Jon Tseng

basically the issue is zero culture of patisserie in this town, particularly outside of restos. france is the object lesson - masses of patissiers (as opposed to boulangeries) everywhere. more decent pat (at all levels) than you can shake a stick at. london in contrast has a microcosm at the high end (wm curley, sketch, laduree maybe, yauatach although thats debatable) then theres a yawning gulf til you get to the lower mid-range chains (pat val, berthold, paul). culturally the issue is that cakes and puddings are more a homely/homebake thing in this country. can't think of many distinctively english sweets off the top of my head which ppl wouldn't do themselves (hot cross buns maybe?). contrast that to paris - doubt the average french housewife makes paris-brest or croquembouche very often when she can nip out to the local pat and buy one... J

presumably if you're keeping unsavoury hours you want a big joint or somewhere in a hotel. maze says 1200-1430 on the website so maybe you can get a 1430 booking? (or book for 1415 and then tell them ur running late) J

mebbe last time i was at RHR (over a yr ago) the pastry chef was a young japanese (i think) lady. apparently she had joined them from the cordon bleu and worked her way up...

I think it was an interview where he said the dorch was one of the gaffs that were pret-a-porter not the haute-couture of his three stars that did it in for me. Sorry but if he thinks he's going to fob the rosbifs off with his second suit for a hundred squids a head then he's taking the piss... (yes I know its more expensive in Paris, but we don't have a 35 hour working week...). Actually doing a bit of googling reveals some interesting PR spin. Quoth the bestarred one to the Caterer: But quoth the bestarred one to the French press... Hmmm. Either he's been misquoted or he's being two-faced... J

Just re-read the review and not sure what you're getting at. She seems to be very straight and earnest in her appreciation of the place, indicated by the complete lack of the usual quota of gags. ← Re-read it again. That's a homily, not a review...

Dropped in with Robin for a light supper tonite. General opinion was it lacks the magic of, say, a Magdalen which is a shame given its pedigree. Suspect Jan Moirs review is taking the piss slightly, to be polite. Having said that its still early days. Gary will probably have a better view when his turn comes round. And if not I'm sure work will be picking up the tab anyhow... J

Wasn't RHR doing baked potato foam as an amuse a year or two back? Presumably consomme has some connection with that? (no idea where the foam came from, but presumably theres an el bulli connection somewhere?)

huh? surely all the restaurants will be closed for the seder, it being friday an shabbat an all that??

the stuff is good on the whole, but be warned it can get expensive. the dishes mount up even at the "bargain" prices. mentally committ fifty squids plus before you go, stuff your face on the goodies and you'll have a fun time. J

Atariya sushi bar shld be just the ticket. About fifty yards nrth of bond st up on james st. Some of freshest sushi in London and not at all expensive. J

Quite unusual to see a Parisian chef trying to co-CEO a kitchen in London (the McRobuchon and McDucasse franchises aside). Partly I think because for a Parisian star coming to London is a step down - cf why few English footballers play outside the Premiership. Off the top of my head I can only think of Michel Rostang consulting on the second restaurant at the Meridian Picadilly, the Poucel's W'Sens thing in St James, Sketch and - way way before my time - Louis Outhier at Ninety Park Lane pre-Nico. The constant thread is that none of these were a smashing success (I think 90 Park got * briefly but then lost it) - although I would say I think Sketch does well but remains critically underrated. Although maybe in this age of hyperglobalism (and the 2 Hr 15 Eurostar) she can finally pull it off. J

Square opens sunday nite too, FYI. That's normally quite quiet.

was persuaded to drop by again for the first in years beef short rib is the beef back ribs (as opposed to the giant beef ribs they used to have). far too tough. not worth it. Lamb ribs (also new) were lovely though. wonderfully tender/fatty. J

