Suzi Edwards

Wow. Great information. I think it is possible to understand a country through the food. Now, I'm nowhere near doing that with the UK, but I've started to have a go. My understanding of Australian food is that I would be able to get some exceptional Chinese, Japanese and Thai food, I want to try "fusion" as this is how Australian food is often (mis)represented in the UK (?) I want to eat a Moreton Bay Bug. I don't really want to eat kangaroo. I want to eat in a mixture of high-end and really seriously good local places. Tetsuya and Flower Drum sound very interesting. I've heard good things about The Grange. Someone mentioned avant-garde. That's a *big* thing for me. Show me Australia's El Bulli and I'll be a very, very happy girl.

Rightly or wrongly I am now reminded of Darth Vader.

I nearly fell off my chair when I read this post. I know this is very wrong of me, but I always think of Gary Rhodes in the same light as Ainsley Harriot.

Which other UK restaurants used to have three stars and have been demoted? This is like GCSE Michelin stars for me. You're helping me do my revision :-)

I had a *very* embarassing moment when I met Simon Rogan last week. I had, like Gary, been living under the delusion that L'Enclume had a star. It didn't and, well, I can't even bear to recount the conversation. Honestly, I might end up eating crow when the guide comes out, but that place deserves more than one star. I really need to get round to putting my thoughts about the place in order, but I did not eat a one star meal. The only two star I ate at last year, The Square, didn't really impress me, but I think that was because we were a reasonably good sized group. Who else has two stars that could get a third? Who do we think could lose stars?

*Puts neck on the block* I think that L'Enclume will get two. I'd like to see Morgan M recognised with a star.

Here you go, my first ever photo post and living proof of why I haven't done it before. I suck at taking photos. I'd been calling it Shrimp Linguine in my head. I'm wondering why. It's served with smoked yoghurt and nori powder. I think (and my memory is failing me here) there is also some puffed shrimp. But am sure if I'm wrong I'll be told (I didn't take notes)

Maybe I'm stretching Ronnie's theatre comparison too far...but here goes. I saw "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind" at the Neo-Futurium (after a very poor meal at La Tasche. Dale had already gone to Trio Atelier, just no-one told me) "Too Much Light..., with its ever-changing "menu," is an attempt to perform 30 plays in 60 minutes... Each short play is written by a performer, honed by the ensemble, and randomly collaged with twenty-nine other plays through high-energy audience participation. Each week, these plays shift as ensemble members add new plays to the existing body of work." (from their website) I don't think I'm stretching my analogy too far by seeing comparisons in the TDF and GTM menus at Trio and Moto. It is my sense that both chefs are constantly innovating and creating new dishes, much like the Neo-Futurists. I may be well wide of the mark here, but I think if you ate at Moto on January 1st and went back on February 1st, there would be some change to the menu, but the spirit and ideal would be the same each time you ate there. BTW, am happy to be a tummy for hire if anyone wants a new face to eat opposite at at Moto. Assuming I'm in Chicago and not London. Unless you want to pay my airfare ;-)

Picked up a book I had about detoxing that says that shellfish is forbidden on some detoxes. I don't think I can bear that. I understand why I'm avoiding all the things I'm avoiding, any ideas why you wouldn't eat shellfish on a detox?

Day three of the detox. Have to say it has been a little harder than I thought it would be, sudden trip back home meant that I was unprepared for train travel but hopefully I didn't annoy the whole carriage by munching on a bag of carrots for two hours. <rant> I ended up going to the M&S Simply Food in Euston station against all of my ethics as the little place selling soup on the concourse didn't have a single wheat-free soup. Even the tomato and basil had wheat flour in it. WHY WHY WHY? </rant> Anyway, made a quite delicious chicken casserole last night. I was trying to make a sort of hunter's chicken so I roasted and skinned 2 red and 1 yellow pepper, browned 4 chicken thighs, mixed the two together, added five cloves of garlic still in their papery husks and a half bottle of passata. I would have liked to add some chilli, maybe some black olives, but my mum only had some dried basil in the house, so I added a teaspoon of that. Baked if for too long in a slow oven and served it with some long stemmed broccolli. Very delicious. Tonight I'm back home but I'm having chicken again, this time with chestnut, button and dried porcini mushrooms. I've added some dried chilli (yay) and I might add some olives at the end. I'm going to serve it with an artichoke and pea salad. Am feeling like I might be about to get a bit of a headache, feels like the onset of a sugar withdrawal headache. I'm going to go and sniff some vanilla in a moment as I've heard this can alleviate sugar cravings. Does anyone have any ideas how to get rid of a headache without taking a painkiller? I guess that would defeat the purpose of a detox...

Interesting point. I think only Wylie Dufresne in New York has actaully found a way to have an "innovative" bread service. He serves what looks like very, very thin carta di musica sprinkled with sesame seeds. I believe the dough is stretched and stretched before being baked. It's very delicious. I can't remember how far apart my two Moto visits were. Certainly four months. I was prepared a slightly special menu (I think) as there was only a small amount of duplication to what I had eaten before. That said I remember looking at the standard GTM and thinking that it had changed. Perhaps I'm just flattering myself to think that mine was any different! I think the secret is to take someone different for your second visit. Or eat by yourself occaisonally. Moto also does a number of different menus so you could go back more regularly and perhaps just have the smallest menu. Luckily the best thing about Moto is that the food actually tastes really good; while I see your point about some of dishes perhaps being "novel" I defy anyone not to want the seabass cooked tableside every single time they go. And once I've seen food levitate I'm sure it won't be a once in a lifetime thing. Admission: I reread my favourite book every year so I might have a higher tolerance than some for repeating sublime experiences.

