whitecat
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Posts posted by whitecat
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IN the spirit of being a contrarian, this begs the question: Is it you who have become jaded? Did Marco Pierre White stop providing thrills? Is that what we are after?
The first chef name that came to me was Emeril. But, what do I know? I haven't eaten his food in years, he's become a TV creation, and that doesn't make me want to seek out his food. Does that mean it still doesn't taste good? He used to be rock solid delicious..I'll never forget a roasted quail in a puddle of BBQ sauce. Would that make my heart go pitter pat now, years later? Maybe so, but it wouldn't be that moment of thrill that existed 30 ought years ago.
What are we after in a restaurant experience? Constant reinvention? Classics that are classics for a reason?
fun to think about, no?
You can ask the same about anything... if The Beatles had made the same record for their entire career, would they be looked upon with such reverence? Should Boeing still manufacture the original 707 only because it's a "classic" ?
Classics are fine... they are classics for a reason... but invention and progression are kind of a cornerstone of humanity. Any sort of creative or technical pursuit kind of requires those things...
There's the other problem of course, that when these former giants spread themselves too thinly, the magic simply wanes and the classics do not hold up to memory. I suspect this is going to be the case with most of the people who end up being listed in this thread more so than the problem I've stated above!
Other industries manage to find the balance... take guitars as a random example. Both Gibson and Fender will offer you something completely up-to-date, high-tech and yet often still in the spirit of their design history. However, for the purists, they've got the back-to-basic "reissue" guitars from the 1950s and 1960s as well. You can have it both ways.
So in summary, I'm not sure what my point is.
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Marco Pierre White
Gordon Ramsay
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Booked again for June when some friends are in town... can't wait!
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I was there in November for lunch, that's as recent as I can give you.
It was arguably the best meal I ate in 2011. Cannot absolutely recall specific courses, sorry... if I can look at a menu later I can probably update and told you what I ate, but it was all awesome. Not a foot put wrong anywhere. Even the coffee is superb, which is a rare thing in London anywhere.
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Yep, it seems that Malouf was recruited extremely quickly considering he was already running a restaurant in Oz
If you're aware of what Greg's been through in the past few years with forced relocation etc it's unsurprising he'd be getting tired of it in Melbourne.
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I ate at the "original" MoMo about eight years ago and it was one of the better dinners I've ever had in my life. Very excited that Greg Malouf is moving to these shores...
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The Jamie's Italian in Guildford is actually not that bad - I would go as far as "surprisingly pleasant food" - and it probably is about the best choice in the city centre... it's better than the one in Oxford (which is the only other one I've been to) - my wife tells me it's much better than the one in Canary Wharf as well which seems to be paying its sky-high rates and rent by cutting portion sizes by 2/3rds or so).
London House in Old Woking (just a little further than Ripley) is worth a go. It's run by a former Masterchef semi-finalist. The wine list is still a bit weak but the food can be pretty good if not quite up to Drake's level.
I'm told there's a place in Guildford called Wild Garlic which is pretty good. I haven't yet been myself, I think it's fairly new-ish but I'm going in a couple weeks' time.
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Medlar is f****** amazing. Just thought I'd put that out there.
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The Young Turks at Ten Bells open their January bookings tomorrow morning (UK time). While the cooking isn't always "world-class" it's always interesting and a pretty good value for £39 a head in a fun room.
It's cool to do if you wanna do something that you can never do again - you'll have to move quickly though as they get booked up and shift to waitlists pretty fast.
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When you say transit is closed, does that include the Underground? That would REALLY throw a wrench in my plans. It's the only way I've ever gotten around town. I won't have a phone, so ringing Addison Lee might be impossible, without relying on the kindness of strangers.
Indeed there is no public transport at all on Christmas Day - Underground and buses will shut down remarkably early on Christmas Eve too (8pm or so). Same goes for overland trains, trams and DLR - there are none. You will be relying on cabs or foot. Other than Addison Lee, you might see the odd black cab about that you could hail but I would imagine there are far less of them than usual and those that do choose to operate will be both booked up and you'll also pay a Christmas Day rate (used to be £4 tacked on to your fare no matter where you went but may have increased).
London & the UK really do "close up the shop" on Christmas... it's pretty impressive considering how bustling it is the rest of the year. Touristy stuff will be shut, in most cases. Going sightseeing and just wandering around taking photos of open spaces might be your best best to kill time, it might be quieter than normal...
One solution is to book a minicab in advance of your travel once you know your plans.
Also, if you can afford a bang-up lunch you can probably afford a pay-as-you-go mobile phone (they're available for under £5 plus a £10 mandatory 'top up') - then you WILL have a phone... just buy one as soon as you get to the UK.
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Announced today that the 25th to the 2nd July will be the soft opening week... 25% off the total bill...
http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaurants/london/view/106274/Roganic
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Then there's this...
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I've had duff meals at St John but never at Hereford Road - Hereford Road has definitely slipped a bit more "mainstream" recently, doing less of the nose-to-tail thing and keeping it a bit simpler but it's half the price of St John and I would say worth the trek. My last meal there about three weeks ago was terrific, anyway - a pigeon & game terrine followed by breast of veal (which had a broth that was just heavenly).
(I'm not saying don't go to St John - you absolutely should, it's definitely in its own league - but I've been disappointed there at least once!)
Other recent places I've gone that I would rush back to are Morito in Farringdon (book a lunch there). I enjoyed Wright Brothers Soho as well - more than the original location - get a mountain of seafood (and lots of oysters) or get the "fish for two" (which seems to usually be a sea bass, but it's always cooked very well and impeccably fresh.
Speaking of Morito, the original next-door place Moro is very good as well but it's been a while since I've been.
Bistrot Bruno Loubet in Clerkenwell is absolutely superb. Very lively room but some pretty clever sparks in the kitchen.
Chez Bruce (Wandsworth Common) and Lamberts (Balham) are both worth the hike out of Central London as well - although it's been a bit longer since I've been to Lamberts, was impressed with both, the latter being especially good value for money with simple, "modern British" cooking, and the former being a bit harder to get a booking at but worth the effort.
Polpo (or one of its siblings I suppose - da Polpa, new, haven't been or Polpetto (tiny, no resos, haven't been)) - can make a fun lunch stop. Wouldn't do dinner though. Bocca di Lupo as well (for either lunch or dinner). (Lots of small-plate stuff going on at the moment, isn't there?)
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If you're visiting the UK and staying at anything resembling a swish London hotel, one strategy is to get the concierge there to try for you - some of them have special powers that mere mortals do not possess. This has worked for me in the past. A friend of mine was staying at the Savoy (before the renos) and the concierge there got an FD booking with about two weeks' notice, when all our efforts otherwise failed.
Of course, if you merely LIVE here then that's not going to help...
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Bookings are now being taken by e-mail, with telephone lines open on 6th June.
I have my table booked and am really looking forward to it.
Opening day looks on the cards to be 16th June, no idea when the website will be up, although I do know the menus will be five or ten courses. Not sure on prices at all.
Bring it on.
info@roganics.co.uk.
Read somewhere else on the web it will be £40/£80 ("including all the extras", whatever that means - service in maybe?) but the five course option will be lunchtime only... might be wrong though!
Either way I've got my dinner booking. Super excited.
EDIT: ah, the price info was in that interview you linked to in the subsequent post. There we go!
Groundbreaking Chefs Whose Food Has Seen Better Days
in Restaurant Life
Posted
Allegedly he has to fund a very expensive divorce settlement...