TheSwede

I would love to eat the trifle, but as soon as you put a spoon into it it looked like a bad traffic accident. And the pike was a total disaster presentation wise. Who want to eat brown/grey food? Yesterday they didn't have have the program on the iPlayer! I was awake pretty late and it didn't show up. Shame on BBC...

I didn't think that much about Bain's monkfish cheek dish either. Monkfish cheeks three ways, a bit of pork belly and some micro greens. Well? It looked good on the plate (as opposed to the fish noodles...) but was there really any thought behind it?

I want an elitist food guide. I don't really care where the local good resturants are - I can find that out by myself, checking the net, or by talking to friends. I want someone to tell me where I can eat the best food in town if I am prepared to pay the price. Michelin does that, at least for my local town of Stockholm. They are really spot on here.

Had a very enjoyable meal there tonight. Nothing complex, but still very nice. Half a dozen oysters with a glass of house champagne followed by duck breast with foie gras puy lentils and a good medium priced Bordeaux. My companion had the rabbit as main course and seemed equally happy.We finished by sharing the cheese course with the last sip of red wine. Also very good. French comfort food indeed! Nothing I couldn't execute at home really, but still a very nice dinner. (Swedish arch-industrialist PG Gyllenhammar had the table next to ours, so we must have picked the right spot for this particular friday evening)

Not entirelly sure what people refer to when they talk about wonton wrappers. I've successfully used dumpling "sheets" to make very acceptable instant ravioli. These sheets are yellowish and come frozen in small packs. They actually quite look like post-it pads, down to the sheets you peel off. Thanks for the agnolotti pictorial above by the way. I've never really belived the "self sealing" part until now.

I think they have been showing more of the food and techniques as the (pre-) series has progressed from episodes 2 - 3 - 4. Good trend. Has anyone seen the future schedule for the series? It would seem natural to have it on BBCs website, but I couldn't find it.

You can eat a "real" two star lunch in London for GBP 30, eg at mother restaurant Pied a Terre. (Not saying your lunch wasn't good, more of a comment that lunch prices in London are very reasonable.)

According to the link below, Heston hasn't sold Fat Duck although he has allowed his relative to invest in it: http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/2008...restaurant.html

Sounds like an excellent suggestion.

I currently (and temporarily) happen to live almost next door to Bibendum and was hoping to take a friend arriving on a late flight to dinner there next week before bedding him down. After reading the reviews I've decided not to do it. But where to take him then? In Chelsea, within walking distance?

Had dinner there the other night, and while I liked it, I wasn't overwhelmed. My seared foie starter was perhaps a little too seared and the apricot purée was a bit too gummy on the plate. The veal breast had a very nice crust but was a little dry and needed some salt. The rhubarb compote/almond crumble/cardamom ice cream dessert was very good, but also served with an overly acidic rhubard sorbet. I think my dining partner had better luck with her choice of crab and lamb. Presentations were beatuiful, the wines (which we had by the glass) were very good and the staff nice and friendly. Value for money was good and I had a nice dinner. If they could get the details right it would be a very very nice dinner.

That I like. A restaurant where you can get a table - if you are prepared to wait a while while drinking a glass of wine or two - even on a busy night, is a great find. I like Magdalen's menu. It talks to me. It probably has something to do with the combination of foie gras, pig and offal... Definitely a destination during the next couple of weeks when I'm in London.

Well...as long as the pork spare ribs are good I'm a happy diner. I probably wouldn't order anything else anyway.

Thanks for the tip!

Moose is generally quite tough meat (the tenderloin excepted). Some sort of slow braise or stew is my recommendation.

So far I've booked dinner at L'Autre Pied on Saturday and Foliage next Saturday. Tried to get a table at The Square, but it was full. At the moment, I have a hard time booking anything but Saturdays as I don't know my schedule.

Barcelona sounds like it would fit the bill nicely.

Michelin 2008 just came out. In Stockholm: Edsbacka retains their two stars New stars: Leijontornet and Mathias Dahlgren gets one star each. Mathias Dahlgren is rising star towards two Esperanto, F12, Operakällaren and Lux retains their star. Edit, some comments: that Leijontornet didn't get an "Highest International Class" from White Guide (previous post) was a bit suprising, but Michelin rectified that. It is more than a year since I was there last time, but I've heard lot of good things. The reason that Oaxen doesn't get any mention in Michelin is that they are way out in the countryside and also only keep open during summertime. Also note that Operakällaren ("The Opera Cellar") didn't get highest class by White Guide but still retains their one star.

