Harters

Thanks for the mention of the Loaf. I've had it on my list for ages and kept putting it off - even though there's now one just down the road in Didsbury. Perhaps we should start a thread of good affordable places south of the river (and, yes, I know Didsbury isnt).

Closure is now being reported by Manchester Confidential. And they are also reporting the closure of Brasserie Blanc. http://www.manchesterconfidential.com/inde...=Juniper_closes This is not a good week for the area's eating. And I'm also miffed I never got to go.

Looking at my notes, Mrs H had an Austrian dessert wine which was almost as good as her "best ever" glass of wine mentioned upthread.

I really rate Jem&I. Partly because it's just down the road and means I don't have to schlep into Manc for decent food. My current "best" south of the city centre. Havnt been to the Church Green yet. I take it he's settled into it now?

Any dinner recs. in Richmond or immediate area for the solo diner? I visit the National Archives for a few days on a couple of occasions a year and am always on the look-out. Recently very impressed with the Bingham and decidedly underwhelmed by Chez Lindsay. And I know I can always get a reasonably good steak at the Gaucho or Kew Grill.

Weren't there "money people" somewhere behind Paul Kitching? And, if correct, presumably they are still there?

Yep. Review at eggbaconchipsandbeans And, if you were fancying the Thai, just up the number of dishes. Mrs H & I shared three starters, two mains plus the salad and both sticky & ordinary rice. A really good feed, without waddling away feeling stuffed.

Forgot to ask yesterday - has anyone been to Nigel Howarth's latest pub venture (Clog & Billycock at Pleasington)?

Mrs W If Thai fitted the bill, I'd suggest Chaophyra. Lots of lighter stuff amongst the fish and salads, so long as you avoid the "Chinese" type of dishes. Staff are very good at advising what's what. Restaurant's on the first floor then you can move to the downstairs bar to start getting ratted. Say a starter of Yam Nua Yang Saranae - rare beef & salad which, interestingly, has a quite a lot of mint. Then , perhaps, a main of Plapao – chargrilled sea bass, stuffed with Thai herbs. Heavy on the basil and with a dipping sauce comprised mainly of fish sauce. This was a spankingly fresh piece of fish and easily the best dish of the evening (last April). And the simplest. Have that with a classic Som Tum salad and some sticky rice.

Funny you mention being patronised - I looked up them up on TripAdvisor for the "hotel" part and there were a number of posts about snooty service. No sign of any male maitre'd last night. The chef's wife/partner was running front of house for a while but I don't think she stayed around after everyone was seated. The three waiters were spot on - it was a formal service, which I think you'd expect in a place like that, but it wasn't at all off-putting. The guys were very happy to engage with you. John

Lunch at the Highwayman today (somewhat stuffed after the "full English" L'Enclume brekkie). Is it a gastropub or just a pub that does really good food? Well, with Nigel Haworth as owner, it’s probably somewhere in between. What it certainly is, is a pub that celebrates local produce and then cooks it well. We started with a couple of the “nibbles” on the menu. A plate of sausages – two each of Old Spot, Cumberland and black pudding, with a mustard dip. This was good. Very good. The other nibble was a selection of Highwayman dips – black pea, marrowfat pea and preserved cherry tomatoes, and some good bread. Tomatoes were very good (and with a lot of leftover thyme flavoured olive oil to dip into as well); the two pea dips not so good being a bit underflavoured. One main was Bowland Lamb Hotpot with red cabbage, of course. A plentiful portion of long cooked very lamby lamb with a good crispy potato topping. The pickled red cabbage appeared home made. The other main was a veal rump steak supplied by local “food hero” Farmer Sharp. It’s not often you see veal steak on a menu – it should be there more often if this was anything to go by. It came with a grilled field mushroom and a few sprigs of watercress. And a bowl of excellent chips (cooked in dripping, of course). And, to show this place has no pretensions but a commitment to quality, when I asked for vinegar for the chips, it came in the Sarsons bottle! I’d also got a side order of cauliflower cheese which went well – the cheese sauce baked on the cauli a little but the cauli still retaining a little bite. Good lunch all round.

