[Michelin Stars 2011]

Amazing that Koffman's got so many mentions in that article.

When we went the cooking was below-par. Hardly the revelatory experience we were hoping for.

Perhaps it depends who is in the kitchen?

Havn't heard who if anybody has taken over from Clive Dixon as Head Chef, been lead to believe that the boys are being run ragged by the pace though.

[Michelin Stars 2011]

Having read this piece by Richard Vines (Bloomberg)where top chefs talk about the best meals they've had this year, The Ledbury seems to get alot of mentions.

Albert Roux is clearly using the piece to promote one of his own restaurants (Roux at The Landau), really?!? Best meal this year Albert? and its only been open afew weeks.

Last years hot restaurant (MW at The Berkley) doesn't seem to be getting any mentions, I do hope we don't get a call from Mr Wareing for pointing this out

With concern to Aumbry and the mixed feed back people seem to have, it looks like it for fills the criteria for a star.

I didnt mention Koffmans as felt it was stating the obvious

[Michelin Stars 2011]

Interesting reading through the thread that the subject of service is a recurring theme.

Yet Michelin & Derek Bulmer both say quite openly that it doesnt count when inspection for 1*, where as for the AA & one would imagine the GFG aswell, service is an integral part of the dining experience & reflects in your score.

[Michelin Stars 2011]

Here is the link David Goodfellow posted last time around - just incase anyone wants to know what last year brought about.

http://servicesv2.webmichelin.com/frontnews/servlet/GetElement?elementCode=56905

I believe West Stoke House has closed - Chef going to the new angel / carved angel. There are a couple of other places closed / changed that will probalbly loose out too.

I cant see why Simon Radley wont get a promotion - refined and high quality if very formal.

Gauthier Soho could be worth a mention for a * or how about viajante (havent eaten there but sounds good).

Abode Chester cant be a million miles off one either, but I would be suprised non the less.

If GR or the Waterside were to be demoted who of the established two stars could step up?

Re Stoke house; all of that is true, rumoured to be re opening as a brasserie. The old owners are looking to open something casual locally to Stoke House.

Gidleigh Park seems to pop up on that front concerning stepping up, from 2 to 3. On comparision with say AD @ The Dorch, I would say it's very very close. Staff are a real credit at Gidleigh as well.

Again Simon Radley's name has come up in conversation as well, general thought is not yet but maybe 2012.

Forgot about Gaulthier Soho, may stand an outside chance just about timings with inspections.

[Michelin Stars 2011]

PS. The cheque is in the post

[Michelin Stars 2011]

The ones that are consistently mentioned are;

Matt Gillan @ The Pass

Tuddenham Mill

Number 6 (I think it is) in Padstow

William Drabble

There is a place in South Manchester & the name escapes me at the moment (won a best new comer award from GFG)

The problem with this is the time factor, to gain a star you'll be looking at 6-10 inspections in less than 10-12 months hence the reason some people will be over looked. Michelin themselves have said that unless that you are a chef/patron they are unlikely to consider you in the first 18months. Think that this maybe the reason that they build up the resentment from chefs.

[Michelin Stars 2011]

I forgot all about Kenny Atkinson, shame on me. A chef of his calibre is Michelin certainty.

Isn't Sat Bains ex head chef at Tuddenham Mill? Seem to think I read it somewhere.

He is yes, I follow him on twitter, his menu's have nods to his culinary past with his time with Mr Bains.

Was lead to believe the AA snubbed Kenny for 3 rosettes this year - Shame on them.

[Michelin Stars 2011]

Looks like I'll be the first to mention the subject of RHR, with a demotion from the AA and rumours of Claire Smyth's "move" to her own restaurant, maybe a demotion. Every food critic I've spoken to recently doesn't rate it at 3 star level, there are also rumours of GR allegedly being quite close with senior Michelin people, now with some of them gone or going & him seemingly more interested in media hard to see them maintaining 3.

One of our sources from RHR said that they(the restaurant) didnt care about any of the guide books other than Michelin, so the AA wasnt a loss.

