wgallois

While it's true that expensive doesn't necessarily mean poor value for money, La Fromagerie manages to be both of these things in my opinion. In my experience it's also about as far away from the 'customer is king' philosophy as it's possible for any shop to be.

Some more local tips: 1. Peacock, Ethiopian restaurant on Uxbridge Road. Excellent place discussed in a bit more detail on another thread. 2. Mr Felafel, a stall at the entrance to Shepherd's Bush market, on the Uxbridge Road (second entrance, not the first one, where there is another felafel joint that I've yet to try). Describes itself as offering "the best Palestinian felafel in London". I wouldn't be surprised if this was the best felafel in London, full stop. The guys who run it clearly care a great deal about making really great felafel sandwiches from tip-top ingredients. Sandwiches come in three sizes (£1.50, £2.50, £3.50), with the middle size definitely being large enough. The construction of the sandwich is a real joy to behold: bread sliced, felafel straight from the pan is then crushed into the bread, slices of aubergine are added, then pickled turnip and cucumbers, then some lettuce, then home-made tahini and chilli sauce. 3. Patio, which is as good and charming as earlier posters suggested. 4. There are also a set of really excellent food shops along the Uxbridge Road, the best of which seem to be the Polish deli (excellent, cheap pyrogi and great-looking cakes) and the two Middle Eastern/South Asian emporia, Damas Gate and Al Abbas. Both have a pretty superlative range of pickles, oils, vegetables and baklava.

Have been eating my way through some of London's Ethiopian restaurants recently. They all seem to be pretty good, but the standout for me at the moment is the Peacock on the Uxbridge Road, five minutes up the road from Shepherd's Bush Hammersmith and City line station. The other two I've tried are Merkato and the Queen of Sheba (in Kentish Town). The Peacock wins out because the food is tastier and hotter (misir wat is my favourite dish), the portions are larger, and it's cheaper. Along with Merkato, they offer a vegetarian sampler dish, which offers a good route to working your way through the menu. Service is charming.

Yes, I think wraparound sunglasses which cover half the surface-area of one's face are more de rigeur in Harrods' Laduree than hockey sticks Jon! Bought a box of six "mini-macs" for £8: liquorice, lemon, gingerbread, caramel with salt, orange blossom, and rose water. All delicious, though quite a contrast between those with "big" flavours (lemon, gingerbread and caramel) and those with more subtle notes. If I went back, I think I'd have the caramel for their delicious qualities and the orange blossom for its interest (quite an intriguing taste that takes a while to appear). Make sure that they give you one of the lovely hard boxes (and not the standard issue collapsible cake-shop boxes), because, if anything, these are even nicer than the macarons! They come in three or four great designs, and look like they'll be good for storing staples and so on (I need to tell myself this so that I can justify going back again some time...). Service is ridiculously nineteenth-century, involving one person serving, then giving you a ticket, another wrapping, and a third person taking your ticket and payment, but I guess it all adds to the experience...

I'd like to see 22 Mill Street in Chagford get a star. The fact that it hasn't got one before makes me think that it will miss out again, but I cannot quite see why this is the case.

Just moved to Shebu, as a local bar would have it, and begun to try some of the eateries: 1. Nepalese place (name to come) on the Uxbridge Road, five minutes beyond the Central Line station - decent-enough, with very 'big' service, which may or may not be your thing. 2. Abu Zaad - super Syrian place on the Uxbridge Road. People must have mentioned this on other threads. Good selection of very reasonably-priced, well-prepared mezze with good service. The muttabel was especially good. 3. Chop, Chop - on the Green between the Central line and H&S stations - very cheap, not bad for what it is, but really poor service on the one occasion we visited. 4. Fab Fish Bar - on the Uxbridge Road. Chips as good as the name suggests. 5. Albertine - charming wine bar just off the Green. Long wine list, hearty food at reasonable prices and an excellent selection of cheeses (c.£5 gets you three cheeses from a list of twenty or so), which includes Epoisses and Reblochon. A real find.

