Jon Tseng

mix it with egg and make some chawanmushi. the proportions vary (can't remember off the top of my head... something like 2:1 stock:beaten egg). chuck in some goodies eg bits of prawn &tc and whack in water bath in oven til set perfect for any hungry cabralesians who come snacking j

chawanmushi can also be done in a water bath - its actually dead simple to do i agree with the heated oil on fish stuff. make sure the oil is really really hot (suspect this is where nobu nicked his new style sashimi idea from - albeit he used raw fish) in addition to cheeks and head stuff, fish eyes get good review, although never really got the hang of them re steamers i have a tiddly bamboo steamer I use, although will add just singed the bottom as had it sat on a metal rimmed saucepan (bad idea). alternately a sieve over a pan (or even better, one of the flat oil splatter shields) does well at a pinch at home we have a kick ass metal monster with a big bowl at the bottom and several large (30cm+) layers you can stack or take off as required cheerio J

Only jiaozi (which the Japanese stole, grilled and served up as gyoza - they're not generally that bright, you know). Excellent made with pork and jiu cai (chinese chives) made baozi (steamed buns) a while ago, but mum did most of the work propah dim sum too fiddly to do at home - generally you need a black belt in rice flour wrappers, three years study in a remote monestary attached to a floating restaurant &tc &tc to do it properly well the microwave seemed a good idea at the time cheerio J edit: inspired by all this malarky just steamed a packet of no-name shao mai from the chinese supermarket in brixton - ok moistness but a bit lacking on the flavour/salting front (think cuz too much flour, no prawn, too much fat and gristle making up the weight). definitely a step behind restaurant ones

Was mucking around with sorbets over Christmas An excellent recipe is the Chocolate Sorbet in Gordon Ramsay's Passion for Flavour. Milk, syrup, chocolate ie no cream :-) Also did an interesting pea sorbet from the book from the bloke from Tru in Chicago; can send you the recipe if interested I still have a sneaking suspicion there is something which could be done with rose water and lychees but never got round to perfecting it. cheerio J

Hullo mate saw the royal garden ones on a scouting trip to loon fung - for the shu mai it was four mins in a microwave plus a minute to rest (from frozen) certainly looking interesting - have always been a bit lary of frozen dumplings on quality grounds but may be tempted to try them. Interstingly they were about twice the price of the normal brand ones. Are we paying for quality or name I wonder? J

In the end it turned out thus ------------ Pea sorbet with pancetta (sort of slain a bit by the bacon) Sauteed foie Gras with salad and orange (maaan the stuff vanishes quick when you fry it) Apple-braised lentils, chorizo, morcilla and bacon stew (oink oink) Slow-roast smoked salmon (they were out of propah salmon at the supermarket) with beetroot-blackcurrant jelly and horseradish cream (an undisputed triumph and something I shall be working on in the new year. I can't believe I forgot about the beetroot-blackcurrant recipe through the whole of last summer) Pan-fried duck breast with confit duck leg ravioli and shallot tatin (secret ingredient in ravioli: foie gras trimmings. melts away but adds marvellous flavour) Raspberry puree with warm raspberry cream (just mucking around in the kitchen by this stage) Chocolate, orange and earl grey sorbets (courtesy Gordon Ramsay's Passion for Flavour - never fails) Cheese (brought back from Alps after skiing) Coffee and home-made truffles ------------- cheerio J

Had dog meat cold in china - tastes very similar to pork. Other people say its sweeter than other meat. The main objection to eating dogs is anthropomorphism plain and simple - we see dogs around us every day so we treat them like people, confer affection &tc. The contrast is with cows - if you've ever seen a live cow up close their incredibly cute beasties, especially with those big eyes and long eyelashes. Unfortunately they're out of sight - out of mind so people just don't think about eating beef in the same way as they do when served fido a la plancha Also note that commercial dogmeat would be reared like other livestock on farms - its not as if they're snatching pooch off the street and chucking him in the stockpot! J

We've got some relatives flying in from stateside so I'm trying to cooking a blow-out dinner for eightish haven't detailed the specifics, the basic ideas are below. mainly old standbys which I know will work: ?soup (some sort of pureed veg) sauteed foie gras with orange grilled chorizo on apple-braised lentils with a ham-flavoured broth slow-roast salmon with beetroot-blackcurrant jelly and sour cream confit duck ravioli with ??? roast pork belly with black pudding mashed potato some sort of pud we're getting our hands on a fresh raw foie gras from france (whoppee). as i am off work next week I have a couple of days prep, hence the ridiculous length of the menu. and i am aware the menu, as it stands, has no balance in terms of cooking styles/temperatures, is comprised largely of pig and duck and has less greenery than a central london roof garden. but it should be fun. i shall probably write more when have done some more tinkering. alternately i may still be in rehab cheerio J

Hullo was there summer before last... can't remember much specifics (like most eastern european capitals, with the exception of bucharest [which is a dog-ridden cesspit of hell], warsaw seems to have its fair share of random wannabe posh places, usually in large hotels. best place for up to the minute recs is probably the inyourpocket guides www.inyourpocket.com - have found these pretty reliable throughout central europe. only place I really remember is a pierogi (dumpling) joint called U ?Hopfera on the main road into town - lots and lots of cut-price dumplings. need i say more? cheerio J

