November 2008 Archives

So you think taking over a struggling Championship football team, taking it into the Premiership and manoeuvring it to just three points shy of Manchester United in the first four months of the season is a hard task?

Well, according to Hull City FC manager Phil Brown, who has done just that in his two years in the job, it's nothing compared to running a restaurant.

Brown, picured here discussing Sam Allardyce's waistline, ran Brown's Brasserie while he was a lower league defender and recently talked to The Times newspaper of his experiences:

"I was maître d', front of house. That's tough, I tell you, it's one of the hardest jobs in the world. The experience of dining: for somebody to come in and be managed, treated the right way, have the right service, the right food, finishing as well as greeting - making sure they come back - that's one of the hardest things you could do. I found it a good job. One of the most thankless tasks I've ever done, but very rewarding and pleasing when you get somebody coming back to dine at your place."

Gordon Ramsay has predictably got it in the neck from Fleet Street's women columnists, following lurid tabloid allegations of his supposed seven-year extra marital affair.

The likes of Allison Pearson in the Daily Mail, Virginia Ironside in The Independent, Sue Carroll in the Daily Mirror and Catherine Ostler in the Evening Standard all attacked the celebrity chef in the wake of the News of the World revelations.

Pearson's comments were typical of those written by the angry columnists: "As his monumental hypocrisy was revealed, the 42-year-old Celebrity Father of the Year could at least have shown some embarrassment, even a little shame."

One high profile columnist, Jane Moore of The Sun, chose not to write about Ramsay, however, instead focusing on the collapse of Woolworths.

As journalist trade magazine Press Gazette's blog has pointed out, Moore is of course married to Gordon Ramsay's press spokesman Gary Farrow, head of The Corporation PR agency.

While at the launch of the Meal Appeal charity initiative in London this week, Andrew McKenzie, managing director at The Vineyard at Stockcross overhead a gem that he would like to share on Kitchen Rat.

Penny Moore from Hospitality Action to Jonathan Raggett MD of Red Carnation: "I met your son Oliver last week at the St. Julian's Scholars event."

Quite an innocent comment I hear you say... however, Oliver is Jonathan's brother and GM of RC's Chesterfield Hotel - a mere six years younger than Jonathan!

How responsibility and/or working with Terry Holmes must age you...

Americans are already making their predictions for next year - and what happens there tends to come here after a lag time of around four-six months. It's not hard to think of an example...the collapse of the over-funded mortgage market is a pretty good case of something reaching here with knobs on.

Anyway, one thing they're predicting is the demise of the big-ticket hotel restaurant chef next year. No surprise there, you might say, except that it would have a major impact on the dining rooms of Park Lane if that came to pass.

On that particular strasse top name chefs are packed in tighter than a Victoria line commuter train carriage, and some were said to be experiencing some difficulties even before the horrendous past six months came to pass. 

The issue around MFI and Woolworths is that they were just keeping their head above water in the good times. Now things have dipped somewhat the removal men have been called in, and I can think of a few that the same applies to on that famous Monopoly dark blue coloured-road

Let's hope Aiden Byrne leaving the Dorchester isn't a harbinger of things to come.

Alain Ducasse brings in new chef at the Dorchester >>

Aiden Byrne to head the grill at the Dorchester >>

Charlton House chief executive Robyn Jones has got in touch with Kitchen Rat to share an amusing tale of customer service that went a little too far.

"On arriving at the Vineyard at Stockcross (the two Michelin-starred restaurant in Berkshire) last Friday for a dinner with friends, we were welcomed by the front of house manager wishing to relieve us of our warm winter coats," Jones recalls. So far so good.

"I handed over my shawl whereby he just stood and waited for me to pass over my next layer." Here's where standards begin to drop.

"I was in fact wearing a 'coat dress' with very little underneath!" Jones adds. "I declined the gentleman's kind offer but did wonder whether the Friday night entertainment had failed to show?!"

Vineyard MD Andrew McKenzie has admitted the operation's business model will have to be more flexible to cope with the recession, but we're not sure naked customers is the way forward.

"Golden brown texture like sun, Lays me down with my mind she runs, Throughout the night, No need to fight, Never a frown with golden brown" was inspiration enough for one new firm.

Stuck for a name that didn't consist of the two founders' surnames, Simon Elliot, who last month launched Gold & Brown with partner Andrea Walwyn at the Academy Health Club in Harrogate, Yorkshire, heard the above Stranglers hit on his car radio and the rest, as they say, is history.

The company, which also has an online ordering business offering a range of locally sourced and ethical British goodies including products from Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate, has dubbed its cafe/delicatessen hybrid at the academy as a Caffètessen and plans two more outlets before Christmas.

Gold & Brown's website certainly impressed judges at Caterersearch's Web Awards last week who named it as their inaugural Foodservice Website winner.

So perhaps Queen's Don't Stop Me Now , Yazz's The Only Way Is Up or even the Sweet Smell Of Sucess by the Stranglers might be more appropriate for 2009.

It's been a tough week for Gordon Ramsay and his wife Tana after the News of the World published a story accusing the multi-Michelin-starred celebrity chef of a seven-year extra-marital affair last weekend.

The news has been all over the media this week with the Ramsay's and Gordon's alleged mistress' faces pretty much everywhere you look.

But the coverage hasn't just been the tabloids trying to unveil saucy details about the suspected affair and a lot has been written about how much damage the scandal will do to the Ramsay brand, which Gordon, father-in-law Chris Hutcheson and indeed Tana have worked so hard to build up.

The Guardian, Daily Telegraph and Independent as well as business journal Real Business all question the impact the alleged liaison will have on Ramsay's restaurant empire, while in contrast the Liverpool Echo says that affairs don't have to mean the end of a business.

Meanwhile the Evening Standard argues that the only person to fix the aftermath of the scandal is Hutcheson, CEO of Gordon Ramsay Holdings.

