My partner has a blog with lots of London restaurant reviews that's up to date should anyone be interested, with a few Michelin reviews as well, Hedone, Dinner etc.

http://www.thecutlerychronicles.com/p/restaurants.html

She's a friend of Andy Hayler and they always seem to be in agreement with their reviews which must mean she's on the right track. He gave us a lot of restuarant tips when we visited Japan recently.

There's a review of Gymkhana on there which was voted recently as the best restaurant in London.

We were regular visitors there before it got all the accolades but it's quite hard to get a table now as you can imagine.

Thanks for the link. I read a couple of posts. Was especially interested in the write-up of the smorgasbord at the Grand Hotel. We were staying at the Grand Hotel - and booked all 3 restaurants there - including the smorgasbord. But the night we had the smorgasbord - it was a "special seafood" smorgasbord - not the regular one. So we missed the regular one. Too bad from the looks of your partner's post.

FWIW - as your partner points out - Stockholm is one of the least budget friendly dining cities in the world (although I've heard that Oslo is worse these days).

Glad your partner is friends with Mr. Hayler and that he was able to give you some pointers before your trip to Japan (he's been there more than anyone else I know). How was your trip - and what did you especially enjoy about dining there? Robyn

Ah that's a shame about the smorgasbord, it was certainly a highlight. If you're in London a similar experience would be the Saturday Brunch at the Connaught hotel. They don't quite encourage you to eat so much you roll out of the door but I certainly have my fair share ;) It's the only two Michelin-starred all-you-can-eat that I know of!

Japan was fantastic, I can certainly see why it has some of the best restaurants in the world. The most memorable dining experiences though came from the some of the food tours we did seeing the differences between the cities and regions and getting to understand the local peoples approach to food. It was good to take a break from the slightly more expensive Michelin restaurants as well with the food being just as good.

Interestingly I just saw your post about Le Manoir above, we're going there on Saturday for the first time and I fully expect to be bankrupt by the time we leave :D

I guess menopausal women would empathize with you ;). I'm the exact opposite. I'm cold when it's 20 C. Probably a result of living in Florida for so many years. Of course - another factor is if you're in a cool/cold place and dressed for outside - and go inside - you're often blasted with heat (sometimes from ancient heating systems) - and start sweating immediately. Women can deal with this by taking off layers of clothing (down to bare arms if necessary) - but men can't if they can't take their (often heavy winter) jackets off.

Note that the situation here in Florida and similar semi-tropical/tropical places is usually the opposite. You're outside and warm ---> hot - and - when you go inside - you're often met with a blast of arctic freeze A/C (especially in places where men usually wear suits - whether they're offices or restaurants). That's not very comfortable either.

I don't recall being uncomfortable either at Daniel or Per Se - or recall that my husband complained about the temperature either (have never been to the French Laundry). Then again - we were at both places when the weather was warmer - the A/C worked fine - and my husband only has a couple of super light weight "tropical" suits (we don't travel to places that get cold when they're cold these days - and there's no place here where a suit is required/appropriate - except perhaps a funeral).

You'll be pleased to learn that no place we've reserved in Singapore requires a jacket :). My husband will probably bring a jacket (and I'll bring some kind of sweater tops) - if only to deal with possibly freezing blasts of A/C.

What did you think of Daniel? Wasn't my favorite either in terms of food or service (found the latter somewhat stuffy). As for Per Se - ditto. Except the service was too "California casual" for my taste ("hello - I'm Bob and I'll be your server tonight" :rolleyes:). And it was strictly amateur hour in terms of wine. Then again - we went there when the restaurant had just opened - and I suspect these kinks have been worked out. OTOH - the restaurant only has a tasting menu now (not to my taste - but it's the trend these days - http://eater.com/tags/tasting-menus) and costs about double what it cost then ($300 compared to $150).

BTW - if you go for the most expensive tasting menu at Guy Savoy - that will put a dent in your wallet - 490 euros!

http://www.businessinsider.com/world...us-2013-4?op=1

Don't know what your appetite is like - but - whatever you order - make sure to save room for the dessert trolley - tied for the best I've ever had (with ADNY - now closed). Robyn

The least expensive menu option at Le Manoir is 79 pounds for 5 courses. And you can swap anything on this menu for something on the a la carte menu assuming there's a dish you don't want to miss (supplement of 25 pounds for starters and mains - 15 pounds for dessert).

http://www.belmond.com/le-manoir-aux...e_manoir_menus

Unfortunately - this menu doesn't seem to be available on weekends :(. So you're talking 124 pounds and up. Best way to avoid breaking the bank is by ordering modest wine (or none at all - I don't drink wine).

The most useful thing that Michelin does in Japan IMO is it gives you a manageable list of possible places to dine. Note that there are hundreds of restaurants in the book. But that's manageable compared with a complete list (there are reputed to be 100,000 restaurants in Tokyo). I put Michelin together with a "short list" compiled after reading various food blogs (e.g., http://www.andyhayler.com/restaurant/maisen) and wound up dining very well (better than on my first trip - when there was no Michelin guide and few English speaking diners/bloggers had started to visit/write about Japan). Robyn

Interesting point...
I may have missed something while reading this thread, but I don't think the existence of the World's 50 Best Asian-list has been mentioned. So here goes:

http://www.theworlds50best.com/asia/...staurants.html

All the best,

:: hkn ::

Been a busy week for me - looks like I have missed a few interesting discussions here.