Went last night. And, as mentioned on the previous post, they had been very generous in "making things right" for dinner and the overnight stay. When a place acts in this way, it gives you a very warm (and well-placed) feeling towards them. Our first eating-out of the year and what a way to start 2009. From start to finish this was superb, innovative cooking – even if not every dish was a WOW! And service throughout was friendly, knowledgable and efficient. I don't drink these days, but Mrs H tells me they had a good wine list - although she was disappointed that the half bottles were all French. And, as always, she notes that it is a pain to try to match wine to long tasting menus. Three menus are offered and we went for the middle one at £70 and offering 13 courses. The £50 one just didn’t seem to offer enough of the experience to justify the 90 minute drive and overnight stay. On the other hand, the £90 one just seemed a bit too much overload. But menus like this are a nuisance for reviewing – you can never remember what you’ve eaten so notes are essential. But there’s the dilemma. Do you leave your notepad blatantly on the table and scribble away, or do you work more discreetly? We opted for discretion so, of course, not everything is recorded but, as best we can recall, this is what we ate (with menu description): - Tamarillo “martini” fizz – a martini glass with tamarillo juice, topped with a foam with a olive shaped piece of tamarillo jelly skewered on a pick. A salty coconut biscuit accompanied. Fun start. - Cod “yolk” crispies – puffed rice and a saffron jelly (the yolk) and a cod cream. Textures and colour was better here than flavour. Nice but not a WOW. - Egg drop hot & sour soup – an excellent clear broth, well flavoured with ginger and coriander, with semolina in the bottom of the bowl, cubes of tofu and shrimp. A syringe of pasteurised egg yolk is squirted into the soup to provide the egg ribbons. Great dish – we want a recipe for the broth/ginger/coriander part, it’d be just what you want if you were feeling under the weather! - Surf & turf – a few “lumps” of smoked eel and shredded belly pork. Each “lump” sat on beetroot sauce and topped with violet mustard jelly. A wonderful dish – to do a Greg Wallace, it was deep, it was savoury, it was …..even if it was a tad difficult to eat with the tea spoon. - Razor role reversal – jasmine tea smoked egg – presented in a razor clam shell. The razor clam in broth presented in the egg shell. A fun idea but we weren’t too keen on the tastes here (nothing wrong with it – just didn’t particularly fancy it) - At this point, the menu served shredded foie gras but it’s something neither of us eat so we got a great replacement. A thin slice of lamb with white chocolate risotto and a citrus sauce. The lamb hot; the risotto and sauce cold. Good contrast. Possibly my partner’s favourite dish of the evening. - Squid ravioli and vodka – squid risotto in between two discs of squid jelly, forming a raviolo. A couple of rings of plain squid; a few shards of squid crisp, squid mousse. Vodka and apple foam. Masterful! - Chick o’hake in verjus – hake cheek topped with crispy chicken skin, with some fennel and pine nuts. Great piece of fish, the chicken skin seemed odd but worked really well as did the sour verjus sauce. My favourite dish. - Hotpot – deconstructed ingredients brought a clear lamb broth with “balls” of potato, red cabbage and onion. I’m sure there must be a proper cheffy word for these “balls” – what I mean are the now fashionable serving of liquids which have been treated so they form a skin allowing them to be picked up and which then burst in the mouth. We first had these in Catalonia a few years back and wonder if they are an El Bulli invention? Anyway, the broth was well flavoured, the “balls” less so. An oyster beignet sat on the side. . - LA11 venison, orange and clove – LA11? What’s that, we thought. The waiter reminded us this was the restaurant’s postcode and that the venison had come from nearby. Superb piece of venison. We found the taste of cloves in the orange sauce to be overpowering and somewhat spoiled what was otherwise a fine plate of food. Alongside was piece of pumpkin topped with tamarind which was fine. A dish that could have been much nicer. - Expearamenthol frappe – back to the clever menu descriptions! Poached pear, topped with eucalyptus mousse and coffee crumbs. Served in a coffee cup and looking like cappuccino. Great fun and great taste. - Sticky tacky pudding – deconstructed ingredients of Cartmel’s claim to food fame. “Balls” again – sponge, vanilla, date, caramel. We’re advised to eat them in the right order but quickly. Another fun idea but one that doesn’t work if you’re a tad slow in getting all the balls into your mouth at once, so to speak. - Violets and yuzu. A yuzu mousse (which was nicely citrus), with a violet crisp, A few blobs of yuzu jelly and a sprinkling of violet “fizz”. Didn’t feel this one really came together too well. Perhaps a case of more being less? We had coffee and petits fours which, nice as they were, just didn’t seem that right to go with coffee – lemon grass icecream; tiramisu mousse; olive oil jelly (although this was fab in itself) and a couple of others which were more “right”.

