boomurphy

went to HD at the connaught yesterday for lunch, food was terrible. Started promisingly with the freebies: some excellent ham, being freshly carved front of house. amuse bouche foie gras jobbie with green apple & some peanut guff - very nice then ham 'n melon three ways looked like an eighties housewife dinner party dish. Also a bizarre drink with a silver straw - like something out of american psycho. Bland and pointless. the lamb which followed looked exactly like the dog food reveal from a can of pedigree chum - but tasted worse. Drier than the gobi, a taste of death itself. Three of us had ordered it, between us we managed five bites. The odd baked tomato thing someone beside me had ordered was the same sludge colour as our dogfood, and tasted of feet. A Red mullet ceviche in a bean thing was okay, though fish fingers & heinz would probably have been better. Someone has given the kitchen a mister frosty kit from which they make identically poor desserts. They all tasted the same, which was odd considering one was mango and the other chocolate. Cheese was entirely French. We ordered the bread we'd skipped at the start because we were all starving, a hilarious situation to be in having dropped £450 (for four) BUT it's a beautiful room and a great hotel. The manager was terribly embarrassed about the lamb (he could see how sorry it looked on the plate), tried to make amends and knocked a bit off our bill. I hope they get it right, though I can't see that the Daroze's idiotic gentrification of provencal cuisine has any legs. ps saw a few power dudes at the table next door bosh five bottles of cheval blanc. They didn't look the sort of guys who'd order the 97 so there's at least five grand there. Suggest they use that to lure in Eric Chavot from the capital!

excellent thread... last week I managed €1800 at el bulli for four which is going to get a cuffing when I try to stick it through expenses. I think we managed 8 bottles of wine, none of which was dear. In terms of bar bills I once notched up a wallet busting €560 on the terrace of the carlton in Cannes... and the waiter was still arsey!

I'm off to el bulli myself next month, haven't been yet. Any tips? I'm thinking, stay off the bread and stellas before dinner?

went to Drakes on Friday evening, very disappointing. The main dining room looks like it was designed by my mum, and decorated by me. Not a bad looking menu, but it couldn't deliver: chewy duck, dull mullet and oceans of spume frothed over everything. Beef cheek quite good but not enough to prevent us feeling that the place is a bit of a dog. The winelist has more holes than a stripper's fishnets; my local wetherspoons has a better selection. Why on earth this place has a michelin star is beyond me. It's everything we should be turning our back on in restaurants. Most hated: the waiter blatantly interrupting us mid conversation to routinely ask if everything was OK. If you want somewhere decent to eat in Surrey, try the French table in Surbiton - that's a cracker.

Dear all Just back from a trip to New York doing a fashion week build-up thing. In spite of the fact that the economy's tanking, everyone's stupid and the food is like Bristol in the 80s, it's still heaps of fun. Forget all the GR London, Waverly guff - more glamour & better food back here I'm afraid. What you can't do better in New York is BRUNCH. Now I'm willing to accept that the only reason I'm committed brunch is that it makes drinking at 11am acceptable, but I felt this time something special was at work here. I was at The Spotted Pig , an ecclectic place in the West Village with ex River Cafe chef April Bloomfield in charge. It's far too popular to bother with at night - I could barely get in the door earlier in the week (a no bookings policy, unless you're famous that is) - but well worth a look around midday. I improved my health with a delicious bloody Mary, then fired up a heavenly spicy beef hash with poached eggs. I even managed some pumpkin pancakes & chilli maple syrup, so taken was I with the sound of it. All with a gallon of the only decent coffee I had in the city all week. Best meal I've had for ages. Yeah I know we've got the Wolseley, but it's not what I mean. Something local, relaxed and not conforming to the whole lunch / dinner formule which frankly is a bit of a yawn by the time I get to the week-end. Somewhere you can wear your slippers, drink bucks fizz and they won't try to serve you a roast lamb dinner. What do you say London, can we brunch?* cheers Boo *probably need a better term though

I think the capital is a fantastic restaurant: intimate, authentic. The staff care & the kitchen delivers. All with a nice twist of old fashioned glamour. psst keep it to yourself though... best thing about it is the lack of nobby media types like me.

thanks a lot for the advice... I'm determined no to do my usual trick of drinking too much, forget where I've been, lose the menus and then make something up while I eat room service. New York's such fun, can't wait to get stuck in!

But I'm coming to New York to write about places they should go when they pretend to. I write a restaurant blog for vogue in the UK and have been asked to come to New York to preview fashion week. Obviously the main objectives of the trip are to sit around in your fancy hotel lobbies pretending I'm more interesting / richer than I am, but I guess I'll have to squeeze in a few restaurants too. So, what are the top3 I should visit in your lovely city? Memorable, stylish, quirky, interesting are all good. Something that reflects NY right now? Not bothered about something that's new just for the sake of it. Can't bear to go to Gordon Ramsay, we have far too much of him over here anyway. thanks a lot in advance, I'll be happy to reciprocate with anyone coming to London! Boo

Dear all I write a restaurant blog for vogue.com - (http://www.vogue.co.uk/blog/boos-reviews/) generally shepherding scary birds from C Nast around expensive restaurants and writing about shoes. I've been doing it for a year now, still largely clueless but having a blast and enjoying learning the ropes. I've been asked to write a piece on food in members' clubs, just gathering my thoughts & wondered if any recommendations? Over the past year or so I've tried: Groucho - mostly terrible. Restaurant upstairs sometimes okayish but they suffer with the kitchen being so far away. Brasserie is OK for a burger, but generally it's pricey and the service can be awful. Garrick - What a wine list (thanks AA Milne) but the food is just awful. Definitely don't expect to see many vogue readers under the stairs drinking port. Soho House - Of course you have to be wasted to go there in the first place, can't remember eating anything there but suppose I have. 2Brydges - do you know this place, at the back of the ENO? It's great fun, very charming - but aside from a couple of old school classics, pretty disappointing. Shoreditch House - Henry Higgins, ex-Racine dude heads it up now I think. I like his style, haven't eaten there yet though. Home House - best I found so far, was at a party there last week and had a wonderful suckling pig. outside London recommendations welcome too. Interested to know your thoughts on the whole club restaurant concept. The captive audience can really lower standards. Difficult to attract decent chefs to a place which is unlikely to get much exposure. The Ivy are doing it the other way around of course, with a members club opening upstairs in the Spring. Boo

Dear all Anyone made it to sake no hana yet? Guaranteed to make the wallet bleed I think. Hoping to get there later in the week, but obviously I'm looking to form a few early prejudices from other people's rants before I visit. Boo