Times Rich List Today - less billionaires

pipkin71

brixham wrote: »

OK can't stop looking at the menu and trying to work out what it all is as feel a bit thick now.

Can anyone enlighten me as to what "Benzaldehyde" is ? Also the "Nitro" bit on the scrambled egg thing is all about.

Benzaldehyde is an aromatic oil used to flavour a dish - it's from almonds I believe, so

ROAST FOIE GRAS "BENZALDEHYDE"

would be a duck or goose liver roasted in almond oil

pipkin71

brixham wrote: »

Also the "Nitro" bit on the scrambled egg thing is all about.

I think the Nitro is to do with how it's frozen - not just placed into a freezer, but frozen quickly via a chemical I'm pretty sure that's what it is.

Edited to add: Yes, liquid nitrogen is used to freeze the egg/ bacon / ice-cream mix

[Deleted User]

PasturesNew wrote: »

Even Richard Branson is barely a billionaire now - he's lost about 56% of his wealth.

What a bummer. He may have to sell his island.

Cleaver

PasturesNew wrote: »

I too had no idea what most of it was.

You're just posh ... and, like most posh people, you just assume everybody else has this stuff. We don't.

As much as I like you PN, that's a really unfair comment and you're not normally one to see things so simply. I'll stand by my comment that his menu uses pretty much standard and / or cheap ingredients. He just does very different things with them, in terms of technieques and combining with other foods. To pick up on a couple of your comments:

"JELLY OF QUAIL, LANGOUSTINE CREAM, PARFAIT OF FOIE GRAS - no idea what any of this is, whatever it is I've never had any of it, but it sounds ewwww"

Quail is a game bird. Very cheap and plentiful in the UK, and used to be well eaten here before supermarkets decided we'd all like chicken instead. Millions of people eat langoustine every day as it's scampi. Foie Gros if the liver of, usually, a duck. Very cheap and widely-consumed in France.

"RED CABBAGE GAZPACHO - sounds ewww, not sure what gazpacho is"

Cold spanish soup. Very cheap and widely consumed in Spain. Red cabbage is a member of the brassica family, but then I assume you know this.

"OAK MOSS AND TRUFFLE TOAST - no idea what this is... moss?"

I think you got that one right.

"Jabugo Ham - no idea what a jabugo is but I don't like ham"

Ham from a very famous ham-producing region in Spain. Luvverly stuff too.

"PETITS FOURS - no idea what one of these is"

French sponge cake, or a small cake along these lines. Flour, eggs, butter and sugar I imagine. But probably with a twist.

PasturesNew wrote: »

I've never eaten in a posh restaurant, ever. Poshest was a local pub Xmas Dinner for a works' do: £25 for about 4-5 courses of Xmas nosh. That was lovely, but they didn't half keep you waiting a long time - half the people left before the meal had completely been served because of the delays. Anyway, £25 ... I wasn't paying or I'd have not gone.

'Posh' restaurants that are posh for the sake of being 'posh' are cr*p. Forget the posh part. Resturants that happen to be expensive but give you a very rare, different experience are sometimes worth the effort. I'd urge you to try one.

As I said in an earlier post, a £130 dinner will not necessarily be 'better' than food consumed from a passionate street vendor in an exciting city for a couple of quid. Both are often amazing and memorable for different reasons.

beaniebabe

I dont think I could justify spending such a large amount of money on the above menu, even if I was loaded.:rolleyes:.
I would never critisise anyone who enjoyed to spend their well earned money in this way, but personally I would rather give the money to some one who doesn't know where their next meal is coming from.
Mash, cheese and value beans sounds great! :T
After all its the company that is important and not what you're eating!:D

Hadrian

I well remember when I was first married having to scrat around for something to eat around 3 or 4 days before my salary arrived. Now thro' prudence (remember that word!) I have 'more than enough'. I'm retired now and can say with all honesty the money I have now hasn't nor doesn't make me any more 'happier'. A year or so ago I stayed with a multi-millionaire in Mexico. He has to have a bodyguard, a secretary, a cook, a gofer and sundry others. He rode everywhere in an amoured 4x4, his bodyguard was always armed. So much for being a multi-millionaire. I can say in all honesty that I am a more content person than he and I was more content years ago when I had nowt. I stress the word CONTENT. Money does NOT bring HAPPINESS, whatever that word means, content with what you have saw us all throught the post war era and 'the love of money' is the root cause of the countries troubles today. My gran used to say "as long as you have your health...". She was right. Ask anyone over 65.

