Matthew Grant

The Sportsman in Seasalter. It meets some essential criteria that Michelin seem to enjoy at the moment. 1) The food is fantastic by anyones standards 2) It's in a nice casual setting though it could easily be in London with starched table cloths, legions of waiting staff and the rest of those typical Michelin restaurant type things but it isn't. It's in a pub which surely must attract the Michelin inspectors even more!?

I'm going to hop on over and add it on to my list of places that will get a star this year.

Its a direct train from Victoria, only takes around 90 minutes from memory.

Semplice is another I heard tipped for a star.

I'll add my vote to Gavroche, I can't remember the last time I ate there and it wasn't deserving of three stars or I would have been back but I've got a feeling that they will get the promotion simply for having held the two stars so long. Michelin must be gagging to award a third star somewhere. We all seem to have fogotten Hibiscus, hopefully they will have been allowed to transfer their stars? Nathan Outlaw should get a star even if his cooking was a little "Michelin by numbers" for my liking. I'll give a couple of the predictions I heard (I've not eaten at them myself) that nobody seems to talk about, Aiden Byrne at The Grill (Dorchester) *, Umu **, Sat Bains **

Greenhouse 2 stars (despite my recent poor experience) I'd heard rumours of some others but i'm not going to jinx them (also the rumours are notoriously unreliable )

I had heard that! If the food had matched expectations a refurbishment might have been enough to get Rachel to go back but I fear her assertion that "I am never steping foot in that place again" was actually heartfelt and truthful

Aggravating meal here on Saturday, mainly down to service issues but I realise now that dining out on the last service before Christmas has to be a big mistake. Arrived, were sat promptly and offered water. Waited 10 minutes (I didn't complain we were curious to see how long it was going to take) and were then given menus, apparently the delay was caused by the waiter having to carve pork at an adjacent table. Not a problem but there is a legion of staff in this room, why can't somebody else give us the menus, we still weren't offered an aperitif the service station was in touching distance and 3 or 4 waiters stood around it most of the night including senior members of the service team apparently blind to anything within 5 feet of them. When our waiter returned and took our order he wandered off and I had to call him back to ask for an aperitif, he looked a little surprised and came rushing back with the champagne trolley, he had no idea of the prices "I don't normally do this" The pork dish for two could apparently be served for one so that's what I ordered. When it arrived it had one cut instead of the advertised 3 or 4, so in effect a different dish. Rachel's Turbot was a thin fillet with the skirt attached and fanned out. We sat with our plates finished for 7 or 8 minutes before anybody thought to clear them. When we were offered the dessert list I asked about the cheese board and in particular whether they had the BA Comte. I was told they did and it was 52 months old, I told him there and then that I had made up my mind but would wait for cheese/dessert until after we had finished our wine. When the cheese board arrived, I asked for the Comte only to be told there was none left. "I thought you said you had it?", "We did, but we haven't any more" Now I would have thought that after I had specifically mentioned this cheese that they might have thought to set it aside. Anyway, on a more positive note they did offer to get some from storage for me which I accepted even though it was a little cold. Going back to the wine service this was seemingly being run by somebody with no interest (capability?) to suggest wines to match food. I asked for a half bottle of white to start and a suggestion for the pork and Turbot dishes. Somewhere along the line he suggested glasses of wine for the pork and Turbot, no problem there except the first glass for the Turbot was £25 and he didn't appear to have any alternative suggestion, red or white, for a more reasonable price, in fact I'm pretty certain his next suggestion was the same as a syrah he had suggested for me, in which case why didn't he suggest a bottle? He then went running of with the wine list and we had to ask somebody to fetch him so that we could point out that he still hadn't suggested anything for our starters. "Oh, I thought you only wanted one glass for the whole meal". Eventually I called the list back and changed the suggested wines for a bottle of my own choosing. Useless. A taxi was prompt and clean, and for the 7 minute ride to Victoria £17.50 apparently something to do with it being a "corporate rate" so be warned and take your chances flagging one down in the street Aside from the service, the food was distinctly ordinary aside from Langoustines with a Jerusalem artichoke veloute and roasted chestnuts which was superb as was the quality of the pork. I'm pretty certain Bonnet wasn't in the kitchen. I'm not even going to bother commenting on it further and the kitchen can do far better though I'm not sure that the FOH staff can even outside of Christmas. Two out of three occasions here I have had service issues and when dinner costs the best part of £300 I expect more. I should have complained at the time but the other half was already pursing her lips at the room and I was doing my best to distract her though in hindsight I think a complaint would have done more to satisfy her pissed off feeling, it would have probably made me feel better as well.

