Matthew Grant

two of the places i've spoken to today genuinely appear not to know. cheers gary ← Remember this news comes from a friend of a friend but I would think that he is in a reasonable position to know.

My money's on Paris, but I'd like to see Jessica's get one, as he's already won the AA restaurant of the year for outside London. Fingers crossed (and he's a mate) ← Give him a ring and see if he's been told

Sorry that was Fabienpe that reported Midsummer House. It's in Cambridge.

Who are the 3 contenders? (Please excuse my ignorance of dining in Birmingham)

Currently one star. I should stress that these are not official, I'm hoping that they will be proved correct tomorrow. But my source confirmed Midsummer House just as the other thread (BLH?) did so I'm feeling pretty confident that they are correct. Maybe this thread will force Michelin to release the results a day early?

It wasn't mentioned but that doesn't mean it didn't happen, these were the ones that immediately sprang to mind.

I should add that the new 3 star is PROBABLY Manoir but MAYBE Capital

I also heard about Midsummer House getting 2 stars. You may guess my source but doubtful you would get my sources source. I will not be disclosing either edit disclosure: Midsummer house 2 not 1 star

Ok, through the grapevine One new 3 star - probably Manoir Petrus - 2 stars Morgan M - 1 Sketch - 1 Rhodes@24 - 1 Trompette - 1 Anthony's 1 The guy withthe crazy long Handlebar moustache who's name/restaurant escapes me at the moment (Martin ?????) 1 star. This is not all of them.

When I click on this link of cut and paste the URL into my Firefox browser, I'm redirected to http://www.microsoft.com/. Strange. Anyone have any insight on why? Michael ← Yep - its got http://http:// Delete one of the http:// and you will be ok, alternatively CLICK HERE

Maybe in that Tescos but I can honestly say that Tescos makes the worst bread of any supermarket I know. Take one bread recipe, shape into a dozen different shapes, call them all different names. Voila! I hope to God that this comes to my local Tescos!

Deep frying is definitely a good way to go. Make your cross, fry quickly at a high temperature and you will be able to remove the outer shell pretty easily. Sometimes the inner skin will come away as well, if the inner skin remains a couple more seconds in the fryer will allow it to be removed easily.

Me too, I land on 13/02 (or 02/13 depending on where you come from ) Good to see some restaurant recs in Delhi, any more gratefully appreciated! Any chance of some addresses of those already posted? I'm still looking for recommendations in Agra, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Kota, Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Mandawa, Ranthamabore.

I can only second what Gary says about reading the wrong guides and to try the 2004 favourites thread! For High end dining try The Greenhouse, Rasoi Vineet Bhatia (high end Indian), Putney Bridge. For something a little more casual Chez Bruce is excellent.

Did he? Or was that Ross Burden shortly after he won Masterchef?

RVB - one star Anthony's - one star Greenhouse - 2 stars What strikes me is that nobody is talking of any restaurant in with a chance of gaining a 3rd star.

I'd be surprised if you couldn't get an Oven thermometer in Selfridges or John Lewis. I think you may even be able to find them in some of the larger supermarkets. You may struggle to get speciality flours but plain strong white flour is absolutely everywhere, even my small local co-op carries strong bread flour and I believe they also have Rye flour. I think you may have struggled to find these items because of the time of year.

I got some Lecithin yesterday and ran a couple of quick experiments before I use it tonight. I made a very stable "air" with just cold water and some Lecithin mixed with an immersion blender. Also made the same with hot water and a raspberry "air" with some watered down raspberry puree. Simplicity itself.

I like Nandos but have only been a coulpe of times. Pizza Express is excellent as is Carluccios. For genuine fast food KFC can't be beaten.

1) Mirche Masala 2) Putney bridge 3) J Sheekey

In that cas thers a place on White Horse road opposite Crystal Palace football ground that sells Fish and Chips, Chinese and Thai! Great if theres 3 of yu and you all want something diferent!