Cleaver

beaniebabe wrote: »

I dont think I could justify spending such a large amount of money on the above menu, even if I was loaded.:rolleyes:.

Why do you need to 'justify it'?

beaniebabe wrote: »

I would never critisise anyone who enjoyed to spend their well earned money in this way, but personally I would rather give the money to some one who doesn't know where their next meal is coming from.

How are the two things connected? You can do both, do one or the other, or do neither.

beaniebabe wrote: »

Mash, cheese and value beans sounds great! :T

It does indeed. But you do want a break from that every now and again. I love living in Manchester on a day to day basis, but when it comes to a holiday I like to explore new places and experience different things. Same with food.

beaniebabe wrote: »

After all its the company that is important and not what you're eating!:D

I would say that both are important factors.

lostinrates

Cleaver wrote: »

As I said in an earlier post, a £130 dinner will not necessarily be 'better' than food consumed from a passionate street vendor in an exciting city for a couple of quid. Both are often amazing and memorable for different reasons.

I agree. I've not eated at the Fat Duck, but I very much want to. I've had some wonderful meals in dazzling places, and some wonderful meals elsewhere....bread, cheese, figs and local honey from local places in various Eurpean loctions, washed down with a bottle of wine kept cool by being buried in the sand while we swim.

Its both...the food and the people.

As for ingredients there is a wealth of free food now considered deluxe....which is why I'm logging off....I'm just about to dress a dandilion leaf salad:o

beaniebabe

Cleaver wrote: »

Why do you need to 'justify it'?

I do not need to justify it to anyone, but myself and this would be something that would not personally make me any happier.



How are the two things connected? You can do both, do one or the other, or do neither.

You are quite right, however sometimes people are not in a position to make the above choices for various reasons. This is my personal view and I would not critisise anyone for taking a different view.



It does indeed. But you do want a break from that every now and again. I love living in Manchester on a day to day basis, but when it comes to a holiday I like to explore new places and experience different things. Same with food.

I agree and I also enjoy going on holiday and exploring different places and different things. I guess we are luckier than some!



I would say that both are important factors.

They are indeed!:T

Cleaver

lostinrates wrote: »

I agree. I've not eated at the Fat Duck, but I very much want to. I've had some wonderful meals in dazzling places, and some wonderful meals elsewhere....bread, cheese, figs and local honey from local places in various Eurpean loctions, washed down with a bottle of wine kept cool by being buried in the sand while we swim.

Its both...the food and the people.

I were forced to chose my favourite overall meal ever, it would be a difficult choice, but I'd plump for a meal we had in France.

We'd had just the most fantastic week in a gite in eastern France, doing nothing more than exploring the local villages, eating local food on our BBQ, enjoying the scenary, drinking wine and reading books. On the last day we drove the long way back through the country lanes of France in spectacular weather. We'd had a big lunch and we're getting a ferry home until after midnight from Calais. We were hungry, but a bit off the beaten track and we were going through a row of houses along a beautiful French road which wasn't even big enough to be called a village.

One house had a hand-drawn sign that implied they did food so we stopped, put our brave hats on and knocked at the door. Turned out it was a family with a back garden with a stunning view overlooking an amazing valley. They did us bread, meats, cheeses, sausage, salad and Mrs C had some local wine. It cost a few Euros and we watched the sun starting go down whilst sitting at their old patio furniture, eating this fantastic local produce on non-matching plates. Their kids were playing in a paddling pool in the garden and their old dog was asleep near us.

Will stay in my mind for ever as a great experience which summed up one of our best ever holidays.

The Fat Duck isn't far behind though.