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Marcus Wareing at the Berkley


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While Wareing is cooking up a storm in pursuit of his third Michelin star, he hasn't lost sight of the importance of service. His wife, Jane, heads the reservations service, while the front of house combines professionalism with a friendly, conversational style that's pleasantly relaxing. This approach is exemplified by the young sommelier, James Lloyd, who manages to appear more interested in your enjoyment than in selling you expensive wines.
This will make a pleasant change from the charge of the champagne trolley in Petrus days. Totally intimidating. Nearly cracked the brass in my neck...
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I have no idea what what Mr. Sexton means by this:

"It’s all so plush it feels a little like a scene in a disaster movie just before retributive catastrophe arrives."

:huh:

“Watermelon - it’s a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face.”

Italian tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)

ulteriorepicure.com

My flickr account

ulteriorepicure@gmail.com

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there's a big 70's disaster movie on set on a cruise liner which naturally sinks but before it does there's a big banquet going on everyone in dinner suits etc, which contrasts sharply with the impending peril of the sea.

Right, right, I can think of a gazillion movies with this set-up (there is a more recent movie in the 90's with the exact same plotline, mind you. I think it involved "the king of the world." :wink: ).

I'm just a little lost as to what Mr. Sexton is saying about Marcus Wareing with this statement. Is there a disaster about to befall the restaurant that I don't know about?

“Watermelon - it’s a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face.”

Italian tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)

ulteriorepicure.com

My flickr account

ulteriorepicure@gmail.com

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there's a big 70's disaster movie on set on a cruise liner which naturally sinks but before it does there's a big banquet going on everyone in dinner suits etc, which contrasts sharply with the impending peril of the sea.

Right, right, I can think of a gazillion movies with this set-up (there is a more recent movie in the 90's with the exact same plotline, mind you. I think it involved "the king of the world." :wink: ).

I'm just a little lost as to what Mr. Sexton is saying about Marcus Wareing with this statement. Is there a disaster about to befall the restaurant that I don't know about?

no, i think he trying to reinforce the idea it is a very 'luxe' environment

you don't win friends with salad

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there's a big 70's disaster movie on set on a cruise liner which naturally sinks but before it does there's a big banquet going on everyone in dinner suits etc, which contrasts sharply with the impending peril of the sea.

Right, right, I can think of a gazillion movies with this set-up (there is a more recent movie in the 90's with the exact same plotline, mind you. I think it involved "the king of the world." :wink: ).

I'm just a little lost as to what Mr. Sexton is saying about Marcus Wareing with this statement. Is there a disaster about to befall the restaurant that I don't know about?

no, i think he trying to reinforce the idea it is a very 'luxe' environment

That's what I thought. But, "retributive catastrophe" was hard to ignore, especially in light of the fall-out between Wareing and Ramsay.

Okay, I'm going to stop reading too much into this. The horse is dead, I'll stop beating it now.

“Watermelon - it’s a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face.”

Italian tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)

ulteriorepicure.com

My flickr account

ulteriorepicure@gmail.com

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You have to remember that it is mandatory for brittish restaurant critics to be "witty". Their mission is not so much to inform as to entertain.

Which is why I absolutely hate Giles Coren.

I hear you. The sunday times magazine reviews rarely involve much discussion of the food.

I quite like Matthew Norman from what I remember, he sticks to the food. And Rayner, still witty but more food focus.

I really fancy trying this one, seems like hes really making the 3 star push. Theres always the risk with that that hes focusing more on stars and getting them than putting out the food thats intelligent and enjoyable enough to get the stars. Foie gras for foie gras' sake perhaps? Thats not a specific example, but that kind of thing.

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You have to remember that it is mandatory for brittish restaurant critics to be "witty". Their mission is not so much to inform as to entertain.

Which is why I absolutely hate Giles Coren.

I'm not Shakespeare, but this is just plain bad writing. It's not witty. It's not entertaining. It's confusing.

Of the eight starters, pan-fried foie gras, glazed black figs with Lapsang tea and hazelnuts was fabulously rich and autumnal — a big chunk of perfectly cooked liver on top of fanned slices of raw fig and some dice that have been a little cooked, with a scattering of toasted hazelnuts.

Shouldn't there be a comparison here?

The dash of hazelnut foam to one side of the plate and dried up Lapsang syrup to the other didn’t add much, but never mind.

Never mind? That's the whole point - you're a critic! If you didn't like it, you didn't like it. What's with this "but never mind" business?

That being said, I'm looking forward to eating at Marcus Wareing.

Edited by ulterior epicure (log)

“Watermelon - it’s a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face.”

Italian tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)

ulteriorepicure.com

My flickr account

ulteriorepicure@gmail.com

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I finally got around to going to MW@tB.

I was very much looking forward to it; actually, I was more excited about it than any other restaurant I have been to lately...

I had the tasting menu plus a couple of supplements, so I got to try a fair few dishes.

