britcook

Guilty as charged. I am appalled by some of the stuff that is presented in supermarkets and "restaurants" as "food". Very much the attitude "you wouldn't catch me eating that". On the other hand I don't look down on people who do eat, and apparently enjoy, this kind of offering. I sometimes feel a little disappointed that they don't know any better but hey, I don't dress like them, talk like them, watch different TV programs so why should It bother me if they eat different food.

Clearly a man who has had very little, if any, white port. It is not "very sweet" and doesn't aim to be Sherry-like, although some people might like to compare and contrast. Like Madeira, another Portuguese product, Port comes in varying levels of sweetness with the white Ports definitely at the drier end, probably nearest to a decent Sercial.

Whatever contemporary European cuisine may be that duck salad would not be part of it, the only place you'd get stuff like that would be in an American restaurant, and I don't care what it calls its "cuisine"

The Bordeaux ideal is great as a concept, but much of the wine produced in Bordeaux is rubbish and nearly all of it overpriced. It is not just a matter of taste, it's also a matter of readiness and price. I am fortunate to have a proper cellar and there is some decent Bordeaux in there maturing nicely, some of it has been there for over a decade and is still not quite ready. Nowadays who has the ability to store wine in proper conditions for long enough? As for price I suppose the wine was bought at around $15/bottle, but if you wanted to buy it now (assuming you could find it) it would be $60 and up. And although my purchases were reasonable (assisted by a friend who is a Master of Wine) even then some turn out to be a little disappointing. So people nowadays spending say $20 and up want a wine they can enjoy now (and if they like it buy more) rather than waiting several years for it to be ready. That means lower tannins and more fruit, but it does not necessarily mean the wine will lack complexity or subtlety.

Affordable, drinkable.

And not just the iced tea. Perhaps a tad provocative?

A pint is a pint, it doesn't come in large or small. What you probably had was a very expensive litre.

Bummer! Is this for vacances or permanently? If the latter I will be bereft!

Ah the mindset of newspaper editors. Every once in a while they look at their publication and think, "How can I 'improve' this?". Never mind that people read it for what it is now, a major "redesign" is called for. So it is with the ST. We now get a new supplement, Driving with Mr Clarkson, and the Style section has gone glossy and is now almost entirely devoted to fashion. Mr Winner is many things but fashionable ain't one of them so move he must. Whether it is a promotion, demotion or sideways move really doesn't matter. The most dreaded phrase for publications, as well as food, must be "new and improved"

Definitely going to have to get off my butt and head on over to T Wells for an meal and an overnighter at HdV. I'll give you a shout if we get over anytime soon, maybe a crack a cold one or two between us.

Scott, it's not crystal clear from your post, but I assume you popped in to Thackeray's?

Damn, caught out. Got to try and work out the process. Tried Imagestation but it doesn't seem to work with the format requested here. Will try later when I have time to experiment. So far only managed to post a few in this linkTrotter album

Well it is not going to improve, so prevarication will not help. Stored under reasonable conditions (dark, cool, preferably very slightly damp) wine has a surprising ability to last longer than you might expect and I know from experience having recently had a "clear the cellar" dinner. For this we used up some of the stuff that had been lurking in obscure corners for rather longer than it nominally should have been. Although nothing of this age there was some 20 year old stuff (and not top quality wine either) which was fine. Lacked a little bouquet and not a great deal of fruit, but this was balanced by the soft drinkability. All in all not a bad bottle (and we got through several assorted, including whites - even an eleven year old Riesling QBa bought on a cross-channel ferry was surprisingly fresh). My advice is to open it on your next birthday and enjoy it, drink a toast to your Dad. And have a replacement on standby, just in case.

I snapped up a place at the Kitchen Table at Trotter's at Easter, just unbelievable. The food, service, ambience, tour were peerless (I could bore you with the pictures but won't). Certainly the best food I have eaten in the USA and ranks pretty high on a worldwide scale. We actually flew back to the UK from NO via Chicago just to dine there with absolutely no regrets. And Vong's Thai Kitchen provided an excellent counterpoint.

Open the bottle and find out. Report back. Have a newer bottle on standby.

If you buy basic NV champagne then it will usually benefit from accumulating at least a year's bottle age in your cellar (or storage whatever) when even stuff like basic Moet becomes tolerable instead of dire. Got this tip from the only MW I know and it definitely seems to work. Assuming of course that you can afford to buy it and keep it for that long.

