New Signature Cocktail Discount Offer!

To View Our Promotional Flyer, Click Below:
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/C ... yflyer.jpg (http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/CTPManatee/bloodyflyer.jpg)

For Immediate Release:

Niddy's Nook is proud to announce the introduction of it's newest signature cocktail, "The Absolut-ly Perfect Bloody Mary!" Recognizing that Pattaya has few venues that provide a stellar Bloody Mary, Niddy has developed this American-version classic for you to enjoy. Made up of Absolut Vodka, Tomato Juice, Worcestershire, Tabasco, Pepper & the all necessary Celery Stick -- this spicy sensation is sure to tickle your taste buds! And, from now until September 1, 2006, Niddy's Nook is offering this top shelf cocktail at the discounted rate of 90 baht!

In addition, stop by and try some of Niddy's other popular signature cocktails:
Niddy's Special Mai Tai: Light & Dark Rum, Triple Sec, Fruit Juices & Secret Ingredients
The Gay Pattayan: Absolut Vodka, Southern Comfort, Triple Sec, Orange Flavoring & Secret Ingredients
South of the Border Margarita: Tequila, Cointreau, Fresh Lime Juice, Lime Cordial, Salt
Milli Vanilli: Stoli Vanilla, Ginger & Lime
Appletini: Absolut Citron, Jelzin Sour Apple, Cointreau & Lime Cordial
Fruitini: Absolut Mandarin, Cointreau, Lime Cordial & Fruit Juices
Key Lime Martini: Absolut Vanilla, Malibu, Lime Cordial & Pineapple Juice
(all of the above Top Shelf offerings are available now at the regularly priced rate of 120-130 baht)

Niddy's Nook continues to create new and exciting food and cocktail creations to make your visit at The Nook more enjoyable. Come stop by and see why Niddy's Nook is quickly becoming "Pattaya's Favorite Party Place!"

Respectfully Submitted,
Niddy's Nook Promotions

[bigben]

YAWN

To View Our Promotional Flyer, Click Below:
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/C ... yflyer.jpg (http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/CTPManatee/bloodyflyer.jpg)


Niddy's Nook continues to create new and exciting food and cocktail creations to make your visit at The Nook more enjoyable. Come stop by and see why Niddy's Nook is quickly becoming "Pattaya's Favorite Party Place!"

Respectfully Submitted,
Niddy's Nook Promotions

Who are they kidding !!!. They are living in cloud cuckoo land if they believe they are anywhere near being "Pattaya's Favorite Party Place"

It is about time this outfit was charged advertising rates to appear on this forum!!
Surely they have got the message by now that their fare is, to be kind to them, average and in most cases over-priced. Their customer care is off-hand and sloppy. If they feel the need to advertise so aggressively perhaps they should look at what they provide and improve their product and service.

[quote="Niddy's Nook":22hhb3gf]To View Our Promotional Flyer, Click Below:
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/C ... yflyer.jpg (http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b95/CTPManatee/bloodyflyer.jpg)


Niddy's Nook continues to create new and exciting food and cocktail creations ...
Respectfully Submitted,
Niddy's Nook Promotions

Who are they kidding !!!. They are living in cloud cuckoo land if they believe they are anywhere near being "Pattaya's Favorite Party Place"

It is about time this outfit was charged advertising rates to appear on this forum!!
Surely they have got the message by now that their fare is, to be kind to them, average and in most cases over-priced. Their customer care is off-hand and sloppy. If they feel the need to advertise so aggressively perhaps they should look at what they provide and improve their product and service.[/quote:22hhb3gf]

'... they feel the need to advertise so aggressively ...' really? Are you receiving something I am not, like emails everyday, constant telephone calls, being stopped on the street perhaps and forced into Niddy's Nook. It really does amaze me that you and others take such offence at the monthly or perhaps bi-monthly informative ad's that appear on this forum. Really if you feel so pressured I suggest you just look at the poster or topic heading before looking at the message and anything which says 'Niddy' you ignore.

When is the new menu coming out?
The bloody mary's sound good, but

Key Lime Martini: Absolut Vanilla, Malibu, Lime Cordial & Pineapple Juice
THERE ARE NO KEY LIME INGREDIENTS, SILLY NAME

South of the Border Margarita: Tequila, Cointreau, Fresh Lime Juice, Lime Cordial, Salt
I KNOW YOU REALLY WANTED TO CALL THIS THE THAIQUILA, YOUR LOSS

Hey, all of us in Pattaya are living in CLOUD CUCKOO LAND! Ain't it grand?

