Lord Michael Lewis

sorry just wanted to highlight this S Thanks for that, Simon. As I generally skip Bux's posts, I missed this. Bux, could you support this assertion? Support my intuition? I applaud your honesty.

You're absolutely correct.

sorry just wanted to highlight this S Thanks for that, Simon. As I generally skip Bux's posts, I missed this. Bux, could you support this assertion?

Bollocks.

Why would anyone want to sit at a chef's table? I just don't understand this kind of chef-worship. It's a meal for God's sakes, and you're paying -- to sit in the kitchen.

Nathan Outlaw was John Campbell's sous chef at the Vinyards at Stockcross, so expect yet more Fat Quackery.

I you do go to Casa Julian, as well as chuletones for which the restaurant is justly famous, both in Tolosa and its clone in Madrid, also try the Alubias Rojas de Tolosa.

Parfait of steamed scallops and velouté of artichokes. **** Guinea Fowl cooked in caul-fat, aubergine cavier, and gravy of black olives. **** Chocolate Pain Perdu, curd of orange, and bitter chocolate coulis.

Robert, if I were you I'd give Akelare and Martin Berasategui a miss, I don't think there's anything there that you won't already be familiar with. But, whatever you do, go to Mugaritz, no doubt it will soon find itself in the culinary firmament, which is all the more reason to go now, while it's distinctly on the incline. Martin Berasategui was a similar case when he had two stars, and now, with three, he has gone totally off the boil. Incidentally, Andoni Luis Aduriz and David de Jorge are both Berasategui proteges, although the latter may have now moved from the kitchen due to his immense fatness. As for other Basque recommendations, Cabrales started a longish thread on the subject which should answer many of your questions.

Please don't be. I did notice the thread title, but felt it didn't warrant my pedantry, which, as it turned out, has been far better served by your rather flatulent admonitions on how to ingratiate oneself with the locals.

Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud at the Merrion Hotel, Dublin.

You may even get bonus points if you say it correctly -- Donostia.

I suppose the choice of Maureen Mills to handle Osia's PR, must be related to her success with the Fat Duck. The menu sounds not dissimilarly unappetizing.

Do you think this includes Cuban cigars? I will not go to a restaurant if there isn't an area where I can enjoy a huge post-meal Armagnac and a Cohiba Lancero (lunch) or Esplendido (dinner).

I've received several PMs and e-mails, from bemused non-British members asking -- "What is this Manchester you speak of?" So here's a brief gloss: Manchester, is just North of Scotland, at the end of a long and winding road know euphemistically as the M1. Indeed, Manchester was birthplace to the Beatles. Often refered to as the 'Liverpool of the North', Manchester is the administrative capital of Yorkshire. Manchester, or 'Manx', as it is lovingly refered to by locals, is globally renowned for having the highest suicide rate in the world and also for being the Golden Showers capitial of the Northern Hemisphere. I hope this answers your question.

Yes you're right, it is very expensive, but is also the best restaurant of it's kind in Mallorca. Alternatively he could look through these 3 pages of recommendations from Guia Campsa. Koldo Royo is very good, but it's Basque, so might not be appropriate.

Tristan, in Portals Nous near Palma. German chef, a bit jet-set, yet surprisingly excellent. If the weather's good make sure you sit on the terrace.

Has it really been a year since the last one of these? I must do something with my life.

Andy, I can't believe you didn't ask him about 'follow-through'. But nice article, nonetheless.

Bum Wines.

Early on in his renaissance, Adria mooted his interest Jaques Derrida post-structuralist thinking. To my mind, what Adria does is a result of a misreading of Derrida, but a productive misreading nonetheless. Adria, I believe, sees technique as the grammar of food, and his work is somehow forged in the sparks of a head on collision with the ineluctable classisicism that pervades our expectations of what fine dining should be. Since then Adria has come up with a grammar all his own, that is to say a new language. It is not surprising then that he has recently cited Noam Chomsky's Generative Grammar as relevant to his work.

Mamuciam. Please keep the Boddingtons to wash your whippets.

A quote by Turvil from one of WHICH's press releases: Doesn't sound like a bad thing, although Ainsworth will remain as 'Consultant Editor' (whatever that means).

Of course, there are good imitators and bad imitators, and then there are those who imitate the imitators, some well some badly... The point is that these wannabees seem bereft of genuine creativity. And, although there are few who would deny them the right to cook, it is frustrating when everyone jumps on an aesthetic bandwagon, because the message is that only the current aesthetic is good. However, the reason it's the current style is because Adria does it so well, not because a flock of copycats have disseminated it to a wider audience. It's convenient to say -- This is the new food and it's what I'm going to cook. But the sad reality is that the style (and the wizardly magic) belong to Ferran Adria. I wouldn't expect many chefs to be able to what Adria has done, but I do expect them to acknowledge the fact that what they do would never have occurred to them without him. That, it would seem, is integrity.

Agree completely.