Suzi Edwards

Room in Leeds gets a savaging in this week's Independant

I'm not very good on that area but I think that Baltic is near by. Never having been I cannot say if it's an especially romantic location...

K10 is the only kaiten place i've been to (apart from y* s*shi and even they make the rolls by hand) but when i first went there they did some of it by hand. the last time i went back they didn't have anyone making sushi in the middle of the conveyor belt. what is mitsu mame?

last time i went to K10 they had started using machines to make all of the sushi so i have never been back.

You're so right about the Casa Mono connection! Although I enjoyed my visit and thought the piquillo stuffed with oxtail excellent and the sweetbreads...oh my god. Have you tried 'Inoteca on Rivington? I think you might it like it next time you are in New York. I have yet to find anywhere like these places in London....*sighs*

Welcome to eGullet joesan. I'm with you on the size of US sushi. I often felt like a snake, dislocating my jaw to munch on a piece of crab roll. Maybe that's another reason why I like CPSB, the pieces are the right size for me.

Do Smiths of Smithfield serve rare breed steak? I think they might. St John also makes clear the breed on the menu. I think Anthony Worrall Thompson may also be passionate about rare breeds. Can't actually believe I'm mentioning him.

I'm probably coming to this late, but are you chef origamecrane?

So, yesterday's trip to Denmark was cancelled at the last minute so I hooked up with my brother. His only guidance as to where we should eat was "Chinese or Thai and I don't want to have to re-mortgage to pay for it" I reject Yauatcha on the grounds that they make it very hard to book for a table at late notice and despite the fact that I don't really like Chinese food, decided to go to Hunan. Why eat a cuisine that you don't expect to like? Well, I've really enjoyed Hakkasan and Yauatcha and had really good Chinese in New York (Joe's Shanghai) so I was working on the assumption that I've just generally eaten not very good Chinese food. I hate the opaque, glutinous sauces that things tend to be drowned in, the holy triumvirate of "yellow bean, black bean, oyster sauce" and king prawn dishes with prawns as big as my little finger nail* My brother isn't a hugely adventurous eater so he was starting to get slightly panicked over the lack of a menu. We asked for one, and instead, Mr Peng came over. "Wha you want?" My brother was so taken aback that he ran through his list of things; nothing too exotic like chicken feet, prawns, shellfish and spicy would be welcomed. I added no red meat and very little chicken please. So you can imagine how surprised we were to be served beef with spring onions, a dish that not only was quite heavy on one of the things we'd nixed, but that looked like it wouldn't look out of place in a cardboard topped foil tray. Equally, the scallops with garlic came in a glutinous, opaque sauce that seemed vaguely reminiscent of what I'd come here to avoid. Admittedly the spicy tempura beans were amazing, juicy, spicy, green and crispy all at the same time, but the promised second plate never appeared. Another hit were salt and pepper prawns (I think) served with scallions and a myriad dried peppers. Clean, bright flavours and some good looking fresh prawns. The stuffed mushrooms were tasty, but again served in a sludge. My brother got the pidgeon soup, I got a clear chicken broth. The dish of the evening was probably the "pork in paper bag - don't eat the bag" but I was tempted to, the sauce had such a meaty, spicy depth of flavour a paper bag seemed a reasonable way to get more inside me. I came away perplexed. One or two dishes were excellent, but there was little here to lift it beyond the rest. It's in no way in the same league as Hakkasan; it's too inconsistent from dish to dish and relies on run of the mill sauces to mask some not especially great ingredients. I would come back with people who speak Chinese, or maybe with a regular. I really do think it's the sort of place where you could get very special treatment depending on what language you speak and if you are known to them. But on last night's performance, I don't think I'd go back under my own steam. * I have been told I am slightly genetically odd as new born babies often have a bigger little fingernail than I do

so onto weak two, as victor might say. it would appear "the only question that really matters when evaluating a restaurant: what makes you pleased to be here?" is on victor's mind this week. erm, i tend to think that there are a number of questions i ask when evaluating a restaurant, the most important one being "what is the bloody food like" and then if i decide it's sublime i would just go to the ladies and kill myself, safe in the knowledge that i no longer have a rich and wide enough vocabulary to describe things. *growls* (Edit to add pun)

The lovely Circe was here recently review of CPSB but I have to say the service was so horribly inept last night that I am in two minds about going back at the moment. Which is sad because the food is great.

First up, Fi and the food links (I was inspired by Matthew Fort to buy some chard and can recommend his dishes) game for a laugh - Mark Hix likes birds Sally Clarke's perfect dinner party menu The National Trust's chocolate cake - warning - calls for 'vegan margarine' - I'm not convinced Continuing the seasonal them, Gordon Ramsey cooks apples + pears Three from Jill Dupleix Souk it and see - Claudia Roden's desserts Matthew Fort trawls the farmers' markets And here's the weeks restaurant "reviews" Terry Durak comments that Umu is "all but for the very rich" while Richard Johnson visits The Fox Hunter in Abagavenny Take me Giles, Take me! Ahem. Giles Coren visits Obsydian in Manchester with a rabid vegatarian called Graham. AA Gill comes off better with Tea at Claridges with Isabella Blow He's actually not that annoying for once... Jay Rayner wins 'analogy of the week' for "mammary-plump prawns" at Taman Gang Jan Moir finds a gem of a restaurant No Sixteen in Glasgow Victor Lewis Smith ponders "the only question that really matter when evaluating a restaurant: what makes you pleased to be here?" at The Black Bull Inn in Moulton, North Yorkshire. You can discuss the concept that "sublime" when used as an adjective to describe food is very tired in this thread here Marina O'Loughlin is turning Japanese, both Umu and The Centrepoint Sushi Bar

i think this rumour was killed a while ago...andy's more of a gossip than me so he might chime in...

