Winot

The only time I went there (a desperate food stop in the hell that is Norwich on a Friday night) I had those. And I thought they were great! If they're the worst thing on the menu, I'll definitely be back.

With regard to tarka's question, it might be partly perception -- living in London is pretty tiring and I know sometimes my appreciation of a restaurant is hampered by having struggled through a day at work and then through the commuter crowd. By contrast, if I'm rested and relaxed on a weekend away I'll probably enjoy the food more.

Went there tonight post-extremely unsuccessful Christmas shopping (one gift and...errr...two CDs for me). What a great place. Turned up in jeans and t-shirt and left feeling slightly guilty as I'd definitely let the place down, but charmingly there wasn't a hint of this from the front of house who were warmth incarnate. Only had to wait 15mins for a table at 8pm so had a martini in the bar and a soda water for the other half then we were shown to a table overlooking the entrance -- not the best in the house but great for people watching. Kicked off with steak tartare and poilane toast. The porttion of steak was far too big (or there was insufficient toast depending on your point of view) and was slightly under-seasoned for my liking but this was soon rectified with a dab of mustard. Forgot to ask the provenance of the egg yolk on top as it looked too small for a hen and too big for a quail. This was washed down with a glass of Morgon from a newly opened bottle which could have had more time to breathe but opened up as time went on. Not your usual problem with wine by the glass. We then both had the fish of the day which was sea bass fillet with puy lentils and mushrooms. Nice bit of fish, again a decent size, and lovely 'shrooms but the lentils were underdone. A side of (perfect) mash and OK buttered spinach completed the picture and a very nice glass of gruner veltliner was the perfect accompaniment. Finished off with a shared vanilla cheesecake (which wasn't bad but not quite cloying enough) and a joltingly good espresso for me and mint tea for her which was impressively made with fresh mint but unfortunately not enough of it (if you're going to do it, do it properly and fill the pot with the leaves). £83 plus service all-in for a decent bit of grub though no fireworks. As noted above, however, the food isn't really the point here; it's the fin de siecle glamour of the room and the shameless people watching, the crowd being a bizarre mix of the Mayfair un-self-consciously rich and the self-conscious overdressed wannabees. The management are to be congratulated though on creating a warm, buzzy atmosphere that belies the restaurant's relative youth, and especially the designers for giving the impression that the Wolseley, despite being wet behind the ears, has somehow been there forever.

was just thinking exactly the same, quite a catchy name, but quite unappetising if you know what it is (an agent used to 'fine' wine to clarify it) gary ← And beer too I think; apart from Becks which uses something else (or so the tale goes), making it the only truly "vegetarian" beer.

Not sure I fancy eating anywhere that's named after the dried swim bladder of a sturgeon.

I've only been to Pool Court once and thought it summed up everything that is wrong about the Michelin model -- OTT service and peripherals and not enough attention paid to the food.

Matthew, thanks for your post. I'm sure you have the sympathy of everyone on eGullet. I'm so hot under the collar having read this I'm tempted to launch into the debate Andy mentions. Instead, let me summarise my position very simply : as a result of your post, I shall not be visiting Thyme.

Another lunch today at The Chancery. First, they don't seem to have completely sorted out the service -- we sat down just after 1pm and our starters didn't arrive until about 1.45pm. I don't think this is acceptable for a business lunch venue, particularly as we had soup, terrine and grilled sardines, none which can have taken that long to cook. As it happens we weren't in any rush, but we could have been. My pumpkin soup (or "veloute" as they insisted on calling it) was fine but unexceptional and cost £7.50. Not an auspicious start. The foie gras and rabbit terrine and the sardines looked good however. For mains two of us had the braised pig's cheek which came with crisp smoked pork beely, sauerkraut, spinach and a creamy mustard sauce. This was excellent - meltingly tender meat with bags of taste, great cabbage and perfectly accented sauce. If I had a slight criticism it was that the spinach was a bit gritty, but nevertheless this was a great autumnal dish. The cod on the other hand was pronounced OK, nothing special. The puddings were also excellent and beautifully presented - I had a rhubarb "trifle" tart with summer fruits (where did they get those from?) and clotted cream; others had a blueberry financier (a kind of muffin apparently) and a pear tarte fine which was about 12cm across and looked fab. To drink an excellent Givry 2001 which seemed quite reasonable at £30. I didn't see the final bill but I'd guess it was about £50 a head.

Sounds great, although I'm slightly surprised to see only one veggie starter and no veggie options at all for mains. Full marks for on-site bicycle parking.

Andy - are you really suggesting that service bust ups should not be reported on eGullet? Surely you can imagine a situation in which front of house at Restaurant X has been out of order? Doesn't an eGullet member have a right to report that? Service is a large part of the eating out experience after all. Now I'm not saying you shouldn't question Pweaver1984's motives in this instance. We can all draw our own conclusions about the incident in question and the neutrality of the reporting. By all means put him/her on the spot if you want. What I'm uncomfortable about however is the suggestion in your post that there are some aspects of the restaurant experience that should not be reported. Furthermore (and please don't get defensive about this), can I respectfully suggest that your reaction to Pweaver1984's report is coloured by your personal acquiantance with the Bosi's? I don't expect you to "switch this off" when responding -- by all means give him/her a hard time -- but please don't let it lead to censorship.