[catawampuscat]

Frankly, it is a good idea to have a "cocktail" bar..so many beer bars and many of us enjoy a cocktail.. The pricing seems fine but of
course, it depends on the size of the cocktail.. Are there waiters "offable" and if so how many are working there?

With any luck, this old catpuss will be in Pattaya this weekend and will endeavor to do a taste test of one of the cocktails and report back,
but it is so easy to get sidetracked and change ones plans at the drop of a cap... I do love bloody marys and it is one of the reasons I like
stopping at Memories in Sunee..A big one for 110B. with all the fixings but no celery..

Frankly, it is a good idea to have a "cocktail" bar..so many beer bars and many of us enjoy a cocktail.. The pricing seems fine but of
course, it depends on the size of the cocktail.. Are there waiters "offable" and if so how many are working there?

With any luck, this old catpuss will be in Pattaya this weekend and will endeavor to do a taste test of one of the cocktails and report back,
but it is so easy to get sidetracked and change ones plans at the drop of a cap... I do love bloody marys and it is one of the reasons I like
stopping at Memories in Sunee..A big one for 110B. with all the fixings but no celery..

Will the gripes ever end? Some of us like this place and are more sick of the same replies from the same idiots saying the same thing. I do know the boys are offable here, my friend took the cute, youngish one last month during a visit. They seem to have betweeen 3 and 6 boys this low season. I also will stop by and try the new mary. I love tomato juice!

[wowpow]

I think that cocktails these days are pretty much only an American choice which puts the potential market in a minor position as so few Americans come to Thailand.

I am not averse to the odd cocktail Champagne, Whisky sour ,Alexander or Martini and for rare fun a rum concoction in a pinapple or coconut. I never understood why some are passionate about a Bloody Mary - nothing wrong with Worcestershire sauce, Tobasco sauce, vodka (though its ludicrous to use an expensive one for this drink the rougher the better) the problem is that main ingredient is canned, bottled or packet pasteurised tomato juice. I suppose that fresh tomato juice is possible but I have never come across it in a cocktail bar. A stick of celery and/or celery salt is nice but hardly a wow factor.

Cocktails. to me, means drinking in a cocktail bar which infers smart style and comfort and usually some nibbles or canapes. Not much of that around in Pattaya to date. The bar at Mantra http://www.mantra-pattaya.com/ would qualify, PIC Kitchen's Jazz Pit http://www.pic-kitchen.com/ is great and has a superb Whisky sour, Mata Hari's http://www.mataharirestaurant.com/ lovely bar does not make me think cocktails somehow but I'm sure they will do those as excellently as they do everything else.

LMTU and ,was it, John Botting ? feeding rumours of a bar opening soon on a par to Bangkok's Bedsupper Club http://www.bedsupperclub.com/home.php
(I'll only believe it when I see it as we are a bit short on HiSo Thais) there was mention of lava lamps. Above Gian's Restaurant Chateau Dale there is a large space being fitted and signs out saying LAVA Bar. Could it be that two and two make four? It will have a great view of Thappaya Road which it looks as if the widening is about to happen. People are out and about marking the edge lines to the new road - this will certainly detract from the imposing entrance of Grand Condotel and Pan Pan will loose it's front car park. I suppose it will ease the celebs getting to Ocean 1 Tower.

I was delighted to overhear in London's Theatre Royal that Duke's Hotel - my old employer - still have the best Martinis in the world.

My understanding of a Signature dish (or drink?) is that one has one. Niddy's Nook has over eight. Is this a Hydra thing?

My understanding of a Signature dish (or drink?) is that one has one. Niddy's Nook has over eight. Is this a Hydra thing?

Probably just means they are 8 times better.

DELETED

[quote="Fatman41
It really does amaze me that you and others take such offence at the monthly or perhaps bi-monthly informative ad's that appear on this forum. .[/quote]

No offence is taken. I'm just sick and tired of seeing Niddy's Nook constantly being advertised. Not long ago it was two or three weeks of discussion on this board about their burgers where once again they claimed to have "the best in Pattaya" ... more hyperbole which was totally unsupported by the facts.

