MobyP

Forgot to say - there's a frighteningly good French bakery on Gloucester road - on the left hand side as you head towards the park. Does some of the best croissant I've found anywhere.

Perfection.

You're also a short walk to Fulham Road - so Tom Aikens and Bibendum. Cinema - Fulham UGC and Sophie's Steak House across the road (medium to good burgers, steaks). Equal distance to museums - Victoria and Albert, science etc. Albert Hall for concerts. Hyde Park for art galleries, tying the kids to trees and running away, picnics, boat rentals... Short walk also to Wagamama's on Kensington High Streey - a fusiony Japanese place - brilliant for kids, casual - good dumplings, noodles, soups (always a tasty fall back plan). Continuing up Kensington Church Street, you'll come across Sally Clarke's (very reputable - a sort of Anglo Chez Panisse - set menu, mediterranean bent etc). Stay away from Kensington Place (restaurant, not a road) opposite above. Although the fish shop next door to Kensington Place is supposed to be excellent. On Saturday or Sunday (can't remember), an organic farmer's market in car park behind Kensington Place. Oh, there's an apparently good Polish restaurant in the back streets of Gloucester Road - I think it's called Wodka. A good if expensive second hand book shop on Gloucester Road south of tube. These are all walking distance, anyway (if somewhat optimistically).

Lucy - that looks a beautiful meal, and a real achievement. Congratulations.

Jason - that is the sandwich of a god - which of course you are.

Go to the Italian stall (directions above) and ask if they hhave any truffles.

You wash the pans - and then polish them??! Generosity doesn't cover it. True love doesn't cover it. Saintly smelling of roses and hovering three feet off the floor doesn't even come close. Holy moly, how does he repay you? Buff your Manolo's using only his breath and a weasle?

While we're waiting, we should all head over to Milla's restaurant in Ca. Sounds fantastic.

Borough Market, in the triangle of stalls, next door to Northfield Farm, opposite the tart stall - in the main section of market (as opposed to across the street in the prepared food section. He occasionally is driving around to restaurants, and I've had to wait for 20 mins for him to show up. But they'll tell you when he'll be there.

Lucy - sorry, I came to this late. They sell Libby's pumpkin puree here in London - which I understand is good for pumpkin pies. If you wanted (for next year, or whenever), drop me a line and I can buy some and send it over. Hope the meal went well.

Did you actually make your own Zampone? That must've been one of the great pains in the ass. It's a great and classic meal though - what went wrong? There are few things that make me more angry than when I've busted my arse for a couple of days on a meal, only for it to be - less than fantastic. As Adam says - effort counts for a lot in my book. Someone cooking me dinner counts for a lot. The worst ones have definitely been my own.

A step up from roast chicken giblets and a bottle of heinz ketchup for £14.95, then.

According to Feran Adria, by the mediterranean palate, the US and UK vastly overcook shellfish - so it's not surprising that an accurately cooked langoustine would seem underdone to a US reviewer. As would most French preparations of eggs.

I had the great pleasure of eating at Riva on a night A A Gill was there - and the food was very poor indeed - followed by a glowing revue by himself about how marvellous it is. If he was eating the same dishes I was - and we ordered a good portion of the menu - then take heart, dear readers. He obviously lost his tongue to a dalmation on crack.

Sad to report this isn't the case.

Last night I sauteed some French chanterelles in rendered foie gras fat, and (unsurpringly) they were delicious.

I may be way off base with this - but isn't there a Vong recipe using a caper raisin sauce on seared scallops on top of a cauliflower puree? Raisins (marinated) would also go very well with the curry oil. Just a thought.

Welcome to eGullet Natacha

Man I knew it! Those sneaky bastards...

This is delicious, I said. You should have some for breakfast. "Blech" said fi. I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!!!!

Steven - you should use the Cabot 83 and make up a big batch of puff-pastry - as the lower moisture content is just the ticket. It's not difficult (if you haven't already done it). If you take it to four turns, it freezes great - and you can do the final two turns upon defrosting.

Ellen - once again, wonderful pictures. If you had any more - even fuzzy ones - I'm sure we'd all be very happy. Do we know how they did that to the butternut? Was it pureed, and made into a paste, and then piped in a bag? What do we think? I found it hard to tell by the texture - it could have been simply roasted and not pureed, but I don't see how they managed those shapes.

Yeah - what he said. It's not simplicity itself that concerns me - at ADPA, my wife ordered some Piege lamb chops coated with black olive, and it was ridiculously sparse, but also exquisite. As with much Piege food, it felt like it required an army of 10 to get those two chops to the plate in exactly that manner. I think, as Steven notes, there are a preponderance of those for whom 500 bucks is not an entirely ridiculous sum - who might feel a dish of lamb as seen above is just the ticket. But it feels like, apart from perhaps technically, the above isn't really challenging either Delouvrier or the ingredients beyond themselves. As I wrote above, I read of a simple Chapel stew of lobster and potatoes (I'm sure it wasn't simple in the least, but so goes the story) that had a quiet perfection to it. So, it's not fireworks I'm after. Maybe just something to start the bells ringing. The pig was a technical accomplishment, but not in the end an accomplishment of cuisine, I think. I'll close my eyes and wish to be one of those Steven mentions, for whom the menu is only the imagination of the chef.

If you ate there once a month, you still wouldn't exhaust the possibilities. The menu shows four appetizers and four apiece of fish & meat entrées. ← I wouldn't think so. That Lamb for example - although a perfectly fine dish, and beautiful to look at - it doesn't seem to me very adventurous. The pork dish I had also I didn't think had all that many notes to it. Which is to say, although I thought the cooking exceptional, it seems he's playing it safer at the moment than I would wish for. Even if I could afford it, I don't see that the restaurant could sustain four substantially different meals a season.

With such a small menu - realistically - how many times a season do we think a fan of Delouvrier or Ducasse might eat at ADNY?