August 2008 Archives

After Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing (supposedly) patched up their differences over the latter's imminent departure from the Ramsay empire, one might have thought the simmering rows in the chef world would have calmed down for a while.

But, fortunately for those of us who like a bit of conflict, yesterday's publication of the annual Harden's Restaurants guide saw things kick off again.

Kapow! Announcing that Wareing's Petrus restaurant (a Gordon Ramsay Holdings operation for a few more weeks) had overtaken Ramsay's eponymous Chelsea outpost to win the accolade of the capital's finest top-end restaurant, co-author Peter Harden said: "What (Ramsay) urgently needs to do is to stop chasing media attention across the globe and to start putting some real effort into improving standards at the restaurants in his London heartland."

Biff! GRH hit back with a statement: "GRH has taken the one and two top spots in the current Harden's guide, which is surely cause for plaudits rather than the inevitably negative spin that the guide's editors have chosen in order to generate publicity for their guide."

Splatt! Not one to take things lying down, Harden responded thus: "In the old days, we used to get an annual call from Gordon thanking us for our support. We always told him not to thank us, but to thank the hundreds of reporters who rated his restaurant so highly. Why his representatives now think it's time to 'shoot the messenger' is not entirely clear."

Touche. Kitchen Rat reckons it's a high-scoring draw.

Update, 4 September: "And Harden's hits a 25-yard screamer into the corner to make it 2-1".

Another blistering attack on Ramsay on the Harden's website today. "Sometimes you do wonder if Gordon Ramsay isn't just moving from hype to self-delusion," the entry reads, going on to describe the chef's comments likening his Foxtrot Oscar pub to New York's famed Spotted Dig as "ridiculous".

Every year some research company or other compiles an amusing list of the oddities guests leave behind in hotel rooms-ranging from glass eyes to false legs (yes, just how do they walk out of there?)

But The Rat thinks the award for most incredulous item ever to be left behind, must go to The Jumeirah's Carlton Tower hotel. A few years ago a guest tried to use the safe in her room but found it locked.

After alerting the staff who broke into it, the group were astonished to find the rather immodest sum of $1 million nestling inside. The hotel staff managed to contact the gentleman who was previously in the room- who was in no way dodgy- who came back and calmly collected the larger than average wedge. 

The Rat would like to have been a fly on the wall when he was explaining that one back at the ranch...

According to the grail of all that is gossip-related news PopBitch, formula one driver Lewis Hamilton recently popped into the Dorchester Hotel for an event.

But instead of proudly walking through the front doors accompanied by a glare of flashing paparazzi lights, he was hushed in through the back in a very secretive manner.

Apparently the reason was nothing to do with shyness or a new-found abhorrance of having his picture taken, and was more of a mercenary motivation.

Hamilton apparently has a deal with the Hilton hotel group and his PR people were none too happy at the thought of him being photographed in another hotel's foyer...You can't please all the people all the time Hamilton, remember that eh?

The BBC these days probably conjures up the image of a giant bureaucratic entity smothered in health & safety rules. Despite this, its catering policy used to be somewhat more "relaxed".

Although the BBC had an onsite caterer for staff - currently Aramark and before this Compass - there was and has always been a need to cater for outside events such as programme launches.

However, a former manager tells us that it was more Only Fools and Horses than The Restaurant when they joined in the not too distant past.

Seems it was standard practice to recommend your mates for catering gigs, or at least a local restaurant that you'd once peered through the door into, to feed dignitaries and the various other VIPS in attendance.

So casual was this arrangement that our source informs us that two of the restaurants used by one section of the Beeb for event catering had actually appeared in a BBC TV programme. Alas, this was a show exposing filthy eateries.

In another particulary risky case, food was apparently prepared in a domestic kitchen before being driven across London in a car and delivered to a party attended by a South-east Asia ambassador.

Unsurprisingly this risky business was nipped in the bud and an assessment procedure established to draw up a list of approved caterers, which in this case sounds like commonsense rather than bureaucratic nonsense.

Aramark takes £15m-a-year BBC deal off Compass>>

Blanc's The Restaurant winners quit after seven months>>

Contract catering round-up>>

Where would we be without the BBC? Well a few years ago a lot better off as licence-fee payers.

Kitchen Rat hears from a former manager that when he took on his role around the start of the decade staff at the Beeb were spending an eye watering £300,000 a year on biscuits at meetings through their corporate hospitality budget.

Although new rules on Hob-Nobbing were introduced to address this, no doubt much to the disappointment of then caterer Eurest, veteran broadcaster John Humphrys hit the nail on the head for most large organisations when he retorted "it's not the biscuits we should ban but the meetings".

Blanc's The Restaurant winners quit after seven months>>

Hotel operator sought for former BBC Scotland site>>

Aramark takes £15m a year deal off Compass>>

Catering is hard graft but some catering bosses really dig it and find the boardroom simply doesn't provide the thrills of the staff restaurant.

Word reaches Kitchen Rat that one such individual is Ian Mitchell, co-founder of Bartlett Mitchell.

Such was Ian's enthusiasm to "get back to the floor" he recently took a week off to help out friend Lena Björck, managing director at high-end event caterer Inn or Out.

The event caterer was providing corporate hospitality at the recent Farnborough International Airshow and Ian rolled up his finely tailored sleeves to help out, returning a week later to Bartlett Mitchell exhausted by sated.

While Ian enjoyed the dynamism of being back on the shop floor, sources have confirmed that Wendy Bartlett, the other half of Bartlett Mitchell, will be maintaining a strictly strategic role within the industry.

 Bartlett Mitchell wins first private members' club deal>>

Bartlett Mitchell scoops £2.5m City contract>>

Knives are the current moral panic in the UK and it seems that even esteemed hospitality weekly Caterer and Hotelkeeper hasn't avoided the hysteria.

Being a magazine that is about catering and funnily enough read by chefs it's been offering the chance to win one of five superduper knife sets thanks to the generous people at combi-oven manufacturer Rational.

However, word reaches Kitchen Rat that a local hack - local to where the magazine has its offices, that is - at the Sutton Guardian has been in contact with Rational having seen the competiton on Caterersearch.

The local journo, none too sharp we fear, apparently asked: "Isn't this a bit irresponsible, bearing in mind the level of knife crime in South London at the moment?", when he got through to the equipment manufacturer's offices.

What to say? Erm, NO!

Oh well, proof if needed that we could obviously do with more Rational people out there?