May 2008 Archives

The fall-out from Glasgow Rangers loss in the UEFA Cup final continues as stories emerge from operators about how they dealt with thousands of drunken Scots descending on Manchester.

By all accounts the pubs in the town centre had a quiet afternoon, as by lunchtime the fans of the Teddy Bears had drank the bars dry. An alternative source of booze had to be found so the canny Ger's hit the city's casual dining outlets in a rush for bottled beers.

It has emerged that Cafe Rouge Manchester gave up on selling French fare and emptied its cellars of booze by 3pm, forcing the restaurant to close, the staff to go home and the Rangers fans to turn to Tesco's for their drink.

The Scots being Scots though left a few bottles of the Moutard Rosé Champagne behind. It might have been their first UEFA Cup final appearance since winning the trophy in 1972 but there is no reason to spend that much money.

Rangers win gives HIT Scotland a rosey glow

Pol Roger is one of the few remaining family-owned champagne houses in France.

Although not as large and therefore well known a producer as the likes of Moet & Chandon or Veuve Clicquot (who have between them almost half the market), the house, which was founded in 1849, is highly regarded within the wine trade.

Suitably bespoke city caterer Vacherin called in recently at Pol Roger's Epernay base, which is situated in a splendid manor house, with a mix of directors, managers and clients on an educational trip organised via Laytons wine merchants.

Pol Roger's Hubert de Billy, director of sales and marketing for France, was on hand to give an extremely entertaining tour of the adjacent production facility and cellars.

It seems with demand for the fizzy stuff being fuelled by emerging markets such as China and India, Champagne is already struggling to meet this unquenchable global demand and finding enough grapes for production is much more difficult than finding customers.

It appears that all the global jetsetting may have taken its toll on Gordon Ramsay. The poor chap just doesn't know where he's going from one day to the next.

In an interview with the Weekend Australian magazine (strangely tagged "exclusive" in today's Sun newspaper), the superstar chef revealed plans to emigrate Down Under.

"I want to quit while ahead and move on. I'm 41 -- how long can I go at this pace?  Another ten years then I'll f*** off to Australia and retire.

"I'll open a restaurant in Queensland and open the f***ing thing one day a week and close six days and just open for the fun of it."

The Conrad Hotel in London has seen its fair share of diva-like behaviour in the past ten years. Back in the day, a fledgling boy band you may have heard of, Take That, stayed there, all young and unspoiled.

Well, unspoiled in one sense. But unfortunately for the chambermaids, the boys had not yet learned to take care of themselves without mum and dad, and ended up trashing the five-star suite with "cereal" and other very bad things. Rock 'n' Roll.

Which brings is onto Prince (yes we're allowed to call him that again) who also caused some 'controversy' when he stayed there during his record 21 live-show stint at the O2 arena. 

The vertically-challenged rock god demanded the Presidential suite be painted all in black and that a specially-made grand piano be hoisted into the rooms- all at his own cost of course.

And finally a well-known Middle Eastern arms dealer once commandeered the entire top floor for himself and his henchmen. And then the floor below for all his newly-acquired lady friends. Well, would you have refused a man who has access to an AK-47?

Being one of Caterer's Adopted Businesses is an honour not bestowed lightly.

It's better to be talked about than not at all, after all and there's a lot of associated credit to go with a regular feature in the hospitality magazine.

Although Caterer's reach is well established with a number of ex-pats. on the subscription list, one tale from current Adopted Business Vacherin still managed to surprise.

With all publicity being good publicity, it appears Caterer's coverage of City caterer Vacherin has permeated the world wide web and has been picked up as far away as Africa.

Poor Alastair Darling, embattled chancellor of the exchequer.Hated by the pub industry after his merciless hike in alcohol duty in this year's Budget the man is even barred from his local, Punch Taverns owned Red Lion as a result.

As the UK economy splutters and Bank of England head Melvyn King hums "There may be trouble ahead" in his ear, it seems everyone's happy to have a laugh at his expense.

Kitchen Rat was more willing to raise a glass to JD Wetherspoon's latest advertising campaign the budget beer purveyor is promoting Abbot's Ale for a wallet friendly £2.39, along with a range of other keenly priced tipples under the poster headline - you've guessed it - "Move Over Darling".

It's enough to make a man furrow his (strangely dark) brow.

Punch Taverns gives chancellor knockout blow>>

Government fails to disclose beer tax motives>>

Hospitality may have had an audience at Buckingham Palace but even in such exciting surroundings it's impossible to dull a Michelin starred chef's senses.

One lucky French chef told of the thrill of being let in via the front gate with a gaggle of tourists watching and no doubt thinking "wow, who's that?".

Once inside he was delighted to find out that all the menus in the palace - stretching back through the ages - had been, and still were, written in French.

There was apparently a sticky moment where a well known food critic's efforts to educate our chef on proper form when meeting Her Majesty illicited a discreet intervention from a palace official, who instructed him, without a word, on how to bow correctly, but all in all it was thrilling.