Dinner by Heston Blumenthal -- great British fare with a lot of twists. Reserve on Open Table. Reservations are fairly easy to get. You do need to put down your card though.

Gymkhana is very good -- Albemarle Street! Very posh. Reserve on their website.

Berner's Tavern is really disappointing -- at least for me and my friend.

If you are looking for English traditional fare but very upscale, try Wilton's.

Lunch or dinner at DBH? Trying to decide which one.

If you eat a la carte/ tasting I would normally choose dinner to have the day for sightseeing;)

Lunch is always a better value for these heavy hitter big names.

Dinner w/wine will set you back significantly.

I ended up booking Dinner by HB for Sunday lunch. We will definitely be ordering off the full menu! As I pastry chef I have to try the tipsy cake. The Frumenty(octopus) and turbot with seaweed ketchup sound interesting and someone recommended the chicken with lettuce.

I asked about Berners because we are staying at the Edition so we will probably end up there for at least one meal. The only other Michelin we have planned is Benares, other than that the list is more traditional/casual.

I have several restaurants planned for London - Gordon Ramsay (lunch), Dinner by Heston (lunch, maybe dinner), The Ledbury (dinner), Square (lunch).

Will be very interested to hear your feedback on RGR and The Square

Will be in Oct, but will have some detailed notes. I've heard great things about Square from friends that have visited.

We added Guy Savoy in Paris and La Pergola in Rome.

I see that Michelin is beginning DC restaurant inspections, potentially bringing starred-restaurants to join those of San Francisco, Chicago, and NYC.

I can think of at least 3 places I've eaten in DC which could get 1 star.

My issue with The Square had to do with utterly apathetic service. I tend to remember bad service long after I've forgotten what I ate.

La Pergola is great.

Komi? I go to DC periodically and have given up trying to get a reservation there.

They're definitely atop the list of candidates in my book. It's been years since we ate there, but it was fantastic then and seems to have only improved. I didn't realize they were that hard to get into these days. :eek:

Silverman's restaurants, too, stand a decent shot in my book. The food and service both are impeccable, and for Rose's Luxury, the price is tough to beat. Hate having to show up 2+ hours before opening just to hope to get a seat at the latter, though... I'd almost rather they take reservations with a hefty deposit.

Is Minibar by Jose Andres still up there, cuisine-wise?

Also, should mention that Pierre Gagnaire will be cooking at his Las Vegas restaurant Twist from June 21-25.

Great. We'll have caesar salad and a steak without french water without amuse bouche without pre desert. very poor place but relatively cheap. You get what you pay for.
Definitely not the same league than savoy and robuchon in vegas

In miami his restaurant at sls is a big joke.

The service at Joël Robuchon in Vegas wasn't good last time I was there. But if Guy Savoy is as good as Paris, it's probably the best in Vegas, imo.

How far in advance are you looking to plan? Usually you can book a few weeks out without issue.

S
 

I would rate GS as top strictly on a cuisine basis, I felt uncomfortable at JR and won't return. Twist suits my wants for the package of food, service and ambience the closest.

Birch & Barley in D.C. deserves a star IMO.

I'll probably head to Vegas in late July/early August. I want to try L'Atelier. Might hit up Guy Savoy too. Anyone been to either recently?

You really can' go wrong with either, although GS is a must have more elevated experience.

One of my favorite food bloggers has illustrated reviews of both:


http://www.kevineats.com/2009/06/lat...s-vegas-nv.htm

http://www.kevineats.com/2009/06/res...s-vegas-nv.htm

Finally got a reservation at Restaurant Marianne in London. With only 14 covers that was a tough nut to crack.

Did anyone hear news about the new Restaurant of Clare Smyth?

I have not, other than one article which targeted August. I will give it a lot of time to see how the early reviews pan out

interesting, if not linked already >
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...3/lunch-with-m

Just saw Dinner by Heston Blumenthal lost a lot of places at the new San Pellegrino list. As I said in the past, I don´t give much on this list.....

