. It was, needless to say delicious. Scallops are not something ive been fortunate to try well cooked. the only previous time was skewered in a japanese restaurant, and they werent up to much. The scallops were meaty and their texture went very well with the puree and crunchy apple. The puree had a savoury, almost tangy flavour, apple gave a juicy sweetness. Just gorgeous. Moving on to main course. I had lamb fillet with smoked onion and cep puree. This was one of the best things ive ever eaten, meaty and rich, the smoked onion giving an interesting background flavour. The cep puree was incredibly strong, but the lamb stood up to it. There was a little mash potato in there too. There was a lovely sauce reduction with it, and it all came together really well. My dad had skate with wild garlic puree and wild garlic. Didn't get a taste, but ill come to wild garlic later. My mum had lamb fillet with a dumpling made from lamb shank, had a concentrated sauce. I just asked what it had with it, and she couldn't remember at all. Nevermind, i tried some of the dumpling, which was more like shredded lamb shank formed into a ball, and that was very nice. After this, we ordered our desserts, and soon after were brought a pre dessert, which i have to admit was one of the things i most looked forward to. This was the famed geranium creme brulee, here with a greengage ice cream. The sugar glaze was part normal sugar, and part popping candy sprinkled on top. This was pretty wonderful, lovely delicate cream, crunchy sugar and a nice tangy ice cream, almost that lip smacking sour that wakes your mouth up. Which is the aim i suppose, as a palate cleanser of sorts. My dessert was the muscovado parfait with bergamot cream, which was brilliantly tangy and fruity from the bergamot, while the parfait was enjoyable similar in flavour to gypsy tart, which is something i have not had in a long time. It reminded me how much i should make one soon. Anyhoo, It was lovely, the parfait's texture was gooey and just everything thats good about food. My dad went for the cheese, the set menu choice was between the cheese and dessert of the day, which my mum went for. The cheeses were a triple cream french brie, stinking bishop, one flavoured with black pepper and caraway and other things, and one other i cant remember. The cheeses come from the shop i mentioned previously, i can vouch that they are stunningly good cheeses. The others on the ridiculously large board (suspended on a leather strapped rack) i noticed a mimolette, which is a deep orange hard cheese, very nice indeed, Ive made the essence gougeres using that, worked very well, and also there was waterloo and wigmore from berkshire, made by the same farm. I have a slightly unhealthy obsession with wigmore, one of the most gloriously unctious cheeses in existence. My mum went for the dessert of the day, which was a milk chocolate cake with carrot sorbet. She enjoyed it very much, though what i tried was not to my taste. After this, we had coffee (very nice) and petit fours, which i am sure if anyone on here has read this thread, will know are fairly brilliant. A very nice touch was that one the bites, a rose iced cake, had a little candle in, alongside some extra chocolates, filled with salted caramel, and another with liqourice. There was a very nice rum baba, chocolate fudge, a dense chocolate cake piece. One was a liqourice chocolate, which i was not at all keen on, but i have something of a dislike for all things aniseed. Having said that, the chocolate mentioned above was actually rather nice. Then, as if i wasnt happy enough, helen came to the table and asked if id like to meet david. Which is a bit like saying do cats like sleeping. Yes they do. We had a brief chat, getting to meet the kitchen team, had the setup explained in terms of their growth which was very interesting. As i mentioned, we talked a bit about wild garlic. Wild food is something ive spoken to david about previously very briefly, he mentioned how the wild garlic had come out around a month and a half early. When my dads dish came, i had been very surprised to see it there, its february after all, and garlic is a spring plant. Very unusual, climate change? Anyway, i left david to his cleaning, and enjoyed the last few minutes of the night finishing the coffee with my parents. A few thoughts. This is basically the first time i have been out for a proper michelin starred dinner. I am, after all only 18. So in some senses, i didnt know what to expect, but in others i eagerly anticipated things that were coming, ive been strongly into food and cooking for a long time. It may be that my inexperience in dining out will effect my viewing of this meal, although there is no doubt that this food was impeccable. For example, Phil D spoke of how he preferred Lumiere. Maybe a bit more eating out will lead me to different opinions, but I think that i have eaten out enough at lower end restaurants to know what is and isnt good. My only other high end experience was lunch at Gilpin Lodge, which was excellent i might add, and a lunch at LCS half a year ago roughly. Hopefully everyone else will have some input on this. Well, thats it. Took me a while to write that, but i enjoyed remembering the meal again, anyway. I'll get my dads picture of the petit fours

What about making a strong banana consomme and reducing the liquid to a syrup. Then mix with a little reduced banana liquer?

I would certainly like to get into lumiere before they close up, does anyone know the exact date? I think that we've had different experiences of the same place, and i expect that its a mix of what we like personally and general unfortunate variation over two different nights. I will have to make a visit to lumiere and see if i get the same feeling.

couldn't disagree much more about the service, i thought it was excellent. adey: I'm hoping to write it up tomorrow or monday, got a loose week next week, only in college for mock exams so i should have the time. I doubt ill be going back in the next 6 months, so ill definitely write it before then.

Well, quick update. Went last night, it was basically incredible. Myself and the parents talked about what made it special at one point, and came to some sort of conclusion that its got to be something to do with the sheer flawlessness of everything. its not enough to describe the food, which in itself hits genius more than once, but its the small touches too. The cheese pastries over an aperitif, the pre starter, the bread, the pre dessert, the petit fours. The service too, always superb. I suppose that its like a la carte plus one. I'll try and describe it all later, i had to write everything down last night so i didnt forget what everyone else had. Now, i'm off to look at essence and work out when I can return. Forgot to say, must have got a bit carried away I went to the montpellier wine shop that was discussed previously, which I may have judged to not last very long. I really hope it does last, got my friend a decent bottle of cider, the person that served me who I think may have been the manager/owner, was very helpful and there looked to be an excellent selection of wines and various other drinks. So i take it back.

Where is everyone in the UK buying their vanilla for this. I've been looking on ebay and finding prices nowhere near what youre getting for your money in america. It could be the origin, or maybe shipping. Any ideas?