olicollett

Most chinese restaurants in London have withdrawn sharks fin from the menu after a campaign by Gordon Ramsay - it's a pretty nasty industry

Ah interesting idea with the macro! my 17-55 does focus reasonably close but it's just the size that annoys me. I thought the ideal camera/lens combo would be a Leica M8 but rangefinder cameras can't focus anything closer than ~0.7m which is a shame! Think i'll stick with my 50mm for now, I think it'll be a lot better at lunch times when I can get some shots with more DOF!

Btw should add - lovely pics sped98 - notice you used a 7D, what lens did you use with it if you don't mind me asking? I find my 17-55 f2.8 too bulky for restaurants but my 50mm f1.8 is a bit too long a focal length on my 40D

Sat Bains They do some v good packages, and it would be my pick for food/service

I too have often wondered about the tasting menu here - I've suggested to friends making the trip in the past but I wouldn't really want to go for a weekend to just have an ALC. £75 sounds very reasonable too!

An update after my second visit Rice & Flesh stater was excellent, basically a very good saffron risotto with the addition of calf tail. One of my friends went for the Scallops with cucumber ketchup which looked amazing, but since cucumber is one of the few foods I really cannot stand I passed on sampling it! For main course I went with the spiced pidgeon which was very nice. There's not a lot to the dish, but the pidgeon was cooked perfectly (it reminded me of the pidgeon I had at the fat duck - probably the same supplier) and the artichokes and sauce complimented it all nicely. I think it would have been nice to have an additional component to the dish though. One of my friends went with the black foot pork chop which was very, very tasty indeed, although I expect some people might be put off by how rare it is served! My other friend went with the sirloin of Black Angus in absence of the beef royale (the waiter later explained they had issues which meant they had to take it off the menu that day). The sirloin was sadly a dissapointment - the flavour was there, very well seasoned with nice charring, but there was no getting around the fact that the meat was tough. You usually expect some texture in a steak cooked medium-rare, but despite the fact that it looked like it was cooked perfectly it was a lot of effort to cut let alone chew. To finish off, I went with the Tafferty Tart. I thought this was a marvelous creation - it looked like there was a huge amount of work goes into this and i'm not surprised by it taking 3 days as David mentions above. The sorbet was incredible and the amount of flavour in the tart was unbelievable - I guess it's no surprise given that this is from the fat duck menu! My friends went for the brown bread ice cream and poached rhubarb - both excellent, but I think I made the best choice! I enjoyed my second visit but I can see how some people come away with different opinions. Had I gone for the steak I think I would have been quite dissapointed - in fact I probably would have sent it back (I think my friend was being polite by not saying anything!). The pricing still seems confusing - I can understand why something like the beef royale is priced at £32 given the amount of prep and the various components that go into it (despite what should be a cheaper cut of meat) and I can understand the pricing of the pork chop at £28 given the cost of the "Pata Negra" pork itself. The pidgeon seems a bit odd though - the portion isn't exactly huge and there doesn't seem to be a lot to it. I'm sure that their suppliers in France are not cheap, but should it really be more than the Pork? On the other end of the scale, the Tafferty Tart seems ridiculously cheap at £8.50. Perhaps this is the problem with individual pricing of dishes? I expect there will be changes to come yet - and if that Tafferty Tart stays as cheap as it does I'll be very surprised!

Bit of a mixed bag to report from a meal here last night. It started off well with one of their cocktails in the bar area and after we sat down a friendly waiter took our order - 900g porterhouse, triple cooked chips, 1 portion of bone marrow, greens along with anchovy butter and peppercorn sauce. I was impressed by the wine list - starting at only £18 and going all the way up to £6500 for an '82 Petrus, most of which seemed to be centred around wines which would go well with steak. We ended up picking up an Argentinian Malbec which we were assured would be a good match. The wine arrived first and it certainly seemed like a good bet (I wish I could remember what the name of it was!) and the huge steak arrived to the table not long after, along with the sides. The steak itself was excellent, perfectly cooked (medium-rare of course!) with tons of flavour and some nice charring on the outside. The sauces were good too, the anchovy butter nicely complementing the charred steak exterior and the peppercorn sauce was subtle but not overpowering. The greens were good too, and although underseasoned the grilled bone marrow was nice, and there was lots of it! The only problem was - the chips. Triple cooked chips should of course be nice and firm on the outside and soft in the middle. These were sadly soft both inside and out. They looked good but I suspect they had been sitting around a while and had lost their crispness - either that or they had not been cooked for long enough during the final cooking stage. It seemed a real shame as whilst they are only chips, to me it's a pretty key part of a good steak meal, and I had heard good reports in the past about the chips from here. After we were done, the waiter came over to ask whether we'd like any desserts/coffees/whiskey etc. We asked to see the menu, but after waiting for a long time, the waiter never returned, and it was about 25mins before we were able to catch one of the waiting staff again, by which time it was getting late and we needed to leave. It was a shame as we had skipped starters thinking we could always grab a dessert if there was any room left after the steak! Hopefully they can iron out some of these issues as I do like the place and the beef is certainly very good, but I felt it failed to match the standards set by my meal at Goodman last year.

