Matthew Grant

Thank you! Decilitre makes more sense! The Demi Litre suggestion got me all confused!

I'm following a French recipe, I can get by with the instructions but the measurements are confusing me. The recipe calls for 2dl of Creme Fraiche. DL I have been advised is a demi-litre. Wouldn't a demi-litre be half a litre? Subsequently 2dl be one litre? Well that made some sense to me then I realised that there were some similar measurements in the Michel Bras book and then I got really confused. According to the recipe "stuffed sweet-banana peppers with fresh sardines, jus au pain and tomato juice" 1 cup (2 dl) of water is added. Now to me that means approx 250ml (I think) However, in "slowly cooked pork shoulder in salt, potato bouquets and parsley" 1/3 cup grape seed oil is equal to 1dl which would make 2dl 2/3 cup or in my book, approx 160ml Can somebody please tell me what a dl translates as!!!!!!!

Superstar Chef Brigade! I wonder if we culd get them to reform for a one off gig?

Was he there at the same time as the others?

What a line up! Marco, Ramsay, Stephen Terry. Anthony Demetre was also there at this time. Does anybody else know of other successful chefs cooking in that team? I wish I had eaten at Harvey's.

The Lecithin makes it pretty stable for several minutes at least but best to do towards the end to keep some heat in it.

Sorry Andy, only just spotted your question. Parmesan air was derived from Anthony Flinn (Anthony's in Leeds) Equal amounts of gratedParmesan and water by weight, boil for a couple of minutes, remove the gunky whey from the liquid. Let the Liquid settle. You will end up with a layer of white fat and a clear(ish) liquid at the bottom. To make it easy to remove, keep it in the fridge for an hour or two and then remove the layer of fat (use to spread on bread as Parmesan butter or stir into Risottos, very nice). heat the clear liquid add a little Lecithin (helps stabalise the foam) and blend with a bamix in the usual manner to obtain a foamy finish. To make it easier grate the Parmesan as fine as you can before addiing it to the water. It is relatively expensive to make, the liquid would make masses of foam but reduce the quantities too much and it is difficult to immerse the bamix enough to get a foam.

You Fishist!

No Helena Hell on Friday My girlfriend thought the meal outstanding, definitely worh a visit now, it'll be interesting to see how the menu develops

Red Mullet, roasted cherry tomatoes, basil oil and balsamic reduction: Roast Squab, toasted almonds, confited leg, Fig, Quinoa. Coffee and Cardamon sauce:

Good meal here last night. Started with a Terrine of lobster, Jersey Royals, Salmon and leek, this was spoilt a little by the leeks having a slightly metallic taste but otherwise was nicely prepared, the watercress mayonnaise accompanying the dish didn't have enough peppery bite for my taste but was pleasant enough. The dish was accompanied by two frog leg beignets, very nice but I wasn't sure how they fitted into the grand scheme of things, seemed a little like an afterthought. The terrine looked very fresh so not sure how it picked up the metallic flavour. The other half had Rabbit and Morel Lasagne with a thyme veloute, very good indeed, excellent morel flavour and a beautiful veloute that had been bamixed to give it some air before serving. I moved onto a Assiette of veal with a gratin of Macaroni and wild mushrooms, White Asparagus and Toasted Almonds. Excellent pale veal rump served rare, braised veal cheek and veal sweetbread made up the selection of veal, a strong meaty jus counter balanced the delicate flavour of the veal. The Gratin of Macaroni had a strong morel flavour to it. A sprinkling of toasted almonds over the rump was an excellent addition to make that cut more interesting. The other main course was a Halibut dish, I didn't get to eat much of this but my other half enjoyed it greatly. If I remember correctly it came with a Lobster Beignet which she reported was a little dry and unnecessary, roasted (or confited I don't remember) cherry tomato, a tomato sauce and then my mind goes blank. The pre dessert was an excellent Mango cream with white chocolate, I saw a couple of tables swooning over this and it was indeed beautiful Dessert was an Assiette of Mango, a mango cream, sorbet, tatin and ???. The tatin was actually more like a steamed pudding topped with the mango, very good but not a flaky pastry. A little more thought could have led to an alternative pre dessert being offered to those who were having this dish. Chocolate Soufflé with Banana Ice Cream and Honeycomb was requested without the banana ice cream , the Maitre D' said he would see to it personally that it wasn't put in the soufflé. Well when the soufflé was served a waiter promptly tried to drop banana ice cream in it, luckily he was swiftly stopped by my girlfriend. It wouldn't have hurt for them to offer an alternative to the banana ice cream, I'm not one for messing around with chefs creations but there was both coffee and vanilla ice-creams on the menu elsewhere and both would have made suitable alternatives. Vanilla was presented once it was requested by my girlfriend. Anyway, aside from the minor serving glitch the soufflé was excellent, perfectly risen, straight sides, level top. Rich interior made richer by the chocolate sauce poured into it. Overall a good to very good meal, solid one star cooking, wine service was a little slow, the sommelier seemed to be alone in pouring the wine so was a little busy and our wine was missing from the bill at the end, I didn't notice and it was only after paying our bill that we were advised. Nothing too major but service could do with a little more polish. No doubt at all that the food is heavily Phil Howard influenced Incidentally, for anybody eating at Petrus or GR@RHR last night, be assured that Waring and Ramsay weren't cooking - they were huddled together in a table for two at the Ledbury last night.

