What did you think of the meal?

There were 27 or 28 items all together. Some were meh, others were memorable. Definitely has the "wow" value I expected going in. Also, not a lot of bread to fill up on so I didn't leave stuffed like I do at some other Michelin restaurants, which is good. I did the tea pairing, which I liked a lot. (I wish more places would do this)

All in all, this was one of the more expensive restaurants I've been to, as expensive or more expensive than many 3*. I'm glad I did it, but I wouldn't do it again. A restaurant like TFL or El Cellar, on the other hand, I can imagine going to again.

Interesting DC list - thanks for sharing ^

Venice, Miland, London highlights: Le Calandre, Il Luogo di Aimo e Nadie
 

Just returned from Venice, Milan, and London from a fine dining extravaganza, including:

Venice:

(1) Osteria da Fiore--1*, wonderful, casually elegant, great food, extremely great and friendly service, one of our highlights, great wine pairings, felt more local

(2) Le Calandre (Rubano)--3*, the highlight of our trip, tremendous food, extremely creative, dark ambience, loved it, amazing wine pairings

(3) Quadri--1* (rumored to be most likely to get 2* in Venice), very good, great alternative to Le Calandre, similar menus since same chef/ownership, but not a good idea the night after Le Calandre! Female somm, she was fab, great wine pairings

(4) Club del Doge, Gritti Palace--very good too (we stayed at the Gritti)

Milan:

(5) Ristorante Berton--1*, another highlight, looks corporate elegant but was friendly and had nice relaxed service, great food, great wine pairings.

(6) Il Luogo de Aimo e Nadia--2*, should be 3* IMO, was as good and memorabe as Le Calandre for us, very friendly charming service, top drawer wine pairings and food, very bright and cheery decor, loved it, right up there with Le Calandre as our fave of the trip

(7) Ristorante Alice--1*, a major disappointment, food was fine, but unremarkable and not always good. trying too hard to be clever IMO, wine pairings were solid but not great

London:

(8) The Ledbury--2*, my favorite in London, the menu wasn't as much to my liking, but my friends and husband loved it, I still love this restaurant, the service was TREMENDOUS, even replaced some courses I clearly didn't favor (I never like aubergine, liver, beets, etc), wine pairings were great. Not my favorite meal here ever, but they treated us so well and tried so hard to make up for my menu dislikes that it remains my fave in London by a mile

(9) Marcus--2* (more like 1* or less for us), definitely disappointed us, good food, but nothing remarkable in any way, good service, beautiful dining room...just didn't wow in any way, flavors were very good but not inventive, wine pairings were very good though

Disappointing. Was always a freat one in the past. Not tried the new concept so far

Review: Taku Cologne
 

Yesterday I had Lunch at the Taku Clogne (1 star). The restaurant is located at the Excelsior Ernst Hotel opposite the Dom and was on my list for a long time. It offers east asian cuisin.

The restaurant is in the basement with a separate entrance. The room itself is nicely done with many Asian elemts and a little stream with some fishes on the floor under glass.


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We took the vegetarian Lunch-menu which was priced at 45 € for 4 courses. With meat it had been 48. The also have a box which is 25.

Spicy nuts:
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Peach-ginger lemonade: (8,50 €)
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A little sharp paired with sweetness - I liked it.

Our menu started with fresh bead and salted, apricor and truffle butter.
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Interesting form of bread:
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Amuse Bouche: Marinated vegetables
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Nicely presented with a slightly sour note.

1. course: Cauliflower (puree of cauliflower with tomato stock, coriander dust and marinated cauliflower)
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Really liked this one, very nice taste. Worked well together.


2. course: Thai Gazpacho (gazpacho thai style with lemon grass, ginger, cucumer and thai basil)
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This was my least favourite dish, was simply not my taste. Had also to eat my girlfriend´s one:eek:

3. course: Dim sum (steamed vegetarian dim sum with chinese bbq sauce, roasted onions and sprout salad)
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Not was I know as dim sum but a nice one. Not sure if this was my favourite or the cauliflower.

Dessert: rice (fried coconut-rice, mangosphere, rajoy-sugo nd mangocreme)
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The dessert was over all good. The coconut-rice didn´t had much flavour, the cake was great.

Tea: (Jasmin, 9,50 €)
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Petit fours:
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Bill came to 130 € with 2 0,5 l water.
Over all I was satisfied, price was still OK (while not overly cheap). Food quality was solid and good above average, but not top notch. I learned over the years that you can´t expect too much from most one star restaurants if I don´t wonna stay disappointed. Nevertheless it was an enjoyable Lunch, would visit again. At dinner 4 courses vegan come to 75 €, 6 cost 95 €. "Normal" dinner is 105 € for 4 courses and 130 € for 6 courses. Not sure if I would pay dinner prices. Service was warm and fast.

Thanks offerendum, Taku sounds/feels indeed special in many ways from your images and descriptions of their offerings.

I'm glad you could now try this particular restaurant. The Excelsior Ernst remains the best hotel in Cologne for many, I guess?

I believe next year [2017] will see the re-opening of the Dom Hotel Cologne by Althoff.

In regards to value, sounds fair and the concept sounds interesting = delicious food to us, we would want to try this restaurant too in our future.

