PhilD

Daniel has reopened the reservation book at the old site and he has some interesting innovationsis open for bookings

From Catersearch; looks like it could roll out nationwide.

Do you think a couple of sandwich bags and the hoover will be a good substitute for the professional vacuum-packing machine specified in the recipe...?

Most shops don't open on any Sunday, and yes a lot (if not all) will be closed on a holiday Monday.

← I assume that the chefs scored 1 to 8 points based on the judges ranking, and this will be added to the 1 to 8 points from the viewers ranking.

A visit to Padstow to do a couple of sections of the South Coast walk. A gruelling way to work up an appetite, especially the St Isaac to Rock section. We were in a pretty grim mood after missing the ludicrously early 5:30, and last ferry, from Rock by a couple minutes; then watching the ferry drop off passengers from Padstow before returning empty to Padstow and then having to wait until 7:00 until the water taxi started. I have little sympathy for the woes of the UK tourist industry after experiencing such great customer centric service! However, the trip to "Paul Ainsworth at No 6 Restaurant" restored our confidence in human nature and put really big smiles on our faces. I agree with Gary's comments; it is a very fine restaurant and deserves to do very, very well. The greeting is very friendly from a young waiting team , and the service is generally good, although they are a little inexperienced so there were a few slip-ups with punters waiting for plates to be cleared and delays ordering. We, however had no problems at all and I think when they get a little more confidence it will settle down. The restaurant is spread over a number of very modern, stylish and tastefully decorated rooms creating a good relaxed space. We found it difficult to choose from the menu as everything looked so good; so difficult I had to have two entrees. Every dish was really great, great flavours, good combinations and really well cooked. Paul Ainsworth delivers the plates to the tables himself, it is a very nice touch (hopefully not because he is short of staff). This restaurant is a "must try" for any visitor to Padstow, it is very good and up there with many one stars. Here is what we had (sorry the photographs are poor - low light): Asparagus soup with wild mushrooms and poached egg (£6.00): Pearl barley risotto with prawns, sweet-corn and parmesan crisps (£7.00): Salmon scotch eggs with a curry sauce (£8.00): Newlyn Cod with chickpea and chorizo salad with cockles and, I think garlic flowers (£14.00): Cornish Sea-bream with brown shrimps, mashed potato and spinach (£15;00): Espresso ice-cream (with space dust) with cinnamon doughnuts (£6:00): Chocolate mouse, caramelised banana and peanut butter ice-cream (£6:00): The previous night, we were also stuffed from another walk, but followed Gary's advice and had drinks at "Bin 2". The couple who run it are really friendly and made us feel very welcome. They have some good wines by the glass, plus you can have any bottle in the shop for a £6 corkage. We enjoyed a bottle of Givry which set us up very well. Dinner that night was at "Custard" (we always book so late we never get into Margot's) and it was fine; some really good bits, but a few misses in the cooking. A great mussel starter in cream and cider, asparagus and crispy poached egg that wasn't crispy with a mean serve of asparagus (4 stalks); for mains a good lamb loin but accompanied by a dried out confit of the shank, and my cod was overcooked but with nice peas and potatoes. A fine welsh rarebit to finish. The bill was £70 including a £20 bottle of wine, so it isn't too expensive; the food hits the spot, but they either need to take a little more care or be a little less ambitious in the menu.

I see the menu is dated 1st June. Does anyone know if it is open yet? (we are down that was at the weekend). ← He's there now Phil, give it a try, let us know what its like. ← We squeezed in a quick lunch at Nathan's new venture in Rock (Cornwall). It seems to be a soft start-up with Nathan's food coming out of the kitchen but the full launch isn't until June 1st. The restaurant is in the "St Enodoc Hotel" which is up the hill from the seafront. I understand the first restaurant is going to be simple, and the title says it all: Nathan Outlaws Seafood & Grill", and some time in the future the hotel may open a fine diner in another room. There is a good reason Rock is called "Chelsea on Sea", I suspect there there is a check point before you drive into town that weeds out small cars ad requires all males to turn up the collars on their polo shirts. The dining room on a wet bank holiday Monday was pretty full and the punters seemed very, very well heeled, which hopefully bodes well for a successful restaurant. It is probably targeted at this market because it is very expensive for quite simple food. We had eaten at "Paul Ainsworth at Number 6 Restaurant" (in Padstow) the previous evening and every course was cheaper, significantly more complex, and far better value, especially give the very limited nature of this lunch menu. The lunch menu was short, IIRC, 2 entrees, 3 mains, 3 desserts (including cheese), maybe when it gets into it's stride this will be broadened. Service was very good, the room is simple and nice, and overall we enjoyed the meal. I would be interested in giving it another shot when it is fully up and running. To start I chose a great watercress soup for my entree, with Nathan's signature lemon oil £6.00). It was great, the other option was Mussels in beer (I think): Next we both chose the steak and chips (it had been a fishy weekend), it was well flavoured and the chips were in the trice cooked style. Overall I should avoid ordering steak in the UK as generally expensive and not the best cut and even though this is well flavoured and well cooked it wasn't great (£17.50). I should have gone for the Cod with crab sauce, the other option was vegetarian: My partner had the Chocolate Tart and Clotted Cream is a very fine rendition (£6.50): I had the Rhubarb dessert was really great, good flavours in the ice cream and sauce (£6.50):

