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I can recommend L’Eglise for an informal meal. We went on Saturday lunch and it is a friendly local restaurant worth the walk from the many mediocre places in Brighton. None of us went for the lunch special but it was still reasonable at £68 incl service for 4 people with a bottle of wine and 2 teas. I had the onglet steak that came with excellent duck fat chips that are worth the walk by themselves. This corner of Hove seems to be on the up with the openings of the Forager and the Ginger Pig (both full when I went to try them). I haven’t been to the Arrogant Frog, but the prices are on a par with the unfailing Gingerman so I doubt I will ever be tempted in.

We went to the Waterloo Brasserie, a newly opened restaurant opposite the Old Vic. A couple of irritations. First they have some sort of system which means there is a large beep every so often (for service?) that was incredibly irritating. Then there was the side order issue that plagues many restaurants: Waitress: “would you like a side with your main course?” Me: “does it need one?” Waitress: “no” Me: “I wont then” The sides were £3.50 each which seems steep but I didn’t get to see the portion size. I would have gone for some green beans and then would have been even more annoyed as the main dish came with some unadvertised green beans anyway. I noticed that the steak had no chips advertised and so I saw one customer who had ordered some chips as a side and then had some unadvertised chips arrive with the steak (or he knew and liked chips!) The food, though, was generally good. My lamb shank (cooked for 7 hours) was melt in the mouth tender and the confit duck cassoulet was good. The low point was my fish soup that was too watery but the terrine was good. Puddings, a chocolate fondant and an apple and calvados pain perdu were both good. £80 for 2 incl service and a £19 very drinkable rioja seemed good value. Service, other than the sides issue, was good and they seemed to cope with everyone turning up at 8pm when the show at the Old Vic finished.

Article on Koffman at The Don and Bleeding Heart in this weekend's FT.

I would second Pintxo People and The Gingerman who have now added a gastropub, The Ginger Pig, in Hove (I haven't tried it yet). Also Riddle and Finns is good, but they don't take bookings and you may have to share a table. Due South does good seafood on the beachfront. Whatever you do, it gets very busy at the weekend so you should book ahead.

Thanks for the responses. Kitchin is being refurbished over the next couple of weeks and Martin Wishart is fully booked so we will be trying Fishers, Atrium and Olorosso over the course of next weekend.

I am going to Edinburgh in a couple of weeks and have not seen any recent recommendations for places. Has anyone been anywhere good recently?

I happened on this place last week and had lunch downstairs. An added bonus is that it is one of the few pubs in London serving Landlord bitter. I went for fish and chips (downstairs has a smaller selection). No-one else was eating so I didn't know what to expect and was in my normal fearful state of 'heated up brake brothers'. But I needn't have - big flakes in a light batter and good chips. Will try upstairs next time.

Does anyone know where I can buy argentine beef in London?

Can anyone recommend a suitable restaurant in Bournemouth for a large group (good food, not too tacky, but reasonably priced)?

Planet Organic stock Shipton Mill flour as well as some others. Robert Dyas have oven thermometers.

I went to the one that Bapi mentioned and got some great fruit. Tip - wear shoes/boots that you don't mind getting muddy. It is called Parkside farm and has a website with all the location and produce details here.

Wendells deli (in Cannon St and London Bridge stations) do great toasted baps. I think their bread is from degustibus.

Any suggestions of good restaurants in Antwerp? I am looking for 1 relaxed place and a more formal one for a group of 5.

The 3 places worth considering for a more serious meal are Hotel du vin (bit pricey but good food and buzz), Sevendials, and Quentins (I posted on this recently). I was also impressed with the vegetarian Terre a terre if there is a veggie you want to impress. There are lower end places that are good: The Eagle Pub and bakery is 'normal pub' food rather than gastropub poncyness (not a jus in sight), Sanctuary cafe serves (mostly) veggie food and Billies does the ultimate hangover breakfast. I'm sure I have missed loads but these are my faves.