At best the establishment is a just about an average cafe (and certainly not a cocktail bar !!) which serves bland food which, on each of my three visits, has been either cold or under-cooked, has cutlery which is badly in need of being cleaned/disinfected (just look into the tines of the forks to see how much old congealed food is there), drinks which are over-priced and waiter staff who are lethargic and unattentive to customer needs.

None of this warrants the grossly exaggerated advertising. Perhaps their failings are the very reason why they feel the need to advertise so much !!!!

And, before anyone says that if I don't like it don't visit, I vowed after my last visit in July never to set foot in the place again !!!

[UncleSam]

WHAT A DUMP !

hehehehehe..............

[wowpow]

I am not an admirer of the burger outside of America and there in particular at a Hamburger Mary's, Chi Chi Burger or a New York deli.

Still Chris' daily poundingn of the brain has made me think of them so when I had shopped until I nearly dropped I saw that the line at Greyhound restaurant in Central Chitlom had gone I popped in. I had a superb cheeseburger and a huge watermelon cooler (they make the ice with watermelon juice!!) what can I say - it came on a wooden board, a small bowl of salad nicely dressed, a small bowl of vegetable pickles nicely tart, a pile of hand hewn fries without a trace of fat and a neat seame bun which was toasted and incredibly delicious. The hamburger was made with fillet of beef and despite being well being the medium rare requested was moist and tasty. The cheese was plastic pasteurised but at least it was nicely melted.

A comfy banquette, superb deft staff, a linen tablecloth and napkin, and the burger price? only 160 baht + 10% = 176 baht cheaper then Niddys Hoot Sadly they were not offering a Gaypattayan Cocktail; but apart from that I as very content and impressed.

[Dboy]

AT: Shouldn't you be using Maggi instead of Tabasco in that Bloody Mary?:-)

Hope you and Niddy are doing well.


Dboy

Went in to Niddys Nook last night to try the new bloody mary. The drink was very NICE and a decent size. The taste was excellent and I asked Chris if it was fresh squeezed tomato juice, which he said it was not. I was very surprised, but I guess he just uses the best of the bottled juices. I had a wonderful conversation with Chris, this was my second trip and second chance to chat with him. He is an extremely nice gentlemen and had nothing but good things to say about this board believe it or not.
I also had a cheeseburger, to once and for all give an unbiased view. I have to say it was very, very good. The bun was fresh and big, I think this might be a new bun if i recall an earlier email. Anyhow, the burger was cooked fine, juicey and well seesoned. The cheese was just processed american style, but i thought it tasted fine and it was melted nicely.
As I said before, ii have had nothing but good experiences at this restaraunt and cant understand why the same group of people seem to always post negative comments.
Try it for yourself, youll see.

DELETED

[Dboy]

^-Why bother? Besides. since when should anyone take culinary tips from the English?

Niddy's Nook is a fine place with a lovely owner, living his dream in Thailand...and thats a good thing.


Dboy

DELETED

^-Why bother? Besides. since when should anyone take culinary tips from the English?


Dboy

That's rich coming from a Yank or at least someone who says they live in the USA. Most Yanks are grossly obese lard-arses because of their appalling cuisine and diet.

Their contribution to the world cuisine is MacDonalds, Burger King, Colonel Sanders, Kentucky Fried Chicken - all guaranteed to pile on the pounds and harden the arteries!! No wonder the US has proportionally by population the largest number of obese people of any country in the world.

Having had the misfortune to work in the US for two years the only decent culinary creation they can boast about is their soups and chowders.

^-Why bother? Besides. since when should anyone take culinary tips from the English?


Dboy

That's rich coming from a Yank or at least someone who says they live in the USA. Most Yanks are grossly obese lard-arses because of their appalling cuisine and diet.

Their contribution to the world cuisine is MacDonalds, Burger King, Colonel Sanders, Kentucky Fried Chicken - all guaranteed to pile on the pounds and harden the arteries!! No wonder the US has proportionally by population the largest number of obese people of any country in the world.

Having had the misfortune to work in the US for two years the only decent culinary creation they can boast about is their soups and chowders.
Not true!

You failed to mention our burritos and corn dogs!

[quote="Thaiquila
Not true!

You failed to mention our burritos and corn dogs![/quote]

I thought burritos were Mexican in origin, or has the US invaded and taken over another country in it's quest for world domination.

[quote="Thaiquila
Not true!

You failed to mention our burritos and corn dogs!

