ADAD 2017, JP Blondet.

You know the crack at Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, one of Blighty’s quartet to be gifted the Bib’s highest accolade. This has been the Dorchester’s flagship restaurant for the good part of a decade, though I have somehow managed to avoid it for all…

The Greenhouse Mayfair

Amazingly this is my first trip to The Greenhouse. It is not a new restaurant, if my facts are right, has been around since 1977 under other auspices across the decades, until Marlon Abela purchased it in 2003. Abela retains ownership today, with Umu and…

#scrambledkang: Turbot

Alongside garoupa (and bluefin tuna…), I think of European turbot as the very top end of fish that money can buy. Glimmering white flesh that has just the right ratio of meaty to flaky. A clean flavour, yet imbued with ample gelatin all around its…

#scrambledkang: Asparagus

Here’s the follow-up to my first post on my home-cooking adventures, otherwise hashtagged #scrambledkang elsewhere. I thought it would make sense to do them one ingredient at a time (since it is how I do the procuring), and make each one a discreet project. In…

Hedone 2017

Since last year’s visit, I have come to think of Hedone as a 2 star. I suspect I am not the first to think this. This meal in late Spring 2017 , my sixth in as many years it has been open, has served only…

Midsummer House, Cambridge

Daniel Clifford has been knocking it out of the park on TV ever since his debut on the Great British Menu in 2009, displaying a firm gasp of classic cooking with a touch of modernist creativity and above all, this guy seems a genuine lad,…

La Dame de Pic London

I have it on good account that this is not a mere carbon copy of the great Chef’s Parisian offshoot, also called Dame de Pic near the Louvre, rather it is the more ambitious of the twins. The great chef is of course Anne-Sophie Pic,…

The Square 2017, Yu Sugimoto & Team (YU HAS LEFT)

SEPT 2017 UPDATE: Yu san has left The Square. The restaurant is undergoing refurbishments and will re-open with a new Chef, Clément Leroy. Phil Howard is a tough act to follow, probably the toughest, especially in today’s London but that is what the new owners…

Neige d’Ete, Paris – Feb 2017

Other visits: June 2016 I was doubly impressed on my return visit to this much-loved one star restaurant situated in the Paris left bank, confirming the good things that are happening in Hideki Nishi’s kitchen today. We had visited for a weekday lunch, and requested…

#scrambledkang: A Spring fantasy

If you follow me on IG, then you’ll know of my weekend exploits at the stoves at home as #scrambledkang. As you know I only really write about restaurants on this blog, so this will be a one-off post. I have been toying with the…

Mountain and Sea House 山海樓, Taipei

Phonetically, 山海 樓 is Shan-Hai Lou and if you say it like my better half does (because my grasp of the mother tongue is a whimsy), it is a beautiful thing rolling off the tongue. Much better than the awkwardly literal English translation. I love…