Drew777

The great Nico Ladenis, Michelin 3***, London, never put salt and pepper on the table. Woe betide anyone who asked for some to "season" the food on their plate. If I were sitting to have my portrait painted by a great artist, I would never ask the artist to paint my portrait as I, myself, see myself.

I happen to know that one of the great libraries in NYC has a fine and extensive collection of "old" menus. Google some research and you'll find it.

I"m still figuring out how and where to post and reply. I am a newbie to eGullet. Let's see where this one ends up in cyberspace. To better enjoy gastronomy, knowing a bit of history about a national cuisine adds a certain piquancy to the food on the plate. Take for instance Thai restaurants in dear old Blighty (UK), it all stated in the late sixties and early seventies when London became host to a handful of political exiles from old Siam/modern day Thailand. Periodic army coups are a feature of Siam/Thailand ever since a constitutional monarchy was adopted in the early 1930's. Po

I'm a Brit. I'm also a closet Frenchman. To cap it all, I'm happily retired in Bangkok, the city of a street food culture that's second to none. The Thais are healthy and slim. I'm just this side of alive and far from slim. Lockdown has me fantasizing about my days working in London, Paris and New York, an existence, if one could call it that, revolving around gastronomy of one kind or another. They paid me, not so very much as it happens, to do what I enjoy doing most in life. We all get to do it, but I was one of a fortunate few who made it his metier. Well all that's in the past now, but I