Definitely very interesting, but a bit uneven. We were told that they are revamping their menu in the near future. The White Guide is the only restaurant guide that covers the whole of Sweden. They came out with their annual ranking today. They put six swedish restaurants in "Highest International Class": 1. Esperanto, Stockholm, 33/84, Lux, Stockholm, 32/90 3. Edsbacka Krog, Sollentuna (Stockholm), 32/89, F12 Restaurant, Stockholm, 32/89 5. Mathias Dahlgren, Stockholm, 32/87, Oaxen Skärgårdskrog, Oaxen, 32/87 Points are food/total experience. Note that all restaurants get 32 points for food except Esperanto who get 33. Having relatively recently eaten at F12, Esperanto and Mathias Dahlgren (see posts above) I'm not sure I agree with the relative ranking (mine would be Mathias Dahlgren - Esperanto - F12 based purely on food), although I do agree that they all are among the best in Sweden.

http://www.bacchus-restaurant.co.uk/ ← Thanks! My googling brought up http://www.vivatbacchus.co.uk/ but that didn't match the comment about Old Street tube.

No it is definitely a soup, although a thick one. It is made from dried yellow peas which splits and "mushes up" when boiled for a long time. I found this receipe in english which looks reasonably authentic, although the use of smoked (rather than salted) ham might be a bit dubious (or a regional variation): http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1948,147171-255196,00.html Yellow pea soup and pancakes are still a very common lunch course on thursdays here. Edit: As for the smoked roe in tubes ("Kaviar"), it might be a little bit strong for the untrained palate (personally I eat it in a thin layer on buttered flatbread or with hard/soft boiled eggs). But try mixing it with eg cream cheese, chives and chopped hard boiled egg as a dip or sandwich spread. It actually has quite a nice smoky taste.

I think a lot of the dishes sound quite delicious, but I probably have a bit of a baltic bias. What is not to like about brown bread with pork rilettes, herring with horse radish or veal pierogi with confit onion and smoked bacon? Serve that with cold beer and even colder vodka and I would be a very happy diner. I think the reviewer sounded a bit like an idiot, actually.

Which Baccus are we talking about?

Thanks for an excellent report! But if I haven't stumbled into the Spanish forum by accident I wouldn't even had found it. Surely an extensive writeup such as this should be widely advertized?

Some brief impressions from Restaurant Frantzén-Lindeberg: I was there this friday and had the 20 course tasting menu with sommelier's choice of wines. The restaurant is definitely in the "dining is a total experience" camp and has some leanings towards powders/snow/foams/airs etc without going totally overboard. It was a fun dinner. A wide variety of complex dishes arrived with a nice pacing. Some were absolutely stunning (scallops with hay ash) or really really good (foie gras foam, truffle and cabbage medley, pork belly braised for 60 hours). Other didn't live up to expectations (sweetbreads with liqorice and yuzu, served with liqorice air or the dessert "cheeseburger" served with "mustard" and "ketchup"). It is very hard to give a overall judgement. I had a great time and to experience such a wide range of tastes and textures in one go was incredible. Yet, the individual dishes didn't always succeed. FOH/service was perfect, informal without being too familiar. The restaurant has only been open for four weeks and trying out such an ambitious project so early is always going to be something of a gamble. The menu isn't available in english and translating the whole menu is a monster task. But the complete descriptions of the particular dishes I mention above goes something like: Whipped foie gras with spun foie gras sugar Molasses, raisins, jerez vinegar and granola Scalops "Boulangerie" with tobacco honey and burnt bread pudding Crispy breadcrumbs, cauliflower x 2, beurre noisette, hay ash and flowers Sweetbreads "2001-2008" with yuzu and licorice Jerusalem artichokes in two textures, asinat cress, hazel nut meal and licorice air Truffles and cabbage "One-Two-Three" Aspic, consommé, fumé & marshmallow Pork belly "Vacuum", 60 hours later... Black winter truffles, heirloom beans "Signe", bee pollen, potato onion and snail caviar Cheeseburger "v 1.0" Ketchup & Mustard http://www.frantzen-lindeberg.com/