Scott

I don't think it's the best restaurant in the world, but I can't think of one better After a recent 8 michelin stars in 36 hour trip to paris (2x3*+1x2*), I am even more certain of this.

Simon, you make quite a fair point, for those reasons I like to let a place establish themselves.

I have often said I believe Marcus to be a wonderful chef, but one small thing irks me when he and his uber buddy open a new place. The price. The set them very low, upon opening anyway, create a bit of a buzz for their good value and gradually increase the price. I am not talking about needing to increase to meet costs, or an increase in ambition, just a low price as marketing ploy in the first instance. it is a small thing I grant you.

You'd be surprised, this long time McLaren Vale favourite can age quite well. The naturally ripe phenolics of the reds of the region allow them to age for much longer than the immediate approachability suggests. I do find that chapel hill acidifies a little too much for my taste though.

For those of you familiar with the 1990 Bouscasse VV I had at lucas carton you would know what an amazing deal that was - 55€! For great wine I went to Willis where I had a 1996 Lafon meursault perrieres - stunning. About €150 A 1999 Clos Chenes Volnay from latour Giraud cost €50 at regalade, and perfectly nice 2001 Spatlese from Ernie Loosen at le Cinq. Lucas carton - I had foie steamed in Cabbage, very sensous in the mouth, but I am not the greatest foie lover (gasp!), and I might have enjoyed something else more. The pigeon was magnificent, perfectly cooked, with the most explosive caramelised turnips. Gamey and complex flavours, not overwrought. Well balanced. Dessert - shed load of raspberry i beleive? it came on 3 plates and was enough for an army, tart, shortbread, sorbet etc etc. great. I had a similar foie dish at Robuchon, where it was wrapped in cabbage and with a pigeon breast, this was more accomplised. A bit of roughage to the texture worked well.

absolutely. it's off dry and a bit simple, but is ok for the cash.

Regalade was still superb, the wine list is improved and the ambience is wonderful. Yes it's full but then it's tiny and so very good, one would wonder if it were any other way.

in short: lucas Carton - superb le cinq - average Atelier Joel Rubuchon - matrix designed sushi bar ambience, with v.good food. Le Regalade - my favourite for wonderful bistro atmosphere L'ami louis - up themsleves Lucas Carton - had a 1990 Bouscasse VV for €55 - great value! cave taillevent did my personal shopping well.

Frankly Simon, not nearly enough detail, I am afraid you leave me no choice but to see for myself. I wonder if they have/need a visa???

does anyone know if the Ukrainian twins are still there? I like to research the important details where possible

Gingerbread, I have bookings at Lucas Carton & le Cinq. I will probably look at Willi's also. Trying to get to Taillevent - but that's proving elusive.

Just to re-hash an old argument. Ondine has the potential to be as good as virtually any restaurant in Australia, i do think it over eggs the pudding in it's mains. That said, one of it's signatures starters: asparagus in blond orange hollandaise is a national treasure. Mind you, as good as it is, the greatest restaurant in australia (by some distance) is the Grange with Cheong Liew in Adelaide. I think it's probably one of the world's top ten. Many Michelin 3 stars have things to learn about classical french technique applied and reinvented at will and a whim.

thanks guys

It would be if the restaurant actually bought anything there. Fergus told me that they get their meat from a number of different suppliers around the country (can't remember the names, sorry). Andy, fair enough, It was a fine piece of meat in anyone's language. But next we'll be applauding anyone who gets their fillet from Donald Russell.

