JudyB

I'd second that - we saw a very impressive moonrise one evening when we ate on the terrace. As for other restaurants, it depends how far you want to travel. We have had several nice meals at the Maison Saffron in Bedoin which is nearby - I think that Duncan wrote this up, plus a few other nearby places in the "Northern Provence" thread. Edit: Have a look at the Provence thread which discusses some restaurants near Isle sur la Sorgue (and round about the area you're going to) and the Northern Provence thread which discusses Bedoin and several nearby places that are worth considering.

It's too late now for us, but just for the record does Le Comptoir normally have any sort of menu on display outside? We were in Paris last week and staying within walking distance so we went to have a look at the menu, but we couldn't see any sort of menu on display for the restaurant itself. Although the "cafe" was clearly open there was building work at the front of the hotel which stopped us getting close enough to see if there was a menu inside. I'm afraid that we gave up on Le Comptoir for that evening and went to the excellent Casaluna instead - of which hopefully more later when we have recovered from our trip. (We never went back to have another look at Le Comptoir since we found more than enough nice places to choose from elsewhere for the rest of the week).

Thanks Moby. We were considering walking at least one way, but it all depends on when the train actually arrives and what the weather is like. Just at the moment it is hard to tell whether it will be pouring down or bright sunshine - more probably both! (The train timetables aren't much more convincing either since we seem to be in limbo between the old and new timetables, so we *think* we know when we will arrive but it is hard to be entirely certain).

How about finding out some facts before jumping to conclusions? I live well outside the M25 mess - as you would realize if you had bothered to do any research! The question was actually a serious one since I have had problems in the past with taxi drivers who apparently don't know local restaurants...

That's all right - we're booked for lunch on Saturday . Does anyone have experience of getting a taxi there from the station? Such as will they know the restaurant by name, or do we need to give them the address?

I haven't heard of them doing that before. I've certainly never had this mentioned when I have booked, although it's over a year since we last went. Is this if you cancel at all, or only if you cancel less than something like a day in advance? If this is for late cancellation that may be reasonable since that is the cost of the cheapest meal (!) that you could have (the a la carte) in the evening...

I know that this is off-topic, but I would personally prefer good dried morels to the "fresh" morel containing stones that I was served last week! The restaurant in question (which had better remain nameless but was not in Bray) did apologize but I still felt that good service would have had them check the morels themselves rather than assuming that their supplier had cleaned them properly. As Duncan commented at the time, surely someone should have noticed the weight? As far as the Fat Duck goes, personally there are dishes that I don't like but in general I find both the service and food excellent. My personal dislikes include red cabbage gazpacho with grain mustard ice cream and the tobacco chocolates. It is commonly asserted that the Fat Duck menu never changes - it does, but often in subtle ways - I just wish it would change to remove the red cabbage!

Ramsay isn't doing this series because of his golden handcuffs deal with channel 4. Its going to be JC Novelli. ← According to Digital Spy they are replacing Ramsay with Novelli and Marcus Wareing. No indication of whether or not if one of them is notionally in charge, or if there might be someone else involved.

It seems entirely fair to me, and a perfectly reasonable thing for a reviewer to mention. We often encounter exactly the same problems as Jay mentions - Duncan tends to drink faster than me, but we still want to share the bottle evenly. In addition if one of you is driving back then you must be able to limit the amount of wine drunk - if the waiter insists in topping up your glass every time he passes then this is well nigh impossible! We usually just try and intercept the waiter, but this can be difficult, particularly if you don't speak a language that the waiter understands. (And I'm not just talking about eating abroad here - we have had serious communication problems at an otherwise enjoyable meal in Berkshire).

Does anyone know if they have been asking about the tasting menu when you book for long? I don't recall that we have ever been asked this when booking. And what happens if you change your mind in the days/weeks between making your booking and the actual visit?

My guess is that he is probably referring to his whole "molecular gastronomy" approach. A couple(?) of years ago he did a six programme series for Discovery Channel called "Kitchen Chemistry" (see their website for a bit more information). This series was trying to explain why certain things happen when cooking - talking about cell structure and what happens when vegetables are overcooked etc - so it probably is a reasonable basis for "interesting" science lessons.

It's possibly longer than you are looking for, but the Hostellerie de Crillon le Brave also does 5 day residential courses. Crillon is near Mount Ventoux and a short drive from places such as Gigondas, Avignon and Orange. We have been to the hotel's restaurant a few times and it is very nice, but we haven't stayed in the the hotel itself. Details of the courses they do are on their Cookery School website.

A crumbly white cheese from Yorkshire. A quick search shows some information from the Wensleydale Creamery. I think it goes far better with cakes than with Grasmere Gingerbread and I believe that it's commonly eaten with Christmas cake in Yorkshire.