We will be in Paris in October as well and I think my wife has made reservations at Guy Savoy and L'Arpege, so who knows we might end up seeing Bhrubin in one of the restaurants in Paris. ;)

We were supposed to dine at Daniel during our last NYC trip but had to make a last minute cancellation. If you have not tried the Eleven Madison Park, I would highly recommend it - though it is one of those 10+ courses tasting menus so you probably won't like it as much.

Same here... I missed a lot in this thread and just catching up!

One of my favorites in NYC is Blanca - although my only complaint is that I wish they gsve you more food. Although it is next to Roberta's so a bee-sting pizza will usually solve that problem. So for all the people who complain about getting sick - you might want to try this one out.

Actually I have another complaint.. its location, but an Uber can fix that.

What are everyone's thoughts on Blanca?

I missed EMP when it operated in a way I might like. It's not on my "want to eat there" list these days. Robyn

The one thing you can't miss in October is the Vacherin (my most favorite winter cheese from Europe). Buy a whole one (perhaps some other cheeses as well). A great loaf of bread. Some nice fruit and sweets. And have a picnic in your hotel room one night after you've had a big lunch.

OTOH - what is jet lag like on a trip from "down under" to Europe? When I've come home from Asia to the east coast of the US - it's really hard to get up before noon. Robyn

Hawaii has a few delicious goat cheeses but otherwise we are in a difficult way when it comes to cheese. We will have to try out the Vacherin when we are with the Four Seasons George V Do. Thank you, Robyn, for the tip!

My wife loves her cheese so we will look out for that when we get to Paris!

I am normally fine with Jet lag on the way to Europe, especially we do the Aus - BKK/SIN/HKG leg during the day and the Asia to Europe overnight. This way we stay awake on the first leg to Asia and sleep all the way on the second leg to Europe, so we arrive at Europe the next morning feeling rested.

On the way back I tend to struggle as well - a bit like you flying eastward from Asia to US. So we normally do a short stopover in HKG/BKK/SIN for a couple of days before we fly back to Aus.

We have not been to Blanca before - though I did come across that when I was booking the restaurants for our last NYC trip. We didn't end up going partly because of the location, and also because there were a few other places in Manhattan that we really wanted to go. Interested to hear thoughts on that as well.

Was at L'Arpege last year. A solid, vegetable heavy restaurant. Not so memorable or at the level of EMP, Le Bernardin, Alinea. I don't think you missed much by missing Daniel.

How can there be too little food in 20+ courses?

IMO a place like Blanca is very tough for people from out of town. It's a very small restaurant with very limited seatings 5 days a week. Reservations are only taken a month in advance (apparently for the whole month). IOW - reservations are almost impossible (even the critic for the New York Times had a difficult time having the 3 dinners that are necessary for a review).

I think most of us who travel to dine like to nail down our important reservations - and not wait for cancellations at a place like Blanca (which is what many people - including the NYT critic - do).

Also - if you have to cancel a reservation there < a week in advance - for whatever reason - you have to pay for your meal (about $200/pp). I have not had to cancel hardly any plans over the course of 40 or so years. Still - I've had to cancel some. A whole trip to Norway when an elderly parent got sick. A whole trip to Israel when I needed an emergency operation. And a meal at Manresa when I got sick the morning I was supposed to dine there. I don't like to pay money for something I have to cancel as a result of things like this. I guess people who live in a metro area might not have issues with things like this (they can always find a friend who wants to go to a "hot" restaurant to take their reservation). But I don't have friends like this around the world in various places.

BTW - I now grudgingly accept a 24 hour cancellation policy with a credit card guarantee. Because the odds of my getting sick the day of a meal are very very low. OTOH - I never make a big deal reservation for date of arrival (or the following day for a long trip). No telling when you'll have issues with travel plans. Robyn

There's actually a local cheese outfit in Thomasville Georgia. Sweet Grass Dairy (http://sweetgrassdairy.com/. Turns out some decent mild cheeses that are sold in places like Whole Foods and probably some local stores/restaurants in Atlanta. But they're nothing like the "big stinky" (often raw) cheeses in France.

And - although you can buy these cheeses in the US - they have to be aged beyond recognition to get through customs. Not worth the money or the calories. BTW - allow Vacherin to get to room temperature before eating. It's gooey and can be eaten with a spoon.

Here's a good guide to French cheeses:

http://www.fromages.com/en/encyclopedie

Note that Vacherin is made both in France and Switzerland:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacherin

Have fun on your trip! Robyn

I pretty much agree with you about Daniel. But am curious why you think that. As one of the great unwashed - this pretty much sums up my impressions:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/24/di...pagewanted=all

Robyn

Don't get me wrong. I thought L'Arpege was a solid meal and was very creative with vegetables, providing a unique culinary approach. I have come to hope for an experience and it was not. Although I enjoyed it, it will not be a restaurant that I will remember.