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The day after Hedone we went to The Ledbury. The Ledbury is my favourite place to eat and this was another fantastic lunch. We ate Foie tartlets. Tiny and both delicate and rich, lightened with a little fruit. pictured elsewhere on the thread. Saint-Nectaire Truffle Toast. This is such a good thing to eat. Chantilly and Tartare of Cornish Oysters with Frozen Horseradish and Dill. I love oyster and this is great. We did share half a dozen oysters and a ginger pig sausage roll for breakfast too! Roast Scottish Scallop with Lobster Puree, Grilled Leeks and Riesling. Possibly the largest scallop I have eaten. Cooked perfectly and tasted as good as it looked. A Plate of Root Vegetables with Hazelnuts, Lardo di Colonatta and Roasting Juices. A simple-ish, tasty plate of seasonal good things. Not in focus - I blame the phone - sorry! Sea Bass with Broccoli Stem, Crab and Black Quinoa Breast of Quail with Walnuts, Cepes and Pear Roe deer, boudin and marrow with beetroot and red leaves Short Rib of Ruby Red Beef with Smoked Onion,Pickled Walnuts and Grated English Wasabi English wasabi and sharkskin grater We shared some excellent cheese Pre dessert sea buckthorn and meringues And for dessert we ate Mille-Feuille of Mango, Vanilla and Kaffir Lime Blackcurrant and Vanilla Tart with Blackcurrant Leaf Ice Cream and another ofThinly Sliced Figs with Ewes Milk Yoghurt and Fig Leaf Ice Cream I could go on about how good each plate was. I wont. It was all great. Service was great, food delicious and the wine (chosen by the sommelier) was perfect too. I have eaten here a few times over the past twelve months. I cant wait to go back.

http://www.northcote.com/special_events/festival2013.html Obsession 2013 Not sure the link works at the moment. Bookings go live today.

It would be nice if they tried to make better 'coffee based drinks' first. Genrally high street places serve such disgusting kak it makes no difference what they choose to call it. I do my best to avoid them - although I will give pret a go when all else fails. Compared to Monmouth or Dose or Bluebottle (I am sure ther are many other worthy places too) most high street coffee is best left in its miserable shop.

Lunched at Hedone on Saturday. We ate the tasting menu and sat at the counter. I like counter seating and enjoyed the food. We ate from the tasting menu at £55 at lunch. The other options ranged from a no choice three course lunch for £23, alc £35 - £45 for three or four courses. We got Crab and Grapefruit amuse Cevennes Onions with Pear Shavings Wild Dorset Turbot with Potato Skin Emulsion and Beef Juices Cuttlefish Tagliatelli with its Ragu Hare a la Royale, mushroom ravioli Roasted Breast and Leg of Squab, Cepes and Rowan Berries Lemon Variations Chocolate Bar We drank by the glass some rose Champagne, Riesling and Beaune. I suppose the booze was a little pricey but the not bad value for the quality. The sourdough wasn’t bad either! I enjoyed this all. The pear and onion was a little bit dull, perhaps, although the lemony butter sauce was very good. The squab was excellent as was the hare (caramelised leg meat was so good) although the rowan berries were quite stunningly tart. I also liked the beef juices with the turbot. The fish was nicely golden and the beef juices were great. The fish was a little bit little but not too tiny. I love turbot and would happily eat it by the lb. I was a little less keen on the cuttlefish although I ate the lot. Chocolate bar was good and much more interesting than it was on my first visit. Lemon variations was nice too. Phone pics are a bit dull - sorry - but you get the idea.

http://www.elizabethonfood.com/content/1345/2/What%27s_eating_A.A._Gill%3F.html Read this today

They have had KT places for the last few nights through twitter – today included. I notice that lunch is no longer available on the website and dinner is two services not three (I think three sittings were advertised previously). I was hoping to go for lunch. I will give dinner a try sometime unless lunch is doable in the future when things bed in.

Two for pennyhill park, one for Hinds head, one for Paul Ainsworth in Padstow.

Glad you liked it. It is a nice little town. As I said above, it is well worth an evening trip from Rome if you are in the area, or even a few nights if you are travelling in Italy as you can get into Rome in half an hour then retreat into the relative calm of Frascati.