Great meal at RVB last night, which had almost all of the positives found in the reviews above, and none of the negatives (the jaw-dropping bill aside... though it's worth it). The restaurant was full and the service was really excellent: attentive and pleasant without ever being cloying, always anticipating your needs, wine and (tap) water poured just when it was needed, and nice spacing between the courses. Becky and I both had the nine-course vegetarian tasting menu, which went as follows: 1. Popadoms to start - Very salty with three good dips, the best of which is the minty one. 2. Watermelon and ginger shot - I found it a bit bland, but Becky, who has a better palate, felt it wasn't and that it was a good palate-cleanser. 3. Tandoori broccoli with cuchumber: just great; one of those dishes that I have no idea how it was made, but lots to relish in the combination of the spicing and the heat with the firm broccoli. A dish which really made me disagree with Terence Conran's comments cited in the first post of this thread, where he said that he'd prefer simpler dishes with high-quality ingredients which spoke for themselves. The point about this kind of food is that it is complex and all about intricate combinations of good ingredients and clever spicing. 4. Wild mushroom Khichdi, mini papad and makhani ice cream: it's all been said on this thread already, and I find it interesting to note that this and other vegetarian dishes have become some of those for which the restaurant has become best known. The vegetarian menus are by no means second-best choices, as seems right in an Indian restaurant. 5. Spicy lentil soup with vegetable bonda: one of many plays on classic dishes which is more than subtly different to the original dish. 6. Tandoori paneer, masala paneer carpaccio and goat's cheese Khichdi: just one of the best dishes we had ever had. So satisfying you could imagine eating it day after day and always craving it. The combination of the textures and flavours of the cheeses is great: the Khidchi is creamily moreish, the carpaccio akin to halloumi in its crispiness, and the soft masala paneer is set off by an onion chutney. 7. Crispy onions with masala mash: an ideal snack after a hard night on lager I felt, though I can't imagine we'll see Vineet's Van on the King's Road anytime soon offering this combo of mash 'n' onion rings. 8. Goat's cheese and smoked cashew nut samosa with pear and clove chutney: wonderfully unusal chutney with plenty of heat generated by the cloves. One of the best aspects of the meal for us was that many dishes had plenty of heat, and that the rethinking of Indian food didn't include a toning down of the heat or the spicing. 9. Roasted potatoes filled with masala paneer, corn and pine kernels, coconut and kokum sauce and stir-fried beetroot rice: we were too full by this stage to truly enjoy this dish (the 7 course option at £49 suddenly seemed a better idea than 9 at £58), though I have good memories of the combination of flavours. 10. Chilled mango and cumin lassi, coconut ice cream: really enjoyable and, as Matthew said, salty! 11. Crispy marbled chocolate, chenna [another kind of panneer I believe] and roasted almond samosa, Indian tea ice cream: really satisfying, and I managed to regain some appetite to polish it off. I thought it tasted a bit like a sachertorte samosa; went very well with the ice cream. We took a set of menus away and I certainly hope to return for lunch some time. There are clearly a wide number of dishes available across a series of tasting, lunch and dinner menus.

Tried Prezzo, a new pizza/pasta joint situated in what was The Turk's Head on the High Street. It reinforced my opinion that you should only have pizza in pizza places: my Bianca (goat's cheese, asparagus, sun-dried tomato) pizza was just fine, as was my brother's pizza, but of the other dishes only one was good (gnocchi with gorgonzola), and some looked really bad (a bland-looking seafood pasta with not a great deal of seafood and a caesar salad with not much other than leaves with chicken). Exeter now has four such restaurants within five minutes walk of each other (Prezzo, Zizzi, Pizza Express, Ask), all of which seem to be doing good business. The best one can say about this is that all do good pizza and all have done an excellent job of preserving old buildings (the Turk's Head was Dickens' favourite pub in Exeter), but one wishes that people would take a few more risks when opening restaurants in the centre of town.

Cafe Mandola is an authentic Sudanese restaurant on Westborne Grove. Only been once - with my wife's Sudanese family - but I have good memories of the food.

Marco, the bread stall you are talking about is 'Bread of Devon'. I believe they are based on Well Street in Exeter, though I often walk down that road and have never quite worked out where they are located. I've taken a while to reply to your post as I felt the need to get some of their bread and then to go back to Otterton to compare the two. I had had a couple of breads from Bread of Devon last year and was pretty un-impressed. I seem to remember that the two I had were rye and spelt and my two problems with the breads were their lack of flavour and what seemed to me the high prices they were charging. On your recommendation I have now been back to try the multi-grain loaf which is a much, much better bread. I liked its solidity and taste, though I do still feel that they are over-priced. This may be somewhat harsh as I am comparing their prices with those at Otterton where, for me, you get better bread for about half the price. I went down to Otterton yesterday morning and it was clear that they were struggling to keep up with the demand for the bread (at least on baking day). Still, I was happy to go off on a walk for an hour before coming back to collect two pretty perfect white loaves and a large granary. I adore their white bread, which you put me onto in an earlier post. It has everything that I'd want from a loaf of this style: density, great flour-y taste, crisp edges that taste roasted, and they're also great to look at. Tried the scones for the first time, which are also very good.

