What Fielding Missed

ONE of the Guide's main attractions is the dining recommendations. Fielding fails to mention many good European restaurants --usually for a reason. Perhaps the waiters do not speak English, or the maitre is invariably rude to Americans. Sometimes Fielding leaves one out simply because it is too good and already has all the business it can handle. Why spoil it for himself with a flood of U.S. tourists? Occasionally, Fielding just trips up. To fill gaps in the 1969 Guide, TIME asked its correspondents in London, Paris, Rome and Madrid to describe some notable Fielding omissions. Their recommendations:

London. Mitre Hotel, 28 miles outside London proper, at Hampton Court. Diners are advised to arrive early for an appetite-inducing stroll through the formal gardens of Hampton Court Palace across the street. Two restaurants, lavish wine cellar (stock valued at $125,000). Suggested entree: lobster `a l'americaine (sauteed in butter, flamed with brandy and served on a bed of rice with its own lobster sauce). Or Dover sole, poached in cream sauce and Meursault, garnished with baby shrimps. The tab: about $35 for two.

Paris. Lucas Carton, 9, Place de la Madeleine. Solicitous waiters in white tie and tails, warm and intimate decor, big luminous wall mirrors. Specialties include big Belon oysters, cassolette de queues d'ecrevisses, pressed duck Rouennaise. Wine list goes on forever. Dinner for two runs about $45.

Restaurant Drouant, Place Gaillon. Monthly meeting place of the French literary club, the Academie Goncourt. Excellent seafood (coquille St. Jacques gratinee, lobster thermidor) and desserts (peach Melba, orange Jeanette). About $30 for two.

Rome. Piccolo Mondo, two blocks from the Via Veneto, at 39 Via Aurora. A favorite hangout of movie people, so it is tops for that great American game of celebrity watching. A typical luncheon might consist of bucatini alia a matriciana (tubes of pasta in a sauce of tomatoes and bacon), trout au gratin, and a dessert of torta St. Honore. With house wine, service and cover, the bill will come to $9 for two.

Madrid. Alkalde, Jorge Juan 10.

Basque cuisine. Famed New York Gourmet Michael Field pronounces its cream of king crab soup as fine a soup as any he has ever tasted. English-speaking Owner Alfonso delights in introducing tourists to such unpronounceable Basque delicacies as kokotxas, zancarron, merluza koskera and bacalao al pil-pil.

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