We had a week in Frascati at the end of August. We have been here a few times and stay at Villa Grazioli. It is handy for Rome but it is a different place. I like Frascati. It has plenty of casual places to eat and drink well and for quite little money. I have stayed in Rome a few times but I find the slower pace in Frascati more relaxing not to mention the difference in prices. Trattoria Al 19 is always busy. They do what they do quite well. We ate here a few times. Fritto misto - assorted vegetables and salt cod. Pasta with hare Prousciutto and figs Shoulder of lamb Veal chop The outside dining area at AL 19 Service is efficient and they looked after us quite well. Another place we frequent is Cantina Bucciarelli. This is excellent value for money. Litres of wine are E5 - pastas E7 and other items range in price but I dont think there is anything more that E7 or 8. Antipasti del casa - Pig in various forms, cheese and olives Caprese - simple, fresh and tasty Simple pastas There are about four or five places doing food on this road. They mostly do similar food and share an excellent view over Rome at night. There are a number of places who set up in squares or the road side selling wine and simple food. There are also a number of porchetta vendors not to mention the take out pizza places. I would say it is worth an late afternoon trip from Rome for an evening of drinking and eating. The train takes about 30 minutes and I think the last train back to Rome is at about 22.30 giving plenty of time for a good evening. There are a couple of more 'proper' restaurants like Cacciani or Neff for a more expensive dinner too. We did eat in Cacciani on this trip and on past trips; it has been very good although on this occasion we were not to impressed with our very well done chicken main - the starters and pastas were good though and they had some very interesting wines for quite little money.

I just attempted to get a Monday lunch in late October here. Nothing until January reservations go live in October!

Golden plums, foie gras and bitter leaves ( possibly chard). It wasn't hung too long so was quite light but very tasty. I do have a pic or two but my phone is a pain in the arse so will add more another time.

I ate one in the ledbury today. Really good.

I read that Eric Chavot is to re emerge at the Westbury. Presumably not in place of Alyn Williams. I had a very nice bit of lunch once in the Capital hotel when Eric Chavot was chef. I suppose that it may be a bit like a Bistro Bruno type place - although I have no real idea. Anyone else heard anything?

http://www.caterersearch.com/blogs/guide-girl/2012/08/simon-rogan-scores-1010-in-the-good-food-guide.html Top 50

Ristorante Cracco Dinner at Cracco Peck as it was then known was something we considered the last time we were in Milan (2005) but we decided against it as we were travelling on to Barcelona and decided that we could do a lot more with the money in Catalonia. On Friday evening we popped in to Peck for a wine or two in the cellar then to the very convenient and very nice Ottimomassimo for some free wifi and a beer. Sitting there we glanced across the street and there was Ristorante Cracco so we popped in to see what was on offer. They had a table available and lots of interesting sounding food so the decision was made. The menu had three tasting options and a la carte options. Quite a lot of choice. We opted for the largest tasting – the modern cooking. There was quite a lot of food, some excellent, some not quite to my taste but none at all bad. I may not have every item described fully as I don’t take notes and there was a lot of food. We started with a selection of dried vegetables, crisp, tasty and vibrantly colourful. This was followed by as plate of very good canapés, then a selection fried items. This was a very good start with fresh clean flavours, light and very delicious. Next came Seitan bread, red roses, tuna bottarga and rocket. A lighter than light bread topped with salad, as before very light and flavoursome. The first plate proper was Oyster, fig pulp and sage butter. This was very good. Sweet and savoury. A few plates share this characteristic. Watermelon salad with melon, sea scallop and sea truffles. Possibly the best scallops I have ever eaten. The rest of the items were also good. Nothing was left behind. Steamed red shrimps, hazelnuts with elderberry tea. The shrimps were excellent, not so keen on the nuts. They got a bit overpowering after a couple and the texture was quite soft. Baby calamari with black squid ink, cannellini beans and duck tongues. This was a good plateful. The squid dried ink became a sauce as the calamari and duck tongue yielded moisture. Duck tongue was a first. Almost seared foie gras in texture but with a delicate duck flavour. I really liked this dish. Lightly baked sea bream over crunchy hazelnut sheet. We were instructed to eat the fish and the sheet separately, so we did. The sheet was hot and the idea, I think, was that the hot sheet would lightly cook the fish. Can’t say I was convinced. The fish was nice. The sheet was hot and sweet and although not unpleasant, a bit too sweet at this point for my tastes. It didn’t seem to me that other than providing heat the sheet played any part. Marinated salmon and foie gras. One of the simplest looking dishes imaginable but very delicious. The salmon was really flavoursome. Cold smoked / marinated with a host of aromatics (they did explain but I can’t recall). Marinated egg yolk spaghetti with garlic, extra virgin olive oil and chillie. Possibly my favourite dish of the night. The way it was explained sounded like the egg yolks are salt cured then when the correct consistency is achieved pasta is made. No flour. Taste and texture and the how did they do that moment in terms of both the concept and execution. “Acids” This was a quite complex arrangement of acidic bit and pieces. A ltiile like something called seeds I ate in El Bulli a few years ago. The “misread” Milano. A take on veal Milanese. Another simple looking dish. It was nice but lacking the wow of the better plates. In the context of a multicourse meal the lightness of touch is welcome although I am not so sure I would liked to have got this as a starter over three courses. Spit-roasted pigeon breast, raspberry and chervil. A very good pigeon dish. The breast came with a very tasty confit leg and thigh. All good stuff. Strawberry sorbet with black olives. Pre dessert. Sweet strawberries as sorbet and fresh, salty olive finely chopped through a crumble type thing. Peach dessert with amaretto and blueberries. A good dessert. Not as impressive as some of the savoury cooking and in the context of this meal perhaps another dessert course would have been a good idea. Krice. A slightly peculiar crisp rice, biscuit thing. It came in a little plastic packet and looked very interesting, it was ok but I can’t say I entirely understood. Finally came dried fruits, petits fours and sugared and coco dusted nuts. The cooking is refined, light and elegant. Service is very well drilled, not overly chatty but not cold either. There was a little atmosphere although it was quite hushed with the exception of a table of three possibly Russian people who clinked glasses every few minutes. They were drinking cristal then a few bottles of white wine. I should think their booze bill entitled them to clink as they saw fit. I seem to remember hearing the sommelier say that champagne by the glass was Dom Perignon. There was not much in the way of budget booze. We bought a non wine list Italian sparkling rose on the say so of the sommelier. It was good, although I have no idea what it was, it was the final bottle in the cellar and went down nicely.