Kitchen Rat's guess is that as long as Gordon and Tana stay together, as they have vowed they would, implications for the restaurant business will be marginal. After all, people dining at Ramsay's restaurants are there for the food not the moral high ground.

Gordon Ramsay accused of cheating on wife

 They may have launched another one of those man-made island things with a party costing over £10m this week, and construction of the tallest building in the world goes on - a kilometre high being the target - but finally there's evidence that the unreal bubble the country lives in may be pricked, if not burst.

The Dubai government has debts of £52 billion, and it's rising fast as investment continues at its breakneck pace. Two banks that are entwined with the booming property market have been recently bailed out by the overarching United Arab Emirates State. Amlak Finance and Tamweel have become the Emirates Development Bank. In effect Abu Dhabi has come to the rescue of its big-spending Dubai neighbours.

We could enjoy their discomfort, but things are nowhere near as bad as they are here, and any pain they have will be likely to affect us eventually too, via higher oil prices.

Atlantis resort launched with £13.5m party >>

Dubai takes lead in Arab hotel expansion efforts>>

The Capital hotel's Michelin-starred chef Eric Chavot is set to cook for French President Sarkozy at the L'Academie Internationale de la Gastronomie's 25 Anniversary celebrations on 1 December this year.

He will be joined at Le Bristol hotel in Paris by fellow European top chefs and multi-Michelin star holders, Ferran Adria (El Bulli), Nadia Santani (Dal Pescatore), Dominique Gauthier (Le Chat Botte) and Eric Frechon (Le Bristol) - representing Spain, Italy, Switzerland and France respectively.

Chavot will be preparing lobster in coconut broth for the 120 lucky guests. That's one lunch we'd really like a seat at.

After intial reports that Chelsea dwellers were trading down from Michelin starred establishments to more brasserie-style eateries such as Sophie's Steakhouse on the Fulham Road, it seems the trend is spreading and has now reached the leafy suburbs of Chiswick.

Sam of Sam's Brasserie, reports a betweeded couple walking in the other day who asked to speak to him. Being the obliging chap he is, he sauntered over to talk to them. They had known about Sam's for ages, they admitted, but had never eaten there before as they normally dined at the Michelin starred La Trompette around the corner.

However, because of the recession, they had now traded down to eat at Sam's, they explained to him, almost apologetically. We didn't realise things had gotten this bad?!

While the nation battles obesity, it seems that our industry is bucking the trend and actually getting slimmer - presumably because we're all working so damned hard.

According to one uniform supplier in Edinburgh, increasing numbers of female staff are needing uniforms in the elusive (well to some of us anyway) size 0. Around 50% of the women's trousers it supplies are now size 8 and under, while men are also slimming down and are needing smaller chest sizes.

Gill Eastgate, MD of NKD clothing  said the company now supply sizes 4 and 6 as standard and frequently have to supply more size 6s than 12s. This flies in the face of the national norm, where women's average size is 16.

Eastgate attributed the anomaly to the fact that hospitality workers spend so much time running around on their feet and also the inlflux of Eastern Europeans who tend to have a tall thin build.

As you may have found out/heard/read in the magazine by now, we're running a programme of news, features and blogs next year around the concept of helping businesses survive the recession.

We think it's a great idea - times are tough, and you, the reader needs help. We're keen to chip in with the advice we have at our disposal, so we'll be bringing in advisers from various fields.

Consultants, financial institutions, food service companies and technology providers will all be sent along to help restaurants and hotels steer their way through the coming economic storm.

It might be that you have an extention planned that would double revenue, but which be a risk in the current climate. Or perhaps your manager is refusing to work a certain shift, while other members of staff struggle in her absence.

We can help, with answers provided by our experts on an ongoing basis. Put your name forward and you can receive this top-level advice free-of-charge, while also gaining the hefty bonus of coverage in the magazine.

So do enter - head to our short series of questions on the Caterer website to take advantage of this fantastic opportunity.

Economic slowdown could force drop in room rates >>

Britain facing prolonged recession, hoteliers warned >>

Tech-focused restaurant Inamo in London's Soho has had to say good bye to its head chef, Kitchen Rat has learnt.

Anthony Sousa Tam, who previously worked at Nobu and Hakkasan, has left the pan-Asian restaurant because "things didn't work out" between him and proprietors Danny Potter and Noel Hunwick.

While it is unclear where he is off to next, he's definitely one to watch. After all when he was head chef at Atami the Evening Standard's Fay Maschler described his menu as "better than that at Nobu and Zuma".

Inamo is currently in discussions with a possible replacement, Kitchen Rat is told. At the core of the Inamo concept is an interactive ordering system that allows diners to order their meal from an illustrated menu projected onto a touch sensitive screen on their table.

Industry deals continue despite credit crunch>>

Among Barack Obama's many important appointments to office is not actually whether Hillary Clinton will be Secretary of State but who will be named as the new White House chef.

According to the New York Daily News, it seems that there are three chaps in the running to cook for the US President Elect. 

Celebrity chat show host and flagrant Obama supporter Oprah Winfrey's former personal cook and Chicago restaurateur Art Smith is the front runner, as well as another Windy City chef Rick Bayless, who owns two Mexican restaurants in Obama's hometown. Denver-based chef Daniel Young, is the final candidate, who it seems was wrongly rumoured to have cooked for Obama at the Democratic National Convention.

At least whoever gets the gig will be able to be a little more creative than Dubya's chef, who allegedly spent eight years refining the BLT and white bread grilled cheese sarnies and burgers.

As sex-based rumours threaten to swamp Gordon Ramsay, another little story has come to the fore, casting light on his well-groomed family man image.

Talking about the cake his mum, Helen Ramsay, painstakingly baked for his 42nd birthday celebrations earlier this month, the mellow-mouthed, sweet-tempered chef let rip this diatribe:

"It was 'f***ing disgusting. I know it was Bonfire Night but all I wanted to do was to stick a rocket in the end and send it up."

