Kitchen Rat

Meeting the Queen is an 'onour but I can't stay for a bite to eat

2008-05-16T11:00:36Z

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.

]]> Having paid respects to Ma'am there was even an opportunity to hob-nob with the Duke of Edinburgh, who decided to run with the French theme after being introduced and discuss frogs and snails.

However, despite all this excitment and splendour it appears the Champagne was a much bigger hit than the canapés, described as " 'orrible" by the royal guest, who headed out into the night to find something to eat.

Sorry Ma'am you can't please them all but we at Kitchen Rat remain your loyal servants.

Hospitality at the palace>>

Former Compass boss fears Mickey taking

2008-04-30T07:25:21Z

There’s always been a question of authenticity attached to Disneyland Resort Paris (DRP) – a suspicion that American and French culture weren’t obvious bedfellows.

Still, for their part, it seems the former top brass at the resort – then Euro Disney - really did live and breathe life in the Enchanted Kingdom and were happy to lead by example.

Back when Sir Francis Mackay, now at Graysons, was chief executive of Compass Group, the firm landed the staff feeding deal at the Paris resort.

Mackay was invited over to France to officially sign the deal behind closed doors with the then DRP boss Gilles Pélisson, now head of hotel company Accor.

After a dinner at American diner Walt’s, the executives retired to sign the papers. At this point, none other than Mickey Mouse himself appeared and kept proffering the document to a taken aback Mackay.

Puzzlement became stunned disbelief as the French execs present happily chatted to the six-foot mouse as if he was indeed Mickey and this was a completely ordinary day-to-day occurrence.

However Mackay was not to be fooled, confiding that he became suspicious of Mickey’s authenticity as he refused to speak a single high-pitched word throughout the meeting.

Graysons Ltd brings in more Compass talent>>

Graysons lands first contract at chemical labs>>

Still making hay at the Thatch?

2008-04-29T16:48:40Z

Word has reached Caterer Towers that there are a few things happening at Eight at the Thatch - the home of Jeremy and Jane Cooper, winners of Raymond Blanc's TV reality show the Restaurant.

While details are scarce at this early stage it is understood that a meeting will take place tonight between Blanc and Peach Pub Company, who have supported the business and the Hooper's emerging careers as a partner of the show, during which the site will be discussed.

The Hoopers have been on maternity/ paternity leave from the site following the birth of their first child in March. Eight at the Thatch opened in Thame in Oxfordshire on 14 November 2007 and currently lists Christian Cilia as head chef and Sara Bates as general manager.

Auditions for the second series of the Restaurant have been taking place in Manchester and London during March and April which will be shown later in the year.

Log onto Caterersearch tommorow when we will be able to reveal more.

Punch Taverns gives chancellor knockout blow

2008-04-29T11:30:08Z

Punch Taverns, The UK’s largest pub group, is refreshingly optimistic about the near and long-term future for the trade.

However in its half year results last week the company pulled, well, no punches when it came to Chancellor of the Exchequer Alastair Darling.

Attacking the chancellor’s decision to hike alcohol duty in the Budget, the company said it was “disappointed” by events and, reading between the lines, felt it a kick in the teeth given the industry’s efforts to lobby the Government.

Punch has signed up to the Morning Advertiser's campaign to bar Darling from UK pubs until he sees sense and Nigel Turpin, corporate affairs director at the pub company, revealed they may have even more impact than most.

It turns out the chancellor's local, literally down the road from 11 Downing Street, is the Punch owned Red Lion.

Turpin, who described Darling’s tax increases as unjustified, said while his staff were ready to give Darling a frosty welcome if he dared to stick his head in, it hadn’t got to the stage of having a “barred” photo of the chancellor hanging behind the bar just yet.

Well, with eyebrows like Darling’s there’s no need to raise the stakes to a hair-raising level, we presume.

Punch predicts a pick up in trade in the summer>>

Pubs may pass on wine price rises>>

Pub industry furious over rise in alcohol duty>>

A time for diplomacy at the Dorchester hotel, London

2008-04-28T16:23:24Z

Last week saw a host of industry leaders descend on the Dorchester on Park Lane for this year’s Catey award judging sessions.

Stepping into one of the luxury hotel’s lifts, one industry veteran described the time he found himself as a Dorchester employee riding down to the ground floor with the then prime minister of Israel and a group of sunglasses wearing, dark-suited security types taking up the remaining limited space.

