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jayrayner

society donor
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Posts posted by jayrayner

  1. I have a policy (only very loosely adhered to) of trying those things on the menu which sound most horrible. Because it's much harder to make the nasty concept taste good, than the nice. Unfortunately I've found that if it reads nasty it always tastes nasty. Black Pudding spring rolls with chill jam at Brian Turner's, anyone?

    I did not order cod cheek with sauteed okra at Jaan because I wanted to eat it; I ordered it so my readers wouldn't have to. I am, madam, here to serve.

  2. Personally I would be willing to pay £200 not to have to go to Jaan. I still have nightmares about the cod cheek and okra dish, using fresh sauteed okra which became more and mroe gelatinous on the plate the longer it sat in front of me. Fishy snot, cooked by someone with no understanding of the thickening properties of okra.

  3. The exact line was 'i can't describe this as the worst restaurant in Britain, but only because I haven't been to them all.'

    Pants, pants, pants. the worst experience of the past two years, apart form the pub in the black country.

  4. No they haven't. Every single one of my wine writing colleagues does one of these pieces about once every two years. My own newspaper's wine columnist did it a couple of weeks back. But here's the thing: whatever the FT says, I have yet to drink an english wine that didn't make me wish I was actually drinking a wine from france, italy or spain or New Zealand or indeed anywhere other than Kent. They ahve all, to the last drop, been 'shite', which is a techincal food and drink writers' term.

  5. Didn't anyone tell you about Charlene's tragic opthalmic diagnosis, the very next day? No one said anything to you? Nobody? Oh that's awful. So embarrassing. So embarrassing.

    Anyway, at least I don't try to disguise my age by shaving my head. (That's what Ilove about egullet; it never gets personal.)

  6. No no no. It's just a huge and terribly succesful marketing exercise by Restaurant Magazine who, good luck to them, pulled off a blinder. An arbitary list? Absolutely. Journalists love lists so everyone else can argue about them. A motely crew of critics and experts? Definately. Christ, I should know. I was one of them. (And then, when the list was published, duly dragged myself out of bed at 6.45 this morning so I could go on breakfast television to slag it off as a travesty of a sham of an outrage of a disgrace. Particularly the inclusion of 11 British restaurant, four more than France and who the hell do they think are etc etc...

    But... this story appeared on the news pages of most of the Birtish dailies. It at least made the BBc. And how often do we see the generalist news press debating the relative mertis of the French Laundry over El bulli; Bocuse over Bras; Ramsay over Chez panisse? Er never.

    So yes, it's bollocks and for the high-minded souls here, low rent bollocks. Me, I think it's a good thing.

  7. Forgive me but I wasn't intending to write it up at all. But in summary: room, champagne, restauranteurs, me running away from chefs I'd been rude about, Matthew and Andy begging me like crazy mad-eyed stalkers for introductions to chefs I'd never met , Roger Moore's eye brows and Bruno Brookes. You kinda had to be there, I suppose.

  8. Round three - and I am expecting you to wrap this one up quickly. therefore, no clues. Yet.

    Warm Salad of Black Pudding, Smoked Bacon, Poached Egg

    with a Tomato & Onion Marmalade & Sauté Potatoes ....

    Fillet of Venison with a Green Chartreuse Sauce,

    Wild Mushrooms & Herb Mash

    Raspberry Syllabub Trifle with

    Raspberry Coulis & Cream

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