Al Pont De Ferr This is a quite interesting place to eat. Lunch prices start at about e10 for pasta or salads and if you pick this menu there are carafes of wine available at very reasonable prices too. There are a few menu options at lunch, we went for the small tasting menu on this occasion. We were in two minds what to do on Monday and contemplated a return to Lake Como or a visit to Bergamo and a last minute email to Da Vittorio but we decided against these options in favour of Al Pont De Ferr. We walked from Duomo and booked a table then went for coffee and for a stroll. The area (Navagli) is a bit of a mixed bag, some bits quite nice others not so. We ate Amuse of chilled carrot puree like a thick soup in a small cup. This came with a lozenge of olive gel type stuff filled with veal and tuna. Both items were good. First course was The Candied Version of The Red Onion Of Tropea. This is a very impressive looking creation. Inside the “onion” was a warm mousse of goat’s cheese and a little sweet onion. The base was described a bread, it didn’t add much taste wise, but provided a base and good colour contrast. Really very good. Next came a little Ox Fillet Sashimi, Shaved Foie Gras, Béarnaise and Umeboshi Plum. Quite a simple plateful but tasty enough, the raw stuff always seems to have a lightness that cooking removes. Third plate was Homage to Pasta. It was dried pasta wrapped in fresh pasta with a filling of light cheese and decorated with flowers and liquorice. It could have used more sauce or liquorice for me but I ate the lot without any complaint. We asked to change the breaded veal for the more interesting sounding Pigeon dish. We ate pigeon at another restaurant on this trip so thought it would be a good comparison. 2012 Pigeon breast cooked in a ball of salt served with cherries and foie gras. This was a really excellent dish. The pigeon was cooked through but retained plenty of moisture, the sweet cherries had been stuffed with salty anchovies and the foie was dusted with quite bittersweet coco. Really enjoyable. We were given our choice of dessert. There were quite a few intriguing options but we went for The Game and The Ginkgo Biloba Tree. The game was made of edible Lego. Some chocolate, some fruit, some nutty and some good ice cream too. The Tree came with the flavours of Sicilly. Good sugar work, some granita, some meringue type thing and a fruity not quite ice cream. Both were visually striking and both were tasty. We shared. We left nothing. Service was good. They spoke better English than my few mangled Italian phrases, so we mostly understood what was going on. Booze prices are quite reasonable, especially when dining from the lunchtime set menus. I wouldn’t hesitate to return here. The menu had lots of things I wanted to eat and the very inexpensive lunch options make it especially good value, however the more creative cooking is probably worth the premium. We sat outside in the warm shade. The only downside to this was when the person sat at the next table, but only inches away, lit his roll up. Not great. Sit inside if you dont like smoking. That aside I would happily eat my way through the menu given the chance.