Hotels your best bet for swish places which also open Sun - I'd recommend Foliage, Capital, Landau at the Langham. Also Claridges should be open. Also The Square normally opens Sunday evenings. These are normal Sunday openings - check for Easter Sun arrangements but I have a suspicion many of these will remain open. Given the Bank Hol it should be quite easy to get bookings - most ppl are out of town! Also bear in mind I think Gordon Ramsay @RHR opens bank holiday mondays - normally a very good day to try to snag a table as its understandably very quiet. J

Not sure about that. The window of my local trad Polish (The Patio) has long been championed by none other than Maschler, with about two-dozen glowing reviews in the window going back decades. ← I think Polish food is great! Nothing like a nice plate of pierogi (esp with onion and crispy fried bits of bacon fat on top) and a bowl of bigos to fill you up! Not the most refined of food, to be sure - but exactly hits the spot on a cold winters night. J PS Hungarian cherry soup is also a killer. Served ice cold it's almost the perfect starter for a sweltering hot summer's lunch. PPS Although I would say Slovakian food is pretty terrible.

To be honest I struggle to see the point of 100% chocolate. I mean its basically inedible. Its like if you started distilling 100% alcohol vodka and started selling it - a curiosity but of limited practical use. To be honest a 100% chocolate bar isn't a chocolate bar - its a cocoa solid bar (in the same way as a 0% chocolate bar wouldn't be a chocolate bar; it would be a big pot of cocoa butter) And I'd add its not as if its anything new. Michel Cluizel has been selling a 99% chocolate bar for years. I first had it wayback in the late nineties. And guess what? It was pretty much inedible. J

haha. are you going to credit st john for that then? ;-) ps yes strong garlic very important for good salo. and crunchable salt too.

← Not a big surprise. Any observer of his high-end roll out over the last few years would realise that the only thing in short supply would be well trained haute-level chefs. Plush hotels, willing punters and identikit dark wood david collins decors are all in plentiful supply nowadays. Formalising the production line to give you the staff is a blindingly obvious next step (actually he's already got a training gaff set up in Victoria, right). And could I add it's an excellent step. If he can turn out a conveyer belt of well trained chefs able to cook with the precision required in his restaurants, that can only be a good thing for the restaurant trade and for diners in general. J

Noticed this. I also noticed they didn't provide the vintages of the wines. For a grand its ridiculously overpriced unless they're wheeling out 82's or better on the claret side. (as habituees of Petrus will know, for these sort of deals the cost is all the booze. Figure seventy five quid for the food, assume the usual 2x mark-up on wine and a grand implies the wine should retail for four hundred and fifty quid or so I assume for a bottle and a bit). In my experience Vivat Bacchus is a restaurant which has a lot of top notch names in crap vintages at high mark-ups. I'd be staggered if they were rolling out the '82. J

A very dull list this year.

why on earth would you be excommunicated? giraffe is a storming place for brunch. great range of choices For quite a few years I've considered it to have the smartest menu in London. A great range of stuff, interesting combinations without ever tottering into the random-fusion trap.

Booths in boroough market have them Yes, mini jerusalem artichokes, look disconcertinly like small insect pupae very trendy in london restaurants about four years ago.

oh easy go to shanghai blues. five minutes trot from british museum in the holborn direction. some of the best dim sum in london. pricier than most dim sum places but for ukp35-50 you should be fine. they should carry on serving into the afternoon (ring to check). if they don't there are plenty of (less posh) dim sum places in chinatown that do ta J

Andrew Turner was for a long time one of the most underrated haute cuisine chefs in London (along with, probably, that Jun Tanaka chap at Pearl). Enjoyed both his previous gaffs (Browns and the Bentley). Foie gras terrine with gingerbread was an absolute humdinger of a dish. Good to see him back, although I note that the prices of his grazing menus have now been marked to market (starting at about forty squids for the cheapest one, they used to be one of the biggest bargains in town). I should imagine he will do very well J

Do they turn tables at Le Gavroche? If they do that's a shame. I always assumed it was the sort of place that would never be so uncouth... J