However, I cannot say I had my socks blown off. The dishes were good, but not very memorable. There were two/three that really stood out: foie gras, fantastic sweetbread dish and orange creme dessert. In fact, the sweetbread was a wow.

Though, what really worked to dinner's detriment was the service; which was a surprise. No one was rude or the like, but I just expected more, I expected fautless, impeccable service. Instead, sometimes the staff were in such a hurry, they literally dropped the plate in front of me, reeled off the title of the dish, which I could have just as easily read off the menu that had been left in front of me. There were a few other little niggles too.

Full critique can be read here: Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley

Edited by Food Snob (log)

Food Snob

foodsnob@hotmail.co.uk

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I finally got around to going to MW@tB.

I was very much looking forward to it; actually, I was more excited about it than any other restaurant I have been to lately...

I had the tasting menu plus a couple of supplements, so I got to try a fair few dishes.

However, I cannot say I had my socks blown off. The dishes were good, but not very memorable. There were two/three that really stood out: foie gras, fantastic sweetbread dish and orange creme dessert. In fact, the sweetbread was a wow.

Though, what really worked to dinner's detriment was the service; which was a surprise. No one was rude or the like, but I just expected more, I expected fautless, impeccable service. Instead, sometimes the staff were in such a hurry, they literally dropped the plate in front of me, reeled off the title of the dish, which I could have just as easily read off the menu that had been left in front of me. There were a few other little niggles too.

I have to be honest, I've never gone to Petrus/MW@tB for outstanding service, although when sommelier Mathieu Gaignon was there the spirits on that side were lifted. I can't ever remember the maitre d' ever coming over to the table, ever. Just a hello and goodbye as I passed the door. It's not that it's bad, it's just not good either. Come to think of it, other than the sommelier and JPS, I also can't ever remember seeing any of the front of house there more than once.

H

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Hi Howard,

Well, that's a shame to hear. I do believe the (new) maitre d' was on hand on the night, is it a gentleman named Jean-Phillippe?

It's interesting that he hasn't changed the menu too.

So you do not believe it will be bumped up a star in Jan then?

P.S. Giles Coren has just released his review of MW (obviously in desperate competition with me!):

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_...icle4845661.ece - and he loved it

Edited by Food Snob (log)

Food Snob

foodsnob@hotmail.co.uk

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Hi Howard,

Well, that's a shame to hear. I do believe the (new) maitre d' was on hand on the night, is it a gentleman named Jean-Phillippe?

It's interesting that he hasn't changed the menu too.

So you do not believe it will be bumped up a star in Jan then?

P.S. Giles Coren has just released his review of MW (obviously in desperate competition with me!):

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_...icle4845661.ece - and he loved it

JPS went with Gordon as others have mentioned. The menu from a month or so is back at home right now, but the basis of the tasting menu seemed to be similar with some minor changes predominently for seasonality. IMHO I don't think there was any need to change anything - I was so delighted that MW had moved away from the GR formula food of old and was now so clearly his own man that that was enough wow factor for me.

Regarding Giles Coren, I am sure that there was plenty of fawning when he walked in the door. You only need to look at what happened in his own article on a previous occasion with MW. I wonder if Giles adhered to their dress policy ("smart with jacket preferred, no jeans and no sportswear"). Not that Giles would ever wear a shell suit, you understand.

I really related to your comment about plonking the grub down, with a rapid unintelligible gibberish in some foreign tongue/accent accompanied with an immediate turn of the back, the escape route already planned. This is not unique to Pétrus. Many so-called high end establishments have this obnoxious trait. By the time the table has looked at each other with blank faces all indicating "Eh?" the perpetrator is long gone. It's not uncommon for me to make a stand to ask again what the individual ingredients are, and as often as not, the gobbledegook is because they don't actually know.

3* no. Not until the service becomes less standoffish and rather more welcoming particularly if you're fairly regular. Now that presumeably he has his own crew and doesn't have to fish them from a pool, MW might just be able to pull it off in January 2010.

H

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Well said.

And, I did have to call someone back, almost each time, to ask what I was being fed. Very annoying.

Food Snob-maybe I've misunderstood, but if you need to be told what you're eating what earthly right have you to pontificate about food on the internet?

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Well said.

And, I did have to call someone back, almost each time, to ask what I was being fed. Very annoying.

Food Snob-maybe I've misunderstood, but if you need to be told what you're eating what earthly right have you to pontificate about food on the internet?

Maybe the humour was lost in translation, but I was exaggerating for comic effect...

Food Snob

foodsnob@hotmail.co.uk

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FWIW this was the menu just before Pétrus closed.

The amuse bouches included the parmesan risotto balls and the foie that Food Snob had.

H

080901petrussmallcrop.jpg

the parmesan balls were being brought into maze with some tomato in them just less than a month ago.

Edited by Toufas (log)
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