PS

The starred place in Albi is L'Esprit de Vin. We ate there a couple of summers ago and had a very pleasant lunch. If I remember rightly, there was a bit of experimentation in the food, but nothing too wild. It was good value, I think. Albi's well worth a visit - a lovely city, which is making an effort of doing itself up. The cathedral is one of the most arresting buildings I have ever seen. Cordes' starred place is Le Grand Ecuyer. It must be four years since we visited. I remember it being a good meal, with the unusual feature of each course being a trilogy - effectively three dishes at once. Interesting stuff. La Falaise in Cahuzac-sur-Vere (between Cordes and Gaillac) is worth a visit as well. Quite a small place, precise cooking and good local wines.

So do I - it's the one I turn to for most of the basic stuff - like yorkshire pudding batter, scones, pastry, and I follow a lot of his techniques for, eg, roast potatoes. It's also got some very good recipes for the likes of irish stew, pork pie, rice pudding... the classics. I was just thinking recently that the TV series Rhodes did in connection with the book was one of the best instructional TV cooking programmes I have ever watched. None of the usual attendant lifestyle pish, just him in the studio cooking, with close ups where required, but none of those excessively close shaky camera things that Jamie Oliver's directors were doing at the same time.

Anyone know if L'Enlcume was affected by flooding last week? Both Simon's restaurants are right next to the river in Cartmel, and I know the kitchen had an inundation a couple of years ago (I think).

Couldn't agree more. I gave up on the Scotsman's restaurant reviews a long time ago, as they seem to think it appropriate to send random journos/minor "celebs" without a trace of culinary knowledge to do them.

How does the lunch pricing work? Is £20 for two courses, with price building up to the £60 for the full 21212 shooting match?

Don't want to be cycnical (well, actually I do) but I would not be surprised if a number of diners on the nights in question have heard/read that Heston has said he's going to give those who suffered the suspected food poisoning something special if they come back and are now throwing their hats into the ring on the expectation that Heston's going to give them a special Victorian garden with deep fried insects, or virbrator-enhanced absinthe jelly as an apology... (cf HB's latest TV show, of those who haven't seen it). Winter is a pretty normal time for gastro viruses to be kicking around, isn't it?

I was surprised to see Chez Ruffet on the list for deleted 1 stars, as I had a fantastic meal there in Summer 2007 when it was a 2 star. However, checking the link it is the one restaurant to fall from 2 star to 1. Anyone know if the deletion reflects a real fall in quality?

It was okay last time I went there with a HK chinese friend who said it compared favourably with the lower end japanese places in HK. It was never spectacular, however, and that last visit was 10 years ago...

Easily after 4 or 5 of them...! I think I went for "Duke argh's" - it seemed to work. ← Close enough. I've always gone with "Duke-urs". Failing that, you can usually get it by just asking for "the IPA" and giving a nod or a quick point towards the appropriate tap/pump.

Is it really overpriced? Genuine question. I've not been to LC for food for at least a decade (I had a "coffee" at one last year - not good), so I don't know the prices, but I took it from the programme that all main courses are prices at less than £10. Given the amount of protein on the Olympic breakfast, that doesn't seem too unreasonable (as long as we don't got into any discussions of quality/value).

The Highwayman is south of Kirkby Lonsdale ← You're quite right - it's nowhere near the suggested route. Apologies for my confusion

The Highwayman is in Burrow, two miles or so south of Kirkby Stephen. Those two miles probably aren't ideal if you're on foot though. There must be some decent old coaching inns in Kirkby Stephen itself.

The evening we were at Kitchin the chef was busy in the kitchen (there's a window into the kitchen so we could watch what was happening). I have no idea whether this was an atypical evening. I've been to the Kitchin three times now - One Friday dinner, two midweek lunches. On each occasion I and my fellow diner had an excellent meal (better, in my opinion, than the several - upwards of seven - meals I have enjoyed at Number One at The Balmoral, a restaurant that I rate). And on each occasion Tom Kitchin was in the kitchen. Still, that's not to say that every meal and diner's experience is going to be faultless. Each to their own. Out of interest, how was the lamb murdered? I had one of the best pieces of lamb I've tasted in a long time at The Kitchin. The puddings were pretty tasty as well.

You could try asking Rogan & Company where they get theirs from.

Thanks YKL - it helps to the extent that you've convinced me to pull my finger out and not leave it to the last minute to book. I'm pretty flexible and am planning on going midweek, so fingers crossed... Cheers, Philip