Will report back on Il Giardino soon Marco! It has been on our must-go list for some time, and your post has convinced us that we should go sooner rather than later. As you may know - though I hope you don't - most of the 'Italian' restaurants in Exeter are grim. On Friday we went to the Plant cafe for the first time. It's on the Cathedral Green, close to Al Farid and the Thai Orchid. It's usually only open during the day but they will cook dinners for groups of twelve or so in the evening. I'd heard some slightly mixed reports about it as a cafe, but I really enjoyed it as a location for an evening meal. We were a group of twelve, sat round a square table which took up most of the cafe (there were no other customers), with fantastic views of the cathedral by night. The dinner deal is 3 courses for £15 with £3 corkage on wine. I think the menu has to be confirmed in advance. The starter is really an extended graze on three very good types of olive (some very good almond-stuffed ones pleased me), breads with oil, vegetable chips, tortilla chips etc. whilst you drink and wait for all your party to arrive. The mains were various kinds of pie (goat's cheese, mediterranean vegetable) served with either couscous or rosemary-roasted potatoes and some big bowls of mixed leaves and bean sprouts to share. There were a number of choices for pudding, two of which were plum tart and roasted pineapple with coconut, chilli and lime ice-cream. I really enjoyed all of the food. It was tasty, well-prepared and -balanced. I also felt that the price was very fair given that one was getting the whole place to oneself for the night. It was only at the end of the evening that I realised that the place was vegetarian, and I think it would be a shame if it does get pigeon-holed as a vegetarian cafe. It happens not to serve meat, but it's real selling points are the good food, service and the location.

Glad you got some leaves Marco. The composition of the bags varies each week, which must be good. We've been to Sun Dogs a couple of times and certainly enjoyed it. The food is tasty (Mediterranean/British) and our overall impression was that it is the kind of restaurant which is really striving to do well and to please its customers. On the second occasion I do remember leaving slightly hungry, but that may be more to do with me than the restaurant. We didn't feel it was over-priced.

The Rock Inn sounds a winner Marco; will have to try it. A few recent food notes from Exeter: 1. Had a slightly taxing meal at Cafe Paradiso in Hotel Barcelona, which reminded me that you have to be a savvy customer if you are to get something from this restaurant. The keys are: do not go as a group of any more than four (the kitchen, by their own admission, is too small and cannot cope with large groups - we waited an hour for mains on Saturday...) and order pizza. The pizzas are great: good crispy bases, quality toppings and very generous, but some of the other dishes are mediocre (we had the house salads at the weekend which were lazily-conceived and -prepared, and over-priced). I still like this place because it has a great feel (the bar is one of Exeter's best too), but you do have to approach it in the right way. 2. Went to the new Wetherspoon's flagship pub, The Meeting House on South Street, last night. The restoration of the old Unitarian chapel is excellent and there is neither music nor smoking. Food was OK. It looked like there was a better choice for non-vegetarians, with lots of locally-sourced meat and fish at reasonable prices. The service was top-notch. 3. There is a reasonably new stall at the Exeter Farmer's Market (Thursdays 9/10-2) selling Ridgewell cheese. This is a soft, mild, cow's-milk cheese with a very appealing sourness. All the cheeses are made that week by the woman who runs the stall. There are various herb, garlic and chilli twists, but the original is the one for me. Devon does not have too many really good soft cheeses, so I'm really pleased about this new addition. 4. Also at the farmer's market are the absolutely superb bags of Oriental salad leaves available from the stall closest to Princesshay. They tend to sell out by 11. 5. Another new, local cheese - available at Devon Country Cheeses in Topsham - is Ogle Shield. This is a seriously stinky, washed-rind affair, with great appeal to those who like their cheeses to possess a farmyard aroma. 6. I hear that the Dinosaur Cafe (on the Clock Tower roundabout in Exeter) is now open until nine in the evenings. This is excellent news as their Turkish dishes and salads are invariably very, very tasty.

Marco, you'll be glad to hear that the ironic/heartfelt chant 'Ciiideeerrrr, ciiiiiiiderrrrr' has now become the most popular chant at Exeter, and on the food-related chanting front I did also hear someone singing 'I'd rather have a pasty than a pie' at Old Trafford'.