Unico We ate Fabio Baldassare’s food a few years ago in Rome at L’altro Mastai. The food was quite good although the service was a little too formal for my taste. He is now the Chef at Unico in Milan. We needed lunch, we were staying nearby, so off we went. Unico is on the 20th floof of the world join centre, not far from the San Siro, so not particularly close to the centre. We went at lunch. There are a number of menu options from lunch with a glass of wine and possibly water and coffee for e25 to a twelve course menu surprise at e120. The lunch menu here and in another (more expensive) place we enquired about comes as one plate with four items served at once, then dessert, not in the more logical starter, main, dessert format. I don’t know why they choose to do this. I did eat a meal served in this style at Joia in Milan a few years ago. I don’t see the point. We chose the six course tasting menu. We were initially sat with a view towards the city but I noticed that the Chefs table was available so we asked to move. There is no supplement for the chefs table and it probably seats six people. So, the food. First came raw tuna, fine vegetables and a little dressing. I don’t make any notes and as some items were described in Italian I don’t have all items described fully. Second plate was a single scallop with some soft cheese, hazelnuts and a mayonnaise flavoured with passion fruit. Next came vitello tonnatto. A couple of slices of veal fillet served with tuna sauce. The veal was good and the tuna sauce was quite light and frothy. The next plate was gnocchi. This came with potato cream with cheese. The final savoury course was to be smoked turbot. I love turbot, I don’t love smoked turbot. I asked to substitute the turbot for John Dory. This was not a problem. I did taste a little of the turbot and was glad I made the change. I do much prefer smoked bacon, and like smoked haddock, but turbot, no thanks. The turbot plate was enjoyed; it was just not for me. It came topped with sun dried tomato skin and a vegetable “soup” as sauce. My John Dory came with a very good bouillabaisse style sauce. Good flavours, good beans and very good fish. Both fish were cooked sous vide then given a quick blast under the grill. Dessert was a coconut ice cream, mango parfait, sponge and tapioca concoction. I can’t say I was overly impressed by the sponge although the other flavours and textures were nice. I think I saw someone doing a similar sponge on Great British Menu recently in the microwave. I don’t know how this one was made. Good double espresso’s and petits fours followed and an enjoyable lunch was had. Price wise (for Milan) this restaurant is not that expensive, for the quality. The chefs table is a good place to sit if you are interested in seeing the cooks working away, you can face the opposite direction and see the view if you prefer. The sommelier chose us a nice bottle of white, I think wine prices started in the mid e20’s and rose. Service was good; moving tables, changing the set menu etc was no problem. I quite enjoyed watching the kitchen too.

I just got back from Milan today. Very nice too. I will be adding some bits and bobs on the Italy pages in the next few days (for anyone interested). In terms of this discussion, sometimes no matter the cost you get value, other times not. I do tend to spend quite a while picking places where I will be happy to pay the bill. I tend to eat out at lunchtime too, so I have to option of the 'cheap' menu, or whatever else is available depending on the £ I want to spend or the feel at the time.

Those beer prices are interesting. When I say interesting I mean unbelievable.

I would take the Ledbury as my first pick. I have only ever been at lunchtime (personal preference) as I find most places a little more laid back at lunch. There are few finer ways to spend a Sunday (or any) afternoon than lunch at the Ledbury. http://www.caterersearch.com/blogs/guide-girl/2012/07/brett-grahams-ledbury-tops-all-in-london-restaurant-list.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/reviews/the-cube-by-electrolux-the-royal-festival-hall-london-se1-7893421.html I did consider going but decided it was too expensive. I booked a short break to Milan with flights and hotel for less £ instead. Claude Bosi was going to be cooking when I considered going.