Every year we splurge on Restaurants in December, lots of eating out, lots of weight gain, lots of feeling sorry for ourselves because we are so over indulged. This year the honours went to Yauatcha (twice), Mirch Masala (several times, actually a bit of a cheat as we go regularly the rest of the year as well), Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Thyme, The Greenhouse, J Sheekey, Rhodes 24 and I think there are a couple pf more in there that I’ve possibly forgotten about. The final meal of the month tends to be a bit of a blow-out and this year the honour went to Putney Bridge. This is a restaurant I haven’t visited before but after this meal I’ll be sure to come back. I’ve spent far too much of my eating budget (a loose term) here and have been lucky enough to be able to play “Chef” in the kitchen on my days off . A quick chat with Chef Anthony Demetre during the week and I arranged to have a tasting menu with some of the newer dishes and other dishes I hadn’t tried. Chef Demetre said this was no problem. He would run the menu past me when we arrived to check that it was OK. Upon arrival we were shown to our table overlooking the Thames and champagne came as a gift. Then we were asked to look at the menu that had been written for us to see if there was anything we would like to change. Me and Rachel scanned quickly, wondering at which point we were meant to decide “either or”. After a few seconds we realised this was it, we were getting the whole thing. Veloute of Autumn Squash with Parmesan Pastels **** Roast Scottish Scallops, coral puree, carrot and ginger milk **** Frogs Legs, Jerusalem artichokes, garlic and parsley cromesquis **** Saute of Cepes on toast, Jabugo ham, young leaves **** Lasagne of Hare **** Roast Turbot, daube of beef, caramelised Celeriac, anchovy ravioli **** Loin of venison, gratin of turnip and prune, crosnes, chorizo **** Selection of Artisan Cheese **** Lightly scented vanilla cheesecake, confit of rhubarb, rhubarb sorbet **** Tatin of English Cox apple, vanilla ice cream This was a menu of mammoth proportions, probably not the best balanced tasting menu but offering a good selection of the current menu. William Smith wished us luck, hoped that we had been in training for the nights meal and we were off! Started with the Veloute of Squash with the Parmesan jelly staying in one piece. I’ve tasted the jelly before but it’s one of those things that if you don’t know about confuses your brain. It’s soft and on the whole pretty clear but the taste is familiar but not in this guise. 10/10 for the soup The Scottish scallops were as previously described – a very good quality scallop, with a nice hint of ginger in the carrot milk that has been whisked to give a frothy finish. I seem to vaguely remember the frogs legs from a previous visit. Neatly trimmed all in a line with a crispy cromesquis which, if your not careful explodes, when you cut into it, this definitely has the ability to smother you in the bright green liquid! Initially the parsley dominates but the garlic comes through nicely and the dish reminded me of a sort of deconstructed Haute cuisine version of a mini chicken kiev. The cepes on toast is a dish that I have admired in the kitchen but in all honesty I was slightly disappointed, it all worked individually but as a whole I found it very slightly oily. I think this would probably be better as a full size portion with more leaves to balance out the fat from the ham. The dish consists of the cepes on a small piece of toast, a couple of slices of Jabugo ham, Jabugo ham pannacotta and a cepes ice cream. I think the cepes are fried in some oil from the ham. The Hare was a HUGE flavour to have in the middle of a tasting menu, the sauce thickened with blood and pomegranate seeds providing a textural contrast and also cutting through the deep flavour slightly. I was thinking that this is one of those dishes that could served as a single tablespoon providing a massive slap in the face flavour wise. The Turbot was served without the anchovy ravioli, which was definitely in our best interests. Good firm fish, tender beef (cheek?) daube alongside. We were really starting to struggle at this point but managed to squeeze down the venison loin which was really good quality, farmed, from Ireland. Our garnish with this was slightly amended and I’ve forgotten what it was! I didn’t want to disappoint the restaurant so managed to get through a small but wonderful portion of Epoisses, a nibble of Montgomery Cheddar and a couple of lighter cheeses. A cup of Chocolate Mousse with some popping candy (always amusing) came as a pre dessert, just as well as there was a small gap in my stomach that was a perfect chocolate mousse shape. We really couldn’t manage both desserts so I took the Tatin, Rachel the Cheesecake. Great Tatin, the buttery pastry crisp with the caramel that had been drizzled over the bottom. Embarrassed to say that try as I might I had to leave a slice of apple. The cheesecake must have been good as it converted Rachel to rhubarb. Petit Fours, coffee and a chat with Anthony Demetre finished off a great evening. As always, I can’t recommend this restaurant enough. I’d especially recommend it at the moment if you are a game fan. Aside from two different preparations of hare they have woodcock complete with the brains and I think they still have wild duck on the menu as well. Great Food, excellent service, great views – what more could you want?

