Ian Hoare<br>All the best<br>Ian<br>La Souvigne Corrèze<br>http:www.souvigne.com

Hi TU, I don't worry much about putting a 230 cms duvet into a 240 cover. 5cms=2" a side is neither here nor there, nor good red herring. In fact, because we tend to go back to the Uk once a year, and have friends (ex clients, often) coming over regularly, we nearly always get our bedding there from Musbury fabrics. Their prices are exceptional and their quality irreproachable. I'd hesitate over buying in the UK for items that were consumables, but given that a good set of duvet covers/pillowcases last us at least 5 years, (one of our sets has lasted 10 years so far!") I don't think the inconvenience outweighs the savings and the convenience of having better bedlinen.

Hi trying to reply to all the points from memory. 5 am arrival. No way. I'll let people dump their luggage in the morning, but explain politely that rooms are never free before noon. My standard confirmation letter explains that our "guests usually arrive between 4pm and 6.30pm, if you intend to arrive earlier, please let us know so we can be sure to be there to welcome you" (Which is a polite way of saying "come between these hours") We can usually work things out with the rare ones who want to come outside these hours. As for 1 nighters turning into longer, it happened this week. A couple phoned up at 6 pm for one night. No probs. We took them gladly. They then asked if they could stay on for two further nights. "A pleasure" said I, and it was. This happens more than one might think. Arnold. GdF specifically forbids one night supplements. I agree with them. Your price _should_ be a one night price, though nothing stops you offering long stay discounts. Personally, with very low initial prices, I don't, except for Guide Routard, who have a promotion scheme, to which we belong. However, with very pleasant clients whom I like, if they stay a week or more, then I may very well "forget" to charge for one of their meals. This has always worked extremely well, with almost 100% of these coming back for future years. As for the comments re one night stands being our business, I repeat that I too feel it's of the essence of our business. I don't much approve of people creaming off the best and most lucrative biz, but that's just me.

Hi Arnold Have a heart!! I doubt if anyone has this information at their fingertips. Go to my website and look at my booking chart. Work it out for yourself. What is perhaps more relevant is the order in which things get booked up. We get about 70-80% advance bookings for the high summer months, the very high season first, then the first two weeks of July and last two weeks of August afterwards. The rest gets filled in at the last minute, usually.

Hi, We were included in Petit futé free of charge and without asking our permission. They copied our GdF entry varbatim. It was worth what we paid for it. Not one single booking in the three years we were in, until they asked for money. (Of course ymmv).

Hi Furry K Padraig asked about snaring labbits You said ======== How can anyone harm a thing as beautiful as a Badger? Killing living creatures for fun, I just can't understand it? My Girlfriend has a badger. ======== You really should keep off the strong stuff. Aren't you confusing different mammals here? (vbg).

Hi Bob You said:- ====== As an alternative to the hassle of brazing pipes, consider using the PER system - available from any decent professional supplier (www.gapsa.fr) or from the bricos at vastly inflated prices. ====== What hassle? As long as you have a good hot flame, I can hardly imagine anything much easier. Having come from the UK system of Yorkshire/end feed capillary and solder, with all the attendant wire wool-ing and cleaning and green glop for fluxing, I found brazing a total doddle. But then I've not tried non copper fittings here. In the UK, all my cold water was run in uPVC and (apart from a stress induced break at the join between steel and plastic, which flooded the back extension 4" deep while I was on holiday) never had a problem. Mind you, if PER is significantly cheaper and quicker then it must be worth considering - is the range of fittings as good, and is it as easy to increase/decrease pipe diameter?

Hi Coco, For the moment, we take the view that we really should take one night stands. I don't know whether we would if we "only" had one room. Our particular bête noir is one night wedding bookings. They ALWAYS want to book all our rooms - well in advance. Then they cancel one or two at the last minute, and they always want to arrive in the morning (how the flip are we to do three rooms by 11 am when the previous guests left at 10?) They want to come back with a skinful at all hours, have a late breakfast and then not leave till lunchtime. GRRR. To come back to your query. In very many cases, we find that taking someone for one night once, because they are de passage elsewhere, leads to a three/6 night booking in a year or two's time. We also feel that we _should_ take our share of one nighters - rather than try to cream off the best and easiest. But I think a lot depends upon where you are and how many rooms you have. We've talked about it from time to time, because it's true that you have to work a devil of a lot harder for a one night stand than for a week!!