So what does this imply??? That Ramsay chefs are really not all that and are hiding their otherwise mediocre talent behind the Ramsay name??? Hmmm... At least I am one person who is of this opinion. Someone like Jason Atherton may be an exception to this rule. ← I was thinking that Ramsay chefs (current and past) are very well represented, so on a numbers basis you could argue that they represent a significant portion of the best talent in the UK. They make up 40% (or so) of the chefs on the programme; to me that means Ramsay must have 40% of the best chefs in the country, and therefore 40% of the top restaurants...! PS - I think this conclusion is as dodgy as judging chefs on such a flaky brief as "Taste of Home". The judges seem to vacillate from course to course on what the judging criteria are. IIRC last night Stephen had one of his dishes criticised because is "tasted too much of home"...! I have had chicken at a couple of GR restaurants and it has been outstanding each time. Simple but superb flavour and texture. Serious point: it is really great to see so much strength in depth across his restaurants, OK GR may be the main brand but he doesn't seem to be scarred of pushing other people across his team into the limelight. To me that is a good trait, letting good people show off their talents etc. OK it sometimes ends in tears i.e. Wareing, however I am a touch cynical about that, and think 99% of the Wareing/Ramsay spat is PR BS.

She (Emily Ludolf) went to Oxford to read English at Wadham College. She already had the place. According to the Daily Mail she doesn't seem to want to cook professionally but may write about food sometime in the future.

James is a sous chef at Bath Priory now. Michael Caines is exec and James Sheridan is his head chef. I am planning a trip soon, I wanted to give it a few months for Caines' influence to bed down after Chris Horridge moved on. James Nathan still does a bit of PR at food festivals, representing The Priory, he is at "Flavours of the West" in Bath on the 4th and 5th of July.

I see the menu is dated 1st June. Does anyone know if it is open yet? (we are down that was at the weekend).

It think its the complete opposite. In previous years, most chefs simply cherry picks their best 4 dishes on their restaurant's menu to showcase on GBM. If it wins and goes through, they have a cash cow on their hand. The BLT starter is a great example of this - it was on Jason's menu long before it was featured on the GBM. The fact that they changed the theme of this years show made it more than an inconvenience for the chefs, especially those cooking haute cuisine, while benefitting those who's style is more simplistic and rustic. Chefs in the former category could either design dishes from scratch or completely ignore the theme and just demonstrate their best 4 dishes for free publicity (e.g. Clifford, Bryne... and I suspect Welch). Designing a dish from scratch in itself tricky, because many great dishes are what they are through small evolutions from the original. ← I agree with the idea, it is good to shift them out of their comfort zones and see creativity. But, I fear the brief is far too loose; it is almost contradictory: a taste of home but also celebratory. The result is a strange compromise, dishes which don't quite work. I am all for getting them away from promotional cooking, I just wish the target wasn't so ambiguous. Better dishes today, but nothing to make me want to spend money. I have enjoyed Mark's food, he hit the spot with a perfect lunch for a family lunch including my aged dad, but I am afraid the editing (I assume) isn't doing him any favours...!

Another lacklustre round, this week is turning out to be a disapointment. My wife did say today "the only one think I really remember is that curried fish dish the Brummie did" sort sums it all up (although I was making a salmon curry at the time so it may have been a subliminal signal).

I found this great site with lots of Balti reviews by a guy called Chris, he had a mission to try all the Balti houses in the triangle. They are pretty good reviews and reasonably upto date. Looks like it answers my question, my local was Saleems (when I wasn't at the Paris Sweet Centre in Alum Rock Road), especially after a trip to see the Au Pairs at the Fighting Cocks in Moseley - happy days.

Absolutely. I just need someone to help me develop a black pudding jalfrezi ← Bugger authenticity: pass me another serve of the black pudding jalfrezi and I'll have another pint of Robinson's Unicorn to wash it down....!

