Suzi Edwards

ooh cool. i went there when it first opened. perhaps it's time for a return visit. cheers.

i'm going to maida vale on saturday and would like to eat out before going to a party. i used to live there until about 18 months ago, so i know a lot of the places, but i was wondering if anywhere new had opened or if anyone had any recommendations? my fave place is meson bilbao just off shirland road, but i went back there a few weeks ago for my fix og baby eels and chorizo busturia so i think i might like something else. has anyone been to fats the caribbean place on shirland? (edit to correct spelling)

did you ever see the billy connolly sketch where he mimics people doing "air quotes" by doing all of the punctuation in a sentence? i hadn't either until "everyone" starting ribbing me for my air quotes. the people are deffo not foodies so i do think some of the ideas might go over their heads. i keep thinking that a black forest gateau would fit the bill (despite being of the wrong era) as it will be something that we all had as children (we're all in our twenties) and that's the main desert i remember. although i love the idea of getting some retro 80's designs in there, i think it might be beyond my skills. hmmmm. will report back on sunday. thanks for all of the ideas. especailly the sherbet cocaine one. i *loved* that.

that seems a bit harsh. tv schedules change all the time.

wow izabel! this is fantastic. thanks for reminding me of the st martin's crypt. great suggestion!

cries with laughter. i have the simon hopkinson book. will look it out post-haste. thanks for the ideas so far. the kiwi fruit one is inspired. might pop some glace cherries on there as well. just for a colour contrast you know ;-)

I'm going to an 80's party on Saturday and would like to take some dessert with me. I'm a bit stumped about what fits in with the theme though. My first thought was Black Forest Gateau, but I'm a bit worried that it might be more 70's than 80's (not that anyone would be so ungreatful as to say that, but I would like to be thematically correct) Any ideas? Ideally a cake or a tart, something that can be sliced.

i'd forgotten this one before, bodeans, barbeque place on (i think) poland street in soho. there's loads about it on here. they seem to do really good deals mid week. i'll try and walk past in the next couple of days and report back.

this is all so exciting. do we have a transcript of the radio interview? or an overview of what you said? i wasn't around to listen in.

we tried to preempt the long thread thing on the uk forum by keeping the UK Burger Club thread for planning and then having a new thread for a report on each place we visit. it seems to be working. i've also suggested "pinning" a sort of burger league on the forum (once we've got a few more under our belt) so people can qucikly see which burger is currently the best in london. this might be useful for you guys given the current media interest. it might help if there was a digest of what has happened. btw, i just PRINTED the el bulli thread in the spain forum thinking that the font would be the same size as i see on my laptop screen. sadly i was wrong. i have used almost an entire ream of paper printing the thread. that said, i kind of don't regret it as this way i can at least read it....that was never going to happen online.

i love the idea of a gastropub crawl. checks wallet, loosens belt in anticipation.

this is sooooo exciting. elyse is gonna be famous, elyse is gonna be famous (dances round lounge) we've had three meetings so far with a fourth planned for next week. we have yet to find burger nirvana....i wasn't at the most populous meeting (hummm. no coincidence i hope) but there's a core of four of us that's augmented by people who aren't burger obsessed (why not?) travelling americans teaching us brits about real burgers and people with lives other than bc (how andy? how?)

oh no. i remember recommending 22 on here. it was where i had my first ever "posh" meal when i was a student. i took a boy i was trying to impress and loved it. judy, what's the kite development? it's been a while since I lived in cambridge.

Thanks for the suggestions. It never ceases to amaze me how little non-chain choice there is in Cambridge. Did you see the Giles Coren review of Midsummer House last week where he went with Oeuf, the CU Food Society? I had a wry smile to myself about the concept of a dining society in a town with almost nowhere good to eat out. We're about Saturday afternoon, gig on Saturday night, hangover on Sunday morning (although I noticed that Belinda's (near Heffers), the esteemed greasy spoon and venue of many an undergraduate hangover has changed hands) and then lunch with some old friends. So I don't think we'll get to meet up this time, but would you keep that invitation open for our next visit?