London has long been a bolthole for refugees of all different nationalities, but Kitchen Rat can report the discovery of a new variety - the Chelsea Refugee.

Seen pictured here, they are hurting financially from the credit crunch and consequent troubles in the city, combined with the prospect of recession, depression (both mental and economic) and most importantly, smaller bonuses.

It seems, however, this group has already started to cut its cloth according to its width.

Upmarket brasseries are seeing an increasing amount of these Chelsea gastronomes trading down from their traditional Michelin-starred haunts to humbler eateries.

However it appears that these chaps, while trading down on venue, refuse to compromise on quality, so much so, that one mid-market restaurant has actually had to increase the size of its top end wine list to cope with demand.

If one can't afford a Chateau d'Yquem at Ramsay's on Royal Hospital Road, perhaps a nice steak and a bottle of plonky Chateauneuf du Pape at Sophie's on the Fulham Road will have to suffice instead.  It's tough at the top eh?

Oh dear, oh dear. With all the hype surrounding the new opening of Dubai's £950m Atlantis Hotel, a storm has arisen over the hotel's aquarium, with its stockists accused of those aged old hotel crimes - deceitful acquirement of dolphins and underhanded whale theft.

Dolphin Bay, a central attraction of the hotel, was planned as the first rescue and rehabilitation centre for injured or stranded dolphins in Dubai, where customers can pay £75 a pop to have a swim with one of the resident Flippers. However, as reported in The Telegraph, far from gathering up knackered or orphaned dolphins the hotel has been accused by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) of buying 24 bottlenose varieties from a dealer in the Solomon Islands, originally captured from the waters around the island.

A spokeswoman for Atlantis said it was entirely committed to the welfare of all marine life at the resort. "The dolphins in residence at Dolphin Bay came from an existing facility in the Solomon Islands called the Solomon Islands Marine Mammal Education Centre. During the year they have been in residence in Dubai, two calves have been born, a sign of excellent acclimation and good health," she said.

However, the precedent isn't great. The row follows an order issued last month by the government of the United Arab Emirates to free a 13ft whale shark from a huge tank in the lobby of the 1,539-room hotel, after an international outcry. Environmentalists claimed that the owners of the Atlantis hotel had disregarded international permit laws and nicked the shark from shallow waters off the Gulf coast in August and then stuck it in a display for hotel guests.

It appears there are some things money can't buy. And that thing is a 13ft sympathetically-sourced whale shark.

So Gordon Ramsay has been cheating on his wife Tana with a "professional mistress", according to the News of the World.

The claims emerged over the weekend, with a report in the newspaper accusing Ramsay of a seven-year love affair with Sarah Symonds, author of the book Having An Affair? A Handbook For The Other Woman.

The allegations are particularly embarrassing as Ramsay publicly prides himself on being a family man - his wife and growing brood are often featured in his TV shows as well as in his numerous cookery books and last year the Ramsays were named Celebrity Family of the Year. Oops.

But the couple, who have been married for 12-years, put on a brave face and united front yesterday for a photo shoot outside their family home in Wandsworth, south west London.

However, all Gordon said to reporters was: "'It's time for Sunday lunch. I'm starving."

Good to see he hasn't lost sight of the important things in life.

First judgements on Richard Corrigan's new outlet, on the former site of Chez Nico, 90 Park Lane, attached to Grosvenor House, have been positive.

The Telegraph's critic Jasper Gerard called it "superb, showcasing typically gutsy, gamey Irish cooking. The setting is silvery, sumptuous and evocative of a cruise liner, with astonishingly fine food."

Gerard eats linguini with pecorino and bone marrow in red wine. "The bone marrow, covered in parmesan, is a chunky delight. Lovely though it is, it is soon rendered ordinary by the main course: grouse on croute with ceps. It has no top, so you can see the red, succulent stripes of game within, all encased in the finest pastry. It's one of the best dishes I've has all year and, like so much here, is redolent of the season."

According to Fay Maschler, writing in the Evening Standard, a treat was the "purity of steamed sole fillet with ceps served decorously with just the cooking juices. Corrigan talks of the special window of opportunity at the end of the wild duck season with mallards coincide with the first of the Seville oranges."

Corrigan to close Lindsay House and move to Mayfair >>

Michelin-starred Richard Corrigan opens Mayfair restaurant >>

The Hotel du Vin in Brighton is launching a free drinks Happy Hour promotion for three consecutive Wednesdays, starting 3 December.

But, before the health lobby jump down their throats, it is all in a good cause.

House beer, wines and spirits will all be free between 5.30 - 6.30pm for three Wednesdays, but with two caveats:

Punters will have to dress up at Father Christmas (or an Elf) and bring a children's gift with them, worth about a tenner.

The hotel will donate all the gifts to a local children's hospital in time for Christmas Eve.

Well here I am in Hong Kong airport, and what an adventure it's been. Last night the whole of IHG Asia Pacific were out in force on the pirate ship, in full regalia...Arrrrr. I called it a night early though I have to admit. Lame I know but it all caught up with me. Today was a bit slower paced than usual, but meeting the chairman of owners in Asia Pacific was interesting.

  The new Atlantis resort, on the The Palm Jumeirah resort in Dubai launched last night, at a cost of $20m.

Chefs Nobu Matsuhisa, Santi Santamaria, Michel Rostang and Giorgio Locatelli had come up with an array of elaborate dishes for party attendees such as Robert de Niro, Lindsay Lohan and Charlize Theron. Denzel Washington, Janet Jackson and Michael Jordan were also in attendance, partying to DJ Samantha Ronson's wheels of steel.

Kylie Minogue performed for an hour, and took away £1.3m for her work. Then there was a video sequence including Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra performing as the Goddess of Atlantis, a suitably evocative but vague role, while a firework display six times bigger than the Beijing Olympics opening effort hit the skies. Who needs to worry about money?

