Matthew Grant

Excuse my language but I had a fucking awful meal here yesterday. The Maitre D' was too caught up fawning over a couple of regulars during the meal to notice long delays in service or to even think of asking how the food was (this was probably pretty self evident from the fact that most of mine was still on the plate when they removed it). I caught him staring into space for around 5 minutes at one point - useless. Onto the food, the "highlight" of the meal was a goulash to start, good paprika flavour and a hearty winter dish. Venison pie with piccalilli was OK but the pastry was limp, thin and heavy all at the same time, a remarkable feat if you were aiming for that sort of texture but guessing that they weren't it was pretty awful. The meat itself was fine if uninteresting and too cold from the fridge. My Wild Trout (I was assured it was brown trout) lacked seasoning, flavour, was woefully overcooked and served a little above tepid. It came with pasta and a shellfish sauce. It's no exaggeration to say that the pasta was stone cold, like it hadn't been heated in the first place and the sauce quite literally a teaspoon full - not enough to even gather what it tasted like, truly dreadful. Another main of duck with gnocchilooked like it had been sitting on the pass for an hour, this would probably account for its lack of temperature as well. The gnocchi had spread during the cooking process, normally a case of the potato being wet when they were made. Any other day I would have complained but I was taking my Nan out and she was enjoying herself so I didn't like to embarrass her. although she also commented later that her Monkfish was a little cold. Desserts were unmemorable except for a millefeuille of chocolate mousse and vanilla ice cream. This was actually a scoop of chocolate mousse with some sort of pastry on top of it with a scoop of ice cream followed by another layer of pastry. Looked like something a first year catering student would have produced on his first day at catering college. A Truly awful experience, one that I won't repeat. It's still a lovely room though.

5.....4......3......2.....

"Give me a pudding and I'll tell you...."

Bulmer's take on things seems to be at odds with Naret who wants Michelin to become "the international standard of reference for restuaurants". Unless Michelin France are going to start awarding stars to restuarants"....simple, but with great flavours and good pricing" I can't see how it is setting an International Standard. It is undoubtedly setting a Standard for each country it works in but the standards are relatively incomparable, if you compare between countries. Naret again: Now I don't see anything wrong with that at all but to have an "international standard" surely the only way is to have inspectors from all countries rating restaurants in several countries to get a consensus. By only having English or American or whatever nationality running their own reviews they will undoubtedly put their own take on it and that may be different from another country's opinion. There is little doubt in my mind that restaurants in France are judged on a different level to restaurants in England, Italy, Spain or America and that's just the ones I have experience of, I don't think it is done deliberately, it's just the way it is. On a more cynical level you may also this that the inspectors from one country will mark restaurants differently to garner more press. If we marked to the French standard in the UK we may well end up with half the stars we have now - now that wouldn't sell many guides would it?

I think it could be argued that Tom Aikens never won 2 Michelin stars, didn't he hold onto the stars that Richard Neat won?

Nico Ladenis had 3 stars, Richard Neat 2

Tom's got a long way to go yet: To all the girls I've loved before

It is a big hit with the under 5s, Becky loves it, picking a contestant at the begining to win. ← I suspect that's what the judges do as well

Did anyone else realise who was going to "win" within a few minutes of the show starting? It was blatantly obvious to me once they focused on Tim visiting with his family and Jamie sending him to work at his Father's. Anybody else notice how "underpriveleged" Tim used to work as a Carpet fitter? Yet more of the subtitles as well Grrrrr......... I'm pretty sure that Geezer Dennis mentioned that he had "come back from Australia" for the chance to run a restaurant or did I misunderstand? It was obvious from the first show that he wasn't going to win as soon as he said that he was going to get rid of the regulars, install young bar staf and have cool music. How misguided can you be? As for Taz she owld have seemed to have the right stuff except she was going to sell Thai food, as they said, its been done all over London, probably the last thing you need in a rural (ish) pub. From the channel 4 website: I'm still trying to work out how Taz qualified for a place at Fifteen? From the Fifteen website:

Why can't we ever see the discussion that leads them to pick the final winner? We hear the talk regarding why they have dismissed everybody bar the last two. Do you think it has anything to do with the decision being influenced by what is perceived to make good TV?

Added emphasis Derek Bulmer comments on the Michelin results in today's Restaurant magazine seem to emphaise my point that Michelin are opening up the way for a more casual style of dining.

Funny? Are you sure?

you've triggered my memory Blether, I was trying to remember Baan Rim Pa. the chef/owner is the famous Chalie Amatyakul, one of Thailand's most knowledgeable and fluent lecturers on Thai gastronomic themes who has been called the high priest, diplomat, missionary of Thai food. It's good ← Baan Rim Pa has a nice location but the food is poor - western versions of Thai food. IMO best avoided.

Out of interest do you enjoy the River Cafe? The food is virtually identical. Gills review was pretty awful and misleading as well. Well "recently worked at the River Cafe" actually translates as working there for 15 years, being head chef and a partner in the business(TRC has been open 19 or 20 from memory).

I read the review, personally I thought the food was good (Brief review here)and the room was awful. Most of the news I have heard suggest that the vast space is not often full ,that's not to say they aren't doing a reasonablle number of covers, just that the room is awful and large.

No

When did Confucious join EG?

£2 each for a hand dived scallop. Cut it down to two scallops and charge £10 I realise Limpsfield is affluent, my issue is more to do with what people perceive as value for money. If you have a few great reviews or gain your Michelin star I don't believe it would be a problem at all but until the accolades start I think the pricing may put people off. London is also a very affluent place but it hasn't stopped lots of restaurants going under at lower prices. I also know plenty of people with lots more money than I'll ever have that think my spending on restaurants is outrageous, affluent areas are surely no guarantee of a full restaurant, or for that matter a discerning clientele? On a more positive note you've got my attention with this thread and I'm curious to try it out the downside to that is that until those reviews come in justifying that cost I'm afraid I'll be holding back. I think lower pricing in the beginning would attract more clientele and then increasing the prices gradually would probably bring in the punters quicker, especially without the reviews.

Hate to say this but the pricing on that menu, IMO, is too high. Without a Michelin star to back that up averaging £14 for a starter is optimistic in a location like Limpsfield. £17 for scallops As a comparison the (2*) Square charges £80 for 7 course tasting menu, your 6 course tasting menu is £68. Please note that I'm not saying the cooking isn't up to it (I've no idea) just that I would think it may be a struggle to attract customers in a that sort of location, I hope I'm wrong Edited to add: Actually you don't necessarily need a Michelin star (though it would possibly help) but I would have thought that you would need some good reviews before you can go to those prices.

Matthew Grant (The unpaid Max Clifford of Arbutus)

Horrible moment when he met the charity and couldn't wait to say "I've just given you 2 million pounds!" (or something along those lines).

I just spoke to Anthony Demetre regarding the booking policy at Arbutus without even mentioning Suzi. It is, as I thought it would be, a quality control issue. He said "If a large table comes in its sods law that they order 8 or 9 different dishes and we can't plate them up quickly enough to get them all out at the same time and hot. We'd love to have larger tables but its not feasible, there are only 5 of us cooking in the kitchen and we can't have 3 or 4 people at a time plating food" When I then told him about Suzi Anthony said that it should only apply to tables of 8 or more, he wasn't sure why they tried to limit the menu for 7 of you. If you ring back you should be offered the full menu. Matthew Grant (The Max Clifford of Arbutus)

It didn't get me going, I told him it was a joke

I've just had somebody on the phone bending my ear after that last post