Matthew Grant

They are still dishing out these little parcels at my favourite punjabi restaurant in Norbury (UK). I'm not sure whats in it and for some reason I can't bring myself to try it . It definitely has cloves in it along with (I think) fenugreek seeds and a whole host of other things. I'm going on Saturday and will make an effort to try it.

Here in the UK a good source is Nisbets, you can order online- they aren't the cheapest but they're a good bet for just about anything catering wise. Not much help to our cousins across the water I know...a nice cheap pan. I've been using two pans that I bought from Nisbetts for about 7 years now and I wouldn't be without them, today, b y mistake, I left one on a burner to dry for around 15 minutes - no damage whatsoever, without doubt my favourite pans to use, virtually indestructible and very cheap. Incidentally, if Nisbets is supposedly expensive (and I'm not disagreeing, just curious), where can you find these cheaper?

I'm counting down the weeks I'm there for a weekend in August, Merchant House Friday night, Hibiscus Saturday. Nowhere planned for Sunday yet but if anybody has any recent recommendations please feel free to sahre them!

No excuse for the rest of the service, but I think I'm right in saying that Le Gavroche is one of the few restaurants where mineral water is served free, this might explain the confused look on the waiters face

Gosh, It didn't look like it was that far on the map, 2 hours is a fair old trip. Not that I wouldn't love to eat in your restaurant. A quick glance at the rail network suggests that a train journey is out of the question, which is a pity. I guess I'll just have to eat my 'Surf & Turf' and be thankful. Belive me after a couple of days dining in Ilfracombe a 2 hour drive for some decent food will feel very acceptable

I can really help you here, I visited 2 years ago and stayed for a week so I discovered al the good places!(I've got relatives living here). First of all you jump in your car, drive to Padstow and have lunch at Rick Steins and dinner at Basildogs place before jumping back in your car and driving back to Ilfracombe. I'm sceptical about the Damian Hirst Fish and Chip restarant ever opening up, it was being built when I was there 2 years ago, however, I have it on good authority that it is stil happening but is not open yet! Apart from that, We found a Caribbean restaurant that sold OK goat curry. And thats it! A culinary wasteland!

Isn't this meant to be the greatest restaurant in the world, fully booked months in advance, imposible to secure a reservation? Why no takers?

Tony, where is Pinotxo in the market? I'm wondering whether its the place we were eating breakfast at in Barcelona. When you say there were no foams on the menu at El Bulli, do you mean none at all or that they have been replaced with airs? There were an awful lot of foam/air type things on the menu when I visited

Isn't that how you ended up with kids on the first place?

That is just about 150F, for those using the old scale. Matthew, what is your method for low temperature cooking? What parts of the chicken do you do this with? Do you crisp the skin, or do you go skinless? I have poached breasts and roasted whole birds using this method. As Jonathan sugests, the skin does not crisp or brown at this temperature, however, I remove the bird form the oven while I turn the heat up very high (around 230 degrees centigrade), when the bird goes back into the oven it crisps i very little time at all whilst raising the ambient chicken of the chicken a little but not above the 65 degree mark ({bearing in mind it has cooled slightly while out of the oven. I have also removed the skin after cooking and crisped it seperately, either in the oven, under a grill on on a pan and then served it as crackling. I would recommend keeping the skin on if roasting as althought the temperature ios very low it can lead to the outside drying slightly. Even without true 'low temperature' cooking methods I always use a thermometer on my chicken now to get it to 65 degrees, perfect chicken every time.

Yes. Why do you ask? The answer to the temperature requirements for Chicken can be found right here on EGullet in a Q&A with Heston Blumenthal. I have cooked Chicken at low temperatures to this point several times now and get perfect results everytime. The chicken needs to be 65 degrees centigrade. SEE HERE

A report I read a couple of weeks ago had spoken to Ed and he was still working in a kitchen. However, he was working as a kitchen porter at the local council office. He said that he was unable to move into the high pressure environment of the kitchen, despite receiving offers. He revealed that he couldn't follow them up as he is a recovering alcoholic (not mentioned in the programme) and the hours mean that he couldn't attend the AA meetings he needed to each week. Mrs Woman, if I remember correctly the meal looked fairly awful in the follow up programme (burnt Salmon if I remember correctly). Remind me never to come to dinner at your place

the full address is Caja Sant Sebastia, 56. and the phone number is 972.254003. I would advise booking if you can, it is very small (4 or 5 tables). Do not expect a culinary masterclass, just some of the best grilled fish you can imagine. Marcus, when we were there there were Turbot no bigger than my hand Mr & Mrs Rafa(?) also told us the fish were fresh form the coast and moaned that other restaurants were buying farmed fish. he nidicated that there was one other restaurant in town serving wild fish but i can't remember which one. I wish I was going back, if only for the Langoustines!