L'Enclum to go to 2stars

Nathan Outlaw 2 rising

Kenny Atkinson 1 or 1 rising

Bohemia 2 rising

New Angel Lose (mainly due to the stability of past year)

L'ortolan 2 rising

Sat Bains 2 rising

Maze lose (again due to the stability)

Tuddenham Mill 1 rising

Should be enough to be going on with

[SodaStream – at home soda maker]

not to take this off topic, but you carbonated whole strawberries? What do you get? A fizzy strawberry or fizzy strawberry foam/mush? Either seems intriguing, just curious.

If you carbonate them for about 3 1/2 hours you get fizzy strawberries, but has to be in a sealed container hence you would probably need to leave the bottle attached to the sodastream

[SodaStream – at home soda maker]

During the summer I carbonated whole strawberries in an ISI whipper, was just wondering if it would work in a sodastream? Suppose that you would have to leave attached to the machine for hours to seal in the pressure.

Might be worth a try

[Christmas Hampers]

My partner & I are doing a hamper for the parents-in-law.

So far it's looking like this;

-Pineapple Chutney

-Pickled onions

-Molakoff

-Strawberry turkish delight

-Local smoked salmon]

-Chilled chocolate fondant (in a kilner jar)

-3 bottles of wine

-Chocolate brownies

-Pickled chillis

-Raspberry & Champagne jam

-Local honey

-Local award winning cheese

-Charcutiere

-Rump steaks

and thats just for starters, got my work cut out making most of this as well.

[Favorite Food Blogs and Recipe Sites]

Hi everybody (hate to sound like Dr Nick from the Simpsons, but it's the only way we could think to start off)

Only really came across this thread as we were looking where our traffic was coming from.

We've recently done a post on chefs that blog as well as some of the chefs that are on Twitter, hopefully some of you may find it interesting. The chef from New Zealand with his pastry blog has some really good photography on it.

Many thanks for the recommendation.

[Walnut Tree]

We too love Mr Hill.

We had an excellent meal there as part of our 'Cheaper eats' series, and he also took part in our series of 5questions ~ The Legends. He broke the mould in so far as we know, at the time he was the only legend in the series who was still cooking.

The meal we had was fantastic all for about £30 ish

Duck Confit, main

The lightest bakewell tart

Just wish more restaurants were more like his.

[Top Chef calls to rant about negative comments]

We've read the review and come to a few conclusions based on the 3 pages of responses.

Firstly, writing a restaurant review on a blog is different from a restaurant critic printing their weekly column in the weekend paper. Mainly because most blogs will give you a right of reply, it's called "COMMENTS". Chefs have bemoaned the fact that they never had this with the printed media & now they have it, this happens.

We do a series of restaurant reviews called 'Cheaper Eats', generally eating in Michelin star places for in or around £30. We mention this as we did Bohemia on Jersey during the summer. Shaun Rankin even tweeted about us coming, and was in the kitchen at the time. The meal upto & including the main course was outstanding, easily 2rising star. After that Oh dear. We tweeted & posted the review, and offered the Bohemia team a right of reply ~ Nothing.

Yes, we have no idea of the tone of language used by Mr Wareing or if it actually happened at all. As has been said above by others this discussion is driving traffic to a blog, cynical or not, it is happening. If it did happen as reported, just imagine what it was like in his kitchen. These are tough places where brutal actions & language are used generally.

As a review it's self, yes it's not great,

The Cornish seabass that came next was perfectly cooked and totally beautiful.

. What was it with?, why was it great? what were the flavour combinations? It's a little bit lacking to be of any use as a review. The reviewers also bemoan the fact that Mr Wareing has changed the menu very little in the past 12 months. Ever been to the Fat Duck? The most common complaint we hear about the Fat Duck is that the menu hasn't change to any great degree in nearly 2 years. Not that the tables are too close together or that the staff dragging a wooden bench around the room is irritating, no it's the menu. So it's a mute point.

We're not for one minute going to excuse Mr Wareing's alleged actions, but quite frankly it all seems a little bit of a storm in a tea cup.