Jon Tseng

Looks interesting Website here: http://www.nathalie-restaurant.co.uk/ Would say pricing is keen at the evenings - mains in the £18 range EDIT also the menu looks dead boring, but as JD points out execution could be good - and thats what matters J

Restaurant at Hyde Park. Nice joint. Decor was more Italienate than I was expecting. I seem to remember stripy wallpaper and mirrors. I was there for lunch so it was quite quiet. Amuse scallop with deep-fried baby cuttlefish (with with legs on top) and the Sauce Nero - a micro version of the Marco classic (think it was a Marco dish, though he might have nicked it from Pierre Koffman; if anyone has an old menu I think the dishes were dated by year of creation - that would tell you). Nice; seem to remember the squid wasn't as crispy as it could have been. Mum thought the Sauce Nero tasted like soy sauce. Starter was marinated salmon (this was the cheaper set lunch) - OK, basically gravadlax. Thin strips cut across the whole width of a fillet. 2x Beignet (ok, deep-fried battered) oyster on the side. Main was rump steak with bone marrow on top. Bit prosaic for a *** but very nice and tender. Pudding was a raspberry souffle which was overly sweet. A nice touch was stripes of raspberry coulis painted on the inside of the ramekin so when the souffle rose it had stripes on the outside. Main and starter were pretty much as featured in the Canteen Cookbook (an underrated book - good stuff there on accompaniments, sauces and garnishes) Overall very pleasant. Not blow your socks off (but it was only lunch) but all very well executed. The Maitre-D was nice without being obsequious Also had supper at the Oak Room very shortly after MPW stepped down (basically the same food... but for only forty quid). Can't remember much but had the pigs trotter which was covered in an avalanche of cubed black truffle - unfortunately tasteless (preserved? Chinese?) Interesting to note that ten years ago three courses was £75 - a price point still not matched by and places can think of in London for a fixed carte and only beaten probably by Sketch, Gavroche and Waterside alc cheers J

pudding wine is good... spare tokaji etc not as harsch as rum J

Chucking double cream into an ice-cream machine for ten mins gets you a pat of lovely creamy-tasting butter Not quite as good texture as commercial (a temperature thing I guess), but at least you know what went into it! J

Yeah, dead simple. Just get some packet dashi mix from ur local supermarket (although the real stuff isn't that hard to make apparently). Add egg. Steam/water bath. The only question is the stock/egg ratio. Google around to get an idea Should be open to endless variations... J

Just get some monster-sized salad action going My student favourite: Frizzy lettuce Chorizo (waitrose do very reasonably prices pata negra chorizo) Raw mozarella Home-made croutons (olive oil + bread cubes + bake) Egg (hard-boiled? poached?) Black pudding (!) Honey-mustard vinaigrette Whatever other savoury stuff is to hand... (variations are endless) Alternately classic salad lyonnais: Frizzy Lettuce Poached egg Crispy lardons Home-made croutons Classic vinaigrette. Cheap and very difficult to beat J

The Japanese version - chawanmushi - is a simply mixture of dashi (a light fish/seaweed broth) and whole beaten eggs. It doesn't set much - almost like jelly. Can get bits of shellfish, meat etc. dropped in it. A traditional western savoury "custard" in contrast would generally involve more eggs/cream so less light, but the fats in the cream would infuse/carry flavours better. Tom Aikens in London uses a lot of savoury custards - he calls them "cassonades". If you were doing a posh savoury custard pureed raw foie gras would be an obvious enrichment. Just don't overcook it! J

At a guess I'd say the Satyricon. Trimalchio's banquet in that work is notorious for having loads of wierd shit J

Bravo. That's entirely disprovable, and about as logically useful as saying: the extent to which you enjoy Racine will depend on how much you value antiquity in food; how much pleasure you derive from 'tried and tested' formulas in dining, and your experience in eating at similar bistros. ← Baby giving you grief today Moby?

Prefer the alc - you still get all the amuses, mignardaises, pre-deserts and what-nots so its more like five courese than three... I agree I never feel tasting menu "dishes" (read "thimble-fuls") as integral as full-sized alc dishes (this is a general comment, not a GR-specific one) Plus the tasting menu is normally fairly unadventurous (although have to set in context of menu as a whole at GR which is relatively unadventurous). Betcha the meat course will be choice of either canon of lamb or fillet steak. There will probably also be a seared foie gras lurking in there somewhere - all fine and good but nothing you haven't had many times before... In fact the more I type the more I feel you should just skip GR and go to Tom Aikens instead... J

FD tasting menu was much more good when it was a surprise In this respect, extensive press coverage of the tasting menu has spoiled it GR has pumped his set lunch up to £40? but not unexpected. J

Too late now but I'd have just got some flavoured vinaigrette action going. Much easier to prep and no risk of breaking If you have the shells from lobster you can make a flavoured oil with them and use that for the vinaigrette cheers J

Good in gnocchi Fresh sage has a more pronounced flavour than you might think Should freeze ok but won't retain shape after defrosting - just drop it into soup stew stock after J

"vegetarian" ?

The croustillant langoustine sounds like a variation on the old Alain Senderen classic of langoustine wrapped in vermicelli (which in turn I suspect suspect is a rip-off of a chinese dim sum classic - deep-fried prawns wrapped in rice noodles ) l8tr J

Little steamed buns with tea-smoked duck is very authentic J

Harrow has a lovely little model shop a very accomodating debenhems and the most accessible multiplex in northwest london don't mess J

were u getting different stuff from the tables of laowai? J

spoilsport!

And the oldest *** chef ever promoted?

Yes Good overall standard A number non-cantonesey dim sum things - bread pockets, baozi and the like. chef a southerner but claims to have worked on the mainland Killer xiaolongbao A cut above the Chinatown mob (for the moment at least!). J

Hasn't the Lemon Tree reopened now? J

Seems slightly perverse hunting for fish and veggie in BJ (sort of like going to peter lugars and ordered a large, medium rare green salad ) If you are, the best place you're likely to get for vegetarian is the Gongdelin Vegetarian restaurant, a couple of hundred yards south of the Qianmen gate (unless they're redeveloped it by now, which is perfectly possible) Probably the best established veggie place in Beijing, its very famous for its mock-meat dishes made with glutens, and its beancurd. Decent fish I wouldn't hold out that much hope. Perhaps jump on an overnight train to Qingdao on the Yellow Sea? (good beer there as well, thanks to the Germans). Or try the Obligatory Cantonese Restaurant to be found in all major ***** hotels... regards J

I'd do Pearl or Matsuri Astonishing - someone who admits to having been to Vivat Bacchus! J

use a chopping board and the flatone of those big one-piece-metal chinese cleavers to whack the peppercorns into desired shape bit messy though... J