Have recently enjoyed Imperial China in Exeter and La Petite Maison in Topsham. The former is a very large, new restaurant on Cowick Street. It's sited on three floors of what I believe was an old station (my brother was very excited by the trains going right past the window), with a bar on the ground floor, a mezzanine overflow/private dining area and the main dining room at the top of the building. It's obviously made a name for itself very quickly as there were 55 people eating there when we left at nineish last Saturday. I know very little about Chinese food but I imagine it to be rather more authentic than most of its competitors. The menu is extensive, and the best dishes we tried were Chinese greens in a garlic sauce, vegetables in a Szechuan chilli sauce, noodles with bean sprouts, and banana fritters. Flavours were clean and drawn from the visible ingredients, rather than MSG or gloopy sauce. I'll definitely go back to work my way through the menu. La Petite Maison was also good, though very different: small, quaint (I felt like I was in You've Got Mail or somesuch) and based on simple French dishes prepared with local ingredients. We had a goat's cheese souffle with pesto and salad, a mushroom galette with a wild mushroom sauce, Elmirst tarts with ratatouille, grapes and caramelised red onion, a vanilla creme brulee, and a chocolate tart with chocolate ice cream. Everything was well-prepared and served in a very friendly, relaxed way. I think my favourite dish was the tart and ice cream, for it's zen-like simplicity, while Becky especially enjoyed the souffle and its well-chosen accompaniments. The food is by no means spectacular, but it delivers very precisely and satisfyingly on its particular promise.

Back to 22 Mill Street just before Christmas for another feast. Many of the dishes have already been mentioned on this thread, so I'll concentrate on the stand-outs: awesome artichoke hearts with Hollandaise and diced wild mushrooms (unrestrained pleasure); a very good ravioli dish that came in a zingy lemon and basil veloute; the already mentioned 'plate of raspberry', which is indeed excellent; and best of all, the bread (it's worth going there for this alone). 22 Mill Street is a very personal enterprise, as Gareth mentioned, with Duncan taking control of absolutely everything (coats, drinks, cooking, service, and our breakfast as we stayed over). The best manifestations of this attention to detail come in the cooking - the food is fantastically precise, as well as being delicious - and the care that goes into the development of menus. Duncan had prepared a menu with a choice of five vegetarian courses for Becky and I, all available as starters and mains, and all really interesting.

Hi Marco, Sorry, that should have read 'The Old Fire House', rather than 'The Old Fire Station' (have now edited my post). It's on New North Road, two minutes from Debenhams if one starts to walk towards the prison. I hope I haven't over-sold the place as I only have experience of the beer, wine and toasted sandwiches. The food menu is very limited but, like the wine, it is also exceptionally good value. It was also well known as Will Young's local when he was in Exeter. Glad to hear that you're enjoying the South Devon Chilli Farm. I'll have to try their smoked chillies, William

Some more Exeter area thoughts: 1. Puffing Billy, Exton: I guess that this used to be a pub, but it is now most definitely a restaurant. You know this from the prices...: from £14-£21 for mains, £7-8 for starters, and a much more reasonable £5 for all puddings. The cooking is strong and the menu clearly proud of its use of locally sourced produce. I had a main of Jerusalem artichoke, red onion and wild mushroom tartlet, which was very pleasingly rich and wintery. I shared two puddings: pistachio souffle with white chocolate vodka sorbet, and hazelnut praline parfait with candied fruits and blood orange jelly. Both were very good. I definitely enjoyed the food, but I don't think that I'll be back in a hurry because of the prices. I simply cannot understand why a relatively new restaurant can justify charging prices that would not look out of place in a starred Michelin outfit. Lunch looks much cheaper and a better proposition all round. www.thepuffingbilly.com 2. Barton Cross again: not nearly as much fun as the first time around. The service was awful in many different ways (an hour wait before getting food, long wait between starter and main, wrong cutlery on the table etc.). The food was mainly good, but it was completely let down by the lax service, on a very slow night. 3. Dart's Farm: I guess you know this place well Marco as it's just down the road from you. I had never been there but stopped in to buy some cheeses this afternoon. There was a pretty good selection, though not as strong on local favourites as Devon Country Cheeses. What really amazed me about the place was its bourgeois fantastic feel, as though the giant farmer's market is the 21st century equivalent of the department store in the middle of the nineteenth century, delivering dreams as well as Burt's Chilli and Lemon hand-crafted crisps (tasty). 4. South Devon Chilli Farm: I am a huge fan of these people. Lots of their sauces are great (esp. the sweet Thai chilli sauce), the chilli chocolate is really fun, and recently they've been selling all sorts of fantastic fresh chillies at their Exeter farmer's market stall. I bought some Scotch Bonnets, habaneros and some lemon chillies. All great. 5. Old Fire House: One of the most appealing pubs in the centre of Exeter. Fantastically good value wines (from £5.50 a bottle I think), cheap and tasty food (£2.60 or so for a toasted cheese and tomato half-loaf), and an atmospheric, candle-lit upstairs room. It can be hugely busy towards the weekend, and so it should be.

