nimzo

A few words about dinner at Alkimia on Saturday. My wife and I arrived at 9.02 for a 9 .00 table, entered the restaurant to be completely ignored by the 2 waiters having a chat in the dining room. We waited for about 4 minutes whilst I had a nose through the reservations book and were finally acknowledged and seated. menus were produced in English, no mention yet of aperitifs or water. The English on the menus was a poor translation of the Spanish (or Catalan) original so I asked for Spanish menus to be met with "Why?" from the waiter. I explained that terms like "..with coconut scum" didn't do much for the appetite and we got our menus. Cava and water were then forthcoming. We ordered, loin of tuna with cherries and foie gras with pear and cocoa consomme for me, cream of tomato soup with prawns and monkfish with a hazelnut puree and fried courgette flower for my wife. A bargain bottle of Guigal La Doriane(wrongly spelled on the list) at 40 euros.The dishes were delived with the beautiful explanations of "atun, tomate.'and the tuna was perfect , excellent dressing and cooked to perfection. My wife tucked into her tomato soup with red fruit salad and prawns only to discover there were no prawns but cockles instead, a shellfish she is not too keen on and certainly wouldn't order. I called the waiter over who said" Yes, that is how it is, we gave you last season's menu and we used to use prawns" not even having the courtesy to face me as she spoke. The mains arrived in record time afterwards " foie, rape" went the delivery. Lovely foie with pear and consomme poured over, this meant that the nibs of cocoa were only discovered when the foie had been finished, it would have been stunning but I just thought it ended up as a weak broth without the nibs and the meat together.It was the same with the monkfish with the major parts of the dish being hidden away so they weren't discovered until the end.Early in the course the wine was moved to the centre of the room out of reach and we were left with empty glasses throughout.Although I saw one waiter point out our glasses and the wine to another a couple of times he simply couldn't be bothered to pour it or to move from his position glued to the floor. Not once did they replenish the water. We ordered desserts but again the menus were different and I asked for a curerrent menu, "They are both current" was the reply."So if we order the chocolate does it come with apricot or peach sorbet?" I asked." Peach" came the reply so it was no surprise when my wife got her apricot sorbet.Would have loved a different wine with dessert but in spite of asking for the list it didn't arrive. petits fours arrived with hesitant explanations, none of which matched the food. We were almost screaming with laughter by this time guessing how far away the taste of the dish would be from the explanation. Paid and left without so much as a goodbye, thank you or even them bothering to ask how it was after my wife had left 2 of her 3 dishes as they weren't as described.All the staff seemed more interested in havng a laugh than serving food which was clearly made by an imaginave chef using good ingredients.I hope Jordi Vila returns after the holiday with a revolution front of house.

We had a lovely evening doing pintxos in the Born but not quite what i had in mind, did bump into another person who was highly critical of Abellan's level of courtesy though so at least I don't feel singled out. All memories were erased by a brilliant meal at Cinc Sentits the following night, rare that I find food that really stuns me these days but Jordi did it in style. Alkimia on Saturday was strange, good ingredients let down a bit by presentation and terrible service, perhaps the worst I have ever had in Spain. I will post details in a new thread when awake enough to remember the comedy of errors. Bulli excellent as expected and Mas Pau still very much worth the trip, particularly for the cheeses.

I had a booking for Comerc24 last week having confirmed the table 7 days beforehand after their initial e-mail. They were closed. I travelled in from Figueres for the meal and was not over happy with a chef who can't even be bothered to inform customers of a change of plan and who confirms a booking knowing that the restaurant will not be open.Enough said.

Copas farm in Cookham near Maidenhead springs to mind, one of the few pces to do PYO cherries and generally have a pretty wide variety of fruits. Not sure about cheese produces but Cookham is very pretty with nice pubs and i seem to remember a specialist french cheese shop very close to the station. there is the Stanley Spencer gallery too for a touch of culture.