I thought burritos were Mexican in origin, or has the US invaded and taken over another country in it's quest for world domination.[/quote]
Typical ignorance.
Burritos are indeed of Northern Mexican origin, but the American version is so different than the traditional Mexican version, that it is really now an American food. The Mexican burrito is usually just meat rolled in a flour tortilla. The US version includes the meat, and rice, beans, salsa, sometimes cheese, sometimes sour cream, sometimes guacamole, sometimes cilantro, etc. etc. Fattening? Kind of. Delicious? Oh yeah.

These kind of burritos cannot be found in Mexico: (This is Palo Alto, California)

http://people.csail.mit.edu/manoli/gallery/paloalto/burrito.jpg

I can America bash and bush bash along the best of em, but people who attack American food just don't know what they are talking about. It has one of the best food cultures in the world for people who care about food. Yes, the mass market fast food crap is poison, so America also has crap, if you want it. Up 2 U.

We made steak burritos for dinner last night. They were wonderful.
Tonight we went out for all you can eat Alaskan king crab legs. As often happens, as we entered a woman assumed I was the restaurant manager and asked, 'Do you have crab legs?'
I replied, 'No, just a little heat rash.'
The legs were awful. We could only eat 64. Each.
As we left, a bus boy was in the parking lot removing crab legs, the words not actual legs, from the sign.

The American version of the burrito has traveled back to Mexico. Some places there make both kind and call the American style burritas. Meaning the American version is the 'pussy' version?

I've been told chop suey was invented in America for a finicky visiting Chinese high hat, by a British chef working on a train. New Yorkers claim it was invented there. Whatever, my mother would not let me eat chop suey. She said, 'Not Chinese, American garbage.' So I'd sneak off and buy it. At the Jewish deli.

The hamburger is credited to Asia & the Tartars who would put a piece of beef under their saddle and ride. When the beef was tender they'd eat it. Beef tartar. Cooked in horse sweat? I think some restaurants still make them that way.
Fourteenth century Germans, in Hamburg, ate raw beef on a roll but the idea is supposed to have traveled there from Russia. So the first hamburger, as we know it today, originated at The St. Louis World fair in 1904, as did the Rubin which originally was called a Prizewinner because it won a prize for best sandwich at the fair, beating out the hamburger.

The hot dog was invented in America in the 1860's by a New York German butcher, or German vendors at Conney Island. And a Conney Island is a hot dog topped with chili con carne.
The name, dog, started with a 1836 newspaper story, or hoax, saying the price sausage in New York dropped 50% when the dog-killers were rounded up, but the name, hot dog, didn't really catch on until college students started calling them that around 1884-Harvard, or 1895-Yale, but, even earlier, hot dog was slang for a well-dressed young man. I prefer my young men with French dressing.
In Quebec they call a hot dog a Michigan.
There's also a story that the hot dog was brought back to Germany by a man who had them at a White House July fourth party but they didn't sell, in Germany, because he mistranslated and promoted them as dogs in heat.

Turkeys are native to Mexico but the English believed they were from Turkey. The Turks, and others, thought they came from India, or what they thought was India. Back then Mexico was called the Spanish Indies. The Norse, ever exact, pinned the damn thing down to Calcutta and called turkeys Calcuttis, or some thing like that.

Potatoes, closely related to tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, came from Peru and Bolivia but sweet potatoes are from Africa. In the Philippines they are purple and they make candy from them. I had the same thing in Thailand but it was the orange-brown color.

Corn is supposed to also have originated in Central America or Mexico. I think there's a tale that Raleigh brought it from America to England and told Queen Elizabeth to try it. She said it was OK but could never replace Essex, or was it sex? 'But,' she said, 'the cigarette was nice for afterward. Now kiss my grits, Walt.'

[wowpow]

Chillies taken from Mexico by the Portuguese and brought to Thailand. Ask a Thai what they ate before Chllies and you will get a blank stare. Food without is incomprehensible - it even crept into the Bloody Mary to give it a kick.

So the American contribution to World Cuisine includes:
Hamburgers - a chopped beef steak seems to be common in most European countries
Hot Dogs - German sausages
Buritos - Mexican twist
Chop Suey - fake Chinese
American fried rice - created for the American palate
Ribs - previously dogfood
Corn Flakes - simple delicious and original
Waldorf Salad - also can be superb but currently unfashionable
Caesar Salad - from Tijuana - many atrocities under this name are served around the world - well made it's scrumptious

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8392312/ has
10 Foods that Made America Great
Clam Chowder
Pastrami on Rye
Shoofly Pie
Virginia Ham -
Po.boys
Fejitas -
Chicago Hot Dogs
Chile Verde
San Francisco Sourdough
Olympia Oysters

So many delights for me yet to try. I have eaten very well indeed in the USA and often quite cheaply.