Me too. I ADORE hyperbole. Just noticed that Rodizio Rico (they have a place in Kensington, I think) is opening soon just by the Screen on the Green. There's also a new Indian just opened by Scholl that looks like it might do a lot of Goan/South Indian food. Will try and get there soon.

oh gareth. that's such a shame....i went again last night and am still thinking about the scallop. it's just so, so good. and it was PACKED. looks like the positive press response is helping them.

This place seems to getting some good reviews (especially compared to Umu, the other new Japanese in town) It's actually called Centre Point Sushi and the address is 20-21 St Giles Street and the number is 020 7379 3369. There are open from 12.00-10.00pm Monday thorough Saturday. The supermarket downstairs is my new favourite place. Have become obsessed with food I don't recognise in brightly coloured packaging.

Welcome to eGullet Stantheman! What did you eat?

This has become my local, but Hallie, I think you might be being a bit mean. From memory, outside has two plate glass windows, one on the left, one of the right, the left one always has a HUGE pile of meringues and lots of pastry type things and the right has the salads and some bread on display? The facade is painted white and there's a sign that says "Ottolenghi" in red? I don't have botox or a live in nanny and it just looks like a deli to me. The salads can be a bit hit and miss (especially on a saturday when they seem to get very busy) but highlights for me hav ebeen butternut squash one that Hallie tried and an asparagus, chilli and samphire one. Lowlight has to be the fried egss with polenta and mushroom for breakfast. It's served with a beef reduction sauce that should have left with the arc. That said, other breakfast dishes like frittata looked good and I love having toasters, butter and jam on the table so you can pretend you're in your own home and you just happen to have a 20 foot long dining table. Salads can get very, very expensive if you're taking out. It's not the same price as when you eat in. Which is a shame.

i dreamed about their deluxe black truffle focaccia for weeks after the first time i had it, but it wasn't quite as good on my last visit (about 3 weeks ago) if the octopus is still on the menu, have it, i think that's one of the best dishes in chicago at the moment. the stuffed dates are also very good (but not sure they are wood-ovened) salads tend to be very good here too. the main thing i would avoid is the brandade. i know nothing about wine so can't help you there very much. have a good time! it's one of my favourite places in chicago.

just checking that you're all reading. thanks for spotting that winot. will you tell us how it was? can you start a new thread when you do?

Here we go for another week... All together now...Terry Durack visits The Farm in Fulham while Tracy MacLeod visits the Carved Angel. You can read what other eGulleteers have said about this place here The lovely Giles Coren wins my "word of the week" competition for his use of the word "hippocampi" in his review of The Chancery near Chancery Lane but I think he's straying in AAGill territory with this review. Speaking of AA, he's away so Shane Watson takes the reigns and really rather enjoys Chez Kristof Jay Rayner goes all fast food at Leon just off Carnaby Street And here's the one I'd been waiting for, new Guardian food writer Victor Lewis-Smith eats at the The Groes Inn in Wales. I've started a thread here about it. And finally Jan Moir visits the errantly titled The Cook's Room in Glasgow There's some interesting stuff in the food round up this week from Fi... Mark Hix gives us seafood recipes on the day that Channel Five shows a programme called Giant Killer Squid. Coincidence? I don't think so. from the Telegraph: a load of old chestnuts and Sally Clarke cooks supper. redcurrant jelly + pickled nectarines from Gordon Ramsey take three ingredients to get something with mango lime + strawberry burger that - Tom Norrington-Davies says junk the junk food three from Jill Dupleix There should be a Sunday Times - Eating For Life (Locatelli + Ursell make you eat broccoli) link but the website hasn't been updated yet Red alert - Matthew Fort kicks off his new recipes column with a hymn to the tomato pith and vinegar from Heston Blumenthal Hail the Observer Food Monthly! from it we have carefully selected for your reading pleasure: interview with Fergus Henderson. See also eGullet thread here. Dating New York style - it's fast, cheap, and sweet (just like some of your prospective partners, we hope) Nigel Slater clings onto summer loving your lunchbox - Lynn Barber has all her meals delivered (and hates it) Mark Hix rates ready meals. Again I say, coincidence? I don't think so. and finally, from September's Waitrose Food illustrated, Sybil Kapoor's speedy seasonal recipes and Elizabeth Luard on saffron

Well, he has taken over from Matthew Fort with this slaying of The Groes Inn in Wales. I loved the fact that he describes a "Caesar Salad" as "more of a Seizure Salad" but that's just because I like plays on words. Moby is very good at those but he's not the food writer for the Guardian... Overall, I was disappointed. We all know that it's easy, really, really easy to rubbish a restaurant and hard to find the words to describe a meal that's totally transcendental*. And I don't tend to read restaurant reviews to find out where not to eat. I like to know what's great. Feels to me like he has decided to start with a bang. But for me it's more of a whimper. *I use words like transcendental so I don't actually have to describe the technique or the flavour. I describe the experience. Which is a bit like Victor.

Tracy MacLeod from the Independant visited The Carved Angel recently

I'll definitly vote. These categories make some sense. Unlike the Time Out Awards "Best Chinese in SE15" type nonsense.

you'll be telling us next that Circeplum is Marina O'Loughlin...