We had a very good dinner here on Saturday. Pre meal nibbles of Pecans and Pork Popcorn dusted with Sumac were followed by a course called From The Garden. This comprised a selection of very tasty morsels, tiny wild strawberries with begonia flowers, baby turnips with edible soil, tempura courgette flower and some lightly smoked new potatoes. Everything looked and tasted great. The raw turnip was deeply peppery and the strawberries, one of which was white and looked unripe, were in fact as sweet and perfect a strawberry I have tasted outside those I grow and eat within seconds of picking. Beetroot Textures followed. Beetroot is something I enjoy and I enjoyed this. It was a vivid looking plate of beetroot prepared numerous ways and different temperatures. Sea buckthorn came as a sorbet, a little pain d’epice and a little creamy cheese finished things off. Wild Turbot with Aubergine and Asparagus. This came with a little pot of shitake tea, raw and cooked asparagus and aubergine. This one was demolished pretty quickly. Loire Guinea Fowl with Shallot and Roasted Lettuce. The Breast came lightly cooked with crisp skin cooked separately and boneless leg looking and tasting more roasted. A little sliced truffle, lettuce, roasted and raw shallot and another fine plateful was gone. Optional cheese or dessert or cheese and dessert. It was a cheeses and dessert kind of day. We got some runny Epoisses, Langres, something Corsican with herbs, Taupinere which is a very nice goat’s cheese, not something I often say, and a cow’s milk cheese from Sussex a little like a camembert or similar and something else I can’t recall the name of (It was quite orange!). Lemongrass Panna Cotta with Sour Cherry followed. There has been a panna cotta of some description every time I have eaten here and this like all the others was very good. The final dessert was on the menu as Mango Clafoutis. It came as a gooey chocolate fondant type thing topping the mango. A mango cocktail in a shot glass, a coco nib lolly and more. Finally came a little pot of Peanut Butter and Orange. There were also the excellent breads. I have not adequately described some of the dishes but as a general summary it was all excellent. Service was really good too. It was the first time I had managed to make a reservation for well over a year going on for two. I am hoping to go back a lot sooner. We supped a bottle of Pol Roger, a couple of glasses of Volnay, a glass of Port and ended with a glass of something sweet from Hollick recommended by our excellent waiter. All very enjoyable. I think I will have to try to fit in another visit for menu black.

We stopped here for some lunch a few weeks ago on the way to Heathrow and holidays. It was a very sunny Saturday and as luck would have it, the Nut Tree has a large garden at the rear with comfortable furniture and parasols. We took a seat, ordered a pint, and then ordered the tasting menu. The alc had plenty of good options and was quite reasonably priced, I think some sort of sandwiches or bar snacks were also available but the tasting menu was far too appealing. We started with an amuse of Gazpacho. It was quite nice and suited the weather. First course was West Coast Lobster with Mango Salsa and Mascarpone. It was good. The lobster cooked nicely, non chewy and the mango added nice sweetness to offset the soft cheese. Pea shoots look nice but can be a bit strong flavoured, as can many micro leaves. The pea shoots were a little strong flavoured so I ate the after the rest of the food. Next came Foie Gras with Parkin and Cherries. Fresh cherries, jellied cherries and cold Foie dusted lightly with ras-el-hanout sat on some parkin. Very nice too. Third course was Turbot with Jersey Royals, Asparagus and Sauce Vierge. I do like Turbot a lot and this was really good. A very decent lump of fish and a simple, seasonal garnish. The meat main was Beef Fillet with Wild Mushroom Risotto and Summer Truffles. All good. I wasn’t expecting much from the truffles but they had a distinct truffle flavour. The beef was nice too although it could have been a little more rare. Vanilla and mango Egg and Soldier. I like vanilla a lot and quite like mango so this one disappeared in no time. The final plate was an Apricot Soufflé and Milk Ice Cream. Very enjoyable, nice light soufflé and some very welcome ice cream. Coffee came with a couple of chocolate truffles. Service was good, food was good and the portion size for a tasting menu was good too. We ordered a bottle of house white at about £15-16, a refreshing change from the cheapest wine option being in the mid £20’s and not having to drive after lunch I drank most of it! The tables in the garden have a view of the kitchen and were mostly all taken. A nice mix of people too, families, a large group of friends with their children and lunching couples made a happy noise and with the sunshine it made for a good couple of hours.