John, did you feel rushed? One of the problems that I could foresee during my visit was that people were lingering for a long time and there didn't appear to be any table turning policy - good for those already seated but not good for people queuing outside. Incidentally, without meaning to pick holes in your fine piece. Have they started opening at 19:00 now? When I was there the restaurant was opening at 18:00. I've been thinking about this restaurant a lot. I liked the food a great deal, although i don't really get the fuss about the mash potatoes( ). However, the setup really bugged me. It is so awkward for waiters and diners.

When was this? When Ramsay left Aubergine and A-Z restaurants, its my understanding that most, if not all of his staff went with him to Royal Hospital Road. The same is true I believe of Marcus Wareing's staff at L'Oranger when he walked out followed him to Petrus. The impression I have got from reading about Ramsay is that his people are incredibly loyal to him. First I heard of his staff walking out on him as well! I think if I got a job at Ramsys, I'd work my arse off. Look how many of them are being given their own restaurants to run. Love him or loathe him he has a very loyal workforce.

A couple of things! Does the DVD have an option for English subtitles? I have read several times before that you should not salt meat before cooking as it draws out moisture but I imagine that salting at the last moment would not effect it too much. However, if employing a low temperature cooking method then I would think that it could have quite an effect. Michel Bras was most definitely in attendance when I was there as I shook his hand while viewing the kitchen. He seemed very shy. Veering slightly off topic, your comments regarding the French losing interest in diners halfway through the meal is interesting. We ate our first 3 star meals abroad during our trip and I have to say that the service did not reach the standards of the 3 stars I had been to in England. El Bulli service was adequate, apart from the wine service which was bizarre (detailed elsewhere). Michel Bras was good, apart from them not offering dessert wine until I asked and also not offering digestif as described by yourself. Finally at Ledoyen, service started superbly, there was an army of staff at the beginning of our lunch, so much so that I commetned to Rachel at how superb the service was. However, by the end of the session there was quite literally 2 waiters who were rushed of their feet. They failed the napkin test miserably and Rachel was left standing outside the dining room with no idea where the toilets were. Poor service marred an otherwise excellent meal.

Steve, can you describe the process for cooking the Gargouillou - I can't believe that it is cooked in advance Presumably they reheat it at the last moment? Off hand I can't remember what we drank apart from a glass of Maury with the Coulant. I'll add details later. I do remember being disappointed that there was no advertised wine train for the set menus, maybe I should have asked.