Hi, Just a quick comment on what Charles had to say. ====== Brazing is easier, more reliable and more versatile than soldering especially if you use self fluxing rods. Brazing copper to brass is a bit more tricky and due to the heat take care not to burn the house down. ====== Agree about the self fluxing rods, but as I use belt and braces - especially in places where it will be a major PITA to try to rebraze afterwards - I like to add a little extra flux anyway - doesn't do any harm. Also agree about brazing brass, and this is a case where flux is essential. That said, my problem with brass has been its relatively low softening point, so when brazing it, you have to be careful you don't braze a semi-molten - deformed blob onto your nice piece of pipery, instead of the 3/4" pipe threaded connector you _thought_ you were going to fit! I only once nearly burned the house down - that was when we discovered the ONLY join which leaked in the whole installation (A T on the main riser, feeding the kitchen). It was tricky to remove so we tried to redo it in situ - about 1" from a torchis wall! Although we used some plumbers' glass fibre reflective cloth, it got DAMNed hot behind - I should have used a piece of plasterboard as belt and braces again. However, nothing that a quick squirt from the garden sprayer (kept on hand "just in case") didn't calm down nicely.

Hi, As Opel fruit said, don't try to mix and match on copper pipework. I found that brazing using end feed in France vastly easier than using soldered yorkshire fittings in the Uk (I put in my own plumbing both in the UK and in France). Once you discover how the fittings sizes are described, it's a doodle. A major plus with the french system is that pipe walls are 1mm, so you don't need complicated reducing Ts. You take an equal T (say 16mm) and if you want to feed off in 10, you stick a bit of 12 over the 10, then 14 and finish off with some 16mm pipe into the T. Yes, you've got several endfeeds to do, but with a decent circoflam burner, it's really easy. No need to clean up inside and outside, and all you need to do is to moisten the outside of the pipe, dip it into the flux powder, stuff it into the hole a suitable distance and then heat like hell. When it's hot enough to melt the rod, you just touch it round the join and it melts and gets sucked in. As for drains, they're also pretty easy. You need acetone to clean up the joints, then squirdle some glop onto the male part of the joint, quickly push it in with a 1/4 turn and leave it a few minutes before applying mechanical stress. IIRC it's best to leave an hour before using the drains with water, though I could be mistaken here. If you CAN, buy the drain fittings here first (very cheap) and see if they fit the waste holes in sink/basin and bath, before buying these in the UK. If they fit, then the fittings will match onto the french pipery. But I want to underline what Opel Fruits said, you may be surprised at how reasonable much of the sanitary hardware is.

Hi, How about a bottle of really good Malt Whisky. It's pretty fashionable in France, and if you get one of the obscurer ones, impossible to find here.

Hi, Thanks for the info. By the way, I've heard that some of the winegrowers in Bergerac were quite hard hit by hail. Any news about her?

Good morning. Outcast? Good riddance. And don't anyone dare tell me I'm being PC. I'm founder (and only) member of the PIP. Outcast made a point of being offensive whenever he could be. I won't miss him. In any case, as I've said before, when any of us actually PAY towards running these forums, we have reasonable cause to dispute. If you have (serious, rather than wishy washy "there's room for all opinions" which is perfectly true, but entirely beside the point.) issue with the moderators, take it up with PMs, don't put them in the invidious position of having to defend themselves in public. To do so, they would have to accuse someone who can't defend themselves, and that's not cricket. It's not even football. There's plenty of room and space for vigorous disagreement about any issues, without the level of deliberate offensiveness that we've seen from (since I've been here) two members who have both been banned (quite rightly IMO).

Hi Val, Oh..... :-( Well sorry to have been negative. I hope that your experiences are better than ours. I have to admit that it cooks pretty well, and (when Jacquie's cleaned it up all spick and span) looks lovely. Best of luck.

Hi Arnold for maximum flaxibility, we use two 90 by 190. We get suitable sized (180X190) made to measure (very cheap) fitted bottom sheets from Musbury Fabrics) which will hold them together when used as doubles and any suitable fitted sheets as singles. That way, when clients ask for 3 twin bedded rooms, we say "yessir" and when they ask for double beds, we equally simply say "yessir". The only downside is that you need more bedding - especially more duvets. Standard Kingsize duvets are fine for when you're using the beds as a double. What's best of all, is that you use standard single bed bases (sommiers à lattes) and single mattresses - we use good quality latex ones. Eliminates mites and allergies and keeps the price reasonable. Most of our guests say they've never had such comfortable beds in a B&B.