A few thoughts (based on the article and comments): The "El Bulli" empire is far more than one restaurant. They operate a hotel and other restaurants as well as consulting and product businesses. El Bulli (the restaurant) may be a loss leader, but it is probably the icon that drives the Adria brand and allows him to generate a lot of money from the range of diversified businesses. I ate at his Tapas bar and thought it was very traditional. Adria has a lot of respect for heritage and delivering quality. If they decide to open a pizza place it will be good. Part of the MG (I hate the term) ethos is to understand how dishes become the famed dishes they are. A good example is Heston's "In Search of Excellence" book and TV show. How to take a classic dish, deconstruct it, reassemble using different techniques and then offer an improved or different take of a dish. Are they really going to open a pizza place, or is this research into a style of cooking? I love the nurture/nature idea. Obviously having the ability to cook pizza in your blood or soul is preposterous, but is the years of experience article not equally flawed? I understand that it takes time to learn how to cook a dish, it then takes a little time to refine it and become very adept. But this isn't a linear gain; you don't get 100% better each year, i.e. after 10 years you are 1000% better. So in theory (simply as an example) it may be a geometric progression i.e. you may actually get 80% better in the first year; another 80% in the next year, so now 96% better than when you started; then another 80% improvement so now 99.2% better than when you started. Thus after quite a short period of time you get pretty close to as good as you will get. Unless of course you are very inquisitive, go back to basics and deconstruct a dish and then put it back together. That would be an interesting step change. But I wonder if Ed's Hog BBQ was as good as it was going to get a couple of years after he started or has it really been a product of decades of experience? (after all a lot of chefs peak in the mid-careers).

Cabs are not too expensive, and easy to get even for the return journey; and far safer than driving. Especialy as the Sommelier at Mugaritz is worth testing, she often gives very interesting recommendations.

....and of course all those British people eating in British restaurants in Spain. A good tried and trusted way to spot a good restaurant

They all have a strong Ramsay connection; it will interesting to see the differences and simlarities..

But does Nigel actually cook anymore? I thought another post said he didn't. From what I saw of the restaurant on TV I suspect they are set up for the clientele he targets and are not really a good showcase/reflection of his true cooking talent, more a reflection of his business acumen.

He's got some work yet to do if he wants to reach the dizzying heights of 2008's official 'wa.ker' chris horridge. Even then, he was painted badly by the producers. ← I note that Chris is no longer at Bath Priory (Michael Caines is now exec). I think Chris has gone to Waldo's at Clivden. I always wondered if the two were connected. Another of our local contestants Elisha Carter (Charlton House) has also moved on. Does anyone know were he went? GBM works for some (Sat, Jason, Glynn etc), but obviously not for all.

You are correct; the FD doesn't allow flash and they will tell you (not me one of my dining companions). Glad you enjoyed the meal. Surprised your wife wasn't full after the meal. It was certainly enough for me....although a few cheeky halves in the Hinds Head may have helped...! Agree that it is a once only experience. That is why I hope that in dropping the ALC the tasting menu will be revamped and get fresher. I didn't go with my partner and I am under some pressure to to take her, but I can't summon up the enthusiasm for a repeat (although I loved the first one). A question: I have a good friend who is taking his veggie partner. Anyone had any experience of a FD veggie meal?

I wonder if Saleem's was the sweet centre we used to go to in the late '70's when we shared a short life house (£2 a week rent) near the corner of Stratford and Ladypool Road. Did Saleem's have pictures of wrestlers on the wall or was that Adil's? I am planning a trip back to Brum to see how it has changed since those days and plan to get a good curry, so two questions: Which balti house would be recommend for the old style meat, chicken, mince, or veg curry served mild, medium or hot...? Which are the best upmarket/modern Indians in Brum...?

If you wanted to be pedantic it would probably be more accurate to describe the dish as 'Wild garlic risotto, and snails in red wine sauce". However, we were enjoying the food so much we missed that detail.

Jay Rayner and Dos Hermanos have both give this little pub good reviews in the recent past week. Amongst other restaurants; Guy, the chef, is ex Chez Bruce, and Per Se, and his wife Brittany is a highly qualified pastry chef who is also ex- Per Se, and Allen & Delancey. This pedigree really shows on the plate with really first class food. Every element of each dish is good, and you can taste the pedigree of their cooking in every mouthful. The bill was approx £90 for two with a very quaffable bottle of Kiwi "Mudhouse" Pinot. The pub is in the wilds of Wiltshire in a village called East Chisenbury, near Pewsey. The The Red Lion website has all the directions. Jay mentions the patchy service in his article. Our service was good (although I wouldn't recommend that Jay returns - the FOH staff have sharpened implements at the ready). We will return as soon as we can - it was great. Here are some photo's: Pig's head croquettes with sauce gribiche and green bean salad Nettle soup with butter poached Wiltshire crayfish: Steamed fillet of bream with cockles, razor clams, bacon and beurre blanc: Wild garlic risotto with snails and red wine sauce: Banana sponge with candied macadamia, pineapple and avocado ice cream: Valrhona chocolate cream with olive oil ice cream and pine nut sable: