Gavin Convery

Yvonne, I'd be interested in the booking procedure too as I hope to take my wife there for our anniversary. Did you have to book exactly one month in advance? How does GR rate in your estimation to other similar restaurants in London if you've been to any? What advantage does this private number give you?

I recall enjoying dinner at RSJ plus they have a very good winelist specialising in Loire wines...

I duly went to the Capital..... We started with a Kir Imperiale in the bar (this has raspberry rather than blackcurrant 'creme' in it) while we perused the menu and the wine list. First impressions of the service were favourable as we were greeted warmly. The bar is fairly small but ideal for a quick pre-dinner drink. Decor is of the grand hotel variety. We chose the Menu Degustation and decided to go with the matching Sommelier degustation but swapped the glass of champagne for a Tokay Pinot Gris from Alsace. Menus are below: Sauteed Scallops with red pesto minestrone and anchovy beignet Seared Duck foie gras with wild asparagus,girolles mushrooms and pan-sauteed quail egg Pan-fried turbot and truffle gnocchi, mushroom raviolo and garlic crisps Canon of Lamb with black olive crust, couscous and thyme jus one plateau du fromager shared (supp £6.50) Dessert plate Coffee + petit fours Total cost £65 Tokay Pinot Gris Riesling Auslese 1989 E. Karthauserhofberg-Trier Barbera d'Asti, Sant' Emiliano 1997 Marchesi Icisa della Rocchetta Volnay 1er Cru 1997 'Carelle-Chapelle' Y. Clerget Saussignac 1999 Chateau Tourmentine Total cost £45 We were give an amuse-bouche of black pudding topped with a quails egg and a crisp of bacon - this was delicious as was the first starter. The scallop was slightly too well done for my taste but the minestrone was delicious - a foam which had a lemon flavour was artfully poured around the plate - this added a nice touch of acid offsetting the earthier flavours of the minestrone. The whole thing was presented in a bowl reminiscent of the one in which they present the red cabbage soup at the Fat Duck. The foie gras was next presented in a similar style to the amuse bouche with the egg on top and a crisp of bacon served with it - I was surprised that it was similar in concept to the amuse bouche. The foie gras was delicious and soft, the egg appropriate to the whole breakfast concept. The riesling was stunning with the most petrolly nose I have ever experienced on a riesling and appropriate sweetness that cut through the fat flavour of the foie gras. Highlight of the meal was the turbot - this was an earthy fish dish and the red wine presented was perfect being not too overwhelming but marrying well with the mushroom flavours. The mushroom raviolo was presented on top and had a slight lemon (almost lemon verbena) flavour which added note to the whole dish. All in all a stunning dish. Main course was the lamb which was too reminiscent of something I might have for supper...the lamb was a good piece of meat although not outstanding, a balsamic vinegar and tomato jus was delicious and intense, couscous was light and all the grains nicely separated. I was flagging slightly at this point so only shared some of my friend's cheese course. This was good although some of the cheeses seemed a little dry. Dessert was a plate of three desserts - deep fried coconut stick served with a sweet chilli dip, a chocolate brownie topped with chocolate mousse and a strawberry soup served with a milk sorbet. The last one was the best - cut with balsamic vinegar it had a very refreshing effect on the palate mixed with the creamy flavours of the sorbet. The chocolate brownie was nice rather than stunning. Coffee and petit fours were excellent - we chose the Kenyan blend which was smooth and rich. Service was excellent and in particular the sommelier was outstanding - his choice of wines in the degustation was perfect, he was very knowledgeable - unstuffy and friendly. I would highly recommend the Capital to all egulleteers...definitely higher in the two star panoply than le Gavroche IMHO.

We used to go to St Omer from Calais which is about 30 mins drive, it is a bit more picturesque than Calais, plus there is a decent restaurant - Le cygne - although that was several years ago - not sure about the hotel situation. A search on the michelin website also reveals Chateau Tilques which I think used to have a star and Moulin de Mombreux in Lumbres which again used to have a star I think. Gault Millau search shows Meurin in Bethune (17/20!) and La Brocante in Wimille (16/20) which I have been to and is not too bad. If you can get to Montreuil you have Chateau de Montreuil which is also a hotel and full of us Brits and Auberge de la Grenouillere at Madelaine sous Montreuil (down the hill from Montreuil proper). HTH

BLH, You must have been to the Capital by now - how was it??

Waterside pubs - there is the Trout in wolvercote (N. Oxford) featured in many a morse but I think it is renamed now for some reason. There is also a pub or maybe pubs on Osney which is a sort of Island surrounded by the Chertwell. I like the White Hart in Wytham just a mile or so from Wolvercote but I have sentimental reasons as I had my wedding reception in the village hall - but it is a nice Cotswold pub.