Hi again Di, Yeuch, not much grows in waterlogged soil. Makes for sour soil as well even when it's not waterlogged. I can only repeat, however, that we have never, ever had success with late sowings of peas, (or broad beans sown in February either, for that matter), no matter what wee've tried. We have managed to get better germination with quite a number of unexpected seeds by sowing in a warmed germinator in peat pots and then moving outside (parsnips, purple sprouting brocolli to name but two). But we've always found that no matter how we treat them, peas rush up and give us nothing, or get all sorts of fungus diseases if planted late. In general, our experience here, for what it's worth, is that you have to work _with_ what you've got in terms of climate and soil. You CAN modify the soil a bit - you could hypothetically put in land drains, for example and lighten the soil by marling, and you could possibly put in some kind of shading, but I suspect that the returns you'd get for that level of investment of time and energy is hardly viable, other than in terms of satisfaction! Our problem at the moment is trying to work out how to stop a deer from nibbling the tops off our new asparagus plants.

hi Di, Peas and broad beans are funny old things. They don't like it when it gets really hot. I don't think there's much you can do about it except to plant early and hope. I've never ever had any success planting late.

Hi Nick, There's chemicals and chemicals. water is dangerous stuff, you know, inhaling it can kill you. Seriously, what we do (we've only got about 6 rows of 10m of potatoes), is to go out as soon as the sun gets hot and remove them physically. The first year we grew potatoes were were horrified to get 50 or 100 in a day, After 10 years or so, we're down to manageable numbers, perhaps 10 a day at worst. We also go over again in mid afternoon. It help to understand their life cycle. They over winter as chrysalids, and when the days warm up, hatch and climb onto the plant to look for a mate. If you get them then, you'll have no probs. If you miss them and they mate, they lay eggs (the ladies do that!) on the under surface of lower leaves and you can sometimes go through carefully and squash them. I prefer to wait till the grubs first hatch and then spray with the entirely innocuous pyrethrum spray. This kills them on contact, and has no persistence whatseover. (I think it's a permitted spray, along with Derris by the organic movement, though don't quote me on that - in any case it's utterly harmless to us). If you don't get them all, they grubs eat voraciously and quickly pupate and a second generation of the beetles appear, which is why they can be so damaging. I strongly recommend making a lot of effort to get them as soon as they appear (That was the last fortnight or so, here in the Correze). They are only really bad for the crop if you don't do anything about them. What I do to get them, is to cup my hand under the leaf on which they're sitting and make a pass at the beetle with the other hand to knock it off, what usually happens is that the beetle curls up its legs and rolls off the leaf "to fall to the ground". Teehee, your hand is there to catch them. I then go on to the next plant and so on. They tend to stay put in your hand. When you've gone through the lots or got a handful, put them on a flat stone and crunch them with your shoe. Most satisfying.

Hi Coco, Yes I've often felt rotten about things that I've no responsibility for. The exhibition that you've recommended being closed unexpectedly, or the weather being lousy or a restaurant having an off day. However, for bookings? No. We have remarkably little trouble. We categorise contacts in 5 levels. 1 Enquiries 2 Bookings 3 Confirmed 4 Arrived 5 paid (normally left). We explain in words of one syllable to "enquiries" that we are NOT booking the room, nor blocking it off on our reservations form, nor do we. So if you, say, were to phone us up, or email asking if we have a room free on the 12th July I'd answer "yes we have, do you want us to book it?" This usually gets a yes/no decision on the spot for phone calls. If you were to haver, I'd say "fine, but I ought to warn you that I'm NOT booking the room, so you will need to decide fairly quickly to be sure of getting it, as with only 3 rooms we fill up quickly." And it's up to them then. For emails, I usually get a firm booking by return. If not I'll follow up with a quickie saying "You asked about a room on the 12th, it's still free at the moment, but I've not booked it for you, do you want me to?" Without an answer almost immediately, I put the correspondence into a "finished" mailbox, available in the case of argument but not cluttering up my main business mailbox. If I get a "yes" at any stage then I write (letter or email) to say that the room is being "blocked off" for a short while pending receipt of their deposit. I expect to get a deposit within a week, and nearly always do. With a deposit under the belt we send a receipt reminding them that they should contact us if running late, otherwise Gites de France rules allow us to relet after 6.30pm. And we do it without remorse. If people don't read what we send them and don't reply, then I'm afraid they've shot themselves in the foot and I am unrepentant. If they then come back much later, when I'm fully booked, I'll offer to find alternative (more expensive) accommodation elsewhere, but I won't be made to feel guilty by people who won't play the game. You're a much nicer person than I am!!

