david goodfellow

By strange coincidence we dined here today and spoke to Alyn Williams after our meal. Had I have been asked the question before, I would have asked for some clarification. I for one would like to eat Chavot's food again. He is an excellent chef. Did he not state that he was not interested in cooking Michelin style food again? .

Exactly a year to the day. The Mail is reporting that at last some of the rioters who attacked The Ledbury and its diners have been sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. Glaring is the fact that at least one of them lived at taxpayers expense in a £3 million flat. Hopefully The Ledbury and its customers will never witness those scenes ever again. http://www.dailymail...--taxpayer.html

A very interesting new opening in Fitzrovia has attracted good reviews from respected critics including Fay Maschler. What makes it stand out is not only that it is Peruvian, but the executive chef Virgilio Martinez headed up the kitchen of Astrid y Gaston in Madrid. Its Lima branch is currently number 35 in San Pellegrino's Worlds Best Restaurants list. Head of Astrid y Gaston is Gaston Acurio a world renowned and highly respected Peruvian chef. There are to my knowledge less than a handful of Peruvian restaurants in London and we enjoyed our visit. All of the dishes were enjoyable with a number of ingredients specially imported from Peru. Prices are fair for the quality Anyone else been? Confit of Suckling Pig, roasted Amazonian cashew, lentils and pear.

First of the nationals. The Independent's Lisa Markwell gives her view. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/worlds-best-restaurant-comes-to-town-and-its-serving-ants-7995007.html

First of the critics reviews from Bloomberg's Richard Vines. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-30/london-cocktail-marathon-awaits-olympics-drinkers-review.html

Aw Sid, you disappoint me. I have a life. A very good one indeed We have not heard the last of John Campbell i can assure you of that Back on topic. Its got mixed reviews just as i thought it would.

Just to add a bit of balance. TWO well respected industry figures thought the food to be very good, including Michelin star John Campbell no less.

As far as I know this is the first customer review, and it aint a very good one http://www.squaremea...aridge's/309340

Well, who's going ? Its only days away, and hopefully if you are going you will share the experience on here.

That's pretty much how I feel, too. I also have problems paying $45 for a wine I can buy at retail for $15-- I'd be better off spending my $45 at a wine shop, where I'd likely get a much better wine for the money. Wine prices (plus the issue of driving) have gradually reduced my inclination to go out to eat, to the point where my wife and I now rarely do so except when traveling. It has crept into beers and ales as well, I have seen some beers retail £1.85 being sold in restaurants for £8.50. Where?

Overall John the food was good. Not perhaps the best that I have eaten this year but far more enjoyable than say another two Michelin starred establishment we visited recently Other guests in our immediate vicinity had nothing but praise for the food. The salmon, chicken, and a peas, wincle, chorizo dish were enjoyable. One dish that I thought just OK was a dessert. Peas, Moroccan Mint, Coconut. Interesting, but not entirely to my taste. But hey its all down to personal taste in the end. Of course this venue is about more than just the food. It is special on a different level to other restaurant meals. Its truly unique, and very, very enjoyable.

We made another visit to The Cube. This time it was to eat Claude Bosi 's food. Five courses plus bites, amuse, pre dessert, wines, champagne, tea or coffee. Wild Salmon, Pigs Head, Barigoule. Label Anglaise Chicken, Liquorice, Banana. Kaffir Lime. Claude was helped out by his former head chef Marcus McGuiness and he informed me that in about 4/5 months they will jointly open a new restaurant. He did stress however it will NOT be fine dining. Claude Bosi and Marcus McGuinness.

John, we ate here perhaps two years ago with some friends from North Wales as it seemed to be a good sort of half way meeting point. I can,t remember actually writing it up although I may have done. The meal in itself was not at all bad. All in all a fair standard. We had a window table for four or at least a table with a view over the lawned area. Service itself was reasonable too, attentive and unfussy. Can't for the life of me remember what we ate but as you say its not too bad for a local meal, but there is no way it is worth travelling from afar to eat there.

We were, and very gateful to be too. It was fabulous breaking bread with like minded fun people. A total of 12 guests including CC themselves attended. Simon Rogans food was terrific as always. 27 courses in total including wine, champagne, and pre/ after dinner drinks. He and his teams contribution was immense and given freely. A remarkable £8400 was raised for charity. By any standards an amazing amount of money, and especially given the low key nature of this event. http://www.thecriticalcouple.com/dinners-2012.html

Its been an overlong two years since our last meal here. Still with such a lot happening on the London dining scene its little wonder. We sampled quite a selection of dishes. Lamb, venison, beef, soft shell crab, chicken, monkfish,etc,etc, all good. We still rate it highly. Chef Aktar Islam recommended a cookery book on Indian curries which I have since bought. Hopefully I may be able to recreate some of the flavours at home. Lyme Bay Monkfish,aubergine and potato pakora, coconut sauce.

Your right to start at the top John. It would have to be top of my recommends, that's for sure.