QE2 floating hotel plans unveiled >>

Giorgio Locatelli takes authentic Italian to Dubai >>

Amidst the doom and gloom present at this week's European Hotel Investment Conference at The Dorchester hotel there were a few chaps lurking in corners rubbing their hands. No, perhaps surprisingly, it wasn't at the sight of Deloitte's Marvin Rust in a pink lame abba catsuit opening proceedings that precipiated their glee.

Kitchen Rat discovered that,while everyone else is holding their breath, hunkering down and praying not to go bust, the laywers don't really care.

In an unguarded moment one told us: "We don't really care if they're buying at the peak of the market or if it's distressed properties forced to sell. We just don't want nothing to be happening."

Good to know the lawyers are living up to their reputation as kind, sympathetic beings then. 

Last night was the most culturally informative evening so far as we dined with members of the Asian media- including the China Daily, China's foremost English publication. I learnt that Asian people give business cards with both hands, that it is considered rude to talk business on a first meeting with a company, and that in fact Asian businessman believe the exact converse of our maxim of "not mixing business and friendship", and in fact see the two as inextricably linked.

It's not just celebrity chefs that like the odd, unnecessary expletive. It seems their teams have a certain penchant for gran-unfriendly four letter words.

When a retired teacher, arguably with a wee bit of time on his hands, decided that he'd remonstrate via letter over Jamie Oliver's use of the f-word on his Channel 4 Ministry of Food series, he received this response from Oliver's enquiries team:

"What do you think I should write back except 'F*** you you c***'"

Definitely not whipped off the Word 2007 reply templates, it appears that the response was designed as an in-joke between the aptly-named enquiry team member Kris Boobyer and Oliver's publicist Pete Berry. However, in that fat-fingered slip of hand that's proved fatal for many a cheating partner, Boobyer hit the reply not forward button, landing the potty-mouthed diatribe in the teacher's inbox.

After some wholehearted apologies from Boobyer an Oliver spokesman released the following statement: "It would be insensitive not to listen to comments made by members of the public for whom swearing affects their enjoyment of programmes."

Former Aramark UK chief executive Bill Toner has been uncharacteristically quiet since leaving the caterer in 2005.

Although there was tell that he had shaved off his strident quiff a while back and talk of him joining Jerry Brand's Host, which came to nothing in the end, the man that helped build Aramark into a major force in UK contract catering has been flying under the radar for some time now.

However, Kitchen Rat hears tell that Toner has sold his London pad, donated his expensive business suits to charity and moved to Scotland (admittedly to enjoy the odd round of golf) where he plans to devote himself to good causes (no, not the golf)...

Proof that real life can be stranger than fiction?

Marcus Wareing enters into partnership with caterer Aramark>>

Bill Toner to leave Aramark>>

Anyone who's eaten out in Moscow won't be hurrying to a new steakhouse concept from the Russian city very soon. A new Michelin guide to the Russian capital would be scratching around, that's for sure.

However, despite a slashing in half of the Moscow stock exchange, and the beginning of the desertion of Russians from our shores in the past month, a few are brave enough to come the other way. Last night they stood up for entrepreneurship at Goodman, a Russian steakhouse brand in London's west end. After building up seven of them in Moscow (the version in the Europeisky trade centre is pictured), with one due to open in Kiev, this is the latest offering in the UK.

The owners have come over all Chicago on us at Goodman, however, posting black and white photographs on the walls, offering booth seating, and a leather, brown wood interior mix. Then there's the name, which comes from US jazz singer Benny Goodman. Charlie Parker he never was, and the twee edge it adds might well put people off in the same way that David Hasselhof's singing seemed great to the Germans, but no one else.

However, in the case of the meat, the translation works. The slabs of meat are Australian or American, strip, fillet or ribeye were outstanding, soft and thick with delicious, rich flavour and oozing juice. They've found a chef who's used to big, hearty portions, coming from the Monk's Grill in British Columbia, Canada. Once you've served hungry post-ski folk you can manage  to fill any stray punter, surely.

First courses were not quite so impressive, slimy steak tartare - no spice, no egg, no slight bite as you chew through the meat, but a general slipperyness as it descended your throat. Before that a plate of pickled vegetables had arrived with vodka - the authentic Russian touch that didn't quite fit the rest of the steakhouse branding.

A few things have been lost in translation, but we hope that it survives alongside Claude Bosi's Hibiscus on Maddox Street opposite - they're a different kind of offering, anyway - and let's hope both are around in 12 months' time.

Frank Skinner has shared his theories about why TV chefs cuss so much in a discussion about swearing on Radio Four's Today programme. Skinner was on the show talking about an experiment he did when he played some stand-up gigs without swearing.

Though in favour of swearing to add humour or emphasis, Skinner was quick to point out that he's "not so keen" on swearing when it comes from the mouth of a celebrity chef.

"I have a theory about that," he said. "It may be unjust but I do wonder if deep down chefs are worried that some parts of the population still see their jobs as primarily women's work - so they're trying to compensate for that."

"They use swearing as a badge of masculinity," he added.

So says the 1998 "Rear of the Year"...

Hallelujah, glory be! I managed to get a full night's sleep, thanks to the aid of my lavender scented pillow (option number three on the hotel's pillow menu). Getting it proved an interesting experience though as the staff don't speak much English..."Sleep? Ahhh bed? Ah pillow? Sleep?" "Pirrow?" O dear I shouldn't mock, but it was quite funny. And was kind of illustrative of the fact that outside of Hong Kong, the level of English, aside from some strategically placed members of staff, is virtually non-existent. Still the staff are always smiling and even if they don't understand what in God's name you may be trying to say, they will always endeavour to find someone who does (complete with hand gestures that look like imitations of what you did to them a second ago).