Oh my gawd, what have I started...I think we'll have to rename this board evomit.com

At least you didn't mention Harvester, my personal least favourite...

Indeed, wandering around London Bridge station before the last train home, even Burger King (anything they have left) is devoured with relish....and I do love those crayfish sandwiches from Pret but maybe I shouldn't be ashamed about that. Higher end restaurants I liked but have been lambasted on here somewhere include the Lindsay House, Nahm and Hakkasan....

Simon, you of all people......next you'll be admitting to a liking for an MPW restaurant...

Despite the best will in the world to be cutting edge gourmets, I'm sure there are plenty of people out there myself included who enjoy going to restaurants that they'd be ashamed to admit to. Now is the time to come out and tell us all that you love Macdonalds To start the ball rolling, I'll admit that I enjoy Pizza Express especially the capriciossa with a chilled Peroni sitting outside the Dulwich Village branch that is sometimes all I need, plus they are great with kids.....

Let's hear it for Sheekey's! Being a big fish lover (er, um??) I love sheekey's and even more so for the service. I went there a couple of months ago with friends and my daughter who is 4 and their daughters who are 1 and 5. The first thing the waiting staff did was bring over colouring pads and pencils, the head waiter then proceeded to sharpen all the pencils!. Food wise, their double chocolate souflle is to die for and their mushy peas are outstanding - it's not perfect but for sunday lunch with kids I wouldn't go anywhere else...plus you can actually get a table here unlike the Ivy. Big problem is parking now they no longer do valet parking but that won't be a worry if you're staying in central London.

yes but even in Italy you don't necessarily get that - I have just returned from holiday there and ate at some very good high end restaurants - Miramonti L'altro - and there is definitely some cross-pollination with French food (admittedly the chef there is French) - only at a lower level do you get more what I (and maybe you) would call 'real' italian food. Although wherever you go the pasta is just SO much better than anywhere else. It always puzzled me that the River Cafe could be voted the best Italian restaurant in the world (by the NYT I think) - I sort of think that could only be a restaurant in Italy.....

He does have a small point that I'm sure we'd all agree with, that good food is not found everywhere, that's why a lot of us frequent these boards trying to separate the wheat from the chaff. But what I find really irritating is his smug xenophobic Brit attitude that in fact johnny foreigner isn't as clever as he thinks he is even though there is considerably more chaff in the UK than in France.....ah well that's all I'd expect from the Torygraph.....

....Anyway, enough of this pondering...I have a reservation at the Capital a week on tuesday...I'll report back.

Was the male person at Union Pacific Austrian by any chance - he is the sommelier I believe - they have a nice selection of wines from Muller Catoir I recall

La Trompette is just outside my geographical limits as my gourmand mate lives in Essex and so we rarely go further west than Knightsbridge due to us both usually overindulging in the brandies and him having to get the train back from Liverpool street. However, I would like to try there one day as I have heard such good things. In terms of the wow factor - this is purely on a taste basis rather than the flashiness of the cooking and usually relates to some unexpected taste combination - it is as Simon M. has said 'revelatory' I concur about the service at the Square as I recall it being less than perfect when I went and although service doesn't affect the quality of the food the irritation of bad service can affect your enjoyment of the meal

The strong contenders seem to be the Capital and Tante Claire - I wonder how the Square fits into this. I did go there last year and enjoyed it without feeling any wow factor (but there are only a handful of restaurants I have ever been to that have given me the wow factor). In the interests of economy I am currently favouring the Capital, hence also my question about one-stars at the top of the tree. Are there also any new restaurants that people feel may get a star(s) next time round that are worth investigating? On a slightly different tack, no-one seems to mention the non french starred restaurants e.g. zaika - is this because people haven't been, aren't interested in non-french restaurants or because they're crap?

Another question...are there any one stars which you feel match up to or are approaching two star territory. It would be nice to get two star food for one star money and it's always fun watching rising stars (and sometimes declining stars )

Just looking for a quick straw poll as to which 2 michelin starred restaurant egulleteers would go to given the choice. I'm particularly interested in the choice between the Square, the Capital and Tante Claire, having been to le Gavroche recently and not fancying JBR.

