Jon Tseng

Fascinating review. Welcome, Adam. I think one point which people have tiptoed around is what is the point of a high-end restaurant. I see two alternatives. 1) The point of a high-end restaurant is to be the best for everybody. The whole point of having the best food and the best service is that it should be able to make anybody coming in feel at home better than any other place. If a customer - be it adam or anyone else does not feel welcome, than it has failed. If a customer comes in with different expectations, doesn't feel they belong it is up to the restaurant to make the feel welcome. 2) The point of a high-end restaurant is to cater high end food and service for those who appreciate it. Think of it as a certain "genre" as you will. Some people with appreciate it, some will not. If they do not this may not necessarily be the fault of the restaurant. They may not be suited to this. A couple of examples to illustrate the point: - An example of the first kind of restaurant would be the traditional 1970's french provincial *** a la Great Chefs of France ("auberge made good"), where the locals would come in for a quick bite as they have been doing for decades, rubbing shoulders with the jet-setters who've choppered in just for lunch. The restaurant does its utmost to make both feel at home. From what I hear the French Laundry may qualify in this regard. - An example of the second kind would be conceptual places. The El Bullis or Fat Ducks of this world where it is quite clear the food may not be for everyone, and you shouldn't really be going there is you just expect a rib-eye with chips. - To take an extreme illustration, if a tramp comes into CT, with a legitimate reservation [lets assume for the sake of discussion they meet all the niceties about meeting the dress code, can afford to pay &tc] what should be restaurant do. Under 1) the restaurant should do the utmost to make them feel welcome; make special treatment to make them feel well and would be considered to have failed if they don't have a great time. Under 2) the restaurant would be doing the right thing to give the customer the usual posh service, regardless of that fact it is completely inappropriate for this kind of customer. To sum up, I suspect most high-end restaurant fall into one of these two categories, with an increasing proportion in the second category. I suspect a great deal of the debate has focused around which category CT's fits into. To restate this point in a single sentance: Is the customer always right? cheers J

Have had the lamb crisps in the canteen at work remarkably nice! J

Crush amaretti biscuits? (cf pumpkin ravioli with crush amaretti) J PS truffle oil is also fairly ubiquitous in restauraunts over here. it works, but is a bit dull.

Try cubing it and making a curry. Very traditional Jamaican dish. In fact, according to my Jamaican friends, it isn't really a party unless curried goat is served... J

Oh yes - sainsburys do do rabbit I'm pretty sure its farmed; often they have meaty legs. look for it near ducks in and other less common meat J PS which reminds me, about ten years ago you could get wood pigeon, quail and all sorts in sainsburys. no longer, although quail appears occasionally...

borough market have it - usually four quid for a wild one could tell it was *genuinely* wild when I was cutting it up and found a broken femur with bits of shot embedded... J

At Fat Duck in the UK Heston Blumenthal has "snail porridge" which is basically oatmeal cooked risotto style with garlic and parsely and garnished with snail think risotto style can be applied to lots of pulses eg barley too much nicer than it sounds J

Was probably been a sweet Szamorodni which is made from a blend of botrytised and non-bot grapes (lit "as it comes" ie just using the whole mixed bunch) Theres also a sweet wine called Forditas - halfway between a sweet Sz and an aszu - made by reusing the aszu berries used to make aszu with a second batch of base wine Yup Vega Siciliana own Oremus. cheerio J

d'ya use a machine?

Don't know if there's any comparison; I suspect not Try checking residual sugar; I think the puttanoys match up to specific levels of sugar (200g/l for 6 putt of the top of my head, though sure people can correct me). Maybe there is some data from Z-H on this to compare with J

To reconstitute hows about soaking them in cranberry juice for a few hours? J

This is the Nobu black cod with miso thing, right? I'm curious, is it true this is a trad. Jap dish? People seem to assume that Nobu invented it (he certainly popularised it); would be curious to know the real background cheerio J PS has anyone heard of Arctic (Antarctic?) Icefish? Have ran across it in the supermarket a few times (previously frozen) - it is white, meaty, also has a sort of gelatinous texture (something to do with deep sea fish having different fluids in their blood, I think)

Cheers Thats interesting How do you find Applebys? I've always thought the selection and the freshness was a bit dodge; but one point I'd make for Borough Mkt as a whole is that apart from the scallop people the seafood selection/quality doesn't match up to the rest of the produce on offer. Waitose in Canary Wharf - only three stops down the Jubilee - however does have one hell of a seafood selection, especially for a supermarket. Got some trout there the other week so fresh the slime was still on it - turned blue when poached like proper truite au bleu! J

Blimey Thats a good price Which fishmonger? Was it previously frozen? You in London? J

So do I, but I wish they'd do seedless ones they can do seedless grapes and seedless watermelons... why not cherries...

Remember in GR's first book there were several things which I thought reminiscent of JR or his books; cappucino of haricots blancs; tomato and basil tarts &tc (my memory fails me) Since then I get the feeling the influence has waned, and GR has developed his own distinctive voice J PS I think he tried the cherry thing first back at aubergine, but the customers didn't like it as they preferred posh petit fours. they did cherries with coffee at Menu when I was there.

OK, thats £7500/kg if my maths is right (assuming you get the pasta for free, which you bloody well should at that price) Sounds like they're taking the piss, given the prices we've seen sad, really J

Yes, its very good. Meant to be "grown up" ice cream. Tescos and Sainsburys occasionally have it (the one in Angel does) although the range is a bit restricted - the only flavours I ever seem to see are strong vanilla and the mango one. I think Conran/Bluebird stocks a wider range cheerio J

This is the internet link. They say 1995 but its current the '93! J

This one's turned up in London 21 quid in oddbins - saw it in the one under Holborn viaduct, FYI J

latest restaurant mag es.s £2600/kg

In Northern China a popular breakfast dish is thick slices of steamed white bread, deep frieds until golden and dipped in condensed milk at the table J

Mash thoughts; had a mash "thing", but this was a few years ago (shortly after my chocolate truffle "thing", but before my apple tart "thing". - Try boiling in skins then peeling when hot. Apparently make them absorb less water. - Some people say baked spuds "fluffier" - Use food mill or ricer. Never processor for reasons mentioned above. - Choose your fat of choice carefully. Have seen butter (unsalted), double cream and mix of milk and butter (Robuchon apparently - surprising as I though this would be richer). I prefer half butter half cream. Olive oil &tc other alternatives. - If in doubt strain again thru sieve cheerio J

Two Waterloo way - Tas in the cut - modern Turkish, inexpensive, laidback? - Baltic, a bit pricier but reasonable - nouveau polish &tc? J