Food Snob

I agree £120 is a lot for the Ledbury. I feel that I enjoyed my experience more than you did yours. However, I did personalise the tasting menu quite significantly! My favourite dishes were the mackerel, grouse and venison, but you must have had lamb and foie gras with the mackerel. How did you find the sea bass or have you completely forgotten it? Food Snob

Cheers, Che. I definately agree with that. Let us know how it goes! Food Snob

Hi Che, I was there myself last Friday and recommend it. I also thought you may like to see the write-up: The Ledbury Critique I don't think the online menu has been fully updated yet (they changed it just last week), but you can see some of the newer dishes in the post. (e.g. passion fruit soufflé is now raspberry, sea bass has replaced turbot, etc). Bon Appétit, Food Snob

Hi J, Sounds...interesting. I like exotic, I like trying new things, but only if they actually work. Putting random ingredients on a plate and labelling it exotic, creative, fusion, etc is just foolish... BTW everyone, for the record, my original post was to find out what new openings are planned for THE FUTURE, not to ask people's opinons on those restaurants which have already recently opened... Food Snob

Precisely lol Agree with your Darroze comment. Regarding Andaman, it's still early - it has not even officially opened. For that reason, I think it a little harsh to judge it. You are right about the cuisine and also concept (open kitchen) probably being more original back home than here... I hope you're wrong about Ambassade though; the decor may be somewhat suspect, but as much as everyone seems to hate it, they love the food. I also feel that AA is too 'serious' about his cooking to let his restaurant be used as a club/lounge. Though, bear in mind, there are some serious big French guns backing Ambassade, therefore, there may not be the same pressure as there would otherwise be... Food Snob

Thought that too!! I asked the maitre d' at the time, but he returned with only a mumble about how they work well togerther..... Food Snob

I picked the dishes myself, ordering a 4-course Amuse menu plus an additional starter and main from the clasic selection (pea-mint soup and cod)...but reflecting on it, it was rather 'badly' structured (by me). That said, I do have a penchant for seafood though and I was also influenced by Muller's reputation for seafood and soups - actually, normally I would not even consider ordering soup! I have had the same thoughts as you regarding the bad-timing of these high-end openings, but I think the reason is that such restaurants have probably been in the pipeline for a very long time and were at a stage where it was too expensive to delay/cancel their plans. For example, I think Ansanay-Alex began planning Ambassade two years ago. Food Snob

Please share some...

Hi, I recently had a pretty decent meal at the new Andaman by Dieter Müller. The menu is basically an ALC and a multiple choice, small dish tasting menu, which does actually work well. Dishes were simple, but had the occasional nice twist; the food was surprisingly intense wth flavour; and service was good. It's only the soft opening right now, with the official one in a week or two. What I would actually like to find out though, was whether anyone knows of any interesting new restaurants that are soon to open...for example, I believe another German, Joachim Wissler of Vendome, is planning one. Cheers, Food Snob

I have been away recently and missed a lot of the more recent openings, but I can suggest Ambassade de l'Ile, which opened fairly recently (July). In my opinion, the cooking here is excellent and menu always interesting. Food Snob

Hi, I have had a couple of meals at Locanda Locatelli and Zafferano and one at l'Anima over the summer and these are my thoughts on these. I found LL better for main courses, both fish and meat. The fish dishes were consistently disappointing at Zafferano. For pasta, Zafferano is the better: comparing the linguine lobster dishes at both restaurants for example, Zaff was noticeably better cooked. Though, that said, the pasta is good at both with the biggest difference in my opinion being that at LL the pasta is more 'pristine'/refined, whilst at Zaff it is more rustic/coarser as if cut by hand (hope this is clear! lol). Anitpasti is good at both, but I have only tried one at Zaff, so cannot really compare. Desserts - the tiramisu at Zaff is amazing, but apparently it is the exact same recipe employed at LL. The bread at LL is also great and knocks the socks off Zaff's offering. I like the service and atmosphere at LL more also. Couple more minor niggles I have with Zaff are that the tables are TINY and there is a hidden £15 charge for canapes (salami, foccacia and parmesan cheese). Price wise, I seem to spend the same at both. However, if you go to Zaff at lunch, the same menu is offered as at dinner with 4-courses for £40 instead of the evening £55. l'Anima is quite different. The food here is more focused on southern Italian classics. It hasn't the same reputation as the other two, but it is very new. The restaurant itself is gorgeous and the food accomplished. The starters really stood out as did the ice cream. Hope this helps. Some of the reviews are illustrated here: Food Snob