Jon Tseng

Was always told they are poisonouse when a kid... though horses obviously have no problem (hence the name)... J

Branch of the above - been there once - pretty decent but a bit far out for me J

Busy buzzy places normally good for dim sum - high turnover is the best way to freshness! BTW apparently there is a very good chinese supermarket out hackney way. I think there is a restaurant attached which should be very interesting, not posh but similarly busy. Family friends tell me the supermarket good for seafood - dirt cheap live crabs, apparently. Never managed to track it down though. If anyone could point me in right direction would be very greatful cheerio J

Tra Vigne - had the braised smoked short ribs ohmygod - they're good One of the few times I chose *right* J

Ooops. Thought this one was about dog recipes

Not this old chestnut again! Bear in mind 1) People can go to the same restaurant on different nights and have different opinions 2) People can go to the same restaurant on the same night and have different opinions 3) People can go to the same restaurant on the same night and have the same dish and have different opnions (if you doubt 3) look at restaurant reviews of new openings where packs of slavering restaurant reviewers turn up at the same restaurant on the same night, have the same dish and write different opinions in there reviews. Plus manage to spel the chef's name wrong.) Therefore One-meal accounts from different people can be different Two-meal accounts from different people can be different Three-meal accounts from different people can be different &tc Therefore Several return visits do not allow you to take a credible absolutist position against a restaurant, because there is no such things as a credible absolutist opinion... (post-modernism! wahey!) cheerio J PS Possible counter arguments: Preponderance of evidence from multiple visits; cultural/societal norms enabling an absolutist opinion within the context of a particular society; chef was having a bad fish day Edit: Or bad fish week in case of multiple visits

How do aussi pies compare you pukka pies what you get in the chippy? J

To get brown all over have you tried roasting on a rack? Healthier too! J

Yup - apparently the heatwave has decimated stocks this year. Not that they'd use it as an excuse to bump up price again, of course... ;-) Did you see them - were they fresh? Have white truffles started already? cheerio J

Thats interesting Is this a Shanghainese dish or a SEA dish? Am intruiged if its a Chinese chinese dish with basil because one of the things I've always noticed is French/SEA uses green herbs much more than Chinese seem to ? J

Why not just wander around selfridges for an hour or so? Excellent cookshop, good foodhall (don't spoil ur appetite!) and then all the other depts which I never normally bother with... Opens til 8 in the wk J

How many covers did Petrus had before? I think part of the problem with Tante Claire was it went from c40 covers to c80 and there were difficulties, at least initially, maintaining the quality with double the volume J

Noura, posh Lebenese is somewhere down that way In the old Enron building, I believe - overlooking Liz R's back garden Could be work a look J

Foie gras goes with both turnips and morels not that you really need an excuse to tuck in, of course... J

Next door to Pages, the professional cookshop

Hear hear Plus portion size is actually decent, rather than the miserly teaspoonfuls you get at other pre-theatre/eat out of a fiver/you-have-a-choice-of-either-baked-goats-cheese-or-porridge-for-your-main-course-sir deals you get J

Same problem with roasted Invariably roasted (especially the dreaded pan-roasted) = fried (ie sauteed) J PS Putting "boiled" on a menu description is the secret squirrel mark of death.

Brindisa in Borough Mkt now stock sobrasada! Picked it up today - same price/kg as their raw chorizo cheerio J

Chantal Coady's book about Chocolate (here - she runs a chocolate shop in london) has one of the best selection of savoury recipes with chocolate I've seen. They ran a tasting menu in association with it at Mju in London last year. Some interesting dishes, notably a tapanade made with chocolate, and a crispy roast duck (terribly overcooked meat, but fantastic skin). Also there was a hare dish with chocolate and various other goodies cheerio J

My mum loves fish heads! - can get salmon heads very cheap (which also appeals to the frugal housewife) Don't really are for them myself - too bony, apart from the cheeks There a passage in one of Tony Bourdains books about him schlepping a grilled fish head in Japan cheerio J

Hehe - not to demanding in ur requirements then! In addition to the above, Lunch at the Kings Arms fulfils most of your requirements, although the food is only Average English Pub (in itself part of the experience, I guess) J

One thing I would say, having fliced through the book again last night, is PW sometimes goes a bit over the top on the hyperbole eg "I've had millions of X and this is the best ever" "this is on most fantastic ever Y" "Every time I do Z as only Joel can I have a multiple orgasm" (or words to that effect). Sometimes the book slips into hagiography, which can be a little irritating. cheerio J

I'm not sure you can say that on egullet actually. Its a quote from the FT

Find a mate with a centrifuge in their basement? This may be useful, although you may have to modify it a bit for your purposes

Hi mate I was just wondering, aside from the (undoubted) coolness factor and the resale value, I'm not convinced from what you say you really *need* a f*ckoff six burner semi pro monstrosity. If youe cooking skills are fairly basic surely a pretty standard four burner oven, perhaps with a cute stainless steel finish from your local domestic shop will do. So many times I see people with big multi-burner things installed in their kitchens whose main use is to boil an egg and it seems like money wasted. Think; what is there you are likely to be cooking which will use the extra horsepower? Unless you're doing multicourse dinners for 15+ people with multiple simultanous hot entrees four burners and a bit of forward planning is normally enough; and even that probably won't be happening that often. I've been cooking for donkeys years and have enough trouble finding uses for one oven, let alone two... Then throw in, as Jonathan D said, all the hassle of fitting, keeping and cleaning. Personally I'd spend five hundred quid on a decent domestic oven get another one a few years down the line if I really need one. Its a no-lose situation really cuz if you DO find yourself in a position of needing to upgrade its probably because you've turned yourself into a bloody good cook in the meantime. In the meantime I'd spend the rest of the dosh on a massic scaletrix kit for the kid, which you can hold in trust (and occasionally regularly test out) for the next seven years... cheerio J