Hi Jo, The rules are quite clear, yes you have to do so and you're in breach of security regulations if you don't. For quite a number of years, we were meticulous about filling them in and taking them down (not to the police, by the way) to the local Gendarmerie. They would look at them entirely blankly and file them away somewhere. I once asked whether I had to go on doing so and was told that I did. When I asked more pointedly whether any of my colleagues did, the gendarme assured me they did (I checked, they didn't). So I raised the matter officially at the AGM of the Tourist Office and the head of the local Gendarmerie assured my that yes, all people receiving foreign visitors had to fill these in. "What, even visitors from member countries of the EU?" Hesitation.... "Yes." "But that's in direct contravention of the Schenghen agreement". "Well until we receive new instructions, you have to". So I checked up again on what our colleagues were doing, and when I fould they weren't, I stopped. Since that time, we've never had a visit from the local bobby, reminding us we should. So you pays yer money and takes yer choice. But you can be sure that you ought, and that if one day, it is discovered that a known terrorist had stayed at your place, you can expect that this would be one of the charges that was levelled against you. I take the view that in general, we as foreigners have to be that much MORE meticulous about following the rules. That said, I'm not going to start again, unless I receive specific instructions to do so.

Hello, I'm really replying to Graham, as I've no recent experience of eating out in the NE, so can't comment on TU's reply. I'm glad Graham found my post facilitating, though I'm a little at a loss to guess what it facilitated!!! (I'm teasing, Graham, as I think you fell foul of a spell checker!) I think there's a lot of truth in what you say about good cuisine in many countries being at its best when showing off good ingredients simply. By THAT criterion though, I'd judge food in Britain quite harshly, as the most successful modern dishes there are either asian influenced with fairly powerful spicing giving interest and character to fairly tasteless raw materials, or else flavoured up reworkings of classics, with complexity being added again to compensate for raw materials that are fundamentally rather tasteless. I should add that I'm judging by what I see on "Saturday Kitchen" and in the Beeb "Good Food" magazine. To some extent I agree with what you say about Adriá-ism. What worries me, however, is the way in which food critics seem to eschew the traditional, however excellently executed, in favour of the novel, and the more novel the better. What really worries me about this trend, is that people no longer know how to judge, or whether to trust their own sense of taste and balance anymore. Plus of course, the fact that fewer and fewer people here still have a good home cooked meal at lunch, means that more and more people are losing their gastronomic reference points. So they accept what the increasingly rarified critics say, because they no longer have the confidence or the experience to stand up and say "No! This is pretentious nonsense that is being served here". So I fear that Adriá wll have more influence than he ought, due to the adulation by the media. However I take your point about his being Catalan. I'm interested to see that you say that the eating experience has improved in the last few years in the Languedoc. It's not been my experience generally in France (not explored the Languedoc-Roussillon), though I'm delighted if it's true, of course.