This is nothing new, Ian Beale has had a cafe by day,restaurant by night operation for years!

A very good dinner at the Greenhouse on Saturday night with a couple of minor gripes, We arrived 20 minutes early for our table at 21:10 for a drink in the small bar, there was no space at the bar but were told our table was ready so we made our way to the restaurant and sat down. We waited approximately 1 minute to be offered water and another 10 before we were asked if we would like an aperitif. £12 for a glass of Jacquesson 728 N.V. We still sat there without menus and observing tables around us realised that several other people appeared to be getting a similarly slow service. It then occurred to me that they were “waiting by numbers”. Once the menus arrived things went like clockwork but I’m guessing that they wouldn’t give the menus out until your time to dine had come along. We were eventually brought our menus at 21:45 with the line “Would you like to see the menu?” Anyway, after that service went pretty smoothly until we tried to get the bill and the myriad of staff seemed to vacate the restaurant, after around 10 minutes we managed to get the lone waiters attention and we paid up, left our table and then found 3 staff all standing at the front desk talking. Not very satisfactory. I’m going on memory for the food so there may be a few gaps/mistakes! We chose the Degustation menu and the restaurant was happy to substitute the fillet of beef for Poularde de Bresse with truffle. An amuse of Cauliflower Pannacotta with a Cauliflower soup with White Truffle was a promising start. The soup was served in a shot glass, frothy with some pieces of white truffle bringing it t life – very good. A starter of Pheasant and chestnut soup was a rich heart dish poured around Pheasant Royal. This was a great winter dish, rustic, warming and pleasingly rich alsongside was served the buttery pastry Andy described previously with Truffle. I did however wonder whether it was good to start with such a “big” flavoured dish. Poached Lobster was served with a buttery vanilla sauce offset slightly with some balsamic vinegar. This was wonderful, the vanilla was nicely balanced, not overpowering the dish as vanilla can do. The poached Lobster was of a good quality. The sauce was an absolute winner though and we mopped our plates with the excellent bread. Pan fried Foie Gras was caramelised with sugar giving it a lovely crunch, I’m not sure that the glaze didn’t contain salt as well although this may have been added afterwards. It was accompanied by espresso syrup that had a bitterness that married well with the amaretto foam and the sweet Foie Gras. An outstanding dish, one of the best Foie Gras preparations I have had in a long time. The next course was Halibut with a Pistachio dressing and Lemon sabayon. The fish was served on top of a small disc of fondant potato. This dish was a little underwhelming. Nothing wrong with it but there was nothing very distinct about it, perhaps it lacked a little seasoning but this was the most disappointing dish of the night. The Light lemon sabayon was a little sickly after a while. The Poularde de Bresse came with the rich clarified cooking stock with some baby vegetables, rich with truffles. The chicken itself had a layer of truffles under the skin. This dish was lovely BUT the skin had taken on a strange flavour, it had a smell of ammonia/metal to it, this was also evident in the truffle under the skin, the chicken itself was fine. Apart from this the dish was very good. The waitress bought me a large box of truffles form the kitchen to see if I could identify the smell in the Truffles and I think I could detect a slight hint of it in the box which otherwise smelt overwhelmingly of Black Truffle. One bad truffle perhaps? It wasn’t enough to ruin the dish. A pre-dessert of White chocolate mousse topped with a black olive toffee was very good. Rich white chocolate (Valrhona?) topped with the toffee with a hint of the olive coming through a few moments later. The first dessert was chocolate filled with praline served with a shot of tia maria and iced coffee. A very rich ad satisfying dessert, fortunately not too large, it would be difficult to eat a large portion of this. Finally 3 pots (very Robuchon) Honey and Greek Yoghurt, a chocolate one and another concoction with green tea. Frustratingly I can’t remember them for the life of me but they were very good and ended the meal very nicely. Coffee and macaroons followed, perfectly nice macaroons but I have just been spoilt by my second box of Pierre Herme macaroons in the space of 2 weeks so I’m not in a position to really judge these fairly. Overall a very good meal, pushing all the right buttons to make Michelin tick all the right boxes provided they don’t arrive early for their table.

The Greenhouse is a strong contender for a second star based on one meal on Saturday night. I'll try and write it up a little later.