olly s

what about the mason arms at south leigh (just west of oxford) - pretty basic rooms but quite fun. barnsley would be cool but is more hotel in terms of price than b&b. what about studley priory/house, also just outside oxford ... maybe la maoir have some good deals going???

cigala??

I don't think that 21 Queen Street exists anymore actually. It has been converted into Cafe 21 in line with the rest of the chain. Part of the same group is Bistro 21 at Aykley Heads just outside Durham. Built in an old farmhouse / barn conversion, and located in the middle of an industrial estate, the food is remarkably good. It is rather tasteful in the light of it's northern location. One of my favourites actually! Durham, like Gateshead, is a culinary desert. There is a fun gastropub (owing to the food rather than the decor) called the seven stars in shincliffe (bishop auckland side of town) but other than that stick to the massive branch of M&S in the metrocentre. Infact don't, just starve ...

I thought 8 over 8 was dreadful. I went for lunch this week and, while I was not expecting it to be my new favourite restaurant, was very disappointed. The food was ordinary, and in places really bad (chicken teriyaki with sticky rice - tepid, floury chicken with unsticky rice). The decor was unremarkable, and prices high. While I have no doubt that this restaurant will do ever so well, luring the eurotrash out of places like Henry J Beans and Babushka House, to an establishment where they can be truly superficial and spend more cash, it is not for me!!

Stepping Stone is excellent. I love it, and the fact that it is releatively unknown and therefore nearly always possible to book a table. What about Bar Meze on the Northcote Rd - not my cup of tea, but quite fun and the tapas aren't bad. Other than that Scoffers on Eccles Rd used to be alright. I have heard a few bad reports recently, but it always used to be really fun and good, if slightly confused, menu. There are several terrible tapas places up St John's Hill and Battersea Rise. Avoid.

Most good Italian delis will stock several brands of white peach juice. I know Luigi's on Fulham Rd normally has it, but there are places more central that have it too. o

i have a problem with all these "cafes" - Boxwood, Berkeley Square, and the soon to open Grand Cafe. What is a cafe if not a greasy spoon and a pillar of the community?? Surely these places are far too poncey to justify the cafe title ...

The next S&M to open will be the branch on Acton High Street, probably around the middle of August. O

I am intrigued to know a little more about how restaurant PR works in NYC. Who are the most well respected companies? How does it compare with restaurant PR in the UK?

nobody seems to have mentioned Halen Mon (sic). Amazing welsh sea salt from the waters in between the welsh mainland and angelsey. absolutely delicious which costly premium attached. you can buy it in waitrose and delis - haven't seen it in sainsbury's yet.

i forgot to mention the delicious little bar upstairs at cafeteria.

this place is pitched quite differently. it is much more cafe cross steakhouse plus a few quid. I can see what you mean about downstairs at SOS - always rammed hence why I have never bothered staying - perhaps on second thoughts Ladbroke Grove is the not so unfortunate after all ...

I finally made it there last night and QUITE enjoyed it. I arrived and the restaurant was empty - obviously not their fault, and not what they would choose necessarily, but the fact. It is a vast room with very high ceilings (ex-bierodrome) and while I waited for my friend to arrive, I felt a little lost. There were also hundreds of staff running around, obviously waiting for the enslaught bound to come later, but bored and fidgety in the meantime. None of this is avoidable - it was early and the restaurant has only been open a week. The food was good on the whole. I had a delicious Omelette Arnold Bennet and a bowl of chips with some really good mayonnaise. Cholestrol induced stuff but well seasoned and nicely presented. At £9.50 (+ £2.50 for the chips) it was no where near a bargain, but it just about justified its price tag. My smugness could have been one reason for Alice not particularly enjoying her Ribeye steak sandwich. The meat looked good, and there was enough of it, but the bread was disappointing. Door-wedge-esque, I think a softer bread would have been better, if only for presentation. The service was really good, but then it should have been with an average of three staff per table. I suppose that by the time we left, there were more like five tables. It is the kind of place that will do well. It is small enough to fill quite easily when more people know it is there, and I am sure that once it is full of noisy 20/30 somethings, the atmosphere will start to develop. It is not cheap, in the way that you might expect a cafeteria to be cheap, but it is the kind of place that locals should be able to use regularly. I have never eaten at Torode's SOS, but my guess would be that Ladbroke Grove might have drawn the short straw.

If you have a little more money, what about the king of expresso, the Jura F90. We have one in the office - you can wire it up to you pc and define the taste perimeters of your brew. They retail at around £1k.

I am off to Paxos in July. Does anybody know of any gastronomic delights waiting for me, or that I should track down when I get there? Apparently the bakery in Loggos is rather good?

The closest tube station is Putney Bridge, on the District Line - which does run on a Sunday ...

Sophie's Steakhouse is 311 - 313 Fulham Rd, SW10.

if you like cheap eats what about having a look on the Time Out website at their recent Cheap Eats Award. Not sure what the weblink is? Also Mandalay on Edgware Rd, London's only Burmese restaurant, is fun. Very basic but good curries and great papaya salad, and cheap as chips.

i still absolutely stink of fried meat - i left the restaurant 16hrs ago and I still have a pack of hounds chasing after me ... really good place though, and very cheap. appreciated the fact that it was the real greek himself who put together my souvlaki, not that he will be around very much apparently. the bread and the wine was really good - anything more was a bonus.

For burgers, the afformentioned Gourmet Burger Kitchen on the Northcote Rd in Battersea, is excellent. Kiwi owned I highly recommend the Kiwi burger - beetroot, fried egg, pinapple and 100% Angus steak burgers. FYI the other GBK is in West Hampstead somewhere - not entirely sure of the exact address. It is not particularly British though? What about trying one of the S&M cafes (Sausage and Mash cafes). Essex Rd Islington is a very cool cafe, definitivily British and very cheap. They are soon to open a fourth cafe on Acton High Street ...

I gather that John Torode's new place in Ladbroke Grove opened last week. Anybody been??

probably ... warm artichoke with vinaigrette. panfried king scallops with white wine, chives and cream, & mash. raspberrry souffle. delicous and nutritious.

thanks one and all.

I haven't been to the Mezzodoplio either. Where do you reckon I should head first / which is better ( = more fun & better value) ?? o

sounds okay - what about booze? I read something about ouzo cocktails the other day, but know nothing about Greek wines?