Well, not a great deal to add as I went for the meat fruit, beef royal and tipsy cake. Briefly, the meat fruit was excellent, as expected. It really does look incredible with the texture of the surface of the jelly accurately reflecting that of fruit. The beef royal was the highlight for me, I loved the texture, the way the fat melted in the mouth and the way the saltyness of the smoked anchovy complemented the beef flavour. It's certainly a rich dish though as you might expect! To go with the beef we had sides of cabbage and fries. The cabbage was excellent but the fries were a dissapointment. I was hoping the chips would be on the menu but for some reason they were missing, and the fries were a bit of a let down - seemed like the same ones they serve downstairs in Bar Boulud and didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the food really. Lastly, the tipsy cake - I loved the pineapple, and I loved the cake, but together I felt that the pineapple had so much flavour that the cake was overpowered. It was nice, but I'm not sure it was quite there yet as a dish. My friend had the chocolate bar which was very interesting, I might go for it next time - the ginger ice cream was excellent. We both went with a couple of glasses of wine, there seemed to be a reasoanble selection by the glass, but the bottle list was less impressive. It was a struggle to find much under £50/bottle which given the style of the restaurant seemed silly really. I seem to remember Foliage had a very good wine list with a lot of quite reasonable options so it's a shame to see they have gone for a list which looks more like one you would see at a Paris 3* Anyway, back in a couple of weeks, no idea what I'll go for though!

Blimey, can't believe I didn't write anything after my visit in December! Some of the highlights included a scallop 'curry' which was a beautifully cooked scallop with a spiced crust, braised mutton and a chocolate and coconut dish. I really should write these things up at the time so I can remember most of them. For me I felt it was one of the best experiences I had last year and I'm planning on another trip in July, it's probably my favourite restaurant in the UK.

I'm there tuesday night, I'll probably write a brief report and do something more lengthy after my second visit a few weeks later

It sets a very worrying precedent. What's stopping people now making a living from bombarding the likes of the Fat Duck, Noma et al. with reservation requests in order to sell them on ebay? I think this needs stamping out now before it becomes a problem. Check out this "bargain" for valentines LUNCH: http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=dinner+heston+blumenthal&_sacat=See-All-Categories

Yeah but to be honest, does anyone value Jan Moir's opinions about anything, let alone food? Her review is terrible and the headline utterly rididuclous: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1353098/Heston-Blumenthals-new-restaurant-called-best-world.html#ixzz1CtdVSWc9 I agree the hype is ridiculous, but it's the media who have been hyping the place up in the first place, to use that as a criticism of a restaurant in a newspaper review strikes me as a bit odd.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dinner-Heston-Blumenthal-Reservation-/130481046407?pt=UK_Tickets_Tickets_LE&hash=item1e6146c387 It's not like it's that big a reservation! what is wrong with people?!! Look forward to your report anyway David, I'm looking forward to going myself in under 2 weeks, I'll even promise to write up my own report!

£30?? Err.. Then you would of course factor in the staff, utilities, equipment, rent etc. I never really saw L'Enclume as a celeb type spot though!

At the same time -to weigh in with my own anecdote- I can think of several 1 star restaurants in the UK which have been better than 2 star establishments in France and Germany. I'd probably agree to an extent that some of the new stars are a bit odd, but there's a fair few 1 stars that deserve elevation, probably the same for 2 stars as well

I note that Michelin do not have such reservations in dishing out 2/3 stars in other parts of the world though, but i'm sure that's nothing to do with not wanting to upset locals in a new region of the world..

Is it ALC only SBG? Might have the opportunity to go twice, so if there's no tasting menu I might go for it!

So much for predictions How the food at Sat Bains is only considered 1* is beyond me. The meal I had there was one of the best i've had all year! But then again we say the same thing every year!

sat bains is usually v accomodating to fussy eaters, i'm sure you won't have a problem if you let them know well in advance!

Hi all, I'm going to be in Sydney for a week in January and I was after some recommendations I have a reservation at Quay so I was looking for some recommendations for good cheap eats in the city so that I don't end up bankrupt!

After my meal at Sat Bains last friday, he should be a nailed on 2-star. But then I say that every year!

Good writeup - I went a few weeks back and was impressed, solid 1-star establishment. I had a pretty similar menu too and I have to agree about the scallop and salmon dishes

Marcus Wareing?

I can't help but feel your gripes are not so much with Michelin but trends in cooking in general? There are a fair few 1* places in the UK which leave out the "fripperies". Michelin might not be very consistent (the fact that noma is a 2* says a lot about that) but I don't think it's fair to say that they are responsible for ruining food. I'll stop going on though because I think Simon S has basically covered everything I was going to say, and I've only just read his reply. Ps Hi Marcus - long time no see, going to Sat's on friday

Looking forward to going on thursday - i had a superb steak at Smithfield Bar & Grill on friday which set a high benchmark, will be interesting to see how it competes!