The fish stall was good - I got some crab for a salad. It is fresh from Dorset. I would give this Sunday a miss as most stalls wont be there as it is Easter Sunday.

I am pleased to report that the Palmers Green farmers market is still going. Today there were 2 meat stalls (one organic), a fish stall from dorset, 1 bread stall, 1 patisserie, 2 veg stalls, one dairy stall,a fruit juice stall and a soap stall (hopefully haven't forgotten anything). 10-2 in the station car park on Sundays.

Yes Sundays only. The hold up was that they wanted it on Saturday but this clashed with another market within a certain distance.

I noticed that the local paper says that there will be a farmers market in Alexandra Palace from this Sunday for 14 weeks (10-3).

Isn't the Palmers Green one still going? It was incredibly popular and I was planning a trip this Sunday.

Had a good weekend. The highlight was lunch at De Karmeliet. Very relaxed and enjoyable. We went for the €50 menu (but watch out for supplements) which was 3 courses. There were some pre-starters with some drinks in the conservatory area. For starter I had a croquette with prawn and for main I had a beautifully rich rabbit that had been cooked in beer for 7 hours. There were 3 puddings followed by more petit fours than you could eat. Coffee came with more chocolate if you hadn’t had enough! Overall a lovely time although the bill gets larger once drinks and supplements are added. We also went to Kafe Grand Passage, a candle-lit restaurant. It serves local dishes at very reasonable prices (a filling stew for €11) that was just what was needed on a cold night. The fish restaurant we tried was recommended by the guidebook. It is called Den Gouden Karpel on Vismarkt. Food was excellent (the owner also has a fishmonger over the road).

I am going to Bruges this weekend. Do you have any recommendations for restaurants? I am going to De Karmeliet already but was interested for other recommendations, particularly for local fare and seafood.

Heston Blumenthal wrote about hanging meat as well as doing it in your own fridge in one of his Guardian articles

The letter from the chef on egullet persuaded me to try this place out - I had enjoyed his cooking at the Admiralty althought the service there was pants. Went for the a la carte and, as you would expect, was very good. Several dishes had relatively big supplements (£4-5) on top of the £27 for 3 courses so if you went for, say, the venison and the cheese it would cost £37. I guess what most people are interested in, though, is the service. I thought it was pretty faultless. OK, some of the staff's English wasn't the best but they were attentive (the room was pretty full too by the time we had reached mains) and there were no long waits between courses. My only gripe would be the taxi firm they ordered for us as £8 for a 1 mile trip seems excessive to me - do they get a kickback? Overall a very enjoyable meal. The room is slightly plain and I can't help feeling that when someone points a gun at my head to say where they should eat in Islington I would still go for Lola's as the overall feel of the place will linger longer in the memory - the food at both places is on a par in my opinion.

Does anyone know where I can buy a banneton in the UK?

I ate at Jessica's this week and thoroughly enjoyed it. The scene was set by the classical music in the cab (are all Birmingham cabs like this?). The room is modern - white walls and tablecloths with the obligatory wooden floor. There is a main room and a similarly sized conservatory that I imagine would be lovely in summer. And to the food. We were greeted with olves and a lovely salty choux pastry. Pre-starter was melon soup with feta and pepper. I'm not convnced this worked although the melon flavour was intense. My starter was a ballotine of foie gras and duck with vanilla-dipped potatoes and an onion cream. I'm always a sucker for fg but it was the vanilla potatoes that drew me in. And they worked. Loin of french veal with a fricasse of squid and white beans garlic and parsley followed. The squid did go well with the veal. I struggled to choose a pudding and in the end went with the cheese and received 4 of good quality. Service was excellent throughout. I sometimes thought that there was a bit of a delay but they read my mind and brought the next course. All 4 of us enjoyed our meals - this is great cooking in a nce setting with good service. What more do you want? At £30 for 3 courses I think this represents good value (although my value-ometer is London based). Wine started at £14 a bottle I think.