Matthew Grant

Every year I get it wrong but I've got a good feeling this year. I reckon Ducasse will get a rising 3rd star and Robuchon will pick up his second. Hibiscus will pick up its second at I'll give a leftfield prediction that Whatley manor will also get a 2nd. Tom Aikens will miss out again but will be tipped for 2 next year as will the Ledbury and Nathan Outlaw.

I'll be in a villa on Grenada rather than a yacht!

Unfortunately I will most likely be sitting on my lazy arse around the pool most days, while I enjoy snorkelling I'm recovering from a leg injury that might make it a little hard for me at the moment so I'm limited to Grenada itself.

....and other peoples lives made a lot harder. Legislation should be put in place to prevent this practice.

As nobody replied last time I thought I would try and bump this thread as I will be off to Grenada in a couple of weeks. Once again all budgets, styles considered as well as some good drinking establishments.

Unfortuantely I think the correlation between price and lack of frills is exactly what would piss me off. I've no problem at all with a lack of frills but having a "take it or leave it " attitude when you are paying those prices is completely wrong, at that price point I expect a certain attentive level of service. Would you feel the same way paying through the nose like that in London and receiving a carefree attitude to service?

They are great, on the whole they don't try and treat us like idiots, everything doesn't have to be something you can throw together in 5 minutes. I really wish we could see some more serious cooking on TV these days.

More Roux Brothers, Poultry and Game:

Roux Brothers anybody?

I forgot about Monmouth Coffee. Agree about Saturdays, I try and get there for 08:30 and leave by 09:30

Fish from Shellseekers, Beef from Northfield Farm, Pork from the Ginger Pig. Have a toasted cheese sandwich utilising Montgomery cheddar and Poilane Bread from the guy in the stall next to the cathedral. Have a hot sausage roll from the counter at The Ginger Pig (you may have to ask for one as they are sometimes hidden in the oven) Maris Piper potatoes from Turnips, I know they are expensive but they are a world apart from the Maris Piper you get in the supermarket. For cheaper but decent veg try Booths who also sell a good selection of mushrooms. If they have them, the black truffles at Marche Du Quartier have been excellent this year. Try the Dutch cheese stall as well, there is some surprisingly good cheese there but nothing to compare with Neal's Yard. Most of the bread in the market is crap IMO so try the Exeter street bakery stuff on sale at Neal's Yard. Buy a packet of mishapes chocoaltes from Artisan du Chocalat. Buy Tzatziki from the Greek stall Avoid the stall selling Indian spices which are ridiculously priced and display no reason as to why they should charge so much for so little, I can only guess that they get a lot of trade from the "tourist" crowd

Marco with Pierre Koffman: Does anybody want me to post the Raymond Blanc video linked to in the original post again?

Marco with Nico Ladenis:

Episode 2

Even if I do say so myself this could be shaping up to be the thread of the year

Just to make you jealous, I saw those clips a couple of weeks ago and started searching around for the whole lot. Thanks to a very kind gentleman I found through a lot of obscure googling I am now in posession of DVD's of Marco cooking for Roux, Kofmann, Blanc and Nico as well as two episodes of him behaving badly and cooking for nobody in particular except Keith Floyd. I haven't even got around to viewing the Roux Brothers series that i had also been looking for and that he also had

I'm very confused Why don't you just seperate the egg yolks from the egg whites, after all, that is how you normally make a custard base for ice cream? If you needed to strain the base before using it I would also suggest that you have overcooked the base to start with.

This might have been an excellent post had I noticed that you had actually posted it on Monday and I didn't spot it until Tuesday

Thanks! I was looking for this following the very good "France on a Plate" programme that featured clips from it.

My recommendation would be to go and post this on the French board

Despite the obvious grief I'm going to get from people like Andy I'll let you know about a lovely meal I had here with friends last week. It was the first time I had been in months, well 2 anyway. We were comped the Warm cod brandade with chiperones, parsley and toasted sourdough while we tried to decide what to eat. A nice way to start, lots of garlicky creamy fishiness going on, we treated it like a glorious rich dip but it would have been a fine starter. To start properly (actually I had already eaten enough of the brandade for two starters) I had slow cooked Norfolk Hare served with soft polenta, pecorino and chestnuts. A beautiful dish, the sauce made with blood though not as strong as the Lievre Royal they used to serve at Putney Bridge I thought this was great winter food. The polenta was well seasoned with the pecorino. Overall a great dish, I'm surprised this isn't served as a main course. The other 3 had pappadelle pasta with a pork shoulder ragout which was met with universal approval. For a main course I had the special of the day which was a Roast shoulder of pork which was decent enough but the accompanying braised Endive and Sharon fruit elevated the dish, an. interesting combo with a pleasant sweet and bitter elements. Two of the party had the Bavette of Scottish beef, caramelised salsify and a large dish of Dauphinoise which Rachel gleefully finished off after polishing off her Roast Cod served with crispy boned chicken wings, and wild mushrooms. Unfortunately I didn't get around to trying either dish. Now in a "shock horror" move I'm going to say that my dessert wasn't up to its usual high standard , I had a treacle tart that was a touch too sweet, I know its meant to be sweet but it was a little too much and the texture was a little too light for my liking, I would have preferred something a little stickier, a minor quibble though. Overall a very good meal in a pleasingly busy restaurant.