I'm with Scott on this. It's patronising at best to question people's motivations for posting, and this board would be a duller place if there were not a plurality of views about even the most highly-rated restaurants. I also find it invidious that Pweaver has been asked to provide "the whole story" of his meal at Hibiscus if he wishes to be viewed as a reliable source. Surely the point of restaurant reviews - as has been discussed many times here - is that they are subjective accounts of individuals' experiences. Readers of reviews know this when they look at them.

Some good dates for me are 12, 13, 20, 22 and 29 October, for lunch or early evening.

Thanks for the tips Marco and Slacker. I very much agree with you regarding Devon Country Cheeses, Marco. The amazing thing is that they actually have more Sharpham cheeses there than they do in the Sharpham farm shop. The owner was telling us that they make some cheeses exclusively for DCC, which goes down very well with restaurants which source their cheese from DCC. Glad that you enjoyed the Conservatory. The lunch deal sounds good. I went a year or so ago for an evening promotion where mains were priced according to the time you arrived, or something like that. Lunch sounds a better bet. Went to Sun Dogs again last night. The food was again good, simple and mainly Mediterranean. They only have about 20-25 covers and now, I think, only open in the evenings, so I wonder how they survive. Another very good recent discovery is an amazing farm shop on the outskirts of Thorverton (turn left on Exeter-Tiverton road for Thorverton and then take the first left into a farmyard). There are no signs but plenty of customers! Lots of good local fruit and vegetables, 36 south-west cheeses and great South Devon Chilli farm chilli chocolate. Have not yet tried the Fish Shed, though I've heard very good things about it. Your write-up makes me want to go there all the more, even though I don't eat fish... How about the mooted south-west egullet gathering taking place there, or, as was originally suggested, the Nobody Inn?

I've managed to lose a stack of notes on places we've eaten in over the past few months, but here are some sketchy memories of the good and the bad around Exeter at the moment: Barton Cross, Stoke Canon, near Exeter: We had always steered clear of this place for some reason, but will definitely be going back. The restaurant is part of a small, very cute, hotel with lovely Devon views. The food is generally French, making use of lots of good local ingredients, and for c.£28 (the price for three courses) you will get seriously stuffed, both in terms of volume and in terms of the richness of the dishes. This is in no way intended as a criticism, since having to lie prone for a couple of hours after a meal can reflect very well on a restaurant... Very good use of cheeses, lovely home-cured olives, excellent banana bread-and-butter pudding, and really good service. 22 Mill Street, Chagford: There is already a thread on this place, but good to report that it is still on form. Really precise and satisfying cooking. The Horn of Plenty, Gulworthy, near Tavistock: we went for a 'cheap' dinner, bed and breakfast deal in the winter. It was all very pleasant and country-housey, but I can't remember a thing we ate... Sun Dogs, Fore Street, Exeter: A really good addition to the local scene, since I generally think that 'mid-range' restaurants are a total waste of time. This is not. The cooking is very solid, generally Mediterranean, and there were lots of really careful details throughout the meal that left you feeling very positive about the place. The Nobody Inn, Doddiscombsleigh: much-mentioned, but I'm afraid to say that I think the food has gone downhill. The setting, cheeses, wines and whiskies are still fantastic, but a lot of the food is not quite tasty enough. The problem seems to be the minimalist/hearty plating style they are going in for, which is not a combination that works particularly well. The Drewe Arms, as recommened by Marco. Excellent for fish and all-in-all a very good tip, especially as its so close to the M5. The Duke of York, Iddesleigh: Monster portions of very tasty pub food in this very attractive pub, situated about ten miles north of Okehampton. There is a small restaurant section where it is possible to book tables. Very busy. Otterton Mill: best white bread around, and decent salads and ploughman's for lunch. The Devonshire Dumpling, north of Crediton: very good puddings, so-so mains. Sharpham vineyard: super vineyard in the South Hams. They have a very good signposted walk around the estate which finishes with wine and cheese tastings. Mmm, Sharpham Rustic.