I think it terrible that at times one is only motivated to write about experiences that disappoint. No real impetus here to talk about recent great meals at Pied a Terre, Boxwood or Chez Bruce, just those that fail expectation. I know many will think it heresy, but I am going to go for it: "Hi, My Name is Scott and I thought Resturant St John ordinary" Not terrible, not bad, just not worth the fuss and seeming to lack accomplishment in the kitchen. It's all trying to be so very cool, a pretentious shabby chic; aren't the white-washed meat packers motif's so last season dahling..? The glasses on the table were ridiculous, better suited to appreciating the fine batch of Ribena circa May 21 than a fine wine. A shape surely copied from that often found cast in plastic within a debenham's picnic set. A table opposite ordered a £200 bottle of claret and received the very same glasses - they are inadequate, NOT joyously pared back to simplicity itself. Service? Not especially friendly or helpful, but most of all they are not proper waiting staff, they are 'plate carriers'. In itself ok, but hardly up to the standards or prices claimed. I found the menu deceiving. items not properly or accurately described, and with some slightly surly plate carriers to take your order, one is certainly made to feel an outsider if one just doesn't already know. is this a home for the raw edged, loft dwelling, urbane loveys? The bone marrow salad bares no resemblance at all to a salad, the crumble is a tart, creamed spinach is served cold and my octopus is marinated in viniagrette and also served cold without warning. there is no reason for this, other than to keep with the image. To the food itself, it's ok, bit smug but alright. I think some have described described it as 'one note' and I fully understand where the sentiment comes from. I think 'Trad Brit' dishes are served better and cheaper at The Ivy. The dishes are a little uninspiring and 'OVERPRICED'. Gulls Eggs with celery salt. Actually I quite enjoyed it, but not more than a well prepared boiled egg at home. Curiousity value only. Octopus & Aioli; Cold and too chewy - not what I expected. I want a hairy Greek man named Stavros and his chargrill, not a glorified tapas. Bone Marrow Salad. more interesting than pleasurable. words like 'interesting', and 'challenging' are thrown around the table. It was ok, in no way bad but for a signature dish... BTW how does spreading gelatinous goop on toasted flat bread = salad? Langoustines with mayonaisse - lovely and fresh. Old Spot Chop - a very large pork chop in a smoky glaze. Fine, but nothing to write home about. Just a bit of pig with a poncey ye olde description. Pigeon with peas; minty mushy peas were excellent, coarse, toothy texture. Spot on. small pigeon spatchcocked and served in 2. OK, tiny portion, well cooked but precious little meat. Walked the line of being bland but held it's nerve to achieve passable. NB. this is not inspired cooking, the standard of a good domestic kitchen. Lamb Loin with Spinach. Cold creamed spinach? what's up with that. horrible. The loin itself was a beautiful piece of meat, but being so close to smithfield that's a no brainer. Pink, tender just as it should be. But for £17.50 - c'mon guys you're taking the piss. When you can stroll across clapham common to M Moen & Sons this dish loses a little lustre. I could do this as well at home. Which is a recurring but not altogether damning theme throughout the evening. Essentially the produce is the star and the kitchen is ancilliary. By now we're just underwhelmed, having had better meals in a gastro pub. That said, if St John's were local and cheaper I might eat here quite often, when I can't be arsed doing anything else. Rhubarb crumble was good, though since when does a crumble have a pastry base? doesn't that make it a tart? No of course not dahling that wouldn't be Trad Brit would it? The rhubarb filling was firm and still soft enough and sexy enough to delight. Flaky oat topping adds a crunch to possibly the best dish of the night. I am sure I am missing something here as I just can't see how this is anything special to anyone. I think there is certainly a place for this type of establishment, but as a fools gold foodie mecca I'm not so sure. prices were £45 per head without wine. 5.5 - 6/10

Hi, am in Paris on Business in 4 weeks, want a 3 star lunch or similar standard at a place that has a killer wine list. Please no Tour d'argent - the food, is minus 2.5 stars in my estimation and heading south. Also, would appreciate some semblance of value in the list, I can get bent over in London as it is.. would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks Scott

very interesting thank you. It will be one of the 'big' dining experiences of my honeymoon, so I wanted some validation.

Have a booking in September for Don Alfonso in Sant Agar, and from what I have read it seems to polarise opinions on here. My question: ? who has been recently and was it really any good?

what could it have bought? an adequate meal !!!

