Jon Tseng

Its an old waiters textbook I have lying around. "Modern Restaurant Service" I think Lots of useful stuff like how to tie napkins and which side of the punter to serve from yaddayaddayadda By "olden" days meant Victorian/preware rather than medieval or anything ta J

Bottoms up? Historically (i.e. in the olden days) cutlery laid out with the backs facing upwards. More modern practice is to haev it bottoms down, ostensibly to save the tablecloth from wear from the tines of forks ta J

Slightly bizarrely Richard Neat, sometime Robuchon protege, holder of ** at Pied a Terre in London and latterly * in Cannes (the only Brit to do it in France) opened up a resto/hotel in Marrakech about a year and a half ago http://www.casalalla.com/ Hardly authentic tagine but probably worth a look ta J

Nah just standard HK-resto type "hot and sour" soup in London Never really "hot" (in a chilli/la) sense Occasionally a slight vinegary tang, but nothing I would really call "sour" And on a relative note... can anyone tell me where to find the "sour" in "sweet and sour"??? OK so it tastes sweet, and there are often some vaguely acidic elements which go in (our family standby is the juice from the tinned pineapples)... but "sour"? naaah.... cheers J

FD 20-40 mins by train out of central london and a five pound/five minute cab Relatively easy to get to, especially if you are camped out in west london - earlier bookings are better obviously as you need to cab back to the train station for the ride back. Lunch or dinner... the food is the same. One by-product of the precision-science jazz is remarkable consistency. Though to be honest I find lunch more chilled out at high-end places. Hakkasan ta J

Saw that list in the standard last night. My first thought was that it was incredibly boring... Hakkasan... Fat Duck... Locanda Locatelli... Club Gascon... Rick Stein... Tom Aikens. Hardly news! A coronation of the established rather than an exploration of the interesting. Maybe that's just a reflection of how things are - within these discrete categories the order at the top doesn't really change that much year to year. A bit of variation is all I ask... J

Thing I always wondered about hot & sour soup... its not hot and its not sour!!! ??? J

Sterling

Dropped in for an early supper. Thoughts in no apparent order: Well executed food, although slightly below elevated expectations. Variable seasoning. Nice service. No problems with my glass of tapwater. Front of house slightly under-staffed - though this was a sun pm - and hierarchical (lady manning the door very much rooted to her post rather than helping out nearby tables ie mine). Room is a funny shape with an L-shaped bit round the corner at the back. Should imagine it will be a pain to keep an eye on both parts of the dining room when service is busy. Lots of modish dark wood (viz incognico)... was David Collins involved? I know he did stuff on the Wolesley There was a lot of empty space in the front area - don't know if this is deliberate or simply because they'd moved some tables out during a quiet service - more spacious than you usually get in a central London resto. Pig and foie gras terrine - properly cooked with firm pig layered with slightly gelatinous foie gras (as opposed to the hard foie gras you get when its overcooked). No complaints. Pithivier of wood pigeon. Technically a very accomplished dish - as described above a perfectly rare pigeon breast (would guess it is seared first before being assembled) with some eggy mousse in a pastry case. On the side three chestnuts. Underneath a slick of brown sauce As Andy said mousse a big eggy; slightly extraneous to be honest. Main problem with the dish was there wasn't a kick. The pithivier slightly bland as it was (esp. with the mousse) needed a kick either from a strong sauce or or sweet chestnuts or a sweet top to the pastry (which looked wonderfully browned). Unfortunately sauce under-reduced (an unusual complaint), and chestnuts and top of pastry didn't give a sweet kick. Maybe splitting hairs given the technical proficiency on display, but really felt something missing here. Confit of duck. One duck leg (how comes maggie gets too??? maybe they thought she needed feeding???) on some lentils. On the side a stir-fry of cabbage and carrots with 3-4 little cubes of montbeliard-type sausage in there (too little). Stir-fry over-salted. Lentils and fudgy brown "sauce rouennaise" nice. Confit a bit under-salted, but good crispy browned topping. Very much does what it says on the tin. Overally decently executed if unexciting food. To be honest a slight disappointment giving the awesome reputation the Galvins had at Orrery/Escargot. Really think the menu could do with some prepping up with some more exciting ingredients (sweetbreads... pork belly... pigs trotter... scallop/langoustine... the usual stuff which gets foodie heartbeats racing). Having said that I'll come again, but for the ambience as much as the food. cheers J

Too much mollusc/crustaccean? Unless its a theme... J

Yes, thats correct Come to think of it I can't think of having seen sausage rolls made with whole sausages in the UK Maybe this is a trans-atlantic variation... J

Yes you are quite right Had the Bristol confused with the Georges V That picture definitely looks like a poulet en vessie (demi-deuil?) J

If you're in an infusion mood have you tried making a water ganache? Melted chocolate with equal quantity of boiling water added spoonful by spoonful. Seriously it does work!!! It thickens/seizes very quickly at first but them becomes a smoother mixture when all the water is mixed in. It obviously isn't as rich as traditional cream-based ganache, but the advantage is that you can obviously infuse the boiling water a la tea etc. Opens up lots of possibilities... Regards Jonathan PS infusions of tobacco are also quite avant garde (actually almost vieux chapeau by now) in the UK. It adds a peppery taste which is interesting, but not always to everyone's taste

