Here's some I made in California...

A final thought about Restaurant Magazine's 50 Best Restaurants.
In position number 5, is Thomas Keller of The French Laundry in The United States, so the critics say that's the best restaurant in the U.S.A.
In 6th place is Thomas Keller of Per Se, in the United States, so that's the second best restaurant in the U.S.A.
But hang on a second.. isn't The French Laundry in California?
And isn't Per Se in New York?
Can Tom Keller bi-locate?
Through all those time zones?
He isn't a chef. He's superman!
And aren't critic's lists absurd?!
So, it isn't our job to tell Restaurant magazine how to do their job, but isn't there something preposterous about one guy grabbing the top two positions in the U.S.A. when the restaurants are on opposite coasts.
Ditto Alain Ducasse, with joints in Monaco and Paris, who appears a bit further down the list.
Let's get back to chef-proprietors who shake the pans: Aduriz; Arzak; Blumenthal; Tetsuya Wakuda, and so on.

Roast My Marrow

The highest climber in this years 50 best restaurants list is Fergus Henderson's iconic St. John, in London.
We love the man's books, and his food, and here is what our man in the Sunny South-East, Eamon Barret, made of a recent visit:

Star of the trip was dinner in St John, Fergus Henderson's spartan restaurant in the City.
It's the simplest of spaces, so trimmed down it could be a canteen. For starter I had venison heart with beetroot and walnut, an amazing dish, the heart sliced paper thin, its delicate cut offsetting the strong flavour. I almost went for the chitterlings but the waiter recommended the tripe and sausage as being particularly good, and so it was, a lovely stew with white beans. Ju had slow roasted lamb, beautifully pink. The dessert was a pear and treacle steamed pudding for two, served with a large jug of hot homemade custard, just amazing. Definitely on the list of London places we would go back to.

And that is also the verdict of most chefs, as St John is also the chef's choice in the Restaurant magazine list.


www.fergushenderson.co.uk

The Germans are Coming!

The annual Restaurant Magazine's 50 Best Restaurants in the World is a daft idea, and one in which we have played a part in previous years.
Like all daft ideas, certain truths emerge from the voting process, none more so than this year.
So, who's hot? Well, Andoni Luis Aduriz of Mugaritz, who moves up to 4th place in the list, for one. We make no secret of our admiration for this chef, who is a genuinely poetic, sublime cook.
But, almost as interesting is the emergence of another great northern Spanish chef whose cooking we enjoyed a few years back. Victor Arguinzoniz of Extebarri cooks everything over open flames, what he calls “primitive cooking”. His restaurant is also abidingly simple, as you can see above, making for a truly echt experience, which is well worth the haul from San Sebastian.
The other exciting news from the Restaurant list is: The Germans are coming! Joachim Wissler of Vendome, Hans Haas of Tantris and Harald Wohlfahrt of Die Schwartzwahlstube all make the list, and this promising culinary culture seems to be coming alive at last.

For the (extensive) record, here is what we ate at Extebarri:

Slices of cured pork
Egg yolk with fresh garlic
Gambas with sliced artichoke and grilled seaweed
Perdena with tomato and olive oil
piquillo stuffed with morcillo and fagioli bean soup
Tuna with asparagus and green beans
Bacalao alla bacca
Anguillas
Grilled beef
Toasted cocoa and vanilla ice cream
Coffee and almond cake

Our notes are peppered with exclamatory Mamma Mias! after many of the dishes.