Matthew Grant

Wild Honey is planned to open on the evening of 2nd July. There will be 50% off food and reservations are being taken now if you ring Arbutus. I had a couple of complimentary dishes today, one of which I'm not allowed to mention as it will be on the new menu. I can tell you it was along very similar lines to Arbutus. I also got to try the Lemon tart. Quite simply superb, crisp thin pastry, wobbly centre with a caramelised top, served with chantilly cream. The best lemon tart I have had since Nico. Backed up by a lady who'd just had lunch who hunted Anthony out to compliment him on the dish

How about an update Simon?

I haven't got an offical date yet but I think they are now looking at the first week of July. Hopefully I'll have more news tomorrow.

Here we go, just like groundhog day!

Jon you bit! I thought those of us that have participated in the yearly argument would finally have learnt our lesson

Avoid at all costs is my advice. There seem to be a lot of regulars in there, I can only presume that they get better food, either that or they are just seduced by the nice room and friendly atmosphere.

What a crap restaurant. A special starter of white crab meat salad with olive oil and lemon came with what I'm pretty sure was a pre packaged salad and a completely flavourless oil (if there even was any), even the crab meat lacked flavour and was lacking in seasoning. Another starter of King Prawns arried with the accompanying sauces (I forget what they even were) bearing a film demonstrating that they had been sitting around too long. In fact I'd go as far to say that the dish was pre plated and when ordered they simply cooked the prawns and put them on top. Average asparagus with this dish too which is really saying something at this time of the year.. My Ricotta Ravioli was overcooked and one of the parcels had split and left its contents in the pan. The Tagliolini with walnuts and herbs was a little better but was overly herby, it may have even had the hint of dry herbs? Leg of Milk fed lamb with raw fennel was merely OK, again the quality of the ingredients just not good enough for such simple cooking, Halibut fared a little better. Side dishes of minted peas and potatoes with rosemary were pretty dull. A waitress came to take our dessert order (I presume as we didn't have a menu) and I asked to finish our wine first. They never returned to even try and offer us coffee. We left at 11:20 feeling unwanted and there was only one table left. Overall very poor indeed.

He only flipping won!!!!!! If that is the best they can gather to represent Scotland then there are some serious problems. The plating by both of them looked so old fashioned, plates full of sauce, side dishes all over the place on JL's main course etc. etc. Both Desserts looked so ordinary, JL's you could have bought in around 90% of the Patisseries in France. 2 of Nick Nairns dishes were traditional Scottish dishes!!!!!! Overall a disgrace if that is meant to represent contemporary British food - maybe 10 years ago but definitely not now.

As did his dessert

Rose Gray was working the pass last Saturday, I'm not sure how often she is there but seemed quite at home and the atmosphere amongst the staff seems great. Of course her attendance at the pass may have had something to do with Michael Winner at one table and AA Gill dining with his family and Jemima Khan at another.

Another lovely Lunch at the River Café on Saturday, it's quickly become one of my favourite places for a summer lunch with the doors wide open or sitting on the terrace. Service was effortlessly friendly as always and they graciously offered us our first drinks on the house as they had cancelled our booking the previous weekend as they were closed. Started with Bagna Cauda di Barolo con Asparagi (new season's asparagus with a warm Nebbiolo and anchovy sauce), the sauce felt a little underpowered but the Asparagus was top notch and that was really what mattered. The Ravioli at River Café is never disappointing this time stuffed with buffalo ricotta, nettles and River Café garden herbs. Another Secondi of Risotto al mare (with Langoustine, mussels, red mullet, John Dory and Fiano Donnaluna) was excellent spoilt only by the Rice being a touch overdone, not enough to ruin the well balanced fish flavour with a generous amount of fish it could have been the best risotto ever if it wasn't for the rice. Salmon ai Ferri (chargrilled first of the season's wild salmon with chilli & parsley, violetta artichoke fritti and large leaf rocket), a great piece of fish, it was still a little pink in the middle but I think that it would have been nicer with a few seconds less cooking. Great deep-fried artichokes. Rambo al forno (Turbot Tranche wood roasted with lemon and mint with frittedda of peas, broad beans and violetta artichokes. Again beautiful fish with a less than beautiful looking accompaniment which tasted great - fresh and perky from the lemon and mint, sweet from the peas and broad beans, perfect for a summer day even though it was only April. Once again we bravely asked for the whole dessert list to share, actually we asked them to leave the chocolate nemesis off it arrived anyway and we weren't charged for it so I won't complain. Standouts included pressed Chocolate cake with Vin Santo ice cream, the ice cream had taken on a caramel flavour which then led to s finish reminiscent of something Indian, unusual but excellent, Pannacotta boldly flavoured with grappa and Garigette strawberries was once again the best version I have tasted in this country, second only to one I had last year in Piedmont at Della Posta. Accompanied by a La Giustiniana VignetiI Montessora Gavi di Gavi and a lovely Pieropan Soave Classico La Rocca that took some time to open up, service at 12.5% and water the bill came to a not inconsiderable £236 but for some reason I always consider it money well spent at this particular venue.

I think you left a sarcasm smilie off your last post

Jeremy Lee is doing really well isn't he, burnt the potatoes (twice) and then threw away his meat juices! I was wondering why he seems to like serving the accompaniments on side plates but then I realised he worked at a Conran restaurant where sides cost extra

I used to eat it spread on buttered toast.

Crabcakes with Mayo looking like something staight off a pub menu! That'll show those pesky French!

Some food from the weekend: Confit Duck ravioli with Duck crackling, Dressing made with Duck jelly, olive oil and Jerez Vinegar. Rib of Belted galloway Beef with Morels, Buttered Curly Kale and Purple sprouting broccoli, Gnocchi and Grilled Shallot: And finally a dish based on a Giorgio Locatelli recipe in his lates book. Duck breast with farro, curly Kale with garlic and chill. Sauce made with Worcestershire sauce and olive oil:

With a little experimentation you might still be able to do this. Stick a pan of water in a low oven and leave until it the water temperature evens out, then stick your egg in the water for the 90 minutes required. Not so easy for the beef but you can still utilise a low oven without vac packing it, just brown the meat first in a pan and then stick into the low oven.

The "new" Arbutus is pencilled in to open the last week of May (though I'm sure we are all aware of how these things change. They are still looking for a name, my own suggestion of "Arbutwo" didn't go down well

Here is the original discussion, it was on a thread about Yauatcha: MSG Discussion and if you don't want to read through that there was a good article in OFM: If MSG is so bad for you, why doesn't everyone in Asia have a headache?

No its not This was a thread on the UK Board.

We had a thread about this before with links to an article describing a study which found no evidence linking MSG with any of the usually complained about side effects. Unfortunately we're unabel to search on 3 letter phrases so I'm unabel to find it.

Blimey! When did the River Cafe become classic French? I might have to cancel my reservation! I'm curious where the region of London called Vinopolis is as well

But once you get beyond zones 2 and 3 the world could be their oyster (that should not be taken to infer that they have even thought of the idea).

I've got a feeling that Madrones may be the name they discarded, a few weeks ago, Anthony was telling me about the new property but didn't want to say anything about it until they had exchanged, he nearly told me what they were going to call it but backed off after deciding that it would give away the new destination.

We've already noted this trend HERE