Although for the less health-conscious, using raw meat means the grease runs and gives lovely pork-fat soaked pastry on the bottom (if you cook it nicely hot it goes sort of crispy/deep-fried underneath - yum. The other thing I'd note is you don't want the puff pastry to rise TOO much (if possible) - too puffy a top makes it bloody hard to fit it into your mouth without scrunching it too much ta J

Yes wiv puff temp is important. Chill before make and chill before bake best. Think snip more a presentation issue to make it rise evenly. shouldn't affect taste but will like nicer. slash thru to the meat. Raw meat should be better. The time is takes for the puff pastry to brown is more than enough time to cook raw meat. Using cooked your just cooking the dead pig twice - not as nice. Rather than sausage meat I prefer to buy posh sausages and disembowel them - pork and apple sausages work very well. Grease is probably more from the sausage than pastry though probably a bit of both. Definitely freeze then bake. Bake from frozen as otherwise pastry might go soggy in the defrosting process. ta J

I think those prices are ok but not amazing... broadly comparable to the Wolesley. Wouldn't think they'll change much (touch wood) J

The thing to watch for, of course, is "mission creep" After all thats what the Canteen started out as - stripped down MPW ("The Naked Marco" so to speak)... but it ended up with a *. Also Christian Constant's Violin D'Ingres was originally a brasserie deluxe to break away from his heritage at the Crillon... now its got **! (although maybe these examples just show you can't keep a good Chef down...) ta J

Given Trinity is rich as croesus you should be fine (unless of course you mean Trinity Hall, which is an entirely different proposition...) Ask Jackel10 for more goss. Think hes at Emma ta J

There is quite a good posh restaurant right opposite the Hilton on the Castle/Palace Hill. Names escapes me. Kispipa restaurant has a killer pheasant soup. For other suggestions the Chowhounds International board is a good place to look. regards Jonathan

And if you are having an etymological bunfight don't forget Pelmeny - the Russian/Siberian versions! Also don't forget to do those lovely teeny fried cubes of pork fat to scatter on top of your pierogi once they are cooked! (obviously not the sweet ones! ) cheers J PS piazzola your silk road comments are quite interesting as it should be noted that Pierogi bear a startling resemblance the Chinese jiaozi dumplings.

BM thoughts in no apparent order: Things I regularly get: - Scallops from shell-seekers (now annoyingly hidden round a nooky corner), and occasionally crabs (although I have recently found I can get much nicer scallops from Franco at Solstice - albeit at twice the price). - Dead cow from Northfield Farm (a recent tip from Moby) - Comte from the comte people - Corned beef from the outside beef stall which does bleasdale haggis - Black pudding from the big fish stall in the middle (it has raisins in, which taste nice) - Fruit and veg from Booths; mushrooms in season (ie when approaching £15/kg or below) - Parmesan and mortadella (especially truffled) from the Italian stall round the corner from Northfields - Raw foie gras from the Wyndhams Farm shop. They will cut smaller pieces if you want. - Apple juice from the apple juice stall outside, near the Bleasdale Haggis people. - Sweet wine from Arnauds shop in the basement of Beadales. - Pork belly and lamb sweetbreads from Ginger Pig. - Pain poilane and Colston Basset Stilton from Neals Yard. - Cakes from Konditor and Cook. A great selection; reminds me munchies from the Alternative Tuck Shop in Oxford. - Frankfurter or Bratwurst from the German Sausage people - with a little bit of choucroute and both ketchup AND mustard. Things I buy reluctantly: - Dulce chorizo from Brindisa. I hugely resent the prices they charge for what often seem to be relatively generic Iberian groceries. - Chorizo Rolls from Brindisa, but only opportunistically if I'm going past and the queue is reasonable. I generaly skip the soggy cold tinned pepper (WHY???), and ask from an extra chorizo (£1 extra). - Fish from the fish place in the middle: the selection is good but I am still unconvinced by the quality. - Gravadlax from Scandelicious - again the objection mainly revolves around price. - Air-dried mutton from Farmer Sharps. Nice but pricey again (a recurring issue) Things I avoid: - Anything from Turnips. The prices are an absolute disgrace. I cannot urge people to avoid this rip-off merchant more strongly. - Fish from Applebees. I am never impressed by the quality - Borough market still lacks a really great quality fish supplier. - Any cakes from the people in the middle, near Northfields and the flower stall (Burnt Sugar?). A perfect example of the Downtown Beijing School of French Patisserie - looks great, tastes like cardboard. cheers J

Had the tasting menu at Meurice earlier this year and it was so-so. Generic Random Posh; nothing really stood out although the truffle baba was nice. Having said this generally given the choice between the steady *** and the aspiring ** the latter is generally to be preferred, as the kitchen is more likely to be hungry to advance rather than resting on its laurels. cheers J

Although surely that is what St John has been doing for years...

Had the parmentier at the wolesley Its a killer J

For a minute there I thought you were hanging out with ersatz "food critics" from the murdoch press... J