Hi, This message sort of follows on from the Liquid Pectin thread, but I felt it deserves to stand on its own. It's coming up to be time to start making some of the earlier jams and jellies. Here are three recipes we do regularly. Val Douest should get enough info from these to be able to adapt the method to other fruits. @@@@@ Now You're Cooking! Export Format Raspberry Redcurrant Jam/Jelly fruits, preserves, british 5 1/2 kg fresh raspberries 1 kg fresh/frozen redcurrants 25 fl oz water; divided 1 measure pulp 750 gm sugar; -=per=- 1 liter pulp Heat raspberries and redcurrants together in batches in microwave until just short of boiling. Tip into large pan capable of going into oven. Pre-heat oven to cool 125C 250F. When all fruit is added, add about half to three quarters of the boiling water, bring to simmering point on top of stove, then put into oven and allow to simmer about 1/2 hour. (The purpose of all this palaver is to get the fruit to render as much juice as possible without being over cooked). Again in batches, pass the pulp through the fine plate of the kenwood sieve, and then through a sieve, to remove the seeds. Tip the seeds into a pan and add the remaining water, bring to boil, stirring and then tip into sieve again to remove any further pulp. Press well and discard seeds. Measure volume of pulp and add the appropriate amount of sugar. The proportions are 3 parts of sugar to 4 parts of pulp (weight by volume), so for 1 pint (US) pulp, use 12 oz sugar etc. in UK, use 1lb sugar per pint of pulp. Warm, stirring carefully, until all the sugar is dissolved, then raise heat to maximum, bring to boil and boil until a) setting point is reached on the thermometer, b) the jam passes the "flake test" ie, the last drops of jam fall from the spoon in a sheet when the spoon is held over the preserve, and c) the jam passes the wrinkle test, ie when a few drop of jam are dropped on a cold plate, and cooled, then a finger pushed through will form wrinkles on the surface of the jam. For the recipe as given, and boiled in a large pan over VERY fierce heat, the boiling took 10 minutes. Tip into jars, screw down lids, and immediately tip upside down. Leave a couple of minutes then tip right way up again. When cold, label and store. This recipe gives a well set preserve midway between jam and jelly. It's not clear, but has no pips. The redcurrant improves the set and the acid/fruit/sugar balance. We are extremely pleased with it. Recipe IMH Yield: 25 pots ** Exported from Now You're Cooking! v5.66 ** @@@@@ Now You're Cooking! Export Format Redcurrant Jelly fruits, preserves, british 2 lb redcurrants 2 lb sugar 1 water Run a thin layer of water over the base of the preserving pan, then put in an equal weight of redcurrants - no need to remove the stalks - and sugar. Stir and heat slowly until the sugar is dissolved, then raise the heat and boil hard for 8 minutes. Tip out on to a sieve set over a bowl, or into a jelly bag, and pour the resulting liquid into small pots. This jelly, which is a version of Eliza Acton's gives a strong jelly of fine colour. Recipe "Jane Grigson's Fruit Book" Mmed IMH Yield: 1 recipe ** Exported from Now You're Cooking! v5.66 ** Lastly, for later on in the year, a recipe which you can adapt for apples etc @@@@@ Now You're Cooking! Export Format Quince Jelly fruits, preserves, french 1400 gm quinces 800 gm sugar 1600 ml water 1 lemon, juice Wipe the quinces with a cloth to remove the fine down which covers them. Cut them in quarters and core them. (Tie the cores and pips in a muslin and add them to the pan, IMH). Put the water with the lemon juice - which helps to keep the jelly paler in colour - and add the thinly sliced unpeeled fruit. Bring to the boil and boil gently for an hour, stirring (gently) frequently. Tip into a fine sieve over a large basin and drain, pressing (but not rubbing IMH) to extract as much juice as possible. (Press the juice from the cores and seeds if added. IMH) __Keep the pulp to make quince cheese (qv)__. Tip the juice into a jam pan and add the sugar. Slowly bring to the boil and boil for an hour. Skim after 15 minutes and again after 40 in all. Check for setting point and pot up immediately. Cover when cold. Recipe J-P Coffe "Aux bonheur des fruits" MMed & Translated IMH IH Notes, original recipes used an odd word for the main boiling of the jelly which implied gentle boiling, but this wasn't right. Boil fairly hard as usual. Yield: 4 pots ** Exported from Now You're Cooking! v5.66 **

Hi, First of all, thanks to Deby and Di for their very kind words. I'm afraid it's a bit late to reply in detail as I've really only come back on line to bring Val up to speed on the pectin question. I promise I'll come back later with some suggestions for Deby (though I personally prefer to serve my duck magrets cooked completely differently, which doesn't really go with jellies!!) Val. I've asked on my french language mailing list about pectin, and Catherine kindly came up with the name. Vitpris. It comes in sachets. As to how you'll use it, I don't know, so you'll have to experiment and see. You may be able to get some idea of equivalents from the instructions. Best of luck.

Hi Val, (and TU) I've never seen liquid pectin in the shops. As Teamedup said, most people use Gelsuc or Confisuc. I hate them as I find they always give a powerful overlay of their own flavour. I get Certo from the UK if I need it, via friends. I'm told there IS a form of pectin available, but it's a powder. Can't remember its name, though I can ask on a french language cooking mailing list and come back to you tomorrow with the answer. For what it's worth, I'm getting 5 kg of jam strawberries from the grower tomorrow and will be poaching them in 3 kg of redcurrant puree, frozen from last year, which I'll be making into jam by adding 750 gms sugar per litre of compote. But of course that IS a cooked jam, and not a freezer jam. I'm interested to read your recipe, as I only know a freezer raspberry jam, which is pretty yummy.  