I guess trying to meet your preferences of city centre, highish-end and French-inspired, I'd suggest the French at the Midland Hotel. It's a classic high-end hotel dining room (and the last place to hold a Michelin star in the centre - it's some time back, though). Some folk regard it as old-fashioned; I prefer to think of it as a Grande Dame. Anyway, here's my notes from our meal last August: The Midland Hotel stands as a symbol of Manchester’s wealth and influence during its Edwardian Belle Epoque. And the restaurant – the French – is at its heart. As somewhere that has stood the test of time, it seemed appropriate to celebrate our 36th anniversary here. The oval room is just off the main lobby and bar area – sufficiently far away for the pianist to be only (but pleasant ) background music. Service is formal and very attentive – perhaps a little too attentive. Is it really necessary for staff to thank diners each and every time some small part of their duty is carried out. As we read the menu and sip an aperitif, bread arrives. “Arrives” is the right word, as it’s a trolley laden with different loaves, from which thick slices are cut. Tomato & olive and a blue cheese one are particularly gutsy. Then a clever amuse. A wafer thin slice of tuna – cooked ever so briefly on both sides that it remained raw in the middle – salad nicoise garnish with quail egg. Cauliflower soup came with a rarebit beignet. Well seasoned and creamy but with the taste of cauliflower showing through. The beignet matching its cheeseiness to the soup. Classic flavour combination. The other starter, described as a “tarte fine”, was a thin disc of puff pastry, topped with field mushrooms, pea shoots and a fired quail egg. Good crisp pastry. Very mushroomy mushrooms. The shoots providing a texture change more than adding flavour. The single fried egg adding nothing of significance. We opted for the restaurant’s signature main course dish of Chateaubriand. Classic old-fashioned dish, classically served – being carved at the table. Generous portion of very fine fillet. Thick béarnaise with a good tarragon hit. A tower of fondant potato and a few green and broad beans with some peas – all very summery. In these days of the “modern British” menu, it was good to see this available. And it seemed that at least half of the other diners had thought the same. There was a 20 minute wait for the raspberry soufflé to be prepared. Good flavour if slightly overcooked. The accompanying raspberry ice-cream was delicious. The other dessert brought a custard tart, with nutmeg ice-cream and mini Eccles cakes. Good custard but the pastry needed a tad longer cooking. Ice-cream was, again, superb. Eccles cakes seemed a bit pointless. We finished with coffee which came with chocolate petit fours. These were not good examples of the art being merely sweet. Including for the aperitifs and a half bottle of Cotes du Rhone, the bill came to £130. We were happy to add a 10% tip.

Not sure if that's the case, Phil. I thought the two stars had gone with Claude from Ludlow to London as it was, in effect, simply a relocation to different premises. Of course, he then lost one this time last year.

Ate at Meltons three, maybe four, years back and thought it perfectly fine. Not a WOW place but, as Gary says, good cooking. I gather they now have a second place (Meltons 2?) that's less up-market.

A mate tells me that the "Fish & Chicken Inn" used to be very good under a previous ownership. But not now.

Alan The "Hi-Life Club" operates in my area, offering 2 for 1 meals for a subscription of fifty quid. I havnt direct experience of it, as I was put off by a pal who complained about the restrictions on when you can eat (it's the Tuesday at 6pm "early diner" scenario). I may, of course, be doing it an injustice as this was a couple of years back John

Happy to accept that the "problem" is the tosser who runs the company. He appears unable to grasp how the menu/image can be updated without alienating significant numbers of existing customers whilst bringing in new ones. If I was Heston, I'd have told them to stuff it by now (which is what he appeared to do at the end of last night's prog). Actually, I tell a lie there - for the three hundred grand that's on offer, I'd have sold my sister as well.

Granville Arms, Barford, Warwicks (a couple of minutes off Junction 15, M40). Stopped here a couple of times for lunch (found it on www.fiveminutesaway.co.uk). Newish owners trying to make food a "significant thing". Roasts on a Sunday; wider bistro-ish menu through the week. Next time I'm having the "doorstep sandwich" that the next table was eating. Big pieces of bread, crammed with what looked like very nice ham, bit of salad on the side; came with a separate bowl of chips that I wanted to thieve.

Surely this is not a "problem". Little Chef customers are going to fall into one of two groups. First group are the ones who are driving along that road and who are existing customers. They want a coffee, cooked breakfast and a pee and know they are going to find it here as opposed to, erm, probably not finding it. I'm in that group. The second group are the ones driving along that road who are not existing customers. They also want a cooked breakfast but don't currently stop because they think it'll be crap. If they think isnt, they'll stop. "Something simple, done well". Sounds like good "diner food". Folk on the other side of the pond manage it very well (as well as a lot of crap diner food, I know).

Two in Cheshire: Boot Inn @ Kelsall Duke of Portland @ Lach Dennis Both "dining pubs" rather than your full "gastro", if you see what I mean. The Boot is very much a proper pub; the Duke a bit more restauranty. In Manchester - Mr Thomas' Chop House in the city centre (the pubby cousin of the more restauranty Sam's Chop House) and, in the southern suburb of Didsbury, the Royal Oak. The Oak is locally famous for its extremely substantial cheese, pate or pork pie lunches. Nothing else is served. They offer doggy bags for lightweights who can't manage the quantity.

You can't go wrong with a Hartley Now owned by Robinson's (Stockport's finest)

I'm passing through Dover in the not too distant and, much as I'd like to go over to Whitstable, I don't really want to add another 45 minutes drive to my already long journey (both ways). So I'm looking for somewhere closer. Past experience indicates that Dover itself appears to have nothing worthwhile (unless I've missed a gem) but a nosy at the GFG suggests the restaurant at the Wallet's Court Hotel just up the road at St Margaret's and the Yew Tree at Barfeston might suit. Does anyone have knowledge of either, please? Or anywhere else nearby, of course.

Indeed - and I'm surprised (and disappointed) to see "Jem & I" on that list.

Very well deserved star for Marc at Fraiche. Cracking meal there a few months back. Also pleased to see Hibiscus get its second back.