"I asked a Thai boy what was his favourite Thai food - answer Kentucky Fried Chicken!"

And for ex-servicemen, don't forgot the infamous chipped beef on toast or as it is commonly known: SOS (SHIT ON A SHINGLE)!

Interesting.
Back to burritos, no the American burrito as done by quality purveyors is NOT a pussy version.
Just totally different. For example, most Mexicans would be disgusted by SOUR CREAM on any Mexican food, including a burrito, and I agree with them there. But an American burrito is often doused with hot chiles, if opted, so what is pussy about that? Again, it is more about the multiple ingredient style, the kitchen sink thrown in the tortilla versus just meat.
And yes fajitas are definitely an American thing too.
The only place you find them in Mexico are at tourist Mexican restaurants catering to Americans and Canadians.

And yes, I agree, the cuisines of America and the Americas have made a monumental contribution to world cuisine.

[wowpow]

"And yes, I agree, the cuisines of America and the Americas have made a monumental contribution to world cuisine."

Now, now lets not get carried away. I can't see that anyone said that to agree with. The produce of The Americas, mostly central, have spread worldwide and are great. The Cuisine of America seen around the world is often fast food and junk food. See what we see in Thailand - Macdonalds, Burger King, Kentucky fried Chicken, Dunkin Donuts, Aunt Annies, Mr Millers Cookies, Au Bon Pain, Baskin Robbins, Haagen Daz, Delice de France, Outback Steakhouses, Sizzlers, Submarine, Starbucks, Tony Roma's Ribs, Deep Pan Pizza. Chicken Treat, . Planet Hollywood (not Hard Rock Cafe that's British), Svenssens etc. I am not saying that they are bad but overall they do sell a lot of fat and sugar.

None of the 10 listed as Foods that made America great are known around the world.

I suppose that based on restaurants the most popular cuisines in the world are Chinese, Thai and Italian. The two Great cuisines of the World are generally acknowledged as French and Chinese.

[Brad the Impala]

Au Bon Pain is American? Now I am confused.

Au Bon Pain is American? Now I am confused.
Yes, it is a Boston based chain.

[wowpow]

" A A Gill The Sunday Times August 20, 2006

Table Talk - La Noisette - AA Gill

One of the oblique ways of telling what a new place is like is to see what sort of books are in the junk shop. Cortez is a town in Colorado, between the desert canyons of the Navajo reservation and the pine mountains and aspen-fringed meadows of the high San Juans. On the thrifty shelves, along with the knackered cowboy boots, herniated belt buckles and saccharine china tchochke, there was a small selection of callously thumbed books. Most were cookbooks and maps of other places тАФ which sums up Cortez, a push-me-pull-you of wanderlust and homeliness.

I bagged Chuck-Wagon Cooking: тАЬAn authentic collection of round-up law, cowboy humour and more than 100 old-time recipesтАЭ. The cover is a fetching photo of stew, biscuits and a .45. No well-fitted kitchen should be without one. Then there was a collection of recipes from the pinto-bean cooking contest, with classics such as pinto-bean mock chicken legs and pinto-bean fudge. And there was a book with one of those titles that makes you kick yourself for not having thought of it first: Best Recipes from the Backs of Boxes, Bottles, Cans and Jars. IsnтАЩt that brilliant?

America has a particularly intimate relationship with proprietary processed food, and these recipes were as bizarre, touching, occasionally delicious but mostly palate-scrapingly disgusting as the States itself. How about oven-fried chicken and bananas, from the Coco Casa cream-of-coconut label? The ingredients are chicken bits, cream of coconut, lemon juice, bananas, three-quarters of a cup of melted margarine and two and a half cups of cornflakes. IтАЩm not going to give you the method for Jell-o Artichoke Salad. YouтАЩll just have to imagine. The Jell-o flavour is lime, naturally.