To the readers of this blog, who are no doubt well-worn travellers, the prospect of an aeroplane seat that reclines to a fully vertical position would be met with a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders, a la Francais. But to this frequenter of cattle class, where you're more likely to be assaulted at 6am with talk of scratch card requests and premium vodka, the prospect of a business class flight was reason enough to travel to Hong Kong with the Intercontinental Hotel Group to look at its developments in the Asia Pacific region.

We arrive in Hong Kong in the early afternoon (8 hours ahead here) after a rather delicious and gastronomically satisfying 12-hour flight. Stepping off the plane we are greeted with a gush of hot and humid air. Feeling a little shell-shocked despite the reclining seats, we get into the awaiting vehicle and make our way across the city to the Kowloon Bay side of Hong Kong. Hong Kong is situated in a hilly region, with a large expanse of calm water that divides Hong Kong Bay from the Kowloon Bay side. The architecture on the way into the city is function over fashion, with towering white and pink concrete blocks of legoland uniformity- put it this way, whichever architect got the contracts for residential apartments here must be an obscenely wealthy man by now.

TV chef Jamie Oliver has hit out at the ability of local authorities to engage people in food.

In an interview with The Observer, Oliver insisted that his role in the recent Ministry of Food TV series, encouraging locals in Rotherham to cook, was vital: "The reason the Ministry is working in Rotherham is because we went up there and interviewed 30 local boys and girls, and we're not fucking stupid.

"If they [local government] did it, can you imagine what the staff would look like? You could have anyone getting a fucking job! You've got to understand food, love food, and understand people skills."

Oliver revealed that many other local councils were keen to be involved in the Ministry of Food programme, but that he would have to charge them to ensure his involvement.

The TV chef also defended what some TV critics and bloggers have called a patronising portrayal of less-well-off members of society: "It was a snapshot of Britain. If you don't like the smell of shit on your own territory, tough. It's there. It's a mile from any of us.'

'I get my hands dirty. While everyone else knocks out their 20 shows a year, I spend two years making four programmes.'

Jamie Oliver calls for a Ministry of Food to tackle obesity >>

Cardiff chosen for sixth Jamie's Italian >>

 Seems bland dishes isn't the only thing celebrity chef James Martin is guilty of spicing up. Read on for some news related info from his much anticipated, Booker-tipped autobriography, Driven:

Book info from thebookpeople.co.uk:

"There's more to chef James Martin than three-egg omelettes [see picture]! For the first time, James talks frankly about life, love and learning to foxtrot for live TV. Highly ambitious and relentlessly motivated, it hasn't all been a smooth ride and here James tells his remarkable story, looking back to his working class childhood in Yorkshire, relating the highs and lows of a career in the kitchen and revealing some of the astonishing events that have come with fame and fortune."

Apology published in the Daily Mail, 8 November:

"The celebrity chef James Martin has apologised to his father's ex-wife over allegations in his autobiography Driven, serialised in The Mail on Sunday on October 12. Mr Martin accepts it was untrue to say his father's then-girlfriend cruelly destroyed childhood mementoes of him and his sister. We are happy to report this. HarperCollins publishers have withdrawn that edition of the book from sale and paid damages on behalf of themselves, Mr Martin and Associated Newspapers."

It doesn't take much to be a s'leb these days, but it seems that now, after years of successfully prancing about in front of the cameras, the F-word, Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen-star Gordon Ramsay doesn't want to be one.

So while others crave the limelight, the shy and retiring chef has shunned the celebitry spotlight so much he had to speak to s'leb packed glamour-mag NOW about how much he hates celebrity-dom...

He is, he remonstrates in the magazine which uses 'all the celebrity gossip' as its tagline, a chef who is on the telly, not a celebrity... Ahh the irony...

The budget airlines have long been engaged in price-cutting competition to snatch customers - and now the lower-price hotel firms are at it.

Travelodge is slashing its room rates by 40% as the economic downturn threatens to put many hotels out of business.

Its response will dismay many independent hoteliers, who do not have the finances to support a loss-leading exercise.

There's no evidence that this is aimed at deliberately putting any smaller properties out of business, but according to Will Hanbury, head of the hotels and leisure team at Westcountry accountancy firm Bishop Fleming:

"While independent hoteliers are battling with these trying conditions, the new wave of budget hotels are actively seeking and finding new locations in this region - many of which involve the acquisition of existing independent hotels."

Travelodge considers job cuts to fund price war >>

Hoteliers told not to slash rates in response to slowdown >>

The exclusive Carribean resort Sandy Lane seems to be impervious to the effects of the credit crunch and worldwide recession.... well everywhere apart from Barbados apparently...

The property has just announced it has acquired the services of a helicopter to shave 20 minutes off the transfer journey from airport to hotel.

For a mere $600 (each way) up to three impatient guests and luggage can be transfered in 25 minutes, instead of the usual 45 to the luxury property. A real bargain on top of the current £3,278 per person price tag for a seven night package.

The BBC's Children In Need fundraising programme tonight is set to feature F-word celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay as well as a special edition of Masterchef.

The stars will be 'Doing Something Different' to raise money for the charity appeal which raises money for disadvanaged children and young people.

Masterchef has set up a special children's version of the programme, while Gordon will join the Osbornes, Jack Black, Colin Farrell and Stevie Wonder in making appeal messages to viewers, lets hope he keeps it clean or they schedule it after the watershed....

Elsewhere across the country, restaurants, pubs and hotels are all doing their bit:

• In Manningtree on the Suffolk/Essex borders chef Sanayor Miar is taking a bath in a curry to help raise money. Hot stuff!

• Caterersearch.com Web Award shortlisted hotel company, Townhouse Company has Pudsey fever and hopes to raise lots of cash with a silent online auction for a luxury stay in one of their hotels. 

• Chowdreys Restaurant in Bradford is holding a special charity buffet, as well as holding a raffle 

• And in Shropshire, Embrey's butchers is selling burgers in the shape of Pudsey bear

If you are doing something for Children in Need let us know! 