Just returned home from nine nights in Bangkok. Here is what we did. Day one. Found by chance a couple of outdoor covered food markets on Soi Sala Daeng opposite a busy Italian restaurant called Zanotti. The food halls were packed full of lunching office workers and others so we thought we should give it a go. Some vendors cook to order and some have pre cooked curries and soups. We took our choice and ended up with three curries (Chicken, Vegetable and Fish) over rice for about 35 baht. It was good, not particularly spicy, but very tasty none the less. We also sampled a Squid Pad Thai, Roast Pork and Roast Duck on rice and Shrimp Mired in Egg. It was all quick, tasty and cheap. We ate here a couple of times. After spending much of the afternoon dozing we ventured out for more pot luck street food near Chong Nonsi Sky train. We ate some Grilled Sausages, a Som Tam and a few Stir Fried Pork, Shrimp and Chicken Dishes. There is a quite useful shopping centre called Viva City nearby that has a very good small supermarket (villa market) and bars and restaurants for stocking up on water and booze and the like. We stopped for drinks at wine fusion on a couple of evenings. On day two we returned to the covered food hall for lunch after some shopping and picked up some chicken wings near the sky train. After the early evening storm passed we decided to eat at Lek Seafood, again near Chong Nonsi. We ate here a few times as it was very good and close to our hotel and the sky train. Over our visits here we ate Spicy Stir Fried Seafood, Soft Shell Crab with Chilli and Garlic, Grilled River Prawns, Ostrich Hot Plate, Seafood Hot Plate, Poached Sea bass, Fried Whole Fish, Stir Fried Morning Glory, Broccoli with Scallops, Kale with Crisp Pork and more. It was very busy and the food was excellent. You can sit inside or outside, inside is cooled by fans and free of insects so if you go there bear this in mind. Our bills were generally in the region of 600-1000 baht with masses of food, beer, water and soft drinks. Next day we stumbled upon Dean & Deluca, again under Chong Nonsi. They have Californian wine, western food, good coffee, excellent air con and free wi-fi. It became a daily visit for morning coffee and a late evening wine. We did not eat here although all the food looked nice if you wanted that kind of thing. They also stock Estrella Dam Inedit. The prices are reasonable too. Again we lunched at a street cafe. For dinner we decided that a bit of comfort was required so we decided on Baan Kanitha. We ordered from the menu rather than the set options. We got a pre meal snack of Pandan Leaves with Chilli, Nuts, Dried Shrimp, Ginger and a dressing tasting of Shrimp paste. We shared the mixed appetiser platter of Grilled Chicken, Fish and Shrimp Cakes and Spring Rolls. This was mostly good if a little boring. For mains we picked Cotton Fish Steamed in Banana Leaf with Thai Herbs, River Prawns in Green Curry and a Thai Omelette with Sour Sausage. The cotton fish was ok in a delicate way but the rest was bland, very bland in fact. They may have cooked for us in a style suited to the many western guests but no one asked how we wanted the food and it was not worth the effort or cost. Far better Thai food can be had in the UK. We make better ourselves at home. Day four saw us head to the Siam Centre to have a look at the orchid festival. The Kempinski Hotel is close to here so we went to have a look at Sra Bua to make a reservation for another day. In the basement of the Siam Paragon Centre are dozens of food outlets, everything from Subway to Sushi and a large supermarket too. We ate a quick lunch in the supermarkets food area of Chicken Curry and Steamed Barracuda with Ginger and Onions. We found a place in the food hall doing liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream so we stopped for some. We had planned to eat lunch at Bo.lan but after getting all the way there it turns out they don’t open for lunch so we headed back to Siam Paragon. It does say on the Bo.lan website about not being open for lunch or on Mondays but you do have to dig a bit to find this out. In the evening we went to the Banyan Tree’s Moon Bar but it was shut due to the earlier storm. The good news is that they have another bar (latitude) on the 52nd floor which was open. It is open-sided but has a roof and the views and drinks are pretty decent. Expect to pay 350 baht for a cocktail. Well worth a visit, and we did get to the moon bar another time. We went back to Lek Seafood for dinner. Friday lunch was at D’sens at the Dusit Thani. The set lunch is 950 baht + 10% service and 7% tax. This is standard in most sit down places. We took a couple of glasses of Chandon sparkling wine from Australia and ordered our food. For Amuse we were served White Asparagus Custard topped with Green Asparagus Foam. It was very tasty. There was also fresh bread, baguette, walnut and a tomato focaccia. Starters were Fried Oysters with Chlorophyll. And Turnip