Hullo Had this one a couple of weeks and have found it an excellent book - though have to admit I am a Peterson fan (have to admit I loved his Sauces book, though I thought the salmon one was a bit random). What I love about his books - and it comes through in this one - is that he tries to cajole the reader into thinking about food in a systematic manner rather then just taking a recipe in isolation - each chapter starts with a basic recipe and then takes variations on the theme. Other books I have seen take this approach is Jean-Christophe Novelli's book. There is also another one by an American chef which takes this sort of tack, but the book escapes me. What is interesting in the book is how well each chapters read in isolation - they're almost like mini-cookery-courses. You can dip into a chapter and get basic recipes, advanced variation, background information and anecdote all at once. This contrasts with other "intro" books where you'd have to churn right through the whole book to get that sort of progression. Its a great book to dip into for a quick read, even if you aren't cooking One disadvantage of this approach - and I'd agree with Suzanne here - is that makes the book somewhat haphazard as a reference book. There's no one section where you're guaranteed to find truffles, or salt or whatever. This is a natural corollary of the structure Peterson adopts, and I wouldn't necessarily tag it as a weakness. The whole point of trying to write a "fresh approach" is to get away from the whole "starters, mains, puddings" or "green veg, red meat, poultry" chapter approach. Another interesting thing I'd add about Peterson's book is that there's a fair mixture of food science sprinkled in his writing, although he never hits you over the head over it in the way Harold McGee does (although I'd add Harold McGee obviously isn't trying to write cookbooks). This comes from his great strength, and one which comes clearly through in this book, that he is an author as much concerned with explaining "why" as much as "how"; why do you use this heat, why do you need this prepatation. This is goes hand-in-hand with his background in teaching and systematic approach to food in his writing, and is something which is sorely missed in many of the cheffy books populating the shelves today. Of course Peterson was somewhat setting himself up by calling the book "a fresh approach to french cookery" as the market for intro-to-franglais-cookbooks has clearly been done time and time again. I think he probably three-quarter succeeds in this aim. It's not a Bible in the Larousse fashion - but that probably isn't the aim. But what it is a a lucid synthesis of an enlightened north-american style of cookery writing with a classic subject matter cheerio J

Rats. There goes my idea of quiet-period sneak-attack ;-) (though to be fair I say I'm going to do this every Jan/Aug but never get round to it) Have you thought of 1837 at Browns - they do both a la carte and the 7/8/9 &tc course tasting menus. Had a very enjoyable meal there in Nov - eight courses for forty-two quid a steal Atmosphere is olde hotel so not exactly buzzing - but comfortable in a clubby sort of way Other randoms at the high end of the scale: Locatelli, Nobu, Mju (they do actually have a la carte, as well as tasting), Pied a Terre J

On GR@RHR I wouldn't be so sure you can't get 7:45 or 9:00 - I've gotten 8:30/9:00 before there no problem. After all times are probably staggered - if everyone sat down at 6:30 and 9:30 it would be unworkable as the kitchen would get swamped by the orders. Bookings should still be do-able given you're looking for probably the deadest time of the year - I've got in with a week's notice in early Jan. cheerio J

I read Chris Galvin's moving on from the Orerry to become Conran chef in chief Dunno how that will effect things (hopefully not)

To be fair, the 10-11m figure mentioned does cover the whole place, not just the Library. Given that starting up a restaurant //anywhere// in London costs a minimum 1-2mil nowadays (5+ if you're looking for a high profile, central opening) this figure doesn't look totally unreasonable J

I prefer roasting the breasts on the bone - fine that if you fry them off the bone a) much less control over the cooking - tends to get burnt outside before cooked whole way through b) off the bone the breasts tend to shrink to nothingness. plus having it in the over leaves the hob free for other stuff Something along the lines of: - Buy the quack whole - Carve off the breasts on the breastbone in one slab (ie both breasts still together - Do whatever you want to the skin to prepare it (dry, pierce, baste in honey &tc &tc - Fry in hot pan skin side down until browned - Put in over 190c 15 mins.* Rest and carve. If undercooked on the bone side zap skin side up to finish off. Serve in triumph (or make a run for the takeout menu if something went wrong along the way) Legs can be confited at a later date (confit can be made into ravioli and served with). liver is great with scrambled eggs. bones make duck soup. fat makes confit or roast potatos * Timings vary with size - best to do a practice one first to sort the timing and/or use meat themometer cheerio J

I suspect we should refer Chou En-Lai who, when asked what he thought of the French Revolution, replied "Too early to tell"