This truly is a great place to have dinner. Our drive from Montpellier took us past some great scenery and beautiful countryside. Once we got to Laguiole it as a little hard to find but the local Foie Gras shop and a Gendarmerie soon helped us on our way. The pictures on the website really don't do it justice, the whole building feels like it is suspended on the edge of the hill with uninterrupted views over the surrounding countryside and at night the silence was almost absolute. However the real star of the show was the food. Dinner started in the lounge area with blinds down to stop us being blinded by the sun. Billecart Salmon Rose Brut to begin before we were brought Coque-Mouilleltes - a perfectly cooked soft boiled egg flavoured with herbs and served with sesame 'soldiers' Unfortunately eggs are really not my thing at all so this went largely untouched. Next came Tarte aux ceps - beautiful thin crisp pastry simply adorned with sliced ceps. We were then led to the dining room via the kitchen which I had requested to see - an oasis of calm at the time but our escort assured me that things did sometimes become very heated if things weren't going so well. At the table we were served a large Parmesan crisp before our amuse: 3 silver spoons on which were a horseradish cream which was very mild with just a hint of garlic. Salmon with a herb cream (which was very green) and Pork with a Lentil vinaigrette. A nice start to the meal but things were going to get better. We had chosen the tasting menu 'Decouverte & nature' . We started with “Gargouillou de jeunes legumes,dit "classique" releve de graines germees & d'herbes champetres”. This was a stunning dish to look at. All manner of young vegetables thinly sliced and cooked in stock, a wide variety of leaves and flowers spread about the plate with just two small pieces of ham. I can't begin to describe this dish properly, so delicate, yet so full of flavour, everything in just the right proportion to balance everything else. This dish must be very difficult to produce, it is served warm but everything must be cooked at just the last minute to make it so perfect. The ham added a touch of saltiness to the dish but otherwise did not really improve it. Next came “Le Filet de turbot Croute au jambon & jeunes poireaux; touch de vinaigre & bouillon de pomme de terre, liveche”. My French is not good but I’m not so sure that the menu I have been given after the meal has the correct description for this dish. If anybody can correct me please do: This was the dish of the trip a great piece of turbot topped with a thin crust of what we think were peppers providing a pleasant, light sweetness. This was served on top of a bowl of potato broth and two small leeks. Completely and utterly perfect, this was the dish of our trip. It was so so good. Again, so simple to look at but I just wanted to drink that potato broth all day long. “Le Foie-gras de canard poele-repose & du chou-rave; un assortment de kefir, de sesame & de fleurs d’ici” A thick slice of Foie gras which due to being rested was a little cooler than I would have preferred. This contrasted wonderfully with the Kohl-Rabi (?) which was cut in a thick circular slice and fried gently(?). Along side this was a small amount of sesame and a drizzle of a yoghurt type ingredient which I presume was the “kefir”. This added a nice tartness to the dish. In my opinion this was probably the weakest of the ‘main’ main courses but was good never the less “Rapee d’asperges vertes, sautee a cru;un vinaigrette aux truffes de pays & huile d’olive en crème” Served in a small bowl, the asparagus was julienned and covered with a truffle flavoured vinaigrette which had excellent earthy tones. This was topped with a very light foam of olives. This dish rocked! Although Rachel merely thought it OK. The earthy truffle vinaigrette working hand in hand with the Asparagus with a slight hint of bitterness from the oliveoil foam that did not taste particularly of olives. “le Carre d’agneau Allaiton roti sur os;pain de fromage acide & bouquet de jeunes feuilles vinaigrette au jus d’agneau” This appeared to be slow cooked lamb, quite young, with a pale pink colour. A light flavour with no browning at all, the fat on the outside perfectly white. The meat was medium to rare with no sign of blood. The lack of browning was made up for with the strong jus served alongside. There were also a few bitter leaves, which may have been dandelion, scattered on the plate. The bitter leaves worked well to contrast the strong sauce and the refreshing “fromage” acide a cream cheese with shallot chives and capers. At the same time a side plate was delivered to our table and the waiter served us a large portion of “Aligot” which was fantastically elastic in texture and very moreish. Wonderful creamy potatos mixed with cheese. I remember the cheesecourse being good with an excellent Roquefort but unfortunately my note taking was becoming more sporadic by this point. Chocolate Coulant version 81 was “le biscuit tiede de chocalat coulant; crème glacee au touron & café leger”. Fantastic presentation (we were actually given a poster of this dish the following morning when we checked out) the chocolate coulant in the centre of the plate with a small ball of a mild tasting coffee ice cream. The streak of caramel and lines of chocolate and sugar to the side. Unfortunately the coulant wasn’t as exciting a I was expecting, possiobly because of the overuse of coolants in restaurants over the last few years. It was very good but not the best. For me the chocolate centre could have been a little richer. This was followed by what seemed like plates and plates of dishes, just at that point when you think that you can’t eat anything else. “Recuite de brebis associee a des gariguettes de la Vallee du Lot; epices et fleur d’oranger” and “La Crème glacee au pain brule, noix de Thubies” these were served with another plate described as “Eskimos” – little miniature ice creams, crème de menthe and vanilla with toffee were our favourites. As previously mentioned my notes are a little unclear at this point but I remember the “Recuite de brebis….” To be a sort of deconstructed cheese cake, a pot of cream, a touch of a biscuit type base and a pot of warm strawberry. Warm strawberry seems to be a bit if a thing in cooking at the moment and for me it doesn’t work, always ending up a like reheated strawberry jam. Not such a good dish. A slightly disappointing finish but overall this was an outstanding meal. It has previously be mentioned before on Egullet that some of this cooking appears to be very simple. A lot of the dishes are very light but there is a good balance to the meal and the flavours, although delicate, are very good. Other points: Service was good, unfortunately, our limited French was not helped by our waiters limited English and we couldn’t always get as much detail about dishes as we desired. The room was lovely and light, aided by a perfect May evening with not a cloud in sight. Initially the blinds in the dining room were kept down but as the evening drew on the blinds were lifted and were witnessed a perfect sunset over the beautiful surrounding countryside – a perfect moment that will live with me forever. Total cost excluding drinks was €137 per person (which we were told included service) I think this was excellent value for a meal of this calibre.