Croydon! Please come to Croydon!

That's odd, I was wondering exactly the same thing only last week.

At the weekend: Confit duck salad: Rack of new season lamb with a rosemary jus, fennel glaxed with orange, onion puree:

16 in 4 countries

Lunch here yesterday was pleasant enough but it is not really worth a special trip. A starter of Potted Shrimps at £7.50 was a little strange, the bottom of the pot appeared to be a prawn cocktail mixture with a small layer of shrimps in butter on top, the watercress alongside came with a free creepy crawly which made up for the disappointment of the shrimp, I pointed this out to the waitress. A tart of goats cheese, roasted peppers and tomato tasted as you would expect. A main course of Lancashire hotpot was particularly tiny for £13.50 and the potatoes were over browned on top. I had been warned about the Oysters in the dish so was disappointed to only find one, my disappointment was offset by the deeply flavoured meat and sauce within which was particularly good. Lemon Sole with brown shrimp, cucumber and spiced butter was a successful dish, the spice in question being cinnamon (if there were more spices we couldn't detect them), the cucumber thinly sliced, a generous portion of shrimps scattered over the well sized and cooked piece of fish. Very good. We shared a portion of triple cooked chips (£4.00), wonderfully crispy and fluffy in the middle We shared a good dessert of treacle tart with milk ice-cream, the tart finished with a crispy ginger topping. With 2 Espresso, a £21 bottle of wine, a bottle of water, OJ and lemonade and half a lager shandy this came to a not inconsiderable £79. This did not include service and the credit card slip had actually inserted 0.00 into this space so that we couldn't leave one unless you were carrying cash, we weren't.

Olley's near Brockwell park is an excellent choice.

I agree with Andy. I didn't ever say that the 3 star wouldn't be enjoyed, on the contrary. What I do believe is that the experience will be better appreciated with more experience.

Hmmmm, the launch menu price is a little misleading. I just rang to see how long that will be lasting and apparently the launch price has already finished. If you read carefully it says launch menu. The menu is priced at £39.50 for 3 courses. I look forward to my meal!

Any idea how long the launch price will be lasting?

Reads nicely, expensive for an introductory price though!

Is anybody else finding Gary Rhodes management style akin to that of David Brent?

No otherwise the kitchen would probably have been shut the night I was there I get the feeling it's all too scripted. It's 5 all, what a surprise!. Rhodes is looking like a real prick, all the whispered griping to his sous chef seems utterly ridiculous and then having the cheek to argue when Novelli's kitchen won - well it all makes good TV doesn't it? Do we really think that Rhodes is going to leave that kitchen and have a grudge against Novelli as he does at the moment? God, I can't wait until it's over so I don't have to watch this shite any more.

Sory, I wasn't paying attention I let my guest choose and I've no idea what we were drinking

I've done it, effective but tiem consuming and difficult to do large volumes due to space requirements.