Country wines can be surprisingly pleasant, I seem to remember that Gales brewery (of HSB fame) made a very acceptable range of fruit wines, some of which would have made presentable dry table wines. At one stage I used to make my own "wine" from a variety of ingredients and although the results varied it was all drinkable, some of it was definitely comparable to the proper stuff from the grape. Of course there will be those who scoff, but remember when wine tasters describe wines about the only flavour or aroma they never mention is "grape". You get elderberries, grapefruit, raisins, peaches etc. etc., so a well made non-grape wine has got to have a chance.

Only on this occasion, we're hacking back from Bremen on our way to Calais and Brussels is a logical stop on the motorway system. It is very difficult to find a decent hotel in either Bruges or Gent that has less than a mandatory two night stay at the weekend and those that do charge more than I am prepared to pay. You're quite right about getting out from Brussels, one of my top 5 meals ever was in an auberge (I think some kind of converted water mill) about 10 km outside Dinant. As for Brussels I've had about 10 meals there over the years and haven't had a bad one yet, and one or three were outstanding. As for Bruges Der Gouden Harynck also rates in the top 5 - their "Menu Surprise" was a tour de force. Gent is on the tour list for next year.

Thanks for the input, I looked up L'Amadeus only to find there were two! Located the correct one though. As for going to restaurants of which the name has escaped you, definitely guilty, when I was there a couple of years ago I went to at least three excellent places, I could probably find two again but the third is just "somewhere in the middle of Brussels". We may arrive fairly late on Saturday so may not really have time for an exploratory stroll. Nearly stayed at the Radisson but strangely enough it was the seafood restaurant that put me off - I really have to be in the right mood for seafood. Opted for the Royal Windsor as I know if all else fails the restaurant there is good, if a trifle pricy. Don't you just love the bargain prices on Expedia?

How very true, for I am one of those eGullet-reading Brits who will be visiting Napa very soon. Now I know that these threads will often stray from the original topic but Gavin did say

Neither are good Monbazillacs which are probably similar. For stuff available in the UK (which was the question for all of those contributors posting wines which are rare in the US and unobtainable "offshore") try wines from the appellation of Ste Croix du Mont which is on the opposite bank of the Garonne to Sauternes, all the character of a Sauternes and less than a third of the price. For something a little different try Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh, not common but still obtainable in England.

Nico Ladenis is a very down to earth and honest man, and as far from pompous as you can get. He was, and is, a man with vision who wanted to help the willing diner to lift the restaurant food experience up a level or two. For those who were not willing to even attempt share his vision he was, quite rightly, brusque (or similar terms), but only if they were stupid enough to try and tell him how to run a restaurant before eating his food. For those who criticised afterwards he was politeness personified and he hoped he would learn from the experience. For those who can take the inane, the boorish, the stupid, the conceited and the just plain troublemaking customers and deal with them in a placid and measured manner, I salute them. For normal human beings there comes a point where reason demands that you give them a sharp slap but professionalism (and the threat of litigation) means you merely ask them to get a) a life, b) therapy, c) outtahere.

I've tried Aux Armes de Bruxelles and it's fine for a brasserie meal, but I'm looking for something a little less "rustic", more your classic French, maybe with a modern twist. There were a couple I tried a few years ago which fitted the bill but sadly I can only vaguely remember the locations and certainly not the names and I won't have time to seek them out on a fleeting visit en-route home from Germany. And to be picky I'm looking for somewhere that doesn't specialise in fish, something I can usually take or leave (except for shellfish which I'll always leave - not helpful in the land of moules et frites!)

I know it is almost impossible to get a bad meal in Brussels, but I'm looking for something a little less well known than, say, Comme Chez Soi but still offering something special within walking distance of the Grand Place. I suppose the model would be The Golden Herring (Der Gouden Harynck) in Bruges. Anybody able to steer me in the right direction?

I've been trying to find a quote, with no success, but in essence one famous chef was asked if he minded others "stealing" his recipes and he replied that it didn't bother him at all as nobody made them as well as he did. Stealing, borrowing, influencing. in the style of. It happens all the time. The only thing that is wrong is explicitly claiming credit for being the originator, especially in print.