Went to Anthony's for the first time on Saturday and a had a very good time indeed. Aperitif: Deus, the 'champage-beer' much-discussed already on the thread. Tasty and I liked the drama of having lager popped from a champagne bottle and then poured into Riedel flutes. I think the beer menu is a fantastic selling-point for the restaurant. Course 1: Raspberry gimlet - a super whisky and rasberry-based cocktail in a shot glass. Very deep raspberry flavours and probably the first whisky Becky has ever enjoyed (and she's tried hard with single malts, blends, toddies. cocktails... etc.) 2: White asparagus tips, which came with grape and a couple of other things. Nothing special. 3: Paprika crisp: yummy, greasy prawn-cracker-alike dusted with paprika. Works well with beer! 4: The loaf of bread with butters: nice, but a shame it wasn't warm. 5: White onion risotto with espresso and parmesan air: a very good dish, particularly the risotto itself. I felt the grains of espressp might be omitted from the base of the dish, but kept in the air where their effect seemed more pleasing. 6: Salad of quinoa, pickled radishes, fern asparagus, enoki mushrooms, shallots and rocket: A truly delicious dish. Reminded me of one of my favourite dishes of all time which was a pickled salad that Angela Hartnett used to cook when she was in Dubai. I'm not sure how the quinoa had been prepared but it was really rich and there was an excellent play of contrasts going on in the dish. 7: Plate of cheese requested by us as I was not yet super-full... All delicious and in good condition. The Lancashire-style cheeses were exceptional. 8: Pre-dessert of chocolate sorbet: nice, but similar to supermarket chocolate mousse as far as I was concerned (Becky found it much more satisfying and deeper in flavour). 9: Chocolate fondant with peanut ice cream and an artichoke caramel (for me) and the reconstructed tarte tatin (for Becky): the former was much better than the latter, as the peanut and choclolate were a real winning combination. I didn't feel the puddings exhibited the level of complexity found elsewhere in the meal, or in similar restaurants. 10: Petit fours were chocolates in roasted corn: these really showed what the chef could do with sweet dishes. They were sensationally good and this fantastic combination of flavours will always remain with me. The service was OK, though we were quite pissed off early-on when the maitre d' jumped the gun and chastised us for not having told them we were vegetarian, when we in fact had told them this (this is the second time we have been 'told-off' for supposedly not pre-announcing our vegetarianism and it is beginning to grate a little...) The key thing, as the menu above illustrates, is that Anthony had prepared a really great menu for us, and the food was excellent. There are some misses at the moment, but the hits are real hits, and what is more they are both imaginative and tasty. The gimlet, salad and corn chocolates were three of the best things I've had all year. There are clearly interesting Japanese and Latin American influences on his cooking, as well as the more expected European influences, and I'm sure that egulleteers are right to have identified this as a restaurant to follow. Cost was £93 before service, which seemed very reasonable (it also included a half-bottle of Sancerre and a raspberry beer).

Marlena's suggestion of Mangal 2 in Dalston is a winner. As she said: great Turkish food, admirable freshness, a real depth of flavours, nice staff who are clearly passionate about food, and a great selection for meat-eaters and vegetarians. Portions are indeed big. Mezze are in the range £2.50-3.50 and mains c.£6-8. The sambousek are absolutely fabulous.

After the deeply embarassing crowning of Nigel Slater in first, second and third places in the OFM Food Books of the Year Award (well dissected by egulleteers in Food Media and News), we now have this in the current issue: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall Sunday May 16, 2004 The Observer My latest tome, The River Cottage Meat Book, comes out next week, and I'm thrilled to hear that the OFM editor reckons it's perfectly OK -appropriate and desirable even - for me to plug it here in my column. So here goes. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly...1214937,00.html Is it just me, or is anyone else beginning to really, really tire of the endless self-promotion and mutual-back-slapping of the OFM set? I love reading about food but when the OFM mix consists of such advertorials and thrilling insights into Gstaad's top Sloaney chalet-cafes ('Penne a la Geoffrey', Jesus...), I think in future I shall just plonk it straight in the bin and stick with the magazine's much more credible and digestible set of recipes, restuarant reviews and wine column.