Malacca was a brief stop I made as a backpacker some 8 years ago and to this day I maintain that the best Satay I ever ate was sitting in the plastic chairs in front of one of the stalls in the food market that came out at night. There is loads of interesting food there - well worth a visit. The other memory that Malacca holds for me is the sight of a Christmas show in a shopping centre. It involved girls in elve costumes dancing (very badly) to western pop tunes with a very thin Malaysian gentleman dressed as Father Christmas much to the bemusement of the local population. Strange... very strange

We're flogging a dead horse here, Me and Spencer think its about food first, art/intellect second, you guys think its about something more than that.

That was the baby - Marmitako! We were pleasantly surprised at the meal, we nearly didn't go after El Bulli, especially as he worked there for so long. But this was food with flavour, food that combined. We enjoyed it far more than we expected and nearly returned a couple of nights later.

Thank you Spencer, thank you. I don't buy into all this stuff about it being art, maybe that is how Adria perceives it but then maybe that should be explained to a customer making a booking if that is the case. How many people do you think they would have waiting to book then if they made a disclaimer that you would not be eating dinner but experiencing an experiment in art? The main reason El Bulli has thousands of customers waiting to book a table is that they are expecting an amazing meal in the food sense not the artistic sense. They expect to be tantalized with incredible flavours and innovative combinations combined with miraculous technique. They do not expect to have to be philosophers, artists or intellectuals to get anything out of the meal. Also, what is all this shit about Ferran Adria being the only chef in the world that controls the diners environment. How does he control the diner any more than any other chef? He cooks food, we choose whether to eat it or not.

It was exactly like that. We did drink, but I can't for the life of me remember what, I'll have a look later to see If I can find out and how much it cost (not too much)

With our table booked by phone a couple of months previously we were more than a little relieved to find that the language barrier hadn't presented too much of a problem and that they did have our reservation for Saturday night, the only error was that it was under the name of Guint, I told them that if Mr Guint turned up we would leave, predictably he didn't. Very sleek and modern with large pillars, soft lighting and Kruder Dorfmeister - The K&D sessions playing (always a good sign). The menu consisted of small plates that were basically a modern take on Tapas which made us a little nervous. However, we needn't have been. We started by ordering 6 dishes, the waiter advised us that we could order more if necessary, please note that I may not have the correct names of the dishes! 1) Asparagus with a parmesan mousse and Mandarin sauce - Lovely cheesy mousse which contrasted surprisingly well with the sauce and both were a good match for the nicely al dente asparagus. 2) Lamb kebabs with a mint yoghurt and basil. It took a while to figure out the yoghurt as it was completely smooth an colourless. Very simple but nicely done, slightly pink, tender cubes of lamb. The dish was credited to a restaurant that I can't remember. 3) Tuna sashimi pizza with Wasabi and radish. Not nearly as ghastly as it sounds, not really a Pizza, a small piece of crisp bread with tuna, wasabi and radish in very complimentary proportions. Excellent quality fish with just enough heat from the Wasabi to make it interesting 4) Fish Rice (this may not be the proper name) was explained as rice cooked in the oven with a very strong fish stock. This was beautiful, slightly firm rice with a great strong seafood flavour but without any sign of sea food whatsoever, a kind of paella without anything in it. Superb. 5) Hamburgers with Foie Gras and truffle - a complete rip off of the DB burger (not that I've tried it). Miniature hamburgers with melting foie gras and a hint of truffle. Absolutely superb, very moreish. The waiter was very excited when I mentioned DB, I can only presume that nobody else had guessed! 6) Tuna Stew. Perfect rare tuna in a fishy stew. again this dish was superb, made all the better by the fact that the fish must have been added at the last minute The meal was going well and the food was so good that we decided to order another couple of dishes. It took all our will power not to order a couple of dishes that we had already tried but we deferred to the waiter and ended up being persuaded to have: 7) Salmon and Salmon with vanilla. This was raw salmon cubes topped with salmon roe laid out in two lines with two thin lines of vanilla sauce. We were so won over by the previous dishes that we decided to forget about our dislike of salmon fish eggs. I'm sure this dish was good if you like salmon roe but we didn't so it didn't quite work for me although the balance between the 3 elements was excellent and the vanilla sauce created totally different flavours when combined with the Roe and the Salmon. 8) Bull tail with Parmentier. This was outstanding. Bull tail removed from the bone in a very rich sauce (presumably the one that it had been cooked in), topped with potato which had been lightly foamed. This was served at a little above room temperature and was a great combination, the foam like potatoes were not so light as to be insignificant to the dish. After all that we couldn't manage dessert following our earlier meal at Ca L'Isdre. A great meal with intelligent flavour combinations.

