Harrods London

Introduction: Harrods food halls at Knightsbridge are a feast for the eyes
Ambience: Every food counter is overcrowded making it slow to get a seat and claustrophobic when you do
Service: Feels like a pub with bright lights
Food: Seafood, Oyster bar and sandwich bar. King size sandwiches toasted - tongue beef or cornbeef One sandwich and a handsome but not very good glass of wine a mere A$50
Comments: Go there to see it or perhaps to be seen Not to eat
Score: 13/20

Sushi Hiroba London

Introduction: Part of an International chain this one at 50 Kingsway London
Ambience: Utilitarian
Service: Self serve and waiter service
Food: Typical Japanese sushi, sashimi and a variety of small dishes go past on different coloured plates on a conveyor belt. Green tea Udon soup and other dishes can be ordered. The quality is very ordinary
Wine: Saki is available
Price: A$65 barely filled a cavity in one tooth
Comments: Expensive and poor value
Score:13 /20

Restaurant Bilbao Berria Barcelona

Introduction: ATapas house on the Cathedral square
Ambience: Crowded with rapidly changing clientelle
Service: Efficient
Food: Moderate variety Mussels stuffed with crab meat are very tasty as was thevegetarian eggplant and pepper construction. Elvers (called Angula here) which look like long white worms and are actually eel larvae, are a delicate specialty
Wine: House wine is barely acceptable
Price: Most tapas cost between A$3-6 depending on size
Comments: Excellent for a snack or meal
Score:13.5 /20

Restaurant Colón Barcelona

Introduction: Attached to the excellently placed hotel of the same name at Avenida da Catedral, 7.
Ambience: A very pleasant room
Service: Laughable pleasantly incompetent
Food: In a word AWFUL. The prawns in the prawn salad entree had not been cleaned and contained grit in the intestine The pumpkin soup was thin but acceptable Paella marinara had a recently deep frozen langoustine sitting an a bed of rice with a few limpits. Their special local fish only known in this area was inedible -extremely fatty with an overwhelmingly strong fishy taste. The ox sirloin requested blue came medium and the laquered lamb was as dry as a chip - cooked to death
Wine: The only good thing was the Domaine de Nidoleres, Syrah, 2002 - we needed 2 bottles!!
Price: Not cheap four dried little rolls cost A$11 3 entrees 4 mains and coffee and petit fours which I could not find on the bill came to A$270 Entrees about A$22 mains about A$40
Comments: I must say the staff were very nice
Score:11.5 /20

La Galvinos - Barcelona

Introduction: Facing the Marina at the port area of Barcelona. The many outside tables were empty at 10.00 pm on this winters night. Despite the hour staff greeted us warmly (almost fawning) and diners continued to arrive well after us the kitchen closing at about 11.30
Ambience: Gave me a vague feeling as tho I was on a shipwith huge porthole windows looking into the kitchen
Service: Plenty of uniformed staff for the number of diners meant as much attention as we wanted
Food: We started with the fish and shellfish soup Thick and filled with plenty of fish and prawns it was a good beginning. The mussels mariniere were large and satisfying in a slightly sweet thick tomato soup very much to my taste. The sweetness seems to come from the tomatos which are tastier than those in Australia
For mains I had the Angler fish in a thick fish sauce packed with oyster mushrooms and eggplant. Despite being much firmer (and less delicate ) than the one I had in Rome a year ago it was a very good dish
On the other hand the Hake with shellfish was extremely delicate. The flesh of this fish, also not available in Australia, very white and very fine. Wine: The house white was quite acceptable but the red rather rough
Price: We paid A$160 Starters A$12-20 Mains about A$45 You pay for bread everywhere in Spain
Comments: There are some meat dishes available but this is really a fish restaurant
Score: 15/20

