Broken English

Based on my dinner there last year, they'd be hard done by if they lose a star. Granted, the food wasn't cutting edge, but it was flawlessly prepared, and utterly delicious.

When I was down at Cockle Creek in Tasmania a few years back we had fresh dived abalone, whole, grilled on the hotplate until it was tender enough to pierce with a fork (much like testing a baked potato). No pounding or slicing involved. It was one of the most memorable things I've ever eaten. Sitting outside a little hut on the beach, with just the abalone, some sea salt and lemon. I told my chef at the time about it when I got back to work, and he almost had a coronary on the spot.

Well I couldn't just leave some on the plate, could I? The idea that I could have left any seemed so far fetched at the time. Mind you, it was the only thing I ate that day.

My lunch from a few weeks ago ... God it was good.

That spaghetti looks amazing, though at a brief glance I thought that the yellow tomato was pineapple and I got a little worried haha.

Religion is one of those things that should be kept behind closed doors. It has no place in restaurants, all that's going to occur is alienating a proportion of people, which is the opposite of what a restaurant is supposed to do.

Years ago (back when I was "Nick" at egullet) TB had a thread here, or was contributing to it, and I sent him a PM asking how he stayed so slim while eating so much. He replied he smoked three packs of cigarettes a day... Maybe he's recently given up smoking. That could do it. I read that he gave it up a few years back when his daughter was born.

My guess is that while the temperature of the thermomix may have been set, the temperature of the chocolate in there didn't match up. Did you monitor the chocolate temperature at all? I've never tried it in a thermomix though.

Bourdain is hilarious at his best, but it seems he's flogging a dead horse here, everyone with common sense knows what he's saying is true. It's just a shame many people don't have that sense.

If the restaurant is busy, I can tolerate 30 minute waits, particularly on straight up orders, or where I can see 20 people sat down at once, so long as the service is good and the waiters explain the situation.

No snickering at pineapple people. Pineapple, garlic base and cheese is one of my favourite pizzas.

I should probably say that the only real difference I noticed between good pizza in Italy and in other places was the cost of the ingredients. They used ingredients like buffalo mozzarella and prosciutto di parma which are relatively cheap in Italy, they're far more costly in places like Australia.

I love Blumenthal's olive oil biscuit base from the millionaire shortbread recipe, I don't have it on me but it's great.

Damn, I'd have saved my cash if I'd known that. Thanks for the info though. The frozen margaritas across the road made up for it though, well, almost. The blackjack tables made up for the rest.

Keen to pick this up when it's released.

Dined at Nero's at Caesar's when I was in Vegas a few weeks back. I'd avoid it, the service was snotty and failed to bring my wine until I was half way through my starter, foie gras was undercooked and the French onion soup is something I'm sure was taken from another table, (I saw it go back as a wrong order from the next table, five minutes later I placed my order), and then it was on my table less than 1 minute after I ordered it and the bread could not have been soggier, and it was like it had been microwaved. The steak tartare was good, the other two were very forgettable. I didn't feel like a main, so I ended up ordering two entrees, then a third afterwards. I can't help but feel the shit service stemmed from that. In terms of casual dining, I can't recommend Margaritaville any higher. The burgers in particular, are great, second only to Rockpool Bar and Grill Sydney in my experience.

You could possibly cure it and make duck ham, but I would just cook it as normal, all the pre-smoking does is add another layer of flavour as far as I can see.

I thought rice only absorbed moisture, which would leave the powder as is. A definitive answer on this would be good though.

The flipside of course is that poor service can taint the enjoyment of the overall experience, which can reflect on the food.

I had a miso mayonnaise at Alinea last week which was to die for.

According to the Big Fat Duck Cookbook, the then head of Michelin told Blumenthal that the stars were awarded solely for the food. I've not been to Dinner either, I was just going from what I've heard.

I use a mix of slivered almonds and pine nuts, along with basil, lemon juice, garlic, reggiano and salt and pepper. For a really fluoro green colour I switch out half the basil with parsley. I must be the only one who likes my pesto quite chunky, I like the encapsulated bursts of flavour from the nuts, the basil and the parmigiano. Plus the texture is just better for me.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Marcus Wareing finally get his third, and I'd say Dinner will get two Michelin stars.

Yes. Is it reasonable to expect me to tackle more than one plate of food at a time? Or to eat one while the other goes cold? If I wanted them to bring the food all at once I'd have asked. Most of these restaurants were less than half full by the way.

Maybe it's just that there aren't nearly as many of them in Australia compared to McDonalds, but I much prefer Burger King. Not that I seek either out, but to me, Burger King tastes a little more like food. As for KFC, there is not one item I've tried there that I can stomach more than two bites of.