Suzi Edwards

so, i went to the wolesley. clamdiggers and a poncho were very suitable :-) the room is lovely; great high ceilings, black chandeliers and lots and lots of light. the high ceilings are a good thing, there were lots of smokers there and i can imagine it could get real smoky. the service is great too. jack was held up (thank you london transport) and one of the waiters spotted me alone and come over with a paper. which was a good thing as there was "no-one" there to people watch. it wasn't a very glam crowd. it was a bit provincial to be honest (and i'm not trying to be mean) but it just struck me it was fully of people who couldn't get into the ivy. anyway, onto the food. we had almost no time there, so i had a burger and jack had boudin blanc with caramel apples and mash. he won. the burger was made with good quality meat and had good flavour but the meat was hard. it came exactly as i ordered, but it was only the blood from the meat that made it juicy. the bun was quite sweet and nicely seeded and it was served with a pickle, tomato and onion on the side. jack's sauasages were delish, especially the sauce/gravy which i had great fun dipping my (slightly anemic) fries into. i'd like to go back because the room is great and the have that butter which moby loves (i can't work out how to spell it - echire?)

clamdiggers: three quarter length trousers. i have created my own by turning up my jeans so they sit mid calf (actually typed mid thigh first of all - *so* not a good look for me) and have deep turn-ups. i have found some clamdiggers here i am wearing them with lots of pink, thus "dressing up" the look. am slightly worried about a spiral staircase in these shoes though.

i'm in.

other than circe's suggestion to wear colour, i am unsure of the dress code here. any ideas? i want to wear my denim clamdiggers. is that too casual do you think?

i would never have got through my detox without pork.

barley couscous is actually very traditional and very, very delicious. unlike corn pasta which is an abomination.

i used to use abel and cole and stopped because the quality of the produce went down a bit. i tried simply organic afterwards and it was terrible. same product every week. so i soon cancelled that. i'll go back to abel and cole very soon, the prices are reasonable and the produce is generally of a high standard. box schemes are your best way of getting great produce at a reasonable price. try barley couscous for a bit of a change. i think belazu do one, found in the special (special what? specially priced i reckon) selection at satanburys.

i can't think of much great stuff i've had in the uk this year as i have been detoxing a lot and i've spent a lot of time out of the country so my list is a bit us centric. sorry! shrimp tempura with meyer lemon and vanilla, trio, chicago sweetbreads in hay, fat duck, bray bass steamed tableside, moto, chicago streetside pani puri, kartiks, bangalore tarte tatin a la moby, chez moby, london halibut and smoked mash, wd50, new york sweetbreads a la plancha, casa mono, new york the beignet with the pre dessert, the square, london

thank you for making me smile andy :-) i am having a horrible day.

i meant the 19th. i actually don't even know what day it is today.

june. figure he'll have the tarte tatin down pat by then :-)

right, am going on the 20th. it's so nice to have lovely things to look forward to.

i think you miss my tone steve (that's what the winking emoticom is for), it was a joke between moby and i. he knows i'm on the hunt for the perfect tarte tatin and have also eaten in almost all of the MG restaurants...it may become my signature dish. unlike chicken tarka :-)

i was joking, but thank you anyway andy!

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_95804...uirkies.sexlife (feel free to remove this if it's considered too near the knuckle)

trio wins hands down. i ate at both in the same week recently. moto is slighly more experimental, possibly slightly further out on the curve but is more inconsistent. trio wins for beauty of presentation, the increible service and the most amazing food experience i have ever had. in an ideal world, go to both because i think chef omar will be influential in his time and you can catch him early in his career at the moment. but grant is so in his stride at the moment that he's unmissable. there are very, very few high end restaurants i have eaten in twice recently because i'm a glutton for the new...but i will probably go back to trio next month. and i live in london!

i am slightly annoyed that moby didn't call me to tell me that they are serving a *deconstructed tarte tatin* at anthony's ;-) does anyone have the number for national rail enquiries?

the blumental piece in the guardian on saturday was about how crushed peach stones are used in amaretti to make them taste more of almonds. i forget the name of the chemical, but he said that if you want to add a strong almond flavour to something, rather than using a synthesised almond flavouring you could soak some peach pits in fruit juice to get the flavour. only he said it better than i did. i think the green and black chocolate can taste a bit fatty at times but i do like a small amount of it from time to time. the cheery sounds very similar to a bar from roccoco which is very delicious.

wow. this sounds fab. dare i ask the price point?

i went to the 5th floor harvey nicks (in london) and was quite pleasently surprised. am *fairly* sure they didn't have anyone who'd done a stage at el bulli in the kitchen, but they made me a very nice thai chicken salad. they have a copy of the menu with a list of everything thats in the dish that people might possibly be allergic to/avoiding (garlic, wheat, dairy etc) so it fitted my detox very well. it also told me a lot about the type of customer they expect to get in there. places with multi course tasting menus always ask if you have allergies/food you avoid at the start of the meal. they don't have a special menu!

hi gavin, i'd be really keen to know how they have scaled down the menu to deal with the new price point. looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

can you post a link to the thread? cheers

my table has been taken now

i have a table for two at 8:30 on friday night here that i can't make. does anyone want it? pm me if you do.

i'll second the valvona and crolla thing. amazing. best tomatoes i have eaten in the uk.