I'm fairly certain that, as someone said earlier, the exact recipe for Sarah Nelson's gingerbread is kept secret. However, a "shortbread" recipe may well be closer to the actual recipe than anything else I have seen. Grasmere gingerbread is definitely more biscuit-like than cake-like. It is fairly hard - and definitely lends itself to dunking. It is also fairly thin - a bit under 1/4 inch thick from memory. Reading this thread is giving me withdrawal symptoms as I haven't had any Grasmere gingerbread in years! My parents used to live near enough to the Lake District that we could visit Grasmere at least three or four times a year...

As my grandmother would have told you very firmly, "Scotch" is the drink, the terms "Scots" or "Scottish" refer to the people...

Thanks for the info folks. We'll definitely have a look at this restaurant. The only problem that we had last year was in deciding which of the many interesting places to eat since there are so many to choose from!

Has anyone actually been to this restaurant yet? We're off to Provence in a month's time and Isle sur la Sorgue is definitely within reach so a name, and any comments about this restaurant, would be most helpful.

Yes. Duncan took me there for my birthday. The problem is that there isn't really that much to be said in addition to what Bapi has already said...

I'd agree - my experience is that making an attempt to speak French gets you far more good will than just speaking in English. Provided that you make some effort they will be more than happy to make an effort to communicate in return. (One of the more amusing sights we had last time in France was watching a Dutch lady speaking English loudly at a waiter!). Knowing a few basic food terms may also help so that you can ask whether something you're not sure about is meat (viande) or fish (poisson) or whatever. The worst problem we have is identifying types of fish, although usually we have correctly identified that it is fish. In the UK we eat a relatively restricted range of fish and the English-French phrasebooks unfortunately reflect that. Also, if there is something you really can't eat (or are allergic to) then it is probably worthwhile making sure that you know the French for it to avoid embarrassment. Otherwise, regard it as an adventure and have a good time!

Thanks Moby - I've sent an email to "info" which hasn't bounced yet (my previous attempt bounced more or less immediately). Duncan or I will certainly post to let everyone know how we get on.

No, its not just your PC - I had to turn up the brightness quite a long way to read the (wrong!) phone number from the site. Light green on a black background is one of the poorer choices for website design in my view.

A word of warning for anyone wanting to make a reservation at Tom Aikens - do NOT use the phone number from the website's info page. I had printed off the "Info" page as it included both phone number and opening times, but when I rang the number it was for a private house. I went to BT's online directory enquiries for the right number and found later that the main page of the website has the correct number. I decided not to complicate things by trying to explain this when I made my reservation, so I had intended to send them an email about it. Unfortunately the website does not have an address for a webmaster and my guess of "webmaster" bounced. So if anyone does know of a suitable email address to tell them about it perhaps you could send me a PM. Happily I have managed to make a reservation for Duncan's birthday, so we're looking forward to our visit in June.

I've certainly seen this encouraged in a French restaurant at which the wine list said something to the effect that they didn't sell half bottles but that they would re-seal a bottle that you hadn't finished. I think it also said something about doing this so you could drive home safely, but I'm not quite certain. When we asked them to re-seal the bottle they provided a plastic cap which certainly worked for a short drive back to where we were staying. The other thing we have found in Provence is that there are a reasonable number of local wines in 50cl bottles which is also a more manageable quantity for two people.

Unfortunately I don't think that will happen for another year or two, although I would be very happy to be proved wrong. I seem to remember that when UK Chip & Pin was first being talked about it was said that the French system was different. I believe that the French are supposed to be converting to the international standard by something like 2006 or 2008 although I'm not certain of the date. The other petrol problem we have run into is that many petrol stations in Provence seem to ONLY support pay-at-pump with Chip&Pin cards on Sundays. So far we have remembered to fill up before Sunday and not had to resort to waving cash at people with French cards, but its worth remembering about this if you don't have a suitable card.

It does depend on what you mean by restaurant, but there are quite a few good pub/restaurants around Oxfordshire. Many of them are only pub in name and are really restaurants with a bar and possibly more rustic than a true restaurant. Depending on how far you want to travel other places that are a short journey from Benson include the Beetle&Wedge at Mouslford and the Crooked Billet at Stoke Row, there is also another good pub at North Stoke but I can't remember the name. The Beetle&Wedge is a hotel and has both restaurant and the Boathouse - which is more of a grill-room (and is cheaper than the restaurant). During August the Crooked Billet does excellent "Lobster lunches" as well as having a decent selection of good food that does not contain lobster. The only slight problem with the Crooked Billet is that you do need to make sure you get good directions to it beforehand as the roads to it are rather small! Another place which I haven't been to but I have heard may be quite good is the White Hart at Nettlebed - again I think this has both restaurant and pub food.