One of the best things about coming back to this bit of Colorado is that itтАЩs home to one of the best natural cooks IтАЩve ever met. SheтАЩs a doctor who delivers babies for the Indians. ItтАЩs a sexist truth that chefs tend to be men, while cooks are usually women. Men make food with arrogance, vanity and enthusiasm; women with love. I know thatтАЩs a syrupy stereotype, and there are humble chefs and women who couldnтАЩt cook a marshmallow with a blowtorch, yet the most moving and memorable things you eat will be given to you by a woman. And theyтАЩll be free. Occasionally, theyтАЩll prepare food that is greater than the sum of its ingredients and becomes an edible parable, a secular transubstantiation, a communion of hospitality and sustenance тАФ not the flavour of heaven, but, far more elegiac, the taste of humanity.

Emily gave me a tomato sandwich on sliced white and an egg stuffed with coriander. She grew the tomatoes and raised the hen. It sounds so prosaically absurd, so lumpy with banal bathos, but I could barely say thank you for fear that I might sob. We taste and experience food in the part of the brain that came before language. Sometimes it is beyond words.

Later, my boy, Ali, said: тАЬThat tomato sandwich, itтАЩs the best IтАЩve ever eaten. What was in it?тАЭ Tomato. тАЬJust tomato?тАЭ Yes, and no. He gave me the тАЬwhateverтАЭ look.

Tomatoes are a feature of the menu at La Noisette on Sloane Street, London. Heritage tomatoes. These are a twinky, snobbish American marketing deal. They have heritage-tomato tastings where you sniff pulp in glasses. IтАЩm not joking. "

Review of La Noisette on http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... 78,00.html (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25609-2308278,00.html)

[UncleSam]

and other natives on your little island have had over 800 years more than we Yanks to develop a decent cuisine...without much sign of success. Compare that to your French neighbors, lovey.

For most of those centuries, until very recently, the only places to eat well in the UK were invariably at restaurants run by non-Brits. Now that the food is finally getrting better, it's also a lot more expensive than the good old USA.

although every US city has a variety of ghastly places called Wendy's, McDonalds, Hooters with dreadful food where calories are shovelled in by the truck load, you will aslo find the finest restaurants in the world in New York , LA and Chicago and most other very large cities.

Indeed I would say New York City is the very best city on this planet for fine food..although most are now horribly expensive ( but will never rival the cost of similar in London, Paris etc).

As for Septic Tanks ( for the benefit of the madman boygeorge), having travelled the length and breadth of that great land I have truly never seen a more diverse collection of the most beautiful men / boys upon this planet than in the USA..and that owes much to the great huddled masses of Europe who migrated there.

Indeed I once ,as very young person travelled on a Greyhound bus from NY to LA and was constantly upset at the beautiful boys who would alight at one stop and get off at another, that I actually followed one beauty off the bus in a small Texan town, only to be arrested by the local sheriff for some alleged misdemeanor.

and other natives on your little island have had over 800 years more than we Yanks to develop a decent cuisine...without much sign of success. Compare that to your French neighbors, lovey.

For most of those centuries, until very recently, the only places to eat well in the UK were invariably at restaurants run by non-Brits. Now that the food is finally getting better, it's also a lot more expensive than the good old USA.

At least you accept that in your eyes UK food is getting better but I would disagree in that British food has always been good and has furthermore improved beyond all recognition in the last 30 years, so much so that a UK restaurant was voted the best in Europe in a recent respected food journal. As for being owned by non-Brits that is a red herring...it is not the ownership that is the criteria but the type of food served. We now have nearly as many Michelin starred restaurants as the French. As for French cuisine, it is excellent if you like everything covered in garlic and swimming in saturated fat and butter (but as a Yank you are used to everything being cooked in saturated fat - hence your country's appalling rates of heart disease and obesity).

You Yanks have been at it for 300 years and are still struggling to produce anything you can call a cuisine (decent or otherwise). As for UK food being a lot more expensive than the USA, that is only right given that UK cuisine is vastly superior to anything the USA has yet been able to produce.

Now that the food is finally getrting better, it's also a lot more expensive than the good old USA.

Considering the appalling food that is turned out in the USA it is little wonder that it is cheaper.

Heart disease on a plate has always been and still is the USA trademark for food which explains the enormous yanks we see waddling the streets much to everyone's mirth.

UK "cuisine"? I've never heard it termed that way. Tucker or grub, maybe. "Cuisine"? I think not.

but that is not the classic American Bloody Mary :"Made up of Absolut Vodka, Tomato Juice, Worcestershire, Tabasco, Pepper & the all necessary Celery Stick" : all those ingredients are correct but ou have left out one most important one...the one that got us all up and flapper dancing in the 20's..include one topper of sherry..then you will experience true nirvana.