I have returned from my trip to Italy (and Austria - lovely scenery, crap food). Miramonti L'Altro is excellent and superb value too. We were one of only three parties at Lunch (last tuesday to be exact). The greeting by the waiting staff was warm, the room was elegant with three bay windows overlooking the garden. The location was rather weird appearing to be in a suburban housing estate in Concesio and not that easy to find - it took 1 1/2 half hours to drive from Limone. We chose one of the menus at 68 Euros which included 2 wines - originally I though this meant two glasses of wine one white one red but in fact turned out to be a pretty endless supply of very drinkable white then red wines from the franciacorta region. As the menu without was 58 euros then this was an good value way of minimising the wine costs. We also had the local aperitif - the sparkling franciacorta wine from Ca' del Bosco. My antipasti was red mullet on a pile of tiny diced vegetables (I don't have the italian menu with me although the restaurant graciously gave me a copy when asked - if anyone is interested I will post some further selections), pasta course was a delicious ravioli di piselli (peas). The outstanding course at least conceptually was the rack of lamb - this could have been very nice but ordinary...not at all. A square white plate was delivered to the table with the rack of lamb in one corner an outrageous tuile about a 10 inches long (not sure what it was made of) extended from the rack. The waiter then proceeded to bring a series of copper pans and spooned out from them into small piles the following: heart, tripe, kidney, brain, meat from the ribs, sweetbreads - each done in a different style, for example the brain was presented as two small fritters. There were no accompanying vegetables, so definitely for meat lovers only, all were delicious other than the tripe not because of the texture, I just didn't like the taste. Dessert was a savarin (ring shape) semifreddo with coffee sauce. Petit fours where copious, coffee excellent. I leave until last the description of my daughter's meal - she is 4 and so has even more discerning tastes then me . She had tagliolini with tomato sauce and grilled fish with some steamed vegetables - sounds ordinary doesn't it but not at all - the tomato sauce was unbelievably luscious and almost creamy, pasta naturally perfect - she pronounced it the best pasta she had ever had and even better than Mummy's! The fish was also superb. I love the way high class restaurants can be so accommodating to even their youngest guests. Despite all this our most enjoyable meal was actually elsewhere - at Villa Fiordaliso on the shores of Lake Garda - it has one michelin star. The setting was perfect right by the shores of the lake in the grounds of the historic villa (where Mussolini spent his last days). We started again with an aperitif of the sparkling wine from Ca' del Bosco and chose a bottle of Lugana from Ca' dei Frati (excellent). I chose raw molluscs and crustaceans with vanilla sauce (from the translated english menu) - this was one of the most stunning looking dishes I have ever seen - the molluscs and crustaceans (oysters, whelks etc) dotted around the plate with spots of red pepper puree and the vanilla sauce (more of a dressing than custard) drizzled over. The taste of vanilla with the seafood was exquisite. Pasta was spaghetti all chiturra (sp?) with sardines from the lake - delicious. Main course was a signature dish of eel from the lake with candied fennel and half a head of garlic - I like eel at the best of time (worst of times?) so this was particularly enjoyable. Dessert was the least successful - a skewer of pineapple and mango with honey ice cream and I think small coriander seeds scattered over. Service was good and most of the waiters spoke some English. Strangely there was only one other table occupied. I have a copy of the translated menu so if anyone is interested in further selections let me know. Final outing was to La Tortuga in Gargnano - again one michelin star - I will only say that the pasta course was good but the remainder of the meal did not live up to my expectations. P.S. I can also recommend Nuovo Marconi in Verona and Da Silvio in San Michele all'Adige (near Trento) - the latter in particular has a lovely 'trendy-again' 70's decor and the interesting option of cooking your own selection of meat or fish at your table. La Rocca in Riva also did some good pasta and a nice tiramisu with the addition of zabaglione.

Robert, Thanks for that. I have a reservation for lunch and will let you know how it turns out.

I have been to this restaurant more times than any other quality restaurant in France over the last ten years and can honestly say there is practically nothing you shouldn't try - the guy is a genius IMHO. If you are up for it at lunch then go for the degustation as this is usually the most inventive and well balanced menu. Be sure to make time to have coffee in the garden and if there are just two of you I would recommend one of the three window tables overlooking the duck pond. Wine wise I can recommend the Chablis Premier Cru from Raveneau (or Dauvissat if you prefer something less austere). Enjoy!!

I would second the Peasant although it is more italian brasserie than french...on the other hand just forget French and go japanese at K10, 20 Copthall Ave, just off London Wall - my favourite for a good lunch especially the seaweed wrapped crab and avocado.

The Three Acres was just a stop off for lunch on the way back to London so I didn't sample that much. As I said the food was very rich and obviously aimed at a slightly retro crowd. I had cumberland sausage, calves liver with bacon and bubble and squeak followed by cappucino creme brulee with a mocha sauce. The tables were decorated with old menus from some stellar places e.g. Aubergine in the Ramsay days, Le Gavroche, Chez Nico etc. From the point of view of the members of this board it would be worth the detour just for the fascination of reading these old menus. The wine list was not bad but maybe a bit too much for the area eg Cloudy Bay sauvignon was £31.95 (cheaper at Seaham Hall)