The Cube is perhaps the ultimate pop up restaurant. It has already made an appearance in three major European cities atop of some incredible buildings. In London it makes its appearance on top of the Royal Festival Hall, giving pectacular views out over the River Thames, Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament etc, etc. Its runs until the end of September and features some of the UK's top chefs who are all Michelin starred. Daniel Clifford, Claude Bosi, and Tom Kitchin are amongst those who feature. We ate here three weeks ago when Daniel Clifford was cooking. In between then and now Claude Bosi has made an appearance for one week and Daniel has another week starting tomorrow. More details are here http://www.electrolu....uk/Cube/London

A real pleasure to report that The CC have raised over £7000 for their charity choice Manna Society. Simon Rogan and his top team will be cooking at the next Chefs diinner for a guest list of 12? in early July. It is rumoured to be 25?plus courses of food.

Sounds good. Obviously the carte. Not the set lunch with those luxury ingredients? How did it compare up against Martin Wishart or Castle Terrace?

Ah, the chef strikes back. Perhaps if you employed staff who were easily understood, it would not be necessary to ask them repeatedly to explain themselves, or record them for that matter. They also need to get a grip on their attitude. They work in the hospitality industry. Is it difficult to employ decent staff in Cheltenham? Furthermore the lack of warmth in your restaurant is down to the very same staff. Sullen, unfriendly, a total lack of sincerity is evident. It was noticeable as soon as we walked in. Of course you don't see this as your busy in the kitchen. Is it just on a Saturday lunch they don't want to be there? Regarding "much bigger places" Total rubbish. I never said that. Other places, yes! Staff again. Whilst I settled the bill with your wife, your TWO waitresses stood right next to the coat stand, doing exactly NOTHING. My wife could have reached for her own coat. Yes we were both desperate to leave. The food? Well, I have praised your cooking on numerous occasion's, and like all chefs you are more than happy to accept it. Woe betide though if any criticism is offered. You don't want to hear it, do you? I detest bad service, especially when it involves eating out at expensive restaurant's, and will report it whether it be a burger joint or a Michelin starred place. Your restaurant seems lost in a time warp. In my opinion, it is way below the standard of The Ledbury and Midsummer House both true destination restaurants, and well worthy of their ratings.

Sorry but I find this potentially hilarious. Can I ask, were you the only diners in the room at this point or did she have other people to serve, or perhaps even unattended tables to prepare for imminent diners? I guess we can't possibly know. I empathise completely with you that they are in the service industry and shouldn't be pulling faces but you seem to push that expectation to the extreme. Offering good service is one thing, having the whole rythym of service disrupted so a blogger can conduct his personal photo-shoot is another. The communication problem is unforgiveable though - can I ask, did you try the fail safe approach to all 'foreigners' of shouting slowly? Did you read my review? We were first in. First out. All tables were laid. No one else was in when the bread was served. Three people on service for a total of 14 covers over the whole lunch? Do me a favour. My point and shoot was on auto. One photo (I'm good) 15/20 seconds max, if that. End of.