Unspeakably bad. Had dinner there last night - not my idea I hasten to add. prices stratospheric for quality of cooking - ok'ish. Within 10 minutes of finishing our starter, the main's had arrived - which as we had just ordered another bottle of white was most inconvenient. Within 55 minutes of ordering, we had dessert menu's in our hands. we then told them to take them back, bring us some red wine and go away until we were ready. When we explained that we were unhappy with the rush, our waiter agreed with us but said it was policy of the house!!! Yes, of course service was slow, of course the bill was wrong, of course they tried to bully us into taking a different bottle of port to what we ordered - all de rigeur for the calamity of hush. The food - now, I'm pissed off. My starter of scallops, was perfectly ok. 3 trimmed, and gently seared scallops on a bed of artichoke with salsify & spinach. not exciting, but correct. very meagre portion for £13.50. now my beef main looked the part, it really did - if you can't be adequate, at least look the part. Thick fillet, topped with gruyere & a tomato concasse, on a bed of spinach with cubes of 'truffled celeriac'. I believe a truffle may have been waved in it's direction, but I can't be certain. The meat was chewy & sinewy, with the texture of rubber. How a fine piece of beef ends so poor I don't know. it wasn't inedible, it aspired to adequacy, it might have been ok at Little Chef, but for £26 I felt like calling the fraud squad. Sides are mandatory, portions are neither big enough or interesting enough to go without. We ordered 2 spinach and 2 spring vegetable at £5 each! Once these arrived, they apportioned amongst the 4 of us such that I received no spinach, and another no vegetable. We mentioned that we ordered 2 of each, and were swiftly rebutted that we had indeed received 2 of each. My vegetables comprised of, 1 baby corn stalk halved length wise, 1 baby carrot, 1 inch piece of braised celery & 2 tiny, spring onion stalks. All very badly overcooked. This was 1/3 of 2 serves spring vegetables. I could have picked them all up in a single swoop of my fork. the spinach, was no more plentiful on the plates opposite me. £20 worth of sides???? Instead of desert, I had cheese. 3 small'ish slices served to me with quite tasty walnut bread. The waiter did not, and it turned out, could not identify them for me - if you serve them straight from the kitchen, surely someone knows what they are!!!!!!! The wine list was not bad, though the markup's quite fearsome. A very nice Katnook estate Sauvignon blanc, 2001 from the coonawarra. Aromatic, hernaceous and a nice fine, mineral finish. £32.50 for a wine they wholesaled from Bibendum at approximate £8.95. Cascabel 2000 Shiraz, southern fleurieu winery, just south of Mclaren Vale. Now I know this wine well, as I am familiar with the couple of make this baby. it's great value, mouthfilling shiraz. Not overoaked, faintly peppery, sweet fruit & a gamey complexity. Wholesaled for about £9.95 from Bibendum, sold at Hush for £35. The Cascabel grenache was house red at Petrus & Chez Bruce a year or so back at £16 on the list - just a bit of reference there. with 4 bottles of the modest wine, the bill came to £110 each for 4 of us. over £50 for food. Now in this, there was no Amuse served, no pre-dessert or petit fours with coffee. I don't especially value these touches, but that money I can't believe they weren't offered! I have certainly had worse meals, but never a more overrpriced one. The price is (2?) michelin starred, the quality - neighbourhood bistro. deeply unacceptable

if you want C list Paul, you really need to read the tabloids more!

James, pay attention!!!! YOU compared big macs in the street with smoking. My point was that they are not in any way similar!!!! you don't like big mac's in the street - health risks none. Smoking in Restaurants: health risks plenty, inconsiderate, rude & invasive. as I said it's not about what you like, as difficult as this might be to your sensibilities.

James, this is not an issue of what people like! it's a common, yet fundamental misunderstanding. There is nothing about someone eating a big mac whilst walking down the street that impacts or effects you. yes you don't like it, but it doesn't physically impose itself on you. It does not impart health risks upon you. Smoking is all of these things.

100% agree. Smoking is an invasive habit, that is not confined to the individual concerned. Ban it everywhere, including the home!! where's George Orwell when you need him?

Does anyone know what vintages were tasted - I have always assumed it was 1973/1974 at which point the results become meaningless. After all great californian vintages vs terrible Bordeaux years... what does it really mean?