Adrian York

Harwood is struggling to deal with its success. Had some great meals there pre Michelin star but since they received that accolade the service has gone downhill massively (in particular there is a very snotty French woman) and the kitchen is not as on its game as it was.

Sale e Pepe on Marco is the best restaurant on the island. It is a decent Italian with a great location, good wine list and pro staff. I took my mother for her birthday last year and we had a good time. I can't recommend anywhere else on the island at all.

Absolutely right about the olives. I went last Thursday (the 17th). We were a party of 6 from the UK. It was an extraordinary meal and a great time was had by all.

Thanks for your help Adrian

I'm off to Bruges/Brugge on Wednesday + family for a short stay. Can anyone recommend some great places to eat or point me to a comprehensive thread. Regards Adrian

Cacao Sampaka 100% rocks

The answer to this is (I think) pretty straightforward. The restaurant trade is by its very nature seasonal and this is the low season (apart from the Valentine's day this month and mother's day next month). After Xmas most punters need a break from overindulgence (clearly this doesn't apply to some egulleteers) and many are skint especially after January's tax bill (this applies to me!). Things will pick up in the spring. I work in restaurants/nightclubs/theatres between 4 and 7 times a week and see this every year. Personally I'm waiting to see if and when Joel Robuchon opens his London l'Atelier to show Atherton/Ramsay how it should be done.

Thanks for the advice and the links to the threads. They are extremely useful ( as usual) and no I'm not going by Eurostar but driving. I'm very interested in exploring the ethnic food scene in Paris as well as seeing if I can sneak a table @ one of the top end places so I think it is going tombe a lot of fun.

I'm going out with my family (wife, 2 relatively civilised teens, a 3 year old and my mum) to Paris this weekend and am looking for suggestions for high quality family friendly restaurants and food shops/markets in the 10th. Suggestions gratefully received. Thanks adrian

I can't say I'm suprised. Having gone there for my last birthday courtesy of an egullet competition freebie I was shocked by the service (an hour between courses!), the ill-thought out concept (DJs in the upstairs bar, the sound reverberating through the downstairs restaurant) and average food.

Andy,I had the croque monsieur and was rather underwhelmed by it. In a sense it typified my feelings about GRs style in that it was rather bland and lacking in the wit, adventure and intensity of taste that Heston B might have brought to the dish.

Busboy However bad it was for you let me assure you that for us non-accredited mortals who were officially not allowed to bring in our own supplies the experience was even worse. I don't/can't eat McDs and the other outlet provided food of such awfulness that on one occasion @ OAKA I broke into the volunteers restaurant with one of my daughters and at least got a Greek salad. The games have been fantastic; the weather, venues, renewed infrastructure and level of competition combining to create a fantastic experience, however when I tried to complain, specifically about lack of provision for non-meat eaters, it turned out that there was no outlet for this. Apperently the games is actually run by a US corporation. The food provided was similar to that one might get at a ball game and not suited to either the local population or the global tourist mix.

Thanks for that Anthony, I'll check out the website. Regards Adrian

Can anyone suggest somewhere suitable for my mum's 70th birthday in or around Athens. We wil be up to 20 people, Greeks and British with a very wide age -range, and I want somewher with a great food/atmosphere and view. Thanks, Adrian.

Fat Duck gossip. The pub they bought next door will continue as a pub but will give them more prepatation space. New a la carte menu in 2 weeks according to the Maitre d. I went for the first time last week and had all of Heston's greatest hits. For me it is a very British take on the MG approach using nostalgia and humour as a frame for fantastic cooking. I had a great time.

Good job busboy

I'd have thought a good London experience would be the Anchor and Hope gastropub for lunch preceded by a breakfast visit to Borough Market and then the afternoon at the Globe Theatre or Tate modern and then dinner at a South London Indian.

I haven't been to Sheekey's but for top-notch classic French fish cooking I can recommend Pascal Proyart's Restaurant One-0-One in Knightsbridge where I went for lunch last week. There were only 3 tables in and although the room decor is a bit weird and the service perfunctory, this is made up for by the quality of the cooking.

I've just had a mouthful of Cacao Sampaka's 100% cocoa chocolate....now that is bitter

Thanks Bux, I'll check that out. Cancale is not far from us. I have two teenage girls and a 2 year old boy but we have just returned from Barcelona and they had a great time at Can Majo, Le Boqueria e.t.c.

I am staying near St Lo (near Bayeux) in July for a few days with my wife and kids and would appreciate suggestions of where to eat at a variety of levels price/points, Thanks Adrian York

I found some in my garden this weekend, for free they were pretty good......

Reviewers such as Gill will often use techniques used in pop music journalism in the early 1980s by writers such as Paul Morley where the review turns into a baroque development of themes that are at best at a tangent and at worst completely unrelated to the subject under review. It is no coincidence that both Morley and Gill are failed authors. However those of us who have any relationship to the industry need to get real and accept that being prescriptive about reviewers is a waste of time. Consumers read reviews primarily for entertainment as most readers will not get to go to the places written about. I wonder if Jay could tell us what his editorial direction is and whether he could realistically fill his pieces with more detail about the food or whether it would start to read like an e-gullet report-great for obsessives like myself but maybe not for the casual reader!

I remember just after Racine opened there were are couple of negative reports on the site which did not reflect the quality of cooking and service that I had experienced at the same time so it is great to see it getting such a well-written rave review. I believe the reason that the restaurant is called Racine, however, is nothing to do with the tragedian, but actually to do with the meaning of the French word which is translated as root. I know that this was an important project for Eric Garnier as he wanted to reflect his family's culinary roots in a room that is the antithesis of the mega-brasseries (Quags and Bank) that he had become associated with.

Maybe there should be a seperate Mr Peng thread. Is he the only f-o-h person to sport an orange turtleneck married with a cricket sweater? His best line is, "have you had enough? Guilty or not guilty?" The nosh is however v. good with interesting use of chillies.