I want to be entertained

Yes there is a chain of restaurants dedicated to burgers and gourmet burgers.

I recently visited the gourmet burger restaurant in Wilmslow, Cheshire and must say i was surprised becuase the gourmet burgers were fantastic.

There is over 30 combinations for the burger on the menu but you can always ask for a combination and they would be happy to make the perfect gourmet burger for you. Whether it be with certain sauces, vegatables, salad or a range of plenty of famous cheeses there really is certain something for everyone.

Personally i had the gourmet burger with a goats cheese in breadcrumb topping with a very nice slightly spicy sauce and chips. Yes it is slightly overpriced at around £7 per burger but for a one off the gourmet burger restaurant is certainly worth a visit.

Tetsuya was the number one resturant from Australasia and ranked a very creditable position of 9 overall in the S pellegrino worlds top 50 best restaurants 2008.

Tetsuya Wakuda himself summed up his skills very well in an interview ”I made a lot of things up and, luckily, people like the way it tasted.” Now for any chef to be highly recommended in his own industry is good but for someone who enjoys it as much as Tetsuya and is creative as Tetsuya it is even more creditable.

Tetsuya himself once turned away Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman becuase he was too busy, saying after “we didn’t have a table…what was i supposed to do”

The French laundry was placed number 5 in the S.Pellegrino worlds top 50 restaurants for 2008 but most importantly it was the highest ranked resturant from across the water in the USA.

opened in 1994 by Michael Keller The French Laundry has moved itself into a global restaurant and last year alone sold 24,000 oysters and pearls as well as 200kg of caviar.

In 1997 Ruth Riechl dined at The French Laundry and was so impressed wrote an article in the New York Times calling The French Laundry “the most exciting restaurant in America” a title which The French Laundry has taken on board and continued on to greatness.

Michael Keller himself not only mans the stoves but finds time to lend his voice to the childrens film Ratatouille as a customer in the restaurant. 

Pierre Gagnaire was placed number three overall in the st pellegrino worlds top 50 restaurants and was the highest placed French Restaurant.

Pierre Gagnaire himself is still behind the stoves, as well as keeping any eye on his many restaurants from London to Tokyo. The three michelin stars owned by Pierre Gagnaire has been hard fought and well deserved.

Pierre Himself now into his 58th year has made no plans to start slowing down with his businesses but has learnt over the years to always put a positive side of life.

In 2004 Pierre Gagnaire was awarded a mark of 0 out of 20 and simply smiled and said he was “still trying to understand the english sense of humour”. This personality topped with his fantastic cooking skills has gained Pierre many admirers and much respect within the industry.

La Gavroche is now well into its 5th decade as it opened in 1967 in London.  La Gavroche is the brainchild of Michael and Albert Roux and still keeping it in family tradition Michael Roux jnr is currently head chef.

Thats not the only tradition held at La Gavroche as the head waiter is still the same 51 years on with Antonio Battistella there. The new dish of year for La Gavroche was a surprise winner Roast Suckling Pig with Crackling, Peppered Sauce, Golden Raisins and Shallots Confit.

Nobu London has the backing of actor and legend Robert De Niro, the constant VIP guests such as Kate Moss and was the restaurant that Boris Becker got caught frolicking around in the cupboard, so you can say that this Nobu has plenty of stories to tell but most importantly people flock back over and over again for the food.

Nobuyuki Matsuhisa’s japanese restaurant continues to lead the way in the Japanese restaurant market even well into its 11th year. New dishes for 2008 include fois gras gyoza, wagyu, daikon oroshi and ponzu. Still a frim favourite is black cod though. 

Coming in position number 16, St John Restaurant was the third highest UK restaurant in the St Pellegrino Top 50 Worlds Best Restaurant. St John Restaurant opened in 1994 in London. The food at St John is mainly british but the wine list is far from it mainly because of Fergus Henderson French business partner.

St John has built up a reputation of being an event every time you visit, with its unique quests and chef its something customers constantly come back too. As well as the unique dishes such a chitterlings which are lower pig intestines.

Coming in at number four amongst the UK restaurants was Hakkasan. Now obviously this is isnt the most british of names but situated in the capital city London its in the perfect location.

Hakkasan’s name comes is made up of  Alan Yau which is a Hakka, a Chinese nomadic ethnic group, and San is the Japanese way of addressing someone. bringing together to become Hakkasan.

Hakkasan’s ambition is to become a global brand and this was started by opening a new resturant in Istanbul, Turkey earlier this year. Should this be successful, expect to see them in all the major cities.

All the named above were worthy enough to hold a listing in the St Pellegrino Top 50 Best Restaurants 2008.

Fat Duck now has 3 Michelin Stars and a menu which people flock from around the world to taste. The genius behind Fat Duck is Heston Blumenthal who himself has an OBE. Fat duck first came to the limelight in the early 2000’s with such dishes as bacon and egg ice cream and snail porridge.

Restaurant Gordan Ramsey is of course one the first of the now long list of gordan ramsey restaurants. situated in a quiet back street of Chelsea, London, Restaurant Gordan Ramsey has celebrities flocking to it especially after the 1million pound refurbishment now brings the setting of the restaurant inline with the fantastic menu.

At the now annual S.Pellegrine Worlds 50 Best Restaurant Ceremony the spanish restaurant of El Bulli came top for the 2nd year running.

The top 50 is decided by a group of food critics, writers and publishers which each represent a certain region.

This years top 5 was made up of five different countries and im guessing it will come as no surprise that the five included spain who were number one with el bulli, uk which came second with The Fat Duck, France came in 3rd with Pierre Gagnaire, Spain were represented again at 4 with Mugaritz and finally the US came in 5th with The French Laundry.

To complete the top 50 there was 5 Uk Restaurants, 11 French Restaurants, 7 Spanish restaurants, 2 Australian Restaurants, 1 South African Restaurant, 8 US Restaurants, 3 German Restaurant, 1 Swedish Restaurant, 6 Italian Restaurants, 1 Dutch Restaurant, 1 Finish, 1 Brazilian, 1 Swiss Restaurant and 1 Restaurant from Belgium.

Ministry of sound is probably the most well known club in London or certainly one of only a select few.

It has all the top acts, djs and nights in the Uk at Ministry Of Sound. With the Friday and saturday tending to be the most popular and most important the busiest and full of fellow clubbers.

The website for ministry of sound is updated regularly and you can plan your future nights whether it be a group or a few of you venturing down.

Membership is available for only £20 and includes many free prizes and discounts for big nights.

I recently visited the Bayleaf in bollington for what turned out to be a fantastic Indian.

I was a little sceptical about going as it was a £7.95 special offer. During the week they offer the £7.95 and it certainly works for them.

As soon as you walk in the service is good, when you arrive you get seated in the bar area and drinks are brought to you where you are left to look through the menu and make your choices. we remained in the bar area until the starters were ready and then were taken to our seats. Now a normal Indian restaurant can sometimes have a very dodgy decor, how the Bayleaf was, clean, modern and had a good atmosphere.

The food was brilliant. the £7.95 includes a starter, main, rice,chips or naan. This includes all dishes except the prawn dishes which can be added for only £3.

all in all for wednesday night and a cheap price the bayleaf comes highly recommended and will certainly give the Viceroy a good run for their money.