Matthew Grant

FWIW I had one meal with him at the helm at the Greenhouse and aside from a dish that utilised some extremely dodgy truffles it was worth 2 stars. When did he take charge of the kitchen at the Greenhouse?

There are a few rumours associated with this but the 2nd star one doesn't ring true with me. A highly rated restaurant with 1 star and an espoir, good reviews etc. He could hardly be expected to have done more in the short time he was there and sacking him was certainly not going to help them gain a 2nd star any quicker.

I only got to see the programme last night. Ramsay was absolutely right with his criticism of the old style saucing ans presentation. I mean all those alternate dots with the sauce, what was that all about? And all that poncey plating, so stuck in the .....hold on a minute..... And sticking with those old dishes was ridiculous......er.........sorry..............what do you mean he's still serving Aubergine Caviar, Lamb rump...yawn......Lobster and Langoustine Ravioli? That must be at least ten years old now...is the guy is hanging on to past glories?

When HB opened that fridge with the chips in and beer on another shelf, Rachel burst out laughing "Our fridge looks like that!!!"

nobody deserves to work that hard for so long for so little return ← I must quickly add that I was laughing at my hubby, and his inability to pass the V&B shop and ebay. I am certainly in no position to laugh at the couple, as we work similar hours each week- only we close two days a week to make it all worthwhile. I'm not that horrid- honest!! ← Don't worry I didn't think for one minte you were laughing at them for the hours they put in. That link to the Campaign for real gravy isn't particularly great is it? It might be better embedded in the Fenwick Arms own website: The Fenwick Arms

Were the plates even used, I presumed they were shrink wrapped from delivery. I felt a little sorry for him, he presumably liked cooking at some point and has presumably read and seen some fancy dishes that he was trying to replicate. Unfortunately he had never eaten at decent restaurants for at least 16 years (that was the amount of time they had worked without takeing a day off) and somewhere along the line had come to believe that what he was doing was what was required. I hope they are doing a little better now and that they are managing to relax a little more and take some time off. However misguided they may have been (I would lay the blame souly at his feet judging by the programme), nobody deserves to work that hard for so long for so little return

No you didn't , but if you're not using it......

Now there you have a point, similar to the one I made earlier about the mash potato with the sausages. Why do they show the clips at the beginning of people describing their perfect version of whatever he is cooking that day and then he goes and cooks a completely different version? The sausage and mash and Fish and chips demonstrate this well. Most people suggested haddock or cod so Heston persists in using Turbot. Everybody says smooth mash, sausages with texture so Heston does it the other way around.

Is the atmostphere any livelier since he left? I'm trying to persuade the other half to return but she's not keen on the room and the hush that everyone seems to eat in.

Do you deep fry your roast potatoes?

Pre or post Bjorn van der Horst?

The fillets he initially used from the Turbot looked way too thin to me, later it looked like he had swiched to thicker slices across the body. The proportion of batter to fish looked too much to me as well, visually appealing perhaps but I prefer my batter a little thinner. Chips looked (and indeed taste) very good.

I think (hope) Zoticus was joking

It seemed clear to me lat night that the new gimmick is going to be "push the button" when they will switch to GR's menu mid service when it all gets too much. I don't know about upsetting the sanctuary by the guy was a donkey when it comes to running a restaurant. The state of the plancha, the dishes, the service etc. etc. For somebody who did seem to have some aspirations the menu was ridiculous. He was very proud of his catering degree wasn't he! I was surprised to see Ramsay describing the adjustable grill in derogatroy terms, in my mind they should have been making that the centrepiece, after all isn't that what La Parra means? It all seemed a bit staged and overdramatic when he walked out as well.

I do agree that it was an interesting insight and it was good to see something other than cooking for dummies. I just wish the end product had been a little more exciting. The only trouble being that he ended up with pretty bog standard dishes.

He didn't slop the dry ice around - that was liquid nitrogen. Are you sure the temperatures he was referring to weren't for liquid nitrogen and dry ice?

I was but then his mash was lumpy and I lost all respect

It was a standard treacle tart and the sausages were blended to a puree - what about the texture that was so important when he asked round Ludlow? Lumpy mash potatoes as well! Incidentally in the Sunday Times the potatoes were made with butter which had been blended with agar - last night there was no mention of this though I did notice the finished dish had cubes of butter on top (presumably the agar is to stop it melting)

It sounds like portion size have increased if you and Scallops (plural).

I do get it, just not for long

The cynical among us might think that only offering a tasting menu makes life a lot easier for the kitchen (ever wondered why kitchens insist on the whole table having the same food if you are a large table) and cuts down on waste rather than simply improving the experience for the diner, although this can be the effect of a more focused kitchen. How many ten course tasting menus do you find that are lighter than 3 course a la carte

I cooked risotto the other night for the first time in a while and however much I enjoy it I too find them a bit one dimensional (if you can be "a bit one dimensional"), great for a few bites but after that they lose their shine. Definitely a starter thing for me.

Excellent! Do they speak English if I ring for a reservation, that's sounds awfully ignorant I know but my Italian only extends to the basics

Dan is Antiche Sere in the centre of town? I'm staying near Porta Nuova on Thursday and haven't got anything booked yet.

Dan, I read recently that you could no longer visit the car track unless you were staying at the hotel, has this changed?