peterpumkino

As well as a last supper have a "Last Sunday Lunch" at the Dorchester. The memory of this English Tradition will last forever.

Wrong again Bux! The Brits (and thousands of other Europeans - don't forget them) would go anywhere for Disney! I had a tour business in Florida and everyone was so happy to see Disney put their EuroDisney in the one place which was so against the superfriendly Disney policy - France! Their decision was made by coming to the conclusion that Paris was an excellent catchment area (there's a lot of BIG cities within a few hours driving from Paris), furthermore tax breaks from the French government were too-good-to-ignore. Paris is really a short-stay weekend destination not a beach-type holiday where families stay for two weeks BUT if they had built EuroDisney in a warmer climate (Spain being the obvious) it would have been disasterous for Orlando. After Sept 11 there were very, very few Americans, it was the Latins and Europeans that kept the place open.

Thanks for that. I am going to spend the day in Torino on the last day and have a meal then however, as we arrive early into Torino I plan to have an excellent lunch en route to Oulx if I can find a suitable place. I hear that Croce Bianca in Cesano Torinese is quite good. Have you any idea or other suggestions on that route? Thanks for your help.

Iagree, but not so in Florida - all the major theme parks have a Fast Track system where you reserve your place by computer and get immediate entrance at a given time. Gone are the days of a 2 hour wait thankfully.

You said it Bux! As I stated WDW is the most popular attraction in the World so they must be doing something right! I mean, let's be serious here, who needs Chenonceau when you can go and experience the Real Thing at Disney. Lighten up Bux and enjoy it, it's wonderful and magical and I can certainly understand why people will honeymoon there. Almost better than going to Arzak.

I realise it doesn't help in this situation but I've always found the food at Epcot Center in Florida quite good. The Mexican restaurant is brilliant with some really authentic dishes (i.e. Mole Poblano) and Italy (much better than your 'average' Italian in the US or UK) - maybe it's something to do with the fact that they are individually run and get their staff from the country of origin on a 3-month work permit (then they go home and a new lot come out - not at once though). Yes, I know, it's irrelevant to this thread but if they can do it in Florida you would think they could do it in, of all places, Paris.

Thanks Craig. As I stated to Robert I am now getting a car so anything enroute to Oulx would be interesting. You know I don't want a Temple of Food just a great Trattoria. Unfortunately I don't know this part of Piemonte very well. And I will certainly enjoy the slopes. Actually I would prefer to ski in Italy but you know what cassinisti they can be - furthermore gll'impagnti are not nearly as good as in France and, surpise, surpise, disorganized!

Thanks Robert. I have decided to get a car so if you know any good places in a convenient location en route from Torino to Ouls let me know. Thanks.

I agree about the 'new' Topo Gigio. At the old Topo Gigo food was 5 out of ten BUT the atmosphere was great. I think it's Tilly Dolls and was mainly recommended by hotel concierges to Americans looking for a 'typical' Engligh dining experience. I've never been but it sounds awful.

It an Italian restaurant but I don't know now.

No Simon, the original goes way back, it was tiny, noisy, crowded but good fun. I think it was located at Piccadilly Circus. Since then I've been to the newer one in Old Compton Street, is that the one you mean? If so, it just wasn't the same unfortunately.

I will be in Torino enroute to skiing in Serre Chevalier on two occassions three weeks from now. As I am passing through I thought it would be an ideal chance to eat some good food. Trouble is that, although I lived for a while with my Italian wife in Ivrea, I don't really know Torino that well. I am not looking for a fancy restaurant alla Antica Ponte in Abbietegrasso (which I dislike - I don't like Italian Michelinized food!) but something local but great for a couple of lunches. At present I am not getting a car but I may do which leaves me with the route to Oulx to consider. Any ideas? Maybe Craig you know something. Pasta lovers only so SP need not apply!

Anybody remember the original Topo Gigio? Also there was a really good Italian next to Peter Evans owned by the same people as Sale e Pepe. Can't remember the name but it's not there now, pity.

Yes it's San Lorenzo and that's been there for years and years. It's everything I hate in an 'Italian' restaurant in London. Terrible food and very expensive - good for stargazing though.

I went there in 1965 would you believe!!! It was really great and a Russian guy called Benny owned it (he coined the phrase 'the onions are for crying' B & T geddit!!!) , when he died his wife ran it but that was a LONG time ago. Still, I have a friend who lives behind Harrods and every time I walk up Beauchamp Place I get nostaglia pains as it really looks exactly the same! Maybe I should go in one day for old times sake. If I do I'll put a post on this thread.