Alright already, we realise it's probably an eensy weeensy bit early to be making the calls but our spies at West London's new billion pound shopping centre, Westfield, were a bit surprised to see French fast food bar Croque Gascon looking remarkably un-busy yesterday while neighbouring food court rivals Vietnamese concept Pho and Middle Eastern/Lebanese outlet Comptoir Libanese were swamped with hungry shoppers queuing round the corner for their grub.

Perhaps fashionistas shopping at the Shepherd's bush mall aren't looking so much for fine French food as chic French fashion? Or could it be that the concept of it's signature duck burger is just simply quackers?

Only time will tell...

Channel 4 is bringing back the animal welfare crew in a second campaign following January's Big Food Fight season of TV shows.

This time the series will be called the Great British Food Fight and in addition to the original brigade of Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Heston Bumenthal will get involved too.

Gordon will do what Gordon does best and no doubt swear a lot during his show, Gordon's Great British Menu, in which he'll pass on advice to both diners and operators.

Jamie will put his halo back on and examine what can be done to help our struggling pig farmers in Jamie Saves Our Bacon, while Hugh will return to tackle the welfare of British chickens in Chicken, Hugh & Tesco Too.

Finally Heston is possibly taking on the biggest challenge in his series, Big Chef, Little Chef, during which he will attempt to revive the Little Chef chain of restaurants. Good luck with that one Heston, if you pull it off you truly are a culinary wizard.

You may have seen that Kitchen Rat reported that Brummie chef Glynn Purnell was taking part in Rumble in the Crumble - a exhibition white-collar boxing match at the end of the month.

Kitchen Rat has found out this morning that this bout is now off, and the chef-patron of Purnell's in Birmingham has upped his game and is now in a bigger, glitzier, charity boxing match in February.

Despite missing this month's bout, Purnell says that by February he'd be more than fighting fit and has been on a high-protein diet which includes porridge and protein shakes - sounds yummy!!

Watch this space for more on the upcoming fight...

The royal family in Abu Dhabi has been keen to raise its profile as against Dubai, the purchase of Manchester City football club being the most obvious example of their self-promoting zeal.
And new resorts on the model of its neighbouring Emirates state won't be knocked off course either. The $29 billion luxury Saadiyat island complex is, amazingly, still going ahead despite the current economic downturn. The complex set to be complete with the usual - marinas and shops - plus the very unusual - a version of the Guggenheim museum designed, as is the one in Bilbao, by Frank Gehry.
A new Louvre art gallery will also be constructed on the island, which makes one think of the whole area as the real world on speed, a place that copies some famous attributes of other places but apparently without the economic woes that's affecting them.However, hotels and non-commercial projects are due for a review at least, according to Lee Tabler at least, chief executive of Abu Dhabi's Tourist Development & Investment because of the change in financial conditions. Finally, the current climate is affecting even this area of vast growth and extraordinary, plus sometimes bizarrre, ambition.

Rocco Forte pursues Middle Eastern hotel deals >>

InterContinental appoints Abu Dhabi GM >>

Current economic climates as they are we were jolly pleased to see the Financial Services Authority had a presence at WTM at Excel yesterday - well a booth smaller than Superman's telephone kiosk with one bored looking youth slouched at a table looking forlornly out at the world walking by.

Imagining we would be overwhelmed by exciting advice and juicy tips on how to help businesses, kitchen rat took pity on the fella and went to sit with him, asking him what advice he had to help the industry in this time of economic peril..

'Hmm' he mused unconfidently in a 'computer-says-no' kinda way, "not much really, it's not my area, but I've probably got the number of someone who might be able to help?"

What may we ask we  re you doing there if it's not your area? - We'll give you a tip for starters - at WTM there's gonna be quite a few people in the hospitality and tourism industry attending, so why not send someone who knows a little bit about it.

The Cinnamon Club's new spin-off, Cinnamon Kitchen may be hosting a huge launch party tonight, and in fact opens the day after, ready to gather in local spenders. But right now it looks like a building site, with toilet cubicles missing most of the lacquered wood panelling. We had a great time picking our way over the drills and spirit level measures just to have a pee.

Like its mummy restaurant (pictured) that's well-placed in Westminster to gather in politicians in search of an upmarket curry - and with vague colonial overtones that also appeal, Cinnamon Kitchen is targeting the wealthy and powerful too. In this case it's the bankers who like the macho implications of curry, but want to spend a bit more.

However, who's spending now? An upmarket curry house might have seemed a great idea when planning a year ago - in the flashy new Devonshire Square development too - but bankers don't have a great deal of money right now and, worse, there are far less of them.

Anyway, the man himself, Vivek Singh "didn't want to think in that way", and was surprised when we suggested that there might be a few closures in the restaurant sector after Christmas. Did we let you down gently Vivek? Private rooms, the once great money-spinner of the £80-a-head restaurant, have been in serious non money-making vein recently but at least Cinnamon Club's version wasn't pokey like some. It had a vast view onto the kitchen, and felt a part of the restaurant, not a tagged-on license to up GP.

Singh admitted bookings were down in Westminster, but that more people were just showing up to take up the slack. Sensibly, the 'Kitchen', isn't planned to be one of those direct replication formulas that get rolled out everywhere in the same mould, but with elements, as Singh saw it, that could be duplicated. In other words he could take the grill for much smaller Cinnamon place. Or perhaps just bring the bar element somewhere, adding in street food-style dishes.

Anyway, regardless of whether that's the right idea now or not, the food is at the level of Cinnamon Club. 'Red deer' and Rajasthani spices with mushroom was the highlight - huge chunks of venison with smoky spices, although kulfi ice cream was outstanding too. It's the tandoori-style smokiness in his savoury dishes that Singh does so well, appearing again in a vast Indian Ocean prawn, alongside a tiny haddock fillet portion. To accompany there were buttery, sweet potato-filled Nan breads with more of that delicious barbecue-esque taste. Good luck Vivek - hopefully the pre-Christmas covers will cover a quiet January.