After reading Gary's review I had to go back and have the meatballs again They are an excellent dish. Really good Oxtail Consomme as well, very hearty and a beautiful dish to look at.

Italian Black for £1500/kg at Booth's today. They smelt OK!

I felt the same Bapi, one of the best demonstrations I have seen of his food, way better than his current series for giving you an idea of what the restaurant is all about.

That sounds more reasonable depending on what you get served.

The set menu was £105 - for me that doesn't scream great value for what amounts to (I think) 8 courses. An average of a little over £13 a course, I'd be curious to see what sort of saving that is over ordering the dishes individually. The tasting menu on Saturday contained 3 dishes with Foie Gras - not exactly balanced either.

That opened up a while ago now, I think before he sold the other restaurants? I have eaten there gratis so I can't really comment from a regular punters point of view. It was good to see some classic Marco dishes though they do come across as a little old fashioned now but in a comforting way. Ragout of shellfish with herbs was as seen on Hells kitchen (I'm surprise d he didn't make more of this when he was on the show as the staff and dishes in HK pretty much transfered to the Stamford bridge operation), I would have preferred a little more depth to the sauce but that is just my preference Pigeon from Bresse with Foie Gras en Chou and pomme mousseline was good if overly large and incredibly rich due to the vast quantity of foie gras in both pieces. Koffmanns pigs trotter was as unctuous and rich as I remember and there was an outstanding lemon tart as well as a very good Souffle to finish (desserts courtesy of Roger Pizy)

Robuchon on Saturday night, excellent cocktails upstairs to start and then the counter for the main event. The most disappointing dish was the Ravioli of langoustine in Savoy cabbage. Off the top of my head they were £15 for two small parcels, a French haute tapas, topped with chopped black truffle this could have been an excellent dish if the Langoustine had been up to scratch, unfortunately it exhibited that woolly texture that Langoustines get when they aren’t as fresh as they can or indeed should be. Far more successful was an excellent Black truffle Ravioli (£25) exhibiting a good depth of flavour and perfectly al dente rice topped with shaved truffle. A tiger Prawn cooked on the plancha was a far better example of shellfish, meaty and flavoursome it was almost worth its £15 price tag, that’s right, £15 for one tiger prawn cooked on the grill. John Dory was served with Aubergine, leeks and vierge sauce, the fish itself nothing to right home about but the accompaniments were very good, 4 x 1cm squares of aubergine, and a bright sauce lit the dish up but nothing could disguise the dull fish. Lamb chops with thyme, were exactly that, 3 of them. A touch of salt could have elevated them beyond your everyday lamb chops but obviously they rely on the pomme puree to do that, in this instance approximately a tablespoon of the stuff. Beef and Foie Gras burger with lightly caramelized bell peppers was excellent, the peppers slightly sweet and sour acting as a foil to the foie. Great crinkle cut chips as well. Desserts were far more successful. A selection of tarts for dessert which were excellent, Caramel (which was probably too heavy for the delicate pastry enclosing it, a beautiful lemon tart, cinnamon tart was superb, apple and bitter chocolate tarts finished the selection. Another dessert of waffles came with excellent chocolate sauce, Chantilly cream and Vanilla ice cream. I was left in two minds about this meal, I hate to gripe about price and aam loathe to complain about small portion sizes but here I can’t myself. It’s not that the food is bad (although it fails to hit too many highs), its just that it is so flipping expensive for what it is. Before we started I was planning on 5 small plates each, in the event the (excellent) waitress advised us that three was enough. It wasn’t but I wasn’t enthused enough by the food to order anymore, good job as well as the bill was around £250 (I should add that £50 of that was on cocktails) including a Barabera D’alba at £37 and those rip off 500ml bottle of water that they use. My other half commented afterwards that we probably would have felt a lot better about the meal if had cost £50 - £60 less and she is probably right. Unfortunately an average of £12 - £15 for haute tapas is taking the piss unless the ingredients and cooking step up another level.