I exhort you to include this ingredient in your Bloody Mary as I have invited numerous friends to join you at Niddys Nook and indulge..all upon my open bar tab ( don't worry, I will be back from NZ in about 4 months to clear it )

Top 50 restaurants in world - surprising how many british are in there.

The Fat Duck, Bray, Berkshire, Britain
El Bulli, Montjoi, Spain
French Laundry, California
TetsuyaтАЩs, Sydney, Australia
Gordon Ramsay, London, Britain
Pierre Gagnaire, Paris, France
Per Se, New York, New York
Tom Aikens, London, Britain
Jean Georges, New York, New York
St John, London, Britain
Michel Bras, Laguiole, France
Louis XV, Monaco
Chez Panisse, California
Charlie Trotter, Chicago, Illinois
Gramercy Tavern, New York, New York
Guy Savoy, Paris, France
Alain Ducasse, Paris, France
Sketch (Gallery), London, Britain
The Waterside Inn, Bray, Britain
Nobu, London, Britain
Arzak, San Sebastian, Spain
El Raco de can Fabes, Spain
Checcino dal 1887, Rome, Italy
Le Meurice, Paris, France
LтАЩHotel de Ville, Crissier, Switzerland
Arpege, Paris, France
The Connaught, London, Britain
Le Manoir aux QuatтАЩSaisons, Oxford, Britain
Le Cinq, Paris, France
Hakkasan, London, Britain
Cal Pep, Barcelona, Spain
Masa, New York, New York
Flower Drum, Melbourne, Australia
WD50, New York, New York
Le Quartier Francais, South Africa
Spice Market, New York, New York
Auberge dтАЩIll, Illhauseern-Alsace, France
Manresa, California
Dieter Muller, Germany
Trois Gros, Roanne, France
The Wolseley, London, Britain
Rockpool, Sydney, Australia
Yauatcha, London, Britain
The Ivy, London, Britain
Gambero Rosso, Italy
The Cliff, St. James, Barbados
Le Gavroche, London, Britain
Enoteca Pinchiorri, Florence, Italy
Felix, Hong Kong
La Tupina, Bordeaux, France

http://www.worldpress.org/Americas/2090.cfm

[Dboy]

Apologies for my post on English food. The best English food seems to be Indian, while the best American food seems to be Mexican...so I guess we're even. But if you include American fast-"food" then we go into the minus column. Let's all just be friends.

Dboy

Top 50 restaurants in world - surprising how many british are in there.



There are many fabulous restaurants in the UK now, but few serving what I would call "British food". It's mostly French, fusion, "world cuisine", etc. I don't think you'll find any of them serving toad-in-the-hole or pork pies.

I can boast of having eaten at 6 of those restaurants ( perhaps some others when I was too drunk to remember )..no wonder I'm almost bankrupt.

The one that will always remain in my mind as the most glorious experience is Tetsyua in Sydney..where you must basically put the entire night aside as about a dozen dishes are brought in with genteel Japanese manners and carefully placed in front of you..one per half hour.

Each food portion appears minute and at first you think "what the hell !"..but you leave completely satisfied having experienced he greatest Japanese feast upon this planet.

Is it any wonder that star David Bowie actually flies into Sydney twice a year just to eat at Tetsuya !..but the prices, oh my Lord..make sure a rich friend is paying.

For more restaurant reviews..check out the noted music identity, song writer turned author and the discoverer of Hampstead Heath gardener George Michael..gastronome Simon Napier Bell who resides in Pattaya ( in a magnificent villa built by the Ocean 1Tower builders..just another gratuitous plug). http://www.simonnapierbell.com

Personally, I was never happier than when I lived in London in the 70's just off the Portobello Road and ate at the variety of working men's cafes..probably by now turned into hideous yuppie style brasseries.

I can't believe how many people are taken in by the reviews and 'star rating' of the likes of the Michelin series of guides or the Mobil Travel Guides or even the American Automobile Association food guides. It's all tosh and nonsense with overly self important types 'bigging' up or belittling places where to 'eat' to such an extent that it has become so important to (some) restaurants that recently one owner/chef committed suicide for having his Michelin star revoked. These places may well serve halfway decent food, but they become more like places to 'be seen' and places to state that you have visited rather than places to eat. Overhyped, overpriced nonsense. Give me my old ma's Lancashire Hotpot and suet Dumplings anyday.