London's Cinnamon Club to open sister restaurant in the City >>

Cinnamon Club restructures ahead of roll-out >>

Las Vegas is not the first place you'd think would take the current downturn that well, and sure enough legendary hotel the Venetian (pictured) as well as sister property The Palazzo, both on the main Strip, could close if owner Las Vegas Sands is in as bad a state as reports are making out. Owned by billionaire Sheldon Adelson, shares in the Las Vegas Sands company have fallen by 33% according to Bloomberg. New resorts planned for Macao, China and Singapore worth $16 billion are likely to be spiked as a result.
They surely won't be the last high-end hotel firm to hit the buffers. But despite the news and the rapidly emptying high end luxury stores in Las Vegas, not every company is on the defensive. Starwood Hotels & Resorts are still following through with their St Regis launch in the city - good luck, we say because opening anything there now is a real gamble.

Shock news: celebrity chef and restaurateur Antonio Carluccio has separated from his wife Priscilla after 25 years of marriage.

The move comes just weeks after Carluccio left The Priory clinic in south west London, where he was admitted after he accidentally stabbed himself in the chest with a knife.

He has not returned to the flat in Battersea, which he shared with Priscilla, and is renting a house in nearby Fulham. "I've moved here to get some peace and quiet, to be alone and to concentrate on my work. I'm making a good recovery but I don't want to say any more. It's a private matter," he told the Daily Mail.

Carluccio admitted to Priory clinic

Carluccio hospitalised after self-stabbing

It's good to know that no matter where you are in the world, getting gas can be as frustrating as back here at home.

With Tom Etridge's new gaff Ito held to ransom by the gasman during the opening of Westfield shopping centre recently, it's now the turn of April Bloomfield in New York.

Desperately trying to open her second restaurant the John Dory, on the back of her success with The Spotted Pig, the River Cafe-trained chef admits she's now at the mercy of the dreaded utility supplier.

Perhaps, she muses as we chat, she should consider opening the site as a cold salad bar instead. Well The Radicchio does have a certain ring to it.

Great to see Michael Winner being treated so well by Andrew Davis, head of Von Essen hotels.

After being picked up from Scott's in Mayfair by Davis' £350,000 Rolls-Royce Phantom, the pair headed off to the hotelier's Battersea helipad, reports Winner in his Sunday Times column. 

Then "Andrew and I got into the most luxurious helicopter I've ever seen. And I've been in a few. Big plush seats, the pilot behind glass. Beautiful wooden tables and cupboards".

Winner loves it of course, and repays in kind with plenty of compliments. Davis, he says "has built up a staggeringly successful hotel company. He has 35 of the greatest hotels in Britain and one of France's best, Château de Bagnols. He has a massive fleet of helicopters. Andrew's just the sort of caring, highly energised entrepreneur it needs".

They visit Amberley Castle near Chichester, "an astoundingly lovely hotel", Ston Easton Park near Bath, "a fantastic 18th-century building" and the "very posh" Lower Slaughter Manor in Gloucestershire.

That's the way to get a good review out of the man.

Follow Von Essen's launch of its major Battersea hotel in Caterer and Hotelkeeper, with part II in January.

While some chefs may not be overly excited at the prospect of vegetarian food, many might sneer at the prosepct of gourmet vegan food.

But spare a thought for Paul Russell, lecturer in hospitality and culinary arts management at University College Birmingham, who just won the Vegan Catering Challenge at the West Midlands Vegan Festival in Wolverhampton for his menu of soupe of pistou with a potato ravioli crisp fried baby artichokes in a poppy seed coating served on a pea and roasted red pepper risotto with a cashew aioli dark chocolate truffle cake with cherries

Yammy!

(pic credit www.flavourphotos.com)

So the powers that be want the world to ban ads for alcohol in an attempt to combat the curse of binge-drinking and meanwhile Brussels wants food labels on everything from cans of fizzy drinks to cream to have a minimum 3 mm print size - meaning that some ingredient labels would be bigger than the actual product.

While you may feel this is bureaucracy going mad and at least half way down the slippery nanny state slope kitchen rat also noticed in the Metro news today the chap who had to go on a diet after his weight rocketed to 24 stone. He miraculously lost 8 and a half stone when he stopped drinking his favourite tipple Coke.

It turns out the man had been downing around 30 cans a day to fuel his habit - with common sense like this, perhaps we do need a nanny state. 

It reminds us of the woman who, in the midst of the ITV telephone rigging scam, said she had called the phone lines hundreds of times and now felt like an idiot as she'd been duped - only now gov?   

Jamie Oliver has criticised local authorities for the fact that only 5,000 out of the 125,000 dinner ladies had been trained in healthier eating. Oliver said that it was a "bloody disgrace" that more attention had not been given to these those serving food to children in schools. 

Speaking in front of a select committee group of MPs, Oliver also said that more support needed to be given to the School Food Trust. He praised their work, but said that "as they are a government quango they can't always tell the truth. They can't be as outspoken as I can be".

However, Oliver added that there were flaws in the government's plans to teach primary school children to cook. He demanded that the government invest £6.5 billion over the next ten years into the overall meals and teaching provision.

Oliver also called for someone to direct policy for the coming decade. "Why isn't there a minister of food?" he asked the panel. "Why isn't there someone from the private sector all over this like a rash?" he asked. "Why haven't we got one person driving this for the next ten years?"

Heathrow's Terminal 5 may at last be running like the finely tuned machine always intended but it seems likely that behind the scenes there's still the occasional bit of turbulence.

Kitchen Rat caught up with several former Sutcliffe caterers recently and got to chatting about what a balls-up the launch of the new terminal had been this summer.