The significance appears to be that Sketch is the first of a particular genre (the French three-star) to open in London - and given what I have heared of french three stars, there is an argument that the food is on a different level from chez nico/mpw in terms of complexity of service/novelty of combinations &tc. However this does not make Sketch the most significant restaurant. Steve is making three assumptions here: 1) Being the first of a certain type is a major factor which affects the importance of a restaurant. If so we should consider River Cafe, Gavroche... and Moshi Moshi Sushi Liverpool St. in this category. 2) Having the most complex/three star level of cooking is a major factor which affects the importance of a restaurant. Note I do not say "best" here. Complex three-star cooking is a certain type of food, that is not the same as saying it is the "best"/most important kind of food. Or to put it in a nutshell, if French three-star cooking is no longer particularly relevant in London, it is a tautology to suggest a restaurant is the most important restaurant ever to open "because it's the first three star chef from France ever to open in London"!!! 3) Other factors eg longevity, lasting influence have no impact on the importance of a restaurant opening. Obvious examples would be longevity, influence on cooking scene, training of chefs &tc &tc (Gavroche, River Cafe again, anyone?) Note also that under Steve's criteria ADNY would be the most important restaurant ever to open in New York Regards Jon

Bear in mind three stars never make much dosh at the best of times; viz Nico Ladenis' comments that he always made most of his profit from the Simply Nicos, not the mothership. The logic is probably that the brasserie joint makes the money and the Library breaks even - or even acts as a loss-leader - for the rest. Think of any losses as sales & marketing expense... J PS would add that the comparisons with ADNY v1.0 are striking - selection of eyeglasses vs selection of pens anyone? and we know what sort of reception that received. i can guarantee there will be at least one review over the next couple of months claiming the food is not only expensive but tastes like crap and its the worst restaurant in the history of the world &tc after all, shit sells

Hullo folks >The presentation was one or two pieces, and they sounded like a "natural" portion sliced from a lobe, or >perhaps a small lobe. Nah, was goose so definitely the end cuts of a larger lobe. To be honest it wasn't that terrible - the uneven size just meant they didn't have a snowballs chance in hell of getting it cooked properly. To be honest, something like that in a three-star context just makes Mr Senderens look silly, which is probably punishment enough. Anyhow, looks like two issues here: 1) What happens to the non-choice bits - uneven cuts, ends of lobes, different sizes of lobster. I'd side with lou in that they shouldn't be served at all in that particular preparation. There are plenty of other ways for a three-star to use off-cuts eg in foie gras mousse. However to serve them as an entree shows, at best, misjudgement and at worse deficiency of technique After all, One of the reasons why you pay the prices for a three star is that you are paying for the best ingredients QED! Similarly if the lobsters aren't the same size, perhaps the restaurant should have a few words with their suppliers. 2) Equal treatment of diners. This is one which often comes up at the Ivy in London, where management unashamedly favour their "regulars" or, failing that, random B-list celebs. Personally I feel this is the wrong attitude to take as, ultimately, any restaurant is a service business and disrespecting any customer in a service business strikes me as inherently wrong. Nonetheless I do see merit in both the moral and commercial logic which underlies the opposing position. A couple of perspectives: - If you boil it down to money, don't people paying the same price deserve the same treatment? If you paid that same price in the shop but got a poorer quality product than the next guy wouldn't you feel aggrieved. - The counter-argument is, of course, that a dollar spent by a regular is worth more than a dollar spent by a random; good service to a regular is likely to lead to repeat customer; good service to a transient punter much less likely to. In this case the commercial logic works the other way. - Is there a moral duty to provide equal service? All men are equal, basic human rights and all that. As a customer do you want to frequent a place which considers you less worthy because of what you are rather than who you are? - Note that this elides into the wider issue of "Is the customer always right?", which is another debate entirely! ttfn J

On the whole whats-the-point-of-a-restaurant-review idea, this old thread may be interesting: Restaurant Reviews Thread Here's what Jay Rayner said at the time: As I've said before my job is to sell newspaper and the way to do that is by writing an interesting column. I think it should always be about restaurants (unlike, say, AA Gill who can sometimes whitter on about something else entirely for 1450 words.) When deciding where to go I don't generally look for the most interesting or new restaurant. I look for the subject which will make the best column; that will sometimes (even often) be the most interesting or new restaurant.

It occurs to be that surely all the brouhaha about the prices shows that the reviewer was actually spot on the main point. After all we should be the most price-agnostic of customers (victims?) but see above! J

But that's not what the audience of that particular publication pay for, is it? Of course if Jan Moir had been writing for us lot she (he?) would have written something quite different. But in the meantime it seems a little harsh to criticse a professional writer for not tailoring their style to a their audience. J

teehee for a uk restaurant review i actually thought there was quite a lot on the food (viz messrs coran, winner or the evening standards new "restaurant spy") a rather sad commentary on the state of british restaurant reviews, methinks Jx

Maybe its not what they asked but how they asked it We know that a bit of market research is a given, but given the level of service you usually get at three star restaurants; the ability for the waiter to hover without ever be intrusive, for the maitre d' to deal with any eventuality with ineffable grace &tc you'd expect they could ask something as basic as what they do in a slightly more subtle manner... J

Or, if you excuse the business-speak, "managing expecations is key" Whether you enjoy these joints is nothing with how good they are, but everything to do with whether they beat or miss your expectations. J