Botafumeiro

Introduction: I don`t know if this specialist fish restaurant at Gran de Gra`n, 81 Barcelona has Michelin stars or not but it deserves them
Ambience: Bustling with waiters and patrons. A large display case is filled with awards and includes a Chaine des Rotisseurs chain. Photograhs of patrons includePresident Clinton and heaps of film stars and glitteratae. There is a long counter at which some ate presumably because the restaurant was full but most diners are seated at white linen covered tables
Service: White coated waiters are efficient but unhurried, considerate and willing to spend time on explanations
Food: We took our waiters recommendationfor 2 entreés and 2 mains
The crab salad in a light olive oil was exquisite with plenty of fine almost sweet crab meat
The grilled prawns were astonishingly tasty. Smaller but much sweeter than the Australian prawn they are caught 100 km up the coast. Only about 20kgm are caught each day for the whole of Spain and they could not be fresher ~ alive only a few hours ago
The Spiny Lobster (about A$170/ kgm) served with a mayonaise or a red mild sauce was again remarkable for the taste of the flesh
Finally the Sea Bass - a queen of fish, served with a cream sauce and sliced potato left us totally satisfied.
Wine: Again on our waiters advice a bottle of Bojus del Rios from the Galicia area proved to be an excellent accompaniment to the meal
Incidently they did have a few meat dishes available
There were complimentary sweets and Muscat to finish
Price: About A$430 but $300 if we did not have lobster
Comment: Undoubtedly a top restaurant
Score 18/20

Mt Rael Retreat

Introduction: A couple of miles out fo Healesville on the Yarra Glen Rd The views are wonderful: Packed with customers on the weekend to many of whom drink enough to let them roar with laughter as tho' there were no other customers who might like to talk quietly!

Ambience:Although it gave me the feeling of a spec house it is a pleasant happy sort of venue with a clean uncluttered feeling about it

Service: Neatly uniformed waiters, and waitresses, BUT neither the kitchen nor the floor staff could cope with the number of diners. They were short of menus, very slow and mixed up our order.

Food: A bit pretentious the rib eye was tasty but tough, the duck dry. Desserts are very good. The cutlery is mundane and to get some sort of kitchen knife for the steak further detracted from the enjoyment of the meal

Wine: A pleasant Reisling did not strain my wallet

Price: Slightly expensive for the food About $29 for mains $14 for entrees

Comments: Grossly overrated by Stephen Downes Great view moderate food terrible service

Score:13.5 /20

Lau's Family Kitchen

Introduction: A basic, good quality suburban restaurant at 4 Acland St. St.Kilda
Ambience: No nonsense No symbols of a past life
Service: The Lau family are everywhere and quick to look after you.
Food: Very straightforward. No fish crabs, lobsters prawns or scallops. No duck. Everything is very tasty
Wine: BYO is best
Price: Inexpensive but prices and menu have increased since y first visit
Comments: Make sure you make a reservation! A good recommendation in itself Don't bother with their web page which currently has almost no information ( www.lauskitchen.com.au)
Score:13.5 /20

Ru Inn

A popular Chinese restaurant on High St Armidale a couple of doors west of Kooyong Rd
Ambience: Undistinguished calm and pleasant. Has an air of being spotlessly clean with starched white table cloths Yesterday being the middle of a lng weekend, was very quiet. We found ourselves in the unusual situation of being two diners with two waiters and the proprieter and, I'm told, four in the kitchenService: Erratic. Slow at times but always extremely courteous. Andy, pictured, gave us every attention!
Food: Mostly Cantonese style. Having now been here 4 times recently and tried quite a few dishes I can confidently say this is a good general standard of cooking. If there is one thing which marks better Chinese cooking for me it is sweet sour dishes. There is lots of room for error - too sharp, too sweet too thick or gluggy. Whether pork or prawns Ru Inn do it really well.