However what goes on front of house is, according to those that used to work there in the distant past, only the half of it.

It might be Joe Calzaghe's mooted last fight on Saturday, but round the corner there's a new face on the boxing scene; Brummie chef Glynn Purnell.

The chef patron of Purnell's in Birmingham has agreed to take part in a white-collar boxing match on November 30.

As part of a charity evening, diners can enjoy a three-course meal at Birmingham's Holiday Inn while Purnell works merry thunder on a lawyer's face (in the ring)

He hasn't boxed since a kid, says Purnell, but he's got word from his trainer that, fitness considered, he needs to try and KO his oppponent within the first two rounds or he's going to be a sitting, exhausted duck. His own assessment of his technique sounds promising. "I'm like Brad Pitt in Snatch; a real pikey fighter."

He's known for his public spats, but usually Marco picks equally prickly characters as himself, ie Gordon Ramsay or entrepreneur Tony Allan.

However this week the self-styled Godfather has gone for cuddly Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the man who wants to get people buying properly reared chickens, and growing their own.

Speaking to recently launched lad's mag Shortlist (the free magazine for men with more than one thing on their minds), he said: "I'm not a political beast, but I think that all these crusades are purely about publicity.

The American bar at Mayfair hotel The Stafford had more than the most obvious reason to be celebrating last night.

The hotel hosted a rumbustuous election party and was inundated with people clamouring to drink their way into a new America.

The bar got into the spirit of things by concocting "Barack Bellini" cocktails and "McCain Man of Wars", as well as serving up traditional US-style grub such as hamburgers and apple pie, as well as copious amounts of Dom Perignon of course.

According to general manager Stuart Procter the bar had to employ people to man the door to manage the queue waiting to come into the bar.

"It's been the busiest night of the year...quite frankly the busiest night I've ever had. It was outrageous it went on and on we weren't anticipating that!" he said.

And with a taking of £15,000 in one evening, it seems Barack is already turning around the county's fortunes...
 

Barack Obama's historic landslide victory over Republican rival John McCain last night was not only good news for Democrats and those of a liberal persuasion.

Hospitality operators across London and the UK were also celebrating as ex-pats and interested observers packed into pubs, bars, restaurants and hotels to watch the drama unfold into the early hours.

There were 200 guests at The American Bar at the Stafford Hotel near Mayfair 300 at the Chicago Rib Shack in Knightsbridge, while a whopping 800 turned out at Yates's Wine Lodge, in Leicester Square.

The scene was repeated in bars and hotels across Europe, including Ernest Hemingway's favourite watering hole in Paris, Harry's Bar.

And it wasn't just Europe. Hotels and bars across Asia were packed to the rafters, with the Marriott in Beijing alone seeing 600 punters watching state after state turn Democrat blue. 

Your correspondent was far more professional, watching BBC until the early hours while tucked up in bed...

So Aiden Byrne's leaving the Grill Room at the Dorchester. And they're interviewing possible replacements. And they're shooting for stars.

Well let's hope that whoever takes on the job likes shortbread tins, and has the unique dream of working inside one. Because seldom has there been a more divisive restaurant decor in recent memory than the Grill Room. Whether or not Byrne liked the strapping Scottish jocks smeared on the walls and the bright red, Beckingham Palace-style head-boards is by-the-by, he's off to Liverpool and someone of an equal or greater reputation (it can be assumed) is going to have to grapple with their taste as to whether they'd be happy serving food to a room more stomach-turningly faux-Scottish than Super Gran.

Anyway, this is basically an excuse to re-blog Jay Rayner review of the restaurant, most notably it's walls and upholstery. Click here to read

Sophie's Steakhouse is opening its second site in Covent Garden at the corner of Wellington Street and Tavistock Street this week.

To mark this move, the owners are hosting 'industry nights' offering hospitality workers free food between midnight and 3pm on Mondays thoughout November.

However, not only will you have to be an night owl to get the free grub, but you'll also have to produce that week's wage slip - so if you're paid monthly i guess you've had your chips?

Donald Trump's controversial plan for Trump International Golf Links Scotland - two golf courses, a five star hotel and small village near Balmedie, north of Aberdeen has finally been given the go ahead after years of wrangling.

Environmental campaigners had managed to stall the plans last year after winning what now turns out to have been a pyrrhic victory. Scottish Finance Secretary John Sinney said the proved had been approved because it would bring "significant economic and social benefits" to the area, but environmentalists remain unconvinced.

Rob Ashlin from Sustainable Aberdeenshire group slammed the ruling as disappointing, adding the development flew in the face of the council's planning policy.

Tom Aikens has been a busy man. What with all the trouble surrounding his restaurant business collapsing into administration, owing all that money to his suppliers and still having to find the time to launch his new cookery book and cookware.

He's been so busy in fact that he hasn't had the time to call up Canary Wharf Group, the company in charge of building and leasing Canada Square Pavilion, to say that he no longer intends to launch a restaurant with them.

You see Aikens was set to open a second Tom's Kitchen at the development but his spokeswoman told Caterer two weeks ago that the plans have been shelved.

But Camille Waxer, vice president of retail at Canary Wharf Group, told Kitchen Rat today that as far as she is aware plans for Tom's Kitchen are still going ahead. "We haven't heard from him to suggest otherwise," she said. 

Oops.

It will be interesting to see what happens with this situation? A muslim chef is suing the Met police force for religious discrimination after being told he had to handle pork when cooking coppers' 999 fry up breakfasts.

Although the chef was offered gloves so that he wasn't directly touching the pork sausages and bacon, he was still unhappy with the siutation as his religion forbids him from touching the meat.

No one wants to stamp on people's beliefs and we should all respect each other and treat each other as we would like to be treated, but but we can't help worrying this could have massive knock-on effects in our industry if his case is upheld. It would surely be unworkable? What do you think?  

The tribunal will be held next May