After the disappointment of the night before at El Bulli we headed to Barcelona with our hearts a little heavy but at least hoping that there was better to come on our trip. We arrived in Barcelona, after the two hour train and promptly exhausted ourselves walking to our aparthotel on Las Ramblas which we thought was only a few minutes away but turned out to be a lot more when carrying luggage. Looking through the El Gullet guide to Barcelona we headed towards Ca L'Isdre fully expecting it to be a very casual restaurant, subsequently we dressed somewhat inappropriately and were surprised when we walked through the door to find the waiters suited and booted. Initially we turned around to leave realising our mistake but then thought what the heck. If they'll let us in we'll eat here. They seemed a little flustered at first and we were put on a table in the corner, I thought they were trying to hide us away but it turns out that the restaurant was fully booked apart from a table for two which we managed to secure. The table would have been a four seater in most restaurants. The menu arrived and we were more than a little shocked to see the prices, not expensive but more than we were hoping to pay for lunch, especially as we were eating at Comerc 24 that evening. However, one look at the menu convinced us that we could shouldn't leave and we couldn't leave without at least having 2 courses each. Specials were read to us and included a beef carpaccio with Parmesan which I couldn't resist. The Carpaccio was a plate of thinly sliced beef, dressed with a little oil and topped with slices of parmesan. The raw beef was beautiful, not to gamey which would have been a mistake in this dish, it was also exceptionally tender and quite literally fell apart when being picked up with a fork. A great start to what was going to be a great meal. Rachel's Crown of potatoes and Langoustines was fabulous and I would have been jealous if it wasn't for the beef and the fact that she gave me a couple of mouthfuls. 5 plump Langoustines arranged with 'tubes' of waxy new potatoes served with slices of summer truffle and a mustard vinaigrette. Beautiful balance to the dish, the summer truffle not overpoweringly strong as you would expect at this time of the year, the mustard dressing added just enough bite and the Langoustines were out of the shells, tender and sweet. Overall a tremendous dish. Main courses were the roast leg of kid goat with onions in a white wine sauce - WOW! Quite literally the whole leg of goat (not as big as you might think) The goat meat just fell of the bone, tender, delicate and a little milder than lamb. The sauce was so much more than a white wine sauce. No hint of acidity from the wine and obviously made with good stock and/or the juices from the goat. Just enough of taste of rosemary without overpowering the sauce. Rachel had a simple rack of lamb - tiny lamb chops with an exceptional flavour for an animal that had obviously been slaughtered very young, served with the meat jus and some crushed potatoes. We had advised our waiter that we had eaten at El Bulli the day before (just so that he didn't think we were street urchins) and he was happy to converse with us in English about the meal. He was obviously passing details on to the owner as we shared our enthusiasm for the meal. We were stuffed and with dinner in mind we were about to ask for coffee and bail out but our waiter insisted that we try dessert. Apparently the desserts were voted best in Barcelona last year. We were going to share one dessert but he persuaded us to order two and arranged for them to be served as half portions. A good 'exotic fruit' salad served with a passion fruit sorbet and a pineapple tuile was a refreshing start and this was accompanied by a glass of Muscat which the owner sent over to us. Next up came the star of the show. A Chocolate 'soufflé' with vanilla ice cream. The soufflé was more of a coulant in a ramekin. Rich, hot, liquid chocolate in the centre with a thin crust on top, accompanied by a wonderfully creamy and rich vanilla ice cream. Fantastic. The food at Ca L'Isdre was superb, simple but effective, everything perfectly produced and using a high quality of ingredients. This meal was an unexpected treat. The owner spoke to us in his halting English after the meal and comped us coffee and Petit Fours which we were going to leave but the arrived unrequested and we left happy. Service was fantastic, at one table a diner spilt something on his tie which was whisked away and returned at the end of meal like new. Our English speaking waiter was very helpful but unfortunately left before we can thank him. Overall, outstanding, not to be missed in my opinion. Apparently no Michelin stars for 10 years following an argument with the inspectors over improvements they wanted made. however, this was definitely one star plus, only missing the 2 star mark due to the simplicity of the cooking. A word of warning. Our waiter advised that the restaurant was booked every night and most lunchtimes. Edit : I forgot toadd the price including 2 galsses of Cava, a bottle of 1998 Marquess du Murrieta (sp.?) was €160