Matthew Grant

In what way did they find it "stewy"?

Dinner on Saturday, I like the room as previously described although our table for 2 was right next to a service station and the waiters talking almost in my ear did not make me a happy bunny. When I saw a table of two depart (we hadn't ordered anything at this point) I asked if we could move. I was politely told that there was nothing available but several table were about to leave and they would come back in a few minutes. They never did. I realise somebody has to sit there but I do think that these position should be better thought out sometimes. In a busy restaurant like this it is very distracting. The food was decent but not mind blowing. Rachel enjoyed the Crab Lasagne but I thought it to be bound with too much egg which detracted from the crab flavour, nothing special. Fois Gras Terrine was more successful and a decent portion. A main course of poached Landaise Chicken forestiere was perfectly cooked but the chicken was distinctly lacking in flavour. It was accompanied by decent Gnocchi and a good selection of mushrooms. My own main course was a daube of venison with chestnuts and Celeriac puree. The celeriac puree had been worked too hard and had become gluey to the point that I left most of it. The daube itself was excellent, full flavoured with large pieces of ell flaoured venison. I forget what Rachel had for Dessert except that it was a pannacotta of some description and I remember it being set just so. A dessert of Apricot Souffle was a standout, perfectly cooked Souffle, light as a feather, well risen, no overcooked bits, no under cooked bits. I would have happily eatedn it without the chocolate poured into the middle. Superb. Overall I found the food to be satisfactory rather than excellent but aside from my table location enjoyed myself. With a bottle of Domaine la Garrigue Vacqueyras for £29 and a glass of Champagne and 12.5% service the bill came to a little shy of £130. Incidentally does anybody know where the photos in the Restaurant come from?

The best Turbot I saw last Friday was in Shellseekers which unfortunately seems a little tucked away. Take the path opposite the big fishmongers in the middle and its down there. Excellent looking Scallops last week as well.

In the early days Sketch was achingly cool especially when the plates were cleared and the banquettes turned into day beds and waif like models got up and danced on the tables to cool sounds and the white walls were the backdrop to video art and Mourad Mazouz walked around chatting to everybody like he was there best friend..... In fact, it was so cool then that I don't believe it can possibly be that cool now, coolness tends to have a short lifespan

I was in Shochu the other week, nice vibe, cool tunes (they have a DJ) and decent drinks.

Wow! and Indian restaurant every month for 3 years! They have 36 Indian restaurants thats.....not very many actually is it? They've also got approximately 24 Italian and 78 Chip Shops! I'm pretty sure we could find a lot more than that in Croydon, in fact a quick search reveals 56 Indian restaurants (that presumably have paid up to be on the Touch Croydon website) I imagine we could probably find a few more if we looked a bit harder! I can also find 51 fish and chips places in Croydon but I think there is probably more than that if I dug a bit deeper, another quick search highlights 25 Italian joints as well. Those Nottingham stats aren't looking so good now!

From Yesterday: I normally get my bread from Neal's Yard but decided to try De Gustibus again. I wish I hadn't bothered. De Gustibus bread is pants. San Francisco Sourdough had a very closed crumb as did the Ciabatta which had a texture more akin to a supermarket bought French stick. In fact i'd go as far to say that they were falling into the upermarket trap of everythign being just "bread2 and shaped into varous differnt guises and tasting the same. Ginger Pig sausages were fantastic though, huge piggy flavour in the Old Spot and Traditional sausages. The Chipolatas are also fantastic. I also bought a small piece of Stilton from Neal's yard, normally I would go for the unbeatable Colston Bassett but it turned out that it was beatable yesterday . It was still young and hadn't developed the creaminess that you expect from a Colston Bassett. Fortunately a Quenby Stilton was on hand with a lovely creamy texture. It had a milder flavour than the CB but was none the worse for it. I'd still choose top-notch condition CB but the Quenby was a good alternative.

Sorry, only just saw this. William did work at the Balmoral as well.

Yep, Morels looked nice, great Turbot around as well but £18/kg and weighing 3kg made for a very expensive fish

Some of you will know that I am friends with Anthony Demetre and William Smith so I think I'm probably allowed to say that following the report in the Caterer a couple of days ago Anthony and Will have completed a deal and will be opening their new restaurant called Arbutus in Frith Street on the site of Tartufo. Anthony previously worked at the same site with Bruno Loubet there when it was Bistro Bruno before working at L'Odeon where he and William met before opening Putney Bridge where they were awarded a Michelin star. The new site is already being gutted and they will start from scratch. From what I understand the food will be different to their previous venture, it will be French but I hazard a guess that Anthony may try and add a few modern touches. They are also determined to keep prices reasonable, around £25 - £30 per person plus drinks in the evenings. Of course I am a little biased but I look forward to this a great deal. More news when I get it!

