Re: Has anyone here ...

In article <lalaw44-78A3E5.10173325042007@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, jal
says...
In article <MPG.20989a9b758de24b989d3e@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Bear <bastardDOTbear@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/6586751.stm

I'm sorely tempted. I know it sounds bonkers, but I fancy trying it.

No, but I could ask ex - he lived in Bray and would likely know. I'll try
to remember tomorrow.

Ta. The chef chap sounded completely ... er ... out to lunch.

I'm surprised you don't know about Heston Blumenthal, given that you're
clearly a chap who likes his grub:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heston_Blumenthal

The name rings a bell, and I've heard of the Fat Duck before, but no I
don't know his stuff other than the barking "scientific" stuff he was
doing at the Duck (heard it mentioned a couple of years ago).

Then I heard him interviewed a few years on Radio 5 by Simon Mayo
(**top** interviewer), and was completely turned round: seems to come
from Essex, ordinary lad, but utterly devoted to his singular passion,
which is the _science_ of cooking (i.e. what _is_ it that makes a
particular dish cook in the way that it does?)

AFAIK, he was the first person to think like this.

I think one could argue that honour would go to Raymond Blanc, who used
to get various unis and boffins to prove or disprove commonly held
cooking beliefs, eg; that old *** birds (as used in coq au vin) were
more full of flavour (if tougher, hence the cooking in wine) than
younger birds, and furthermore that battery chickens tasted of ***-all.
He proved this one once with the use of a mass spectrometer,
concentrating on the various chemicals that give a chicken its chicken
flavour.

His restaurant now suffers from the same as - wotsisname - Rick Stein:
you pay a premium for the great food, and you pay 10 times that on top,
for getting to eat there (how else are you going avoid queues and riots).


Let us know when you get a booking, Bear -- 6 months from now?

No, they only book to 2 months out, so it shouldn't be that bad.

The "tasting" menu looks phenomenal and fun, but I was heavily wound up
by the wine list, of all things. He's charging £100+ for £10-15 bottles
of wine, in some cases, and I find that really, really annoying, since
all the fucker's done is store and uncork them.

Although I did get a little trip down memory lane; The "Hill Of Grace"
is from an excellent little vineyard I used to visit when I lived in
Adelaide ... thing is, it was $15 a bottle then and there :)

(who is content with Wetherspoons, or a good fish'n'chips, if we're up
for a real treat)

Wetherspoons microwaved *** is truly awful. I went to a lovely
GastroPub in Windsor last night though - £40 a head (including wine),
but 3 of the best courses I've eaten in a long, long time, which I
didn't think was too bad - £110 at the Duck would be ok, but the £100+
for a reasonable wine is really taking the piss.
--
Bear
.