I had some fantastic Ardrahan from Cork (via Neal's Yard) for Christmas. It was incredible, meaty like you say, creamy and with a real bite to it. I think that's another washed rind to add to the list.

His exact words were that they were "two completely different cheeses that taste completely different" Snotty nosed little pig. Luckily the Mont D'Or was delicious. Thanks for the clarification Allan.

I have a photo I can post tomorrow if anyone wants to see what it looks like. This assumes I can work out how to use ImageGullet.

It wasn't piping hot. I'd say warm. Very delicious no matter how out there the science is

Perhaps you can answer a query about Vacherin Mont D'Or for me. While perusing a cheese board recently I pointed to what I thought was a VM'O and asked for some only to be told that "That's not Vacherin Mont D'Or. It's Mont D'Or. They are two completely different cheeses" I was a bit stunned. Not only by potentially not being right :-p but because the waiter was so rude! Who's right?

Let me explain. I suffer from allergic asthma and have maintained a fairly strict no wheat no dairy diet since detoxing last January. Avoiding these two things means I don't end up on a nebuliser. I avoid caffeine because it makes me a bitch. I hadn't eaten any red meat since May last year (but had some lamb twice in the past week) Detox to me entails avoiding all of the nasties that I might ever put in my body. I've decided to do it for a month as in December I've drank a little more than I would like, eaten some red meat, had a little more sugar than I would like. It's my way of resetting my body to zero (as it were), cleansing and then getting on with the rest of the year. I do a pretty good job of eating a very healthy diet for most of the year, I just cut a little loose in December (birthday, Christmas, parties etc) Detoxing will often help you to lose weight. But I prefer to sweat it out in the gym if I want to fit into a smaller pair of jeans. I don't really like the word diet either, but if you don't like the word detox you could think of it as an elimination diet. Eliminating some of the stuff that might have a negative effect on your body. I just take it a little more seriously in January.

Thanks for that. I'm not a huge drinker and not really interested in the vineyards. I did that in South Africa (Horseriding around the vineyards. My first, and certainly last time on a horse) and decided I'm happier drinking a small amount of wine with a meal than seeing the grapes :-) So, you're already helping me to think about what I want. Mainly cities.

That can be your new year's resolution Moby. Just wait until I've finished detoxing before you get really good.

Faggotts are wonderful! I've ben reconverted. I picked up some organic ones from my local farmer's market a month or two ago. Wonderful pungent spiced offal flavour (mainly liver) that I didn't remember. We used to have frozen Brain's (a brand, but also probably an ingredient) when I was growing up and I had avoided them for years. I have a vague recollection of having them in a restaurant once, but the ones from the farmer's market were superb.

I do indeed! I drink at least three cups of nettle tea a day, it's very good for a sluggish digestive system, allegedly speeds up metabolic rate and has a lovely rounded mouth feel. I think a lot of teas are very thin, so I love the soft, roundedness of nettle tea. I take 2g of vitamin C a day anyway and a teaspoon of blue green algae but am thinking of adding some Co-Enzyme Q10 for the next month. Has anyone here taken this at all? Anything to say about it? I'm also going to get back onto the milk thistle for a few days, it really supports liver function. I'm lucky, while I have drank more than I usually drink over the festive period I'm not a huge drinker so I think my liver is in quite good shape. Wish I could say the same about my lungs! I'm also planning a session of colonic hydrotherapy so I'll have some acidophilus after that. I don't rattle when you shake me, honest!

Ginger is very, very good for you!!! I wouldn't too much ;-) BTW, to anyone who tries to claim that they do "some" or "most" of this but then talks about cheese and wine, you're really not detoxing. You're eating a fantastic healthy diet that would put most people to shame. But you're not detoxing!

Strangely enough I found it much easier to concentrate once I'd got over the early days of the detox. I used to think I had a really stressful job, but once I ditched the caffeine I realised that it was just the five starbuck's lattes a day that made me stressed. I've even got our MD to ditch the caffeine after he noticed the change in me. I think the theory about cutting out wheat is that most people eat way too much wheat and very little other grains. I have only one friend who even thinks about eating whole grains once in a while. Anything eaten to excess can have a negative effect on the body and, according to Dr Gillian McKeith, lead to food intolerances. I'm not sure about the medical basis for that, but I did become allergic to penicillin after taking it for three years to get rid of childhood spots. I've found that eating wheat has a positive effect on my asthma, so it's a no brainer for me. I don't think Weight Watchers can count as a detox, but good luck with it. I used to love going and attempting to basically strip naked at weigh-in to "lose" more weight.

Yep, this is just about eating in! Have you tried Viet Garden on Liverpool Road? I rate it much more highly than Song Que (I've banged on about this before) Also, can you tell us a bit more about Digby Trouts? I think the RFH is a real dead spot for food. My latest three: 1. Viet Garden 207 Liverpool Road. Good as always, best pho in London but the summer rolls let them down this time. The prawns had been breaded. Nice spicy salted tofu dish made up. 2. Chowki 2-3 Denman Street, report to follow 3. L'Enclume, report to follow I also grabbed take out from Paul at 29 Bedford Street in Soho. The rhubarb tart was one of the most delicious things I ate all December. Highly, highly recommended.

I did the same detox last year. Once I got over the raging headache caused by going cold turkey over sugar and caffeine I was OK. In fact, I haven't had any caffeine since January 2004 apart from when Starbucks stiffed me and gave an extra shot caffeinated soya latte. It was like I'd taken some crack cocaine. I couldn't sit down, pin pricks of sweat, raised heartrate. So at least I won't have to do the caffeine detox this time! I do have green/white tea sometimes but I tell myself this is good caffeine. Do anyone know relative comparisons of green tea and freshly ground coffee? I pointlessly started smoking again three months ago after two years of not smoking. I fear this will be the hardest bit of my detox. *bites nails*