Hi, Coco asks. Do you mean per year Ian?  That seems awfully high! - I think I'd give up if I had that many.  It looks as though we have a similar amount through the door as you, but I'd put my number at about 2 or 3 per year that I wouldn't care if I never saw again.  Usually because they seem to think they are at a 4 star hotel and are extremely demanding for what they're paying, or they are rude and don't respect the fact that they are in my home.  I think we mean different things by "wouldn't mind if I don't ever see them again". I meant it literally. Turn it on it's head, that means that of the 150 to 200 we'd be SAD if we never saw 125 to 175 of them again, because we've got on so well with them. So to expand, I'd guess that it's best described as being that we didn't really make any kind of bond of friendship with perhaps 25, either because they were distant, or just not very forthcoming. OK? As for rude, 4 star hotel and that sort of thing, yes, I have had some, not many, and I have my version of the 5 email/phone call rule (with which I agree 100%, by the way), and if I get bad vibes at the start, I usually try to persuade them - gently - that they might perhaps be better off elsewhere - the parking, you know, or "we hope you like church bells" There's usually some way. But in general, we usually get on extremely well with our guests, tu-toi-ing and kissing on the cheeks and using first names. Like Pierre and Danielle, who came for three nights and left this morning. We go to a wine show near Lyon every year and they live just a spit away from the village where it's held, "When you come, get in touch with us before hand and we'll put you up, we would love to let you taste our cooking," and so on. So I agree with you, if we had as many as 25 a year who were really disagreeable, we'd seriously wonder what we were doing wrong, and whether we ought to be continuing. Coming now to the business of cancellations. I wouldn't always want to put such a client on a black list. As it happens, by the most extraordinary coincidence, while I was writing this letter, I had a phone call from a chap, phoning from Brussels. "My wife made a booking with you for 17th June, and I'm really sorry, but we won't be able to make it. It's my fault, my job has changed my holidays." I started to bring up the fact that they had paid a deposit, and he immediately interrupted to say that he wouldn't hear of us returning it! So I suggested that I'd keep it, but if ever they decided to come anywhere near here again, (we are some 800 km from Brussels!), we'd put it towards their stay. Now that's the sort of client who I'd not consider putting on any kind of black list even if they HAD cancelled. Thoroughly charming and honourable, and I sincerely hope we see them one day. As for deposits and Americans, we don't have THAT many of them, but we simply ask for a cheque in dollars for around $30. We've never had one no show! One cancellation, and I simply gave the cheque to an American friend in the village, so she could pay it into her account in the States and repay me in Euros! Worked a treat, and avoided bank charges (which I hate!). When they arrive, I give them the cheque back and they pay cash. KISS. (Keep it simple, stoopid!)  

