Eating difficulties

Villandry, the French-take-on-Carluccio's, has closed the doors on its Great Portland Street operation. Popular with Beeboids for breakfast meetings (if you're on the up, and want to be seen) and longer lunches (at the back, if you're scheming a career move), the restaurant almost single-handedly brought decent dining back to the street in 1998, in a style not seen since Pagani's Italian Restaurant, down at 40-48, closed in 1939.

Celebs you might have spotted at Pagani's: Sarah Bernhardt, James Whistler, H G Wells, Pietro Mascagni, Jerome K Jerome, J M Barrie, and E Nesbit. Here's a recipe for Filets Sole Pagani, from 1899.

"The sole is first of all filleted, and with the bones, some mussels, and a little white wine, a fumée de poisson is made in which the fillets of the sole are then cooked. The cook takes this cuisson, and by adding some well-chopped fresh mushrooms, makes with that what he calls a réduction; to this he adds some velouté, little cream, fresh butter, some lemon juice, pepper and salt, and cooks the whole together till well mixed, then passes it a l’étamine. With this the sauce is made. The cooked fillets of sole and eight or ten mussels are then placed ready on a silver dish, and the above made sauce poured over them. The top is well sprinkled with fresh Parmesan cheese, and after allowing them to gratiner for a minute or two, are ready to be put on the customer’s table."

• Jamie Barber, one time owner of Villandry, is one of the restaurant 'dragons' featured in the returning BBC2 series Million Pound Menu. 

Did @PhilipHammondUK just say the way to fix the problem on the high street was to open more restaurants and bars? Has he not been following Jamie’s Italian, Byron, prezzo, gaucho, Cau, carcluccios, chimichanga, Handmade Burgers, Ed’s Easy Diner, Bel-Air, Grillstock, villandry,

— Jamie Barber (@jamieb1) August 10, 2018