and Shrimp Ravioli. Both were good. The Ravioli was in fact a salad of vegetables with sliced Turnip acting as the Pasta. Quite a fresh plateful but even allowing for French / Thai / English translation it had nothing to do with ravioli. For mains we took one Angus Beef Fillet. The Beef came garnished with purees of Carrot with a hint of Ginger and Beetroot and some of each vegetable fried crisp. Not bad at all And one Sole with Asparagus. The Sole was also good. It was all good up to here. The cheese option was pre plated and offered no choice. They do have a cheese trolley but not at lunch time. We shared some ok Goats Cheese, some terrible Herbed “Brie” and another I can’t recall. This was better that the Chocolate and Salted Caramel Tart. It was a shocker. It looked like an accident and didn’t taste much better. The worst dessert I have eaten in a serious restaurant. The savoury food was cooked well. Wines by the glass prices are not too bad either. More Lek Seafood followed for dinner. On Saturday we went to the river and after a bit of this and that we headed to the Oriental to see what was on offer there. We decided on Dim Sum at the China House. 888 baht buys you all you can eat Dim Sum, a Soup and a Fried Rice / Noodle Main and choice of dessert. We probably tried about 15 baskets of Dim Sum and with the exception of the turnip cake all were delicious. We ordered one Hot Shredded Chicken Soup and one Crab, Spinach and Bamboo. A Fried Rice with Shrimp and Pork and Noodles with Seafood for mains. We took the fruit option for dessert. It was excellent. After a well deserved snooze we headed out to see the evening chaos, stopping for a late bite at Lek as we left the sky train. On Sunday we decided after Coffee at Dean & Deluca to head to King Power for a nose at the duty free and the guaranteed coolness of an air conditioned mall. Besides the air con it was not worth the effort. Shopping at Siam Paragon was better, less expensive and you can still claim back tax. We got off the sky train at Silom and wandered through Lumpini Park with the idea of Gaggan for lunch. On the way we passed an interesting looking place called Khruanaibaan Home Kitchen. Gaggan was open but was charging 500 baht per person more than the online menu price and our previous experience in the more expensive restaurant made me uneasy, so we didn’t bother and went back to Khruanaibaan Home Kitchen and feasted on Clay Pot Soup, Jungle Curry, Laab with Duck, Pad Thai and possibly more. With Beer and Wine it cost less than 1000 baht. The cooking was very good, very spicy and fresh. They have many tanks of live seafood too. Well worth a visit. In the evening we ventured into Chinatown. The Tuk-Tuk driver insisted Chinatown was closed or awful and we should go elsewhere, as luck would have it he knew just the place. He was quite insistent until I told him we were meeting Friends, a lie, but it shut him up and we got to Chinatown. Chinatown was certainly not closed. We walked about for a while trying to work up an appetite and seeing what looked good. We settled on a Satay stall then found a stall with good looking whole fish so that’s what we ate. The fish came fried with tamarind sauce and cost 280 baht and was really very good. On Monday we went out for a bit of sightseeing. Shared half a tandoori chicken for lunch then spent the afternoon dozing by the pool. For dinner we went to Sra Bua. It was a tossup between here, Bo.lan and Nahm. We could have gone to all of these places but I couldn’t see the point of sitting through too many formal dinners and Bo.lan was very closed for lunch but I couldn’t be bothered going back. On reflection I would have traded either D’sens or Baan Kanitha for Nahm and Bo.lan but that’s the way it goes. Sra Bua was very good. They have a set menu at 2400 baht; a wine pairing that didn’t seem like good value or a cocktail pairing. They also have the usual drinks available. We took the cocktails. The food was broken into Nibbles, Street Cooking, Starters, Mains and Desserts and was about ten or so courses all together. We started off with a chilled Lemongrass tea then we ate. Then the nibblings – Soy Roasted Cashew Meringue, Kaffir Lime Lotus Root, Prawn Cracker with Chilli Tomato Dip. Street Cooking – Tuna Tartar with Lemongrass, Miang Som-o, Crispy pork Crackling with Nam Prik Num, Prawn Bread with Sesame, Smoked Chicken Sausage with Pickled Cabbage. Starter – Tom Yum Soup with Jellies of Shellfish, Galangal and Spicy. Starter – Deep fried Soft shell Crab, Green Mango and Soft Nam Jim. Starter – One of each: Gang Dang Frozen Red Curry with Lobster and Lychee. Seared Foie Gras with Tamarind Pear Chutney. Mains – One of each: Quail in Coconut Milk with Chantarell and Crisp Skin. Veal Shank with Grilled Cabbage and Emulsified Soy Sauce. Desserts: Mangosteen Sorbet with Fresh Mangosteen. Mango with Sticky Rice. Banana Cake with Salted Ice Cream And Caramelised Milk. Mignardises.

Asparagus and olives. No thanks!