Hi, Mikey7 says:-  Anyway I didn't write it, I just thought it might interest forum readers. Here's the full article, with interesting bits about heathcare and voting at the bottom-- No one suggested you did write it, but you did choose to quote it and post it, so presumably you endorse it. I don't agree, and have given my reasons, none of which you saw fit to address. In quoting the entire article, you seem to be seeking to reinforce your position. Entirely your right, of course.  I'll not refer to the additions on voting and healthcare, as they're neither relevent to the thread, nor on topic to the forum, (nor entirely accurate in the case of the voting one). Now then. I've got plenty of criticisms to make about restaurants in France, I've said to many people many times that I think the standard of cooking in French restaurants (in France) has fallen - perhaps even fallen dramatically - in the last twenty years. I also agree that the standards of cooking have improved - in some respects improved beyond recognition - in the UK. So it's logical to expect that one day eating standards generally will be better in the UK than on France. The article suggests that this has already happened. I dispute that VERY strongly. I accept that cooking in french restaurants is often unimaginitive, but I think it's fair to say that _within its limitations_ it is excellently executed. Yes, one might wish for something  other than duck confit and magret everywhere in the South West, choucroute and baeckeoffe in Alsace, cream with everything in Normandy and so on. But I would argue that it's wrong to criticise french restaurants for being regional. Firstly, that's what the people of the area want, just see how hard it is for NON regional restaurants to start up, and secondly that's what the majority of visitors expect to find. You have to remember that in Britain, the corn laws and enclosure acts etc drove the majority of country dwellers away from their regions of origin, and therefore most British people have lost touch with their local traditions. So how many people here still know or care about the local specialities of the towns or villages where their families lived for hundreds of years before the Victorian era? Criticising the French for being regional, shows a profound ignorance about one of the things that is integral to the "frenchness" of french society, it seems to me. There's a LOAD more to be said about this. However, I'll just make a couple of comments on what others have said. TU says that the best meals s/he has had recently was eating out in the UK. I'd say that the best I've had were in the USA (the French Laundry) and in London (La Trompette). However, these were at $150 food only and £46 food only. Here in France I am regularly delighted by the St Jacques in Argentat with menus (dinner, not cut price) at E28 and E39, where the food is all one could ask, not a magret or confit to be seen, but magnificent innovative palate tickling food from a master. Not far behind, in quality, possibly equal, but more traditional, we have The Central and the Toque Blanche in Tulle, where for the same sort of price you can have wonderful foie gras, veal and Zander. I've not had TU's experience with moderately priced meals in the UK. Not in restaurants cooking _British_ food. I don't want or need to go to the UK to eat French food, I get that cheaper and better (generally IMO) here. I DO eat Indian, Thai, Perenakan and Chinese food there. For me these (forgetting Singaporean food as it's not really well known) cuisines are the REAL strength of food in the UK. The excellence of the Dim Dum in - say - the Royal China in Queensway, is amazing. Quite as good as almost anything in Hong Kong, for example. Some of the best indian restaurants  are magnificent, and often at reasonable prices. I WOULD criticise the french for their gustatory conservatism, as it is jolly hard for a really good asian restaurant to make a go of it here, as their customers would refuse to eat the real thing. But I guess the same would have been true in the UK back in 1960, so it may be that one day things here will change in that respect. However, that's little to do with the experience of the average french tourist (or working visitor) visiting Britain. THEY are looking for a good local English restaurant at the sort of price they expect to pay in  France - what other experience have they got to guide them? Just as M or Mme Dupont don't reckon to go to the Côte d'Azure to eat Norman food, or to Brittany for Provençal food, so they don't expect to go to the Uk to eat Indian, Chinese, Italian or French. And although I try hard to explain that such a beast almost doesn't exist, I can see the look of polite disbelief and incomprehension on their faces - only dissipated when I show them some of the guides. In almost all respects I agree with what Will says. Especially over the hypocrisy in criticising stereotypes on the one hand while indulging in them on the other. But then, the Sunday Times is a Murdoch rag, and as such, criticing French culture is de rigueur. I wonder if I might quote from that article I referred to. (Heston Blumenthal is VERY much in the El Bulli tradition, so many of  Mike Steinberger's strictures would apply to the Fat Duck too). Referring to a conference in Spain where top chefs were showing off their ideas, he says:- "Adriá went one better, crushing licorice sticks in a blender, flash-freezing the purée with liquid nitrogen, and then having his assistant eat the resulting pellets while blowing water-vapour trails out of his nose. Adriá calls his concoction Licorice Dragon. "Licorice Lunacy might be a more appropriate name. Pardon the pointed question, but what the hell is happening to haute cuisine? "When the planet’s most celebrated chef is a pseudo-scientist (does he work in chefs whites or a lab coat?) who aims not to please but to shock, and when his juvenilia is lauded as genius and widely imitated, it is fair to say the food world has reached a sorry pass. Given the age in which we live, it is hardly surprising that novelty and entertainment value have come to be considered the highest virtues in high-end cooking. What is surprising is that so many people think this represents progress. It does not. Far from revolutionising haute cuisine, Adriá-ism, to give his postmodernist approach a name, is making a joke of it. [Snip] "It is often said that Adriá-ism is the culinary world’s answer to deconstructionism, and there is something to the analogy. Whatever its virtues, deconstructionism took much of the pleasure out of reading; literature was to be dissected, not enjoyed. This same ethos informs Adriá’s work and that of his acolytes. They cook mostly to provoke, not to delight. It is, quite literally, food for thought - food that is Intended for the mind, not the taste buds. But what is the ultimate purpose of haute cuisine, if not to create ethereal flavours? [snip] "So what is it, then, that leads so many supposedly food-savvy people to embrace food that offers no sense of place and little if any pleasure? Part of the answer, I suspect, is the neophilia that afflicts many food writers. True, neophilia plagues other fields - ar