I'm not really sure where to start this review, as my last two visits here have not been too pleasant. Ah well, I had best start at the beginning then. David Everitt- Mathias and his wife Helen have been running this highly respected restaurant for what seems an age. During that time they have achieved stardom from the Michelin guide with two stars no less. A rarefied achievement indeed. It is also widely noted that Mr EM has never missed a service at his restaurant. A fact that I am unable to verify. Having said that though, if that is the case, consistency should certainly be to the fore. Which has not always been the case in my experience. We have had some truly wonderful meals here and some not so good. We used to be regular diners here, A two hundred mile, round trip journey twice a year for quite a number of years and then ?......... Well, I happened to comment on a fish dish that was not to my taste and Madam blanked me for the rest of the evening, even choosing not to say goodnight after we waited for a good fifteen minutes. This, after much much previous praise on our other visits did not go down well at all. So we were reluctant to return. Yes. Time is a great healer. We are six years on, and genuinely looking forward to eating here again, As I have stated we have had some very good food here. When I booked the table I asked for 1 or 1.30. I was offered 12.30. We arrived at 12.15 but were locked out. I knocked. No reply. We browsed the menu in the glass case and lo and behold they don't open until 12.30? Eventually at 12.25 the door opened. The initial greeting seemed pleasant enough from one of the servers, the other one looked a bit sullen and unfriendly. Helen was in the background. The room is exactly as it was six years ago, formal, with brightly coloured summery prints covering the walls. The lighting however is poor and needs attention. The tables on the far wall, away from the windows are too dark. I think that I would struggle to see the food at its best. As the only diners, we were seated in the far right hand corner away from the entrance door, next to a venetian blind covered window which did not let an awful lot of light in to the room. Given a choice, this table would have been no where near the top of my list. Food wise things started off fine. A couple of tasty blue cheese and walnut cookies, and rye bread, horseradish cream and ? Well I could not understand what our Eastern European server said, and that was to be a regular occurrence throughout the meal, as one of our other servers was Polish. This meant that I had to ask repeatedly for both servers to state again what they were saying. Inevitably this led to frustration and the service descended into a poor state with very frosty, unfriendly attitude from both of them. It has to be said that there was no feeling of warmth from the moment that we arrived. Not good at all for anyone in the hospitality industry. I only had to ask a couple of times what was in this little appetiser. Parsley? panna cotta white onion puree and bacon foam. This was extremely nice. Different layers and textures. Good. The set lunch menu that I chose from had only one course that we both liked the look of, Cinderford Lamb Fillet. So my wife chose from the carte which was a lot more appealing. Cannelloni of Kid, roasted onion puree, peas and wilted lettuce. (from the carte) Not my dish, but I/we have eaten it before, in one form or another. I don't think its ever been off the menu. Yes, I enjoyed it back then and enjoyed what I tasted this time. My wife cleared her plate. My dish next from the lunch menu (two courses £26 three courses £32) Seared Cod cheeks, smoked eel, pear, horseradish and potato salad. Well. What can I say about this dish except massive fail.If this had of been on GBM the judges would have ripped it apart. Cod? The cheeks had the texture of overcooked chicken. I raise my hat to KFC. Apart from the texture they failed miserably on the flavour front. A bit of moisture in them would not have gone a miss too. Note the dry stringy nature of the beasts in the photo Bread was a game of two halves as well. Some delicious bacon brioche and some rubbery seed crusted white that was below standard at this level. We did not try the granary. At this point I was beginning to get annoyed with the face pulling antics of our server especially when I asked her to hold the bread basket so that I could take a photograph. I was starting to regret our return visit. From the carte (two courses £48. Three courses £59) my wife went for the Winchcombe Venison, morels, smoked almonds, wild garlic pesto. nasturtium millet. In the main my wife enjoyed this dish except that that the venison was "slightly" chewy. My taste from the smaller piece to the rear of the photo made me think that my wife was being far too kind. My main course next up. Cinderford Lamb Fillet, bolognaise of shank, carrot cream, heritage carrots. A hunky plate of food which reminded me very slightly of a dish that we ate at Pollen Street Social earlier this year. This was not as good though.The fail on this plate was a large chunk of minced flank that had not been broken up, so it did not take on any of the rather nice sauce. Having said that perhaps I would have enjoyed this more if the service had not grated on me so much. By this time there were six other tables of two in the restaurant, everything was hushed and low key with little or no atmosphere. We skipped dessert, unusually so for us. Truth be told I could not wait to get the bill and get back home. We waited five minutes and in the end made the journey to the desk to get the bill and to pay. This helped speed things up. Naturally, there are those who love this place, and so did we, for many years, but? Would we ever go back? Did not Charles Dickin's famously state? " Never say never" Well. NEVER. EVER.

This is rather the problem with internet forums and blogs - regularly eating out does not establish "dining credentials" sufficient to pass declarative judgments on restaurants at this level. This is not a food specific issue, no doubt the same thing manifests itself on boards debating wine, classical music, art etc. Of course everyone is entitled to an opinion (opinions are like...) and its fun to discuss and debate them. Indeed, that's what internet forums are for. My issue is with posters of (with respect) relatively little knowledge holding themselves out as experts and offering definitive views slating something they barely understand. Even more so when there's something such as a perceived slight, a preference for a style of food/ingredient or some other prejudice influencing the view. I suspect the "dining credentials" comment was aimed at me so, just to clarify, I've eaten at the 4 UK 3* restaurants, 11 of the 2* restaurants and approx. 40 of the 1* restaurants. Perhaps more importantly at this level, I've also eaten at most of the best 3* restaurants across Europe and indeed many other 3* restaurants around the world. I'm still far from an expert and would never hold myself out as one. Ah Sweetie, touched a nerve have we, so sorry Btw it was not four but five two star places for us this year. Pretty impressive credentials you display there. I cannot argue with that, but you are wrong on at least two points. Firstly my criticizm was not directed at you at all, but nevertheless it stung you into making a reply. Secondly I have never ever stated that I was any expert. In fact I always lay claim otherwise, please read my reviews carefully in future. Like em or not I post my reviews based on an average punters dining experience, warts and all. If service is rubbish you will be told about it. If I don't like the food (which is very rare indeed) you will hear about it. Expert? Pa, point me to one of my reviews which i have stated so. Whist we are on the subject I don't see any of your meals up here at all. Why not? That's the idea of a forum. Sacred cows like Le Champignon Sauvage are far from perfect. How dare anyone have a go at a two Michelin star restaurant. Well, you did not eat the food or suffer the service, so how can you comment? Witness comments on here and comments on my twitter account, including one from a respected chef. Bad service really pisses me off, face pulling especially. The meal here, and by that I mean the whole experience, in comparison to the very excellent Ledbury was at the very least well below standard.

Rioter on trial for last years raid. Which we narrowly missed on our visit, thankfully (see upthread) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9327024/Rioter-stormed-The-Ledbury-and-stole-diners-jewellery.html#

Good review. Sounds like we need to make another visit here Soon. Can't quite believe its three years ago since I started this thread. Where did they go. What livestock have they now, Ducks, Pigs, Dexters?