I was actually told to stop watching it by the better half as I spent the entire show shouting at the TV. I have to say I feel much better for giving it up

Its not a miss and is well worth visiting on a Friday afternoon when the tourists tend not to be about. There is still plenty of stuff at Borough that is of interest, good poultry and game, excellent meat, good vegetables (especially if you don'tt mind payig through the nose at Turnips), good cheese from the Comte seller and the French stall as well as Neals Yard. Excellent and reasonably priced cakes from Sally Clarke's. Fantastic apples from the apple stall, great tomatoes in season from the tomato stall and even out of season they have some decent greenhouse tom's. I agree that it has become a little touristy in some respects and that perhaps there are to many pre-made products but there is still plenty of good produce. Sure there may be better value to be had elsewhere and maybe even better produce but I doubt that Tim would be able to name a place in London where you could get the variety and quality of produce that you can at Borough. If he can I would like to know about it!

I had to stop watching after seeing just a couple of episodes of this series. It really is dire. I can't even see why anybody serious about cooking would want to enter

Probably not if it helped bring down my current food expenditure

What?! The drunk guy is now a regular at your table? I'd probably put up with him as well if it meant free drink and food (see earlier post re: dancing girls also)

I'd have watched and then feigned offence and discomfort ! What a great night out free booze, food and naked ladies! Woo hoo!

That hat cost me a lot of money!

Edit: Ignore that I can see it now. Thanks Moby!

I did try! And very good it was too! Unfortunately I'm running out of photo space on ImageGullet due to an error on my part and I can't delete the unwated photos so there won't be any photos. Leon was the person I spoke to at TFC and he was happy to supply me although it really isn't geared up to supply to the public at the moment. Smaller cuts are not available although they are moving premises shortly and hopefully will be able to cut some smaller pieces of meat. I picked the meat up from their office in Brockley. Suffice to say the meat (Pyrenean Milk-fed lamb) was very pale with a lovely delicate flavour. I had a pair of legs which I butchered my self (sounds harder than it was). It had a thin layer of white fat and it was wrapped in crepinette to provide additional help. Each leg weighed approximately 1kg once prepped and It was roasted at around 200 degrees for around 35 minutes, cooked around medium (55 degrees). Served alongside some Pommes Dauphinoise. Superb. Next week I'm going to cook in a covered pot with a few aromatics and maybe a little white wine until it is falling off the bone. I can't wait!

I was at Carnivore a few weeks ago, it was my second visit and it really wasn't worth the bother. There were only 3 "exotic" meats on view, camel, crocodile and Ostrich meatballs. The rest of the meat (beef, pork, lamb, chicken etc. was ordinary at best. A better bet might be Handi, an Indian restaurant with an open kitchen. Plenty of veg and non-veg options in an air conditioned location. Lot's of tourists but some reasonable food. It has 2 or 3 outlets in London as well.

Couldn't the same aregument be applied to Harden's as well? All the reviews are made up of quotes from the general public. I find some of the ratings very hard to understand. Does anybody know what the "style" rating is, how it is marked etc.

There are numerous chicken places with a play on the KFC name, Kansas Fried Chicken, Krispy Fried Chicken, Southern Fried Chicken etc. etc. but none can come close to the beauty of real KFC

No foams or smears, powders, air, jelly, exploding bon-bons or anything on my recent visit. Very straight forward cuisine. As you say there are sometimes several elements on the plate but not overwhelmingly so. I would suggest, based on my last visit, that it would be a good place to go if you were unadventurous. The room is miserable IMO, small and corridor like, better than it used to be but still not a great atmosphere to eat in.

Hardens is driven by reviews from Joe Public and I think its safe to say that restaurants don't pay to go in the Timeout food guide. As for BettaTable, you are having a laugh right? To say that this is more independent than some of the written guides is a joke. It's incredibly slow and despite clicking on the "Featured Restaurants" link I'm only able to find a review of two of the six featured restaurants? How can a restaurant be "Featured" without a review? It seems to me that this is an advertsiing portal for restaurants and attractions in London. Besides, this is exactly what EG should/used to be, an independent restaurant review site, why write on a board that is driven by advertising? Are you are in some way related to the website?

Sounds great