How about "How good their cooking is"? I'm inclined to agree with Robyn: influence, innovation, and success are criteria all warped by fashion. As for longevity, just because someone's been around forever doesn't make them any good.

BLH -- that's no way to talk about circeplum.

Fergus Henderson = Ellsworth Kelly?

There's nothing wrong with using decent wine glasses every day!

Andy, I'm surprised at you. To most of the diners in Anchor & Hope an "estate" is the place in Scotland where they go to shoot game. A hard coastal lad like you has got nothing to worry about. Besides, you'd be missing out on a great gastro experience.

Quick pre-theatre meal and A&H on Friday. I had the grouse which seems pretty good value at £21 for a decent sized bird, entrails on toast, a good portion of watercress and bread sauce. The meat was rare and gamey, quite bloody but perfect for my taste. Didn't think much of the sauce but I think that's just me. Other three all had fennel and comte gratin at about a tenner which was wolfed down - I didn't get a look in. That said, 2 of them were veggies so I guess they weren't interested in swapsies. After getting all nervous about being in and out in time to get to the National they weren't actually full, and were very speedy at bringing the bill. They seem to have cottoned on to the fact that they attract a pre-theatre crowd and are getting their act together in this regard. Great nosh and charming service as ever. Just wish they'd ditch those crappy little tumblers for the wine. W.

Is that £50 including booze? The trouble with getting married is that dollar signs appear in vendor's eyes and prices shoot up you so may have a bit of difficulty. RSJ on Coin St/Stamford St has a private room and is good value. Or how about booking the whole of Anchor & Hope?

Union Roasters sell mail order oolong -- and it's fair trade. W.

About a year ago, so not recent. I thought it was very disappointing - overly complicated food, imprecise cooking, fussy service and overpriced. Not *bad* as such; just emblematic of what is wrong with a lot of "aspirational" restaurants in the UK.

How about RSJ on Stamford St/Coin St? Decent French grub, excellent Loire wines and they're very good at pre-theatre efficiency. Slighty odd atmosphere, though not unpleasant. Anchor & Hope in the Cut (get there at 5.45 and get your name on the list) but might be a bit rushed. I don't think you'll have any trouble getting a window view at the PP at that time and I think the food's better than the Oxo Tower. Or there's Admiralty over Waterloo bridge, though I haven't been for 5+ years.

Leaving aside the food aspect (shock!), a major failing of VLS seems to me to be that he sets out to be funny, and is not.

That's a shame (and a bit surprising given my experience). Were you there for lunch or dinner? What did you have?

A quick report on The Chancery which was reviewed here by Giles Coren at the weekend. The room is as he describes - very smart and above all comfortable. I've been in other restaurants which would have tried to fit four around our table for two. The seats are of the "upright but soft" variety which means you can kid yourself you're having an important business lunch but which don't give you piles (not quite as good as the "laid back but soft" variety which allow you to sink into them over the course of three hours until you reach a semi-recumbent position from which you can just about reach the final cognac). We started with cheese straws and an amuse which was a filo cigar flled with warm smoked haddock and eel. Starters were a potage of monkfish and oysters (which I wished I'd had) and braised oxtail and scallops with a pea vinaigrette. The oxtail was beautifully tender and the scallops tasty and resting on an pea puree (I think). The vinaigreete was fine but a little more was needed to lift the dish - perhaps some citrus notes? The potage looked fantastic and wass wolfed down -- the fish scattered around a ball of thin pasta noodles a bit like the string hopper of Sri lanka. Mains were sea bass, artichoke and pickled veg for me and the braisedd pig cheeks for my companion. Again, he chose better but the fish was perfectly cooked and beautifully presented on a square white plate with a neat potato innovation capping the veg consisting of thin discs of sauteed potato overlapped and pressed into a larger disc - a bit like a potato frisbee. The wine list looked a bit uninspired to tell the truth but I didn't look too closely as we weren't drinking much -- ended up have two glasses of Macon each from a very short seleection by the glass which was fine but unexceptional. Service generally good apart from a long delay in taking our orders at the beginning for which the maitre'd apologised charmingly. He is ex Clerkenwell Dining Room as my companion spotted. The damage was a very reasonable £41 a head including service for starters, mains, four glasses of wine and two bottle of water. this is excellent value for what is very assured cooking in a businessy area and I wouldn't be surprised if prices go up over the next few months.

Will try to but it'll be short - off to Russia for two weeks on Saturday so trying to clear my desk. Obviously still got time to go to lunch though.

Yes, if only The Guardian took more notice of us when it picked its critics.