Anyone know about the availability of Guy Savoy (Paris) for lunch? The website says:

"Each day for lunch, Guy Savoy reserves one table for guests wishing to discover – or rediscover – the delights of a French gourmet restaurant, but who hesitate. From our full lunch menu, guests can choose a starter, a main dish and a dessert for the fixed price of € 110. Our sommelier will offer wines by the glass from € 10.This special is only on offer to web surfers. Please arrive by noon."

So I made reservations for Amber in Hong Kong and they sent me an e-mail asking me to e-mail them back a form with my credit card information. I called them asking if I can provide the information over the phone and they said no, even though I told them it was a security concern. I've dine at other Michelin restaurants in Europe before and never had a problem with them taking down my information over the phone. And the fact that they don't require local Hong Kong people to provide a credit card to hold the reservation is a bit of a double standard. This has left a bad taste in my mouth already.

Wired. MO London declined sending the Information via E-Mail due security concerns.

Moments at the MO in Barcelona asked for the same.

talk to a manger at these mandarin oriental hotels (amber is at a mandarin oriental)

The manager wasn't going to budge since they claim they need my signature.

I decided to e-mail MO's corporate offices in Asia and the US about the issue explaining to them why their existing process is a security risk and it could be bad PR for them. Let's see if they respond.

For now, I'm going to send them my form using a virtual credit card number within an encrypted zip file.

restaurant manager? could talk to hotel including general manager

https://photos.mandarinoriental.com/...e-july-10-2015

World's top 50 restaurants
 

It might be just another list, but it's a pretty nice list.

http://www.theworlds50best.com/blog/...-pictures.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/dinin...ts-thread.html

discussion of 2016 starts here >
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/dinin...l#post26775493

I didn't know about that incident. Seriously, a hacker would just need to gain access to the e-mail account where all these forms are being sent to and download the forms without anyone knowing. Much easier than going straight for the database.

Good thing I created a virtual card just for my reservations. I set a dollar limit plus an expiration date. If that credit card number gets compromise, I will know exactly it was MO that was the source. I know that being in the US, I have no liability but it saves me the trouble of having to get a new card.

I think I will have a discussion with the GM when I'm there.

It's a nice list and I haven't been to any of them even though I have been to a few Michelins. I do have reservations for #20, so hopefully it exceeds expectations.

Fascinating article. Thanks for the link!

Dined at JR last month (not L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon but JR) and thought the service was excellent with the maitre d going out of his way to make sure we were comfortable. The food on the other hand had some issues but in retrospect I think some of that may have been that it was a holiday and they may not have gotten food delivered for a few days. (mostly issue with fish dishes)

Thanks also for article about the Michelin reviewer. Interesting.

While eating at E by Jose Andres I was listening in to some conversations (nothing to add since I had not been to any of those retaurants). They were having a heavy discussion about chefs/restaurants in the US , dream jobs etc. They said that Michelin is looking at moving to regions versus cities so as to be more economically feasible to have a guide for places like LV so stars may be coming back.

That's good to hear that you had nice service, maybe I'll stop by soon.

Sounds awful! Not even acceptable at a family restaurant.....

Not sure about awful. My thought at the time was when I am paying so much for a meal it should be perfect. But you can't really complain that fish tastes "fishy". I have the same thing happen to me when I go fishing or go to down the local fish monger if I don't eat the filets in a day or two. It doesn't mean the fish is bad, just takes on a more fishy taste.

And in retrospect we are talking a land locked state that probably flies in its seafood and this was a holiday Monday so I would doubt they had a deliverly on Sunday and the holiday Monday. The fish likely was delivered on Friday or Saturday.

I just had in my mind a higher standard given the *** and the cost so it disappointed me at the time.

This is the reason for Anthony Bourdain's "never order fish on a Monday" rule.