Has anyone eaten at Graffiti in the Felix Hotel yet? Any thoughts? Am back in Cambridge next weekend and am looking for a place for an early supper before a gig (thus ruling out a repeat trip to midsummer house) Any ideas? Jackal? Have you been anywhere good recently?

moby wind us up? noooooooo. this the man who compared gordon ramsey to boney m. he's as serious as they come :-) my experiences of south american cuisine in the uk have all been pretty terrible. there are a couple of places on upper street (cuba libre and la piragua) which both served insane amounts of carbs to bulk out the meal. this doesn't tally with my fevered imaginings of tanned brazillian flesh, nor with the reality of my utterly gorgeous and very buff hairdresser, who is also brazillian. jack went to to the skewery-brazillian barbeque place in kensington and thought the meat was all very salty, but we would like to go back so i can try it. has anyone been?

there's also masala zone in soho and islington....although i was a bit underwhelmed on my last visit to the islington branch, but it was pretty good value. has anyone mentioned busaba eatthai in soho? i've never been but i understand that it's supposed to be good value for pretty good thai food. i also like wagamamas for a warming bowl of noodle soup. i think they do some set meals that again seemed like good value. the taco bar in destino on swallow street has quickly become a favourite of mine. they give you a small bowl of guacamole when you sit down and always seem happy to give me more tostados (i think that's what they're called) to go with it. it's nice to get something free when you're on a budget :-) the buffet style lunch at the ica has also been recommended to me...could be worth a try, i've been promised it's budget too. finally, avoid anywhere called "the stockpot" and most places around the non-chinatown end of leicester square. i've been trying to find a budget lunch around there recently and have eaten some nightmarish lunches. that said, the £3 lunch thing at tiger tiger is acceptable ONLY if you have the salmon salad. avoid everything else on the menu, no matter how tempting.

thanks for all of the suggestions guys. sadly i got ill so we had to come back early from our trip having only managed to have our lunch at pierre gagnaire. report to follow in a few days though.

you can get basic mexican stuff (masa harina and corn tortillas) in satanburies. or a nicer alternative is the cool chilli stall at borough market :-) my american boyf says he's never seen velveeta here (and judging by the look on his face when i asked what it was, it might be a reason for him staying here :-)

Not sure if anyone will know, but I was wondering if anyone can recommend a cabaret place in Paris. I've been told that the Lido and Moulin Rouge are dreadful these days, but I am keen to find something to do (other than eat) next week.

is this place open yet? every time i call they say they are still "trialling the menu"

I wonder what "Latium" means.. probably Italian for "the worst meal I've had in London this year". Upon sitting down we were told that "We 'ave 50% of the staff not 'ere tonight" and were served a plate of stale crostini. We ordered prosecco and food. And waited..... Our starters came, cauliflower soup with roquefort and truffle oil and the day's special of tagliatelli with wild mushroom. I stopped eating my starter after two spoonfuls, the roux had not been cooked out and was horrible. The waitress (having avoided my gaze for 20 minutes) took it away asking me "Was it OK?" (my only chance to pass comment) to which I replied "No, it was horrible" but she was halfway across the room and neither heard or, seemingly, cared. And then we waited. We got quite excited when some food arrived. But it was for the table next to us and had been delivered to the wrong people. Tagliatelli with hare was pedestrian and seared tuna with beans ("it is served medium rare") has been fried (slowly and badly) and left sitting under the pass (probably while the wrong food was served to us) The "tutti frutti" paired wine was served with the phrase "if you like it I'll tell you what it is" We never saw this man again. The bill came, (after, you've guessed it, a long period of waiting) with a service charge of 12.5% which I was tempted to reduce to 6% given the level of understaffing and incompetence. It seemed only fair. But then I remembered it was Christmas. In the 20 minutes it took to bring the tab back I remembered this was was my special birthday dinner they had spoiled, but I reasoned the lack any repeat business from me was gift enough for them. And then we went across to the Sanderson for cocktails, a place so soulless that it made me wish I still did drugs, as it would appear the only way to enjoy this place is when you're off your head on class As. My only Christmas wish is that Dean Gaffney had been there. It is his spiritual home.

went for mariebelle...it looked like they were the only ones who could deliver (but did charge me $32 for the privelidge)

ooops. sorry, missed out the 0 there.

was wondering if anyone can recommend a good american chocalatier that delivers? can you guess that I've forgotten someone, and what better way to make it up to them than chocolate?