My best memory of the Manoir was finding a maggot in a dish of morels. No problem for me but massive panic amongst the staff culminating with Raymond appearing and asking if it was live or dead.Numerous freebies followed together with some fine old cognacs and a distinct lack of a bill. I have always found it relaxing and apart from the maggot could never fault the food although it sometimes lacks the passion of others and seems a little impersonal.

Sounds like the perfect setting for Liver and Lager at last.

I keep trying to do a bollock foam with lark spit sauce but the bits of bollock keep getting stuck in my siphon. Perhaps Shaun has had the same problem.

Opson, the plagiarism theory is great but any ideas where these chefs did their crash course in Spanish before the Bulli translations came out. Whilst many speak fluent French they certainly don't have enough Spanish to understand the complxities of recipes, perhaps they just looked at the pretty pictures and guessed but then that really would be innovative

Pedro, we have the same bookings for August, when are you going to Bulli and FD?

Don't forget to wash your meal at FD down with a pint in the Hind's Head or the Crown, never know which superchefs you will bump into not to mention the great beer.

Just to clarify, by "classic" I simply meant that there are dishes with a very long culinary history of centuries rather than months, the foie gras and crab combination having references from the Atlantic coastal regions of France from at least 150 years ago as do the cooking of proteins in hay, salt and pastry crusts. Lets not miss the dishes on the menu that are rooted in classical French cuisine rather than the advances in technology. At the same time I do love the "nitro" and the pop rocks.

Foam, foam foam. I think the first foam at FD was a bay or basil foam served with a poached peach in 99 and probably owed more to Albert Adria than Ferran although I am sure dozens will correct me. Is it perhaps time to look at the core classics of the FD menu such as the crab biscuit with foie gras and the sweetbreads rather than the white chocolaviar and the bacon and egg ice cream?.

Fat Duck Spanish??????. I know Hestn used some piquillos a few years ago in a red mullet or cod dish and that butifarra once appeared for a brief while but apart from the stunning sherry list what exactly turns the FD into Spanish Opson?.

Being English obviously my range is fairly limited but I would have to include El Gusto de la Diversidad by Santi Santamaria, the 2 Bulli volumes and Adria's Secretos which gives such a good background to his philosophy. I also love Entre Mar i Muntanya by Xavier Sagrista and this probably gets used more than any in my collection.

After a visit last year I second BCNchef's views completely. Some stunning dishes, a sea urchin and a prawn ravioli in particular but the overall impression was that they couldn't wait to get us out the door. I speak a reasonable level of Spanish having a Masters degree and several years of living in Spain yet the staff insisted on speaking poor english even after I asked them to switch to Spanish for explanations of a dish, The sommelier disagreed completely with my choice of wines and seemed to have a bit of a tantrum when I ordered a Condrieu and although the meal was technically excellent it seemed to lack passion completely. I am in no rush to return but will make sure I visit 5 Sentits in the next few weeks to compare!.

I couldn't agree more with Bux and his views. Adria has stated in the past that the only thing which makes an ingredient expensive is the rarity factor, not the taste. Many cheaper ingredients can outshine foie gras and oysters when fresh and well prepared.Does 3 star dining these days look like menus littered with lobster and caviar or can we still be happy sucking the juices out of a prawns head?.

For those of you with green fingers, Seeds Of Italy in London is selling padron seeds, still time to grow them now and get your own harvest if we are in for another hot year.

Just back from a lovely break at Benazuza.Dinner was very much a greatest hits from Bulli experience but perhaps without the lightness of touch of the originals, still a great meal. Breakfast was the real highlight though, so good I hard remember touching a thing for lunch. Despite what I have read elsewhere the staff at benazuza couldn't have been more helpful and the wine list had some real bargains on it but unfortunately i think I had some of the last bottles.

I loved the article, one of the few I have read which accurately capture the feel and the taste. If you are interested I have translated "Secretos " into English though judging by your quotes so have you.