"We don't do anything different, as Le Manoir is already a very romantic place, " Mr. Blanc says.

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Raymond Blanc, the chef-proprietor of Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, has catered for Valentine's Day in every restaurant he has owned in Britain for the past 35 years.

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The absence of several first XV players, including Jimmy Gopperth, Jeremy Manning and Gcobani Bobo, forced Tait to field a string of inexperienced development players in the cauldron of Montpellier's Stade Yves-du-Manoir.

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Uncapped scrum-half Ben Foden celebrated his England call-up with an instrumental display in which he set up Mayor and Myler's tries before putting Lamont in for his late strike at the Stade Yves du Manoir.

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Earlier this year, chef Raymond Blanc invited me to try a place north of Soho that had opened in January called Dabbous ( www.dabbous.co.uk), as the chef, Oliver Dabbous, had trained under him for four years at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons.

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