These large firm fleshed prawns were in a light batter
Other dishes were good size serves and good taste. I enjoyed beef with vegetables and cashew nuts and Cantonese beef was excellent. We also tried the very tasty sate chicken and vegetables
Wine: BYO or chose from a limited and reasonable priced list
Price: A little dearer than average but not excessive. I end up paying about $75 for entree and main for two
Comments: Better than the nearby competition!
Score:13.5 /20

The Lobster Cave

Introduction: At 18 North Concourse, Beamaris this is a specialty seafood restaurant tho they do have some meat dishes for the dedicated carnivores
Ambience: Everything here tells you this is a fish place from the uniformed waiters ties with their crustacean theme to the wave like ceramic wall decorations t5o the large TV screen showing mostly tropical fish. Sophistctes might find it kitchy but I liked it tho it tho' it is a little tired
Service; Menus arrived promptly and our waitress waqs informative, attentive but not obtrusive
Food: From the start I liked the dish of crisp pistachio on the table. Garlic bread came with a twin bowl of Black olives and Olive paste. ($6.50) An entree of tempura prawns (6) was disapointing becuse the tempura batter was far to heavy and the dipping sauce also lacked the taste and refinement of that in most Japanese restaurants ($25) For mains I had the Fergh Lack half a lobster, a spanner crab, more prawns, two thick slices of toasted roll well covered in olive pesto and cheese all on a bed of green salad and parmesan cheese (99.90) Whilst my wife had a Lobster Thermidor ($85) there was plenty to eat but Sam Newmans comment that this place provides "Nirvanna for the taste buds" is very far from the mark. They use good quality ingredients but miss out on being fine cuisine. Nevertheless i will be happy to back for another lobster dish
Wine: We enjoyed a t'Gallant Pinot Grigio 2005 $42 i think which went very well with the meal
Price: There are plenty of less expensive choices but you need to avoid the lobster!
Comments; Have a look at their web page It's very well constructed and informative. Slightly expensive middle of the road suburban seafood restaurant
Score: 14/20

Kobe Jones

Introduction : On the waters edge at docklands (427 Docklands Drive) on the first floor
Ambience: A quiet sophisticated venue. apointments are simple and tasteful
Service: Very good not obtrusive
Food: Described as Japanese with a Californian twist. The term Californian twist appears in the menu quite often and refers to an extremely nice cream sauce. (the other frequent attender is sesame seeds and sesame oil) The tempura has the finest batter and could not be faulted. the seared tuna was also excellent. I was delighted with the Tenderloin Beef Teriyaki which was a very tender and good serve of meat cooked blue, to my specification. All mains are served with miso soup and rice
The selection of desserts was also particularly pleasing
Wine: An odd list we had a Reisling which went well with the food
Price: Around $50 for two courses Probably a much better deal for 3 or more customers is the Chef's special menu The $70 menu differs from the $60 menu only by the addition of a 9th dish - soft shell crab Had I the opportunity that ixmmmbkokcertainly
Comments: Part of a chain that started in California now with restaurants in Sydney, Bangkok and London this is a high quality establishment
Score: 15.5/20

The Press Club

Introduction George Calambaris's new restaurant is on the ground floor of the former home of the Herald Sun at 72 Flinders St (Cnr Exhibition St)
Ambience: Reasonably spaced tables in a slightly sterile feeling black setting
Service: Extremely attentive, offering full descriptions of dishes and advice on wines
Food: A step up in Greek cuisine compared to anything else I have had in Melbourne - or anywhere else for that matter. There is a range of degustation menus from $45 up to $75. Called Kerasme They may vary from night to night or even from table to table. We had the $75 Kerasme which was a very large amount to eat. It began with a small cold platter which included some white anchovies which were more palatable than most, and a bean salad
Each course was unusual utilizing a range of spices. There was a little too much emphasis on Fennel which was also in the extremely tasty bread. The warm fennel and crab salad was a highlight.
George's head waiter promised to send me details of the food we had so I did not take careful notes. After waiting 2 weeks I guess that is not going to happen ( I suspect that they were offended that I thought their web page very poor - illegible and short on information and let them know my views)
Wine: We had a couple of bottles of Greek wine at about $48/ bottle they were very acceptable
Price: Ordinarily about $50 but can be much dearer
Comments: A great addition to Melbournes restaurant scene I'll be back and will be more explicit about the food next time
Score: 15.5/20