Cheers & Safe Travels. ^

Thanks uggboy! Didn´t see much of the hotel as I never stay in Clologne, I live 80 km away. Domhotel is nearly ready, perfect location equal to Excelsior.

I just got back from San Sebastian, slightly disappointed with Arzak (very rushed service), however Mugaritz blew me away, we also went to Exteberri on the way back to Madrid, it was very good. I'm writing up my trip report with full pictures, but will post here once complete of the reviews.

Just noticed that Petrus has two 1000 point tables available on OpenTable tonight at 1800 and 1845. If I hadn't just eaten there I might have considered it. Actually, I don't know why I'm even looking at all. It's been an excessive week and I have Chez Bruce coming up this weekend. Cancelled Sketch Lecture Room and Library last night because I couldn't summon the appetite to do it justice.

Planning a trip to Paris at the moment. First (and not surprising;)) the 3 star and most 2 star restaurants seems to be at least 30% overpriced. But OK, it´s Paris. Nevertheless I like to do some nice place. "Problem" is, that I live pescarian (no meat, poultry). Vegetarian menus are simply not available at more or less all places and the fixed menus always contain meat-dishes. Do restaurants in Paris (I know they do in nearly all other cities, but Paris is Special) allow changes and which high end restaurants would you recommend in my situation (Dinner and Lunch)? Or would it be the best to save my money and eat at "normal" restaurants in Paris?

It would be best for you to get out of Paris and enjoy the rest of France. Normal prices and better food. Including fish. :)

I fear this will be the option... Sad if true:(

Actually this has pretty much always been the case.

Perhaps the reason I already didn´t visit a top-restaurant during my last visit.

What about L'Arpege?

The menu is very good, but the price is near the border. 320,00 € for a menu means nearly 800 € (and god blessed I don´t drink!) for 2 People, perhaps even more. Perhaps Lunch is the way to go.

How about Joel Robuchon L'Atelier - 1* off the champs elysees

http://atelier-robuchon-etoile.com/e...vegetarien.php

Also good Option. 1* was more "normal restaurant" for me;). But had good experiences in the past at Joel Robouchon

I suggested it because of the menu and I remembered it being very close to your diet. Been to Robuchon's in Vegas and it was excellent.

Maybe best to go when you're next in Paris alone. That particular restaurant is at the very top of my bucket list, but I'm rarely in Paris so it will have to wait

After my wife left me I visited enough restaurants alone, prefer it with compagnon;)

Please do. We still rave about our experience at Mugaritz to this day - a couple of years later - as well as Extebarri.

Was at Osteria Francescana a week and a half ago ... much preferred the other two.

Had a great dinner at 1-star Le Prieuré (next to Avignon) last night and the hotel is excellent!

As that was the last dinner of the year with the hotel shutting down for winter, I was worried a bit about the quality. But there was no point in that because everything was top level.

They also turned me on to the first Rhone white that I've actually liked. Vacqueyras Roucas Toumba. ^

Had dinner last Friday at The Modern (2 stars). Excellent modern American cuisine. Excellent cocktails as well, and a great view of the sculpture garden as the sun set. Much better than my experience in the Bar Room a few years back.

What would be typical of modern American cuisine? Not familiar with it

It's a cooking style that was originated by Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA, that emphasizes high quality, fresh, locally grown, sustainable ingredients.

Uniquely interesting and delicious dinner last night at the one-star L'Alcyone at the Intercontinental Marseille. ^ There is no place in the world like Marseille.

Visited the Restaurant a few years ago (not the Bar room) when it had 1 star and found it OK, but not great. Would like to try again and see the development.

One Marseille is more than enough:D

Oriole and Tru are new 2* restaurants in Chicago. I haven't been to Tru in years but am heading back soon. They have always been at least 2* quality IMO.

Well-deserved. Tru has been by far the best place I've eaten in Chicago to date.

Just finished up dinner at Tru. Once again, outstanding.

some recommendations for a NYC Monday lunch pleae folks? we're on vacation and won't have time for a full blown dinner experience so full degustation more than acceptable! Wife enjoyed EMP whilst I preferred chef's table last time we were in NYC.

I say Jean-Georges "Taste of Autumn" lunch. We thought it was a perfect lunch and fantastic meal. Get the tuna ribbons.

Couldn't agree more.

Glad to see the continued interest in this thread. When a year starts drawing to a close I like to reflect on the most outstanding meal I had all year. For me it was the 3* Victor's Gourmet Restaurant/Schloss Berg in Nennig, Germany near Luxembourg. Absolutely perfect. Second was the 1* Cinc-Sensits in Barcelona. Had some great meals in London, but nothing comparable to those two.

Interested to hear everyone else's best of the best

Wait, there's still a loooong way to go. I plan to be in Paris for NYE so my best meal of the year could perhaps be in very late December. :)

I was recently in Barcelona, but could not make plans. I would have liked to have tried Cinc-Sensits. We did a last minute decision to eat at Pla (non-Michelin) and had a great meal, even if it wasn't quite at the level that Pla used to be in years past.

Definitely true. My meals are normally on business, and we usually wrap up our yearly schedule in October, pick up again in January.

There are about five to ten restaurants in Paris that are on my ten year bucket list. Problem is I just never find myself there.

Best overall would be The Ledbury for me. We ate at some amazing restaurants, but The Ledbury was at the top of my 2016 list.

Second would be Dinner by Heston, then Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in third.