I made my first visit here in a while last week and was glad to see things running like clockwork, a little quiet when I first arrived but this seems to be a late restaurant and everything was full just after 21:00 and plenty of tables still there when I left quite late. Highlights were the Pheasant and foie gras boudin blanc which was gamier than previous incarnations and serve with Cavelo Nero. Roast Plaice, nut brown butter and shrimps was simple and effective, beautifully cooked plaice. Saddle of Venison was again perfectly cooked and crusted with walnut and juniper berries, served with Jerusalem artichokes and spinach beet. The juniper berry wasn't too prevalent and this was a distinctly wintry dish carried off in a relatively delicate style, i.e. it wasn't too filling which meant that we easily managed pudding despite being comped a second main course of Wild duck, glazed salsify and roast quince which really was wintry and presented beautifully. Wild honey ice cream with crushed honeycomb for Rachel and Pain Perdu with glazed winter fruits for me. One of the nicest desserts I can remember having in a long time. Excellent Service, lovely room, good prices and Colin seems to have settled into his stride very nicely indeed. What's not to like?

I chose my words carefully. A licenced black cab will indeed cost you £4 above the meter rate. But the chances of getting a licenced black cab in both directions are close to nil. Meanwhile, a minicab will (in my experience) charge twice the usual rate and still expect a hefty tip. Happy holidays. ← In my experience a Mini-Cab on Christmas day will be a minimum of triple fare. This may be different with the illegal unlicensed versions we find proliferating in London these days.

Judging by the full tables Moro is as popular as ever and its easy to see why. Easy going food, nothing pretentious. In fact I'd go as far to say that most stuff here can be cooked by a competent home cook. Chestnut and Chorizo soup was as good as ever, quail came with grapes, orange and ginger and Trid, a thin pastry that probably didn't need to be there. Surprisingly large quail as well. Roast Chicken with Winter Tabbouleh and Lamb with Patatas Bravas and Aioli both benefited from being cooked in the wood fired oven. Raisin ice cream and Sherry trifle were satisfying ways to finish off a casual but good meal.

Fair point, well made. It's likely to turn into a bit of a cash-guzzling odyssey though (contrary to what's been said, London cab drivers do work on Christmas day, but will charge double rate and expect at tip of at least £10 for their efforts). ← Black Taxis DON'T charge double on Christmas day. There is simply a surcharge of £4 which makes them one of the Christmas bargains in London. Having said that you can expect to pay between £40 and £70 from Heathrow, I guess it would be towards the lower end of that scale with the lack of traffic on the road.

I just realised I didn't post my meal here A bit of a mixed meal at Hibiscus. We found the veal disappointing, lacking in flavour and leaving it a pretty ordinary dish, I wonder if the supplier had changed? The Pollack carpaccio worked really well with the Black Radish and Autumn truffle, I can imagine this would be great with Scallops (As I understood it has been served in the past). Another starter of pumpkin soup with Blue Cheese sorbet was beautiful, silky smooth. A freebie from the kitchen of Foie Gras was divine, the quality of the Foie quite superb, so much so that I have completely forgotten the accompaniments. The Pork was interesting, the Urchin sauce perhaps a little too salty but other than that combined with the pork well. The Sweet Potato fondant seemed a little redundant. The Sausage roll was really good but If I'm honest after trying the Ginger Pig sausage roll straight form the oven it didn't quite live up to expectations. I failed to detect the truffle in the sauce which was a little like an undistinguished brown sauce. The Cheese course was exceptional both in quality and value for money. The (new) waiter serving it made me laugh after I turned down Montgomery Cheddar ( I already had the Comte) he announced that I was probably right declaring it "Nice on toast" A chocolate dessert (with basil ice cream) didn't really do the business but a tarte fine of apple was fabulous though the accompanying ice cream (I forget, white bean?) was a little grainy. Overall an interesting/good meal but I think we'll get the best out of the restaurant once it beds in a little more. Fabulous effortless service led by Claire throughout and nice to see Claude doing the rounds after the meal. Why can't every restaurant be like this?

I thought they were both vegetables

Agree

Hey! What's wrong with that? You're on the wrong board

A few weeks ago my post got delivered at 17:30, the next day it arrived at 07:15