Bloody hell, the Borstch on Beauchamp Place, staggered out of there a few times. Just for the record it was me that made that quote! Yes, Escoffier, quite a place. The Kiev was good. Were you there when the inmitable Benny was alive? Does anyone know who owns it now.

Go for lunch as the view on a nice day is really memorable (it's also a bit cheaper than dinner - another way to keep the cost down is watch the booze as it is VERY expensive). If you can somehow manage it get a table at the window. It may have 'only' two stars but it is still an incredible experience. Many restaurants have signed photos of past-their-sell by-date-if-not-dead celebrities. Not so here, as you get on the lift you'll see their collection of signatures only (including a Mrs Elizabeth Regina) which can't be bad.

Because I owed the Bortscht 'n' Tears money, that's why! Your right, at seventeen years old it was a great place to impress some young babe, especially with the 'Russian cuisine' bit - Borscht soup, Stroganoff (not a cliche then) etc - very impressve! I think I went three times before I discovered Inigo Jones. Even then I was living WAY beyond my means!

It was a little cliched. And he told you, surprise, surprise, that you would never eat the food if you knew what was in it and how it was cooked! It always amazes me how people deny to themselves what actually goes on in a kitchen! On the other endI have a friend who will only go to restaurants that have 'open' kitchens!

When I say 'fresh' Steve I mean straight from the sea onto the plate as you would get in a beach area in Europe - you can really tell the difference. That's the only way to eat fish - it's fresh and that's wonderful. When I lived in Key Largo on the Florida Keys I was amazed to find I couldn't get a whole fresh fish as I would get in Spain or Greece or Italy etc etc. Served whole, complete with head and tail, no sauces, not fried, no messing with it, just brought to the table and you debone it yourself. I asked a waitress and she opined that Americans don't like their fish to taste 'fishy' (honest to God, that's what she said). Could it be the potential lawsuits from diners swallowing bones? Maybe it's just me but I didn't find the food in China not very consistent and generally not great. Maybe this could be yet another thread! ps having said that the best fish I have ever eaten was in Apen, Colorado a couple of thousand miles inland! This was the baked cod at Matsuhita's (sp?) at Little Nell's- same ownership as Nobu's. That could be a thread too: Best Fish Meal I've Had In The World!

When I was 16 years old I was a 'runner' for Hammer Films in Wardour Street and I used to go to Isow's to get smoked salmon sandwiches for the directors of Hammer. Ah, memories. Mind you I went a couple of times to the Bortsh 'n' Tears in Beauchamp Place when I was seventeen and it's still there! Anybody remember Inigo Jones in the Covent Garden area (when it really was a market!).

Great questions Vanessa. BTW did you know that most of the good sandwich in Central London bars are run by Italians from the Bologna area!

Steve, have you actually eaten in China??

Being the culprit who started this thread (remember, way back in Spain I asked, "Am I the only person in the World who thinks that Greek cuisine is the only one that is better outside of the mother country than in") I do have a couple of comments. I really love having a plateful of prawns or some fish on a Greek island's moonlight bay, drinking Retsina with a lovely female companion. Honestly, for me there is nothing better. But how much of this is actually the food? Certainly the Retsina helps as does the company to say nothing of one of the best settings in the World ...........but the food? Lets face it even a half-baked chef faced with fresher-than-fresh fish has a real problem ruining it (that maybe explains, Steve, why you say the Greek food in NYC is not so good - simply said, the fish isn't fresh) but it's NOT the cuisine per se. Furthermore the quality of meat in Greece (IMHO) is horrendous so ANY Greek food sampled outside of Greece must be superior as the main ingredient has to be better as it cannot get worse! So my point, Tony, is whilst Greek food might not be great in the UK (actually, because of the quality of meat in the States, it's good in the U.S.) at least it's better than Greece itself when you take away the atmosphere, the Greek Island, the company, the bazouki player in the background, the Retsina, the old men playing Backgammon, the Ouzo, the Mama taking you into the kitchen and showing you the food etc etc. (sounds a bit like "What have the Romans done for us apart from........."). I've actually been in a place described above and the Moussakka was micro-waved! But with the atmosphere, the drink and the pretty woman who gives a f*** about the food!!!! As one who has not only lived in both Turkey and Greece and last year spent my hols touring Greece and gulleting in Turkey I think the food is far, far better in Turkey. Much more variety and the meat is much better. I admit it though, the coffee is identical - only the names are changed. PS I do want to be clear in that I am referring to 'normal' restaurants around Greece and not food cooked at home.

Could you please state which customs (i.e. what country). There are a few countries in the World you know!