Tantris is tantalising

Saturday, April 07th , 2007

At the top end in Munich, it was Gault Millau 1 v Michelin 0. Tantris has two Michelin stars, yet 19/20 in the Gault Millau. It was clearly a strong three star meal, which is what Gault Millau suggested. Similarly Konigshof had just one star yet 18/20, and this was a strong two star experience. To compound an innaccurate week for Michelin, Acetaia in Munich was just 13/20 standard yet has a Michelin star. 

The Boxwood Cafe is the Gordon Ramsay venture with perhaps the weakest reputation, and this was confirmed on my visit.  Though there was a good pasta dish with crab, the average score was only 3/10 (and this is by no means a cheap place).  Worse, their signature burger involving foie gras was poor, and I actually preferred a burger I had two nights later at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen.

Do you remember those McCarthy era 1950s sci-fi movies where the earth is menaced by alien invaders posing as humans?  This week I wandered in to my local Thai Bistro, and everything looked similar, and yet not quite right.  The menu was the same, the decor identical, yet the waiting staff had all been replaced. Regular dishes were similar, and indeed about the same standartd, yet were displayed differently e.g. salmon with chilli and tamarind was served as a whole fillet instead of fish pieces, and there was less parsely than usual on the nam tok goong salad. The waiter I first spoke to said that the usual waitresses "had the night off" in an emotionless tone, which is just the response you would get in one of those old movies, and it was equally misleading. In fact there has been a change of ownership, and the place is about to be refurbished and get a new name and makeover. I will be watching carefully.