Keen to get out of the way of the agents’ reflective gazes, he gratefully jumped out of the lift as the doors swept open, only to come face to face with a Middle East sheik in formal garb flanked by his own security detail.

]]> Quicker than you can say “extraordinary rendition”, the Israelis had guns in their hands and the Arabs swords at the ready.

Our man, having nothing much more than a name badge about his person, decided actions would speak louder than words and performed a hasty tactical withdrawal down the corridor.

We never learnt the outcome but having no recall of famous massacres at the Dorchester, one can assume it all ended peacefully.

Hilton on Park Lane in meal deal shocker>>

Kitchen Rat Confidential: Behind the scenes at Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester>>

Christopher Cowdray becomes CEO for the Dorchester Collection>>

Hilton on Park Lane in meal deal scandal

2008-04-28T06:50:29Z

Has the credit crunch at last hit the formerly bulging wallets of the super rich?

Strolling through the capital last week Kitchen Rat was amused to be handed a flyer advertising three-courses for £22 per person at Podium restaurant at the London Hilton on Park Lane.

A five-star hotel hawking for business! Times must indeed be getting tough if the top-end of the market is having to resort to this sort of ad hoc advertising to drum up trade.

It does beg the question of what next? Bring your own bottle at Galvin at Windows, perhaps.

Hilton opens first non-American Doubletree hotel in Cambridge>>

Hilton launches 10-year plan to open 1,000 European hotels>>

Chris Galvin to be new chef-patron at Hilton’s Windows restaurant>>

Galvins are forced to shelve plans for Waldorf brasserie>>

Growing old disgracefully. Or not?

2008-04-25T09:33:35Z

Most rock stars are renowned for their rowdy behaviour and booze-filled antics but it seems even the most hardy rockers lose their edge with age.

Take Mick Jagger for instance. He has a family connection with a certain eco-friendly restaurant in London and was invited for dinner. Now to protect the Rolling Stone from the maddening crowd of diners in the restaurant, the restaurant’s PR was ordered to sit at the table next to the Jaggers and act as a human wall.

The PR didn’t fancy doing the deed on her own and invited two of her girlfriends along with her. All well until one of the friends arrived, well, let’s say a little worse for wear, and after a few more glasses of wine proceeded to chat and laugh quite loudly.

But given the kind of parties old Mick would be used to, a bit of drunken banter wouldn’t be anything too offensive to him you would’ve thought. Think again. Half way through dinner a waitress arrived with a note from Mr Jagger. “Could you please keep the noise down,” it read.

Growing old disgracefully? Maybe not quite as much as we may have thought.

DE VERE SELLS BOTTLED AIR

2008-04-21T15:17:18Z

“They’d charge you for oxygen if they could”- has long been an idea used to indicate an idea that is far-fetched, impossible, at the very least improbable.

But now De Vere Venues has come up with a way to do just that. Yes indeedy! Rock up to any De Vere Venue these days and you can pay English pounds for a canister of 100 per cent, bonefied oxygen to get you through those stimulating meetings.

De Vere claims the poor air quality in places like London cause ‘Hypotoxia’, a shortage of oxygen in the body. Apparently by giving their workers more oxygen, it will result in employees being more “revitalized, alert and work rates to improve.”

Tony Dangerfield (yes that’s his real name), chief operating officer of De Vere Venues, said the blast of pure oxygen when city workers enter a meeting room is “the perfect way to give delegates the kick start they need”.

Colombia will be quaking in its boots.

The knives are out at Gordon Ramsay Holdings

2008-04-17T08:58:32Z

There’s nothing wrong with a bit of healthy rivalry between two chefs and the brigade at Gordon Ramsay Towers seems to be no exception as far as competition goes.

But in an interview in yesterday's Evening Standard, Gordon’s latest protégé, Clare Smyth, seemed to have got a bit carried away, perhaps, not to say downright catty.

When asked about comparisons with fellow Ramsay Holdings female chef Angela Hartnett, (which Ramsay himself has drawn on more than one occasion) Smyth sneered that she didn’t make much of them saying she’s by no means the next Angela Hartnett.

“I really hate it when people compare me to her because, in all honesty, Angela is a one-star Michelin chef and I'm a three-star one.”

Looks like the knives are out!

Maitre'D Valet Service

2008-04-16T15:23:01Z

Kitchen Rat has heard some interesting tales from the madcap chef world over the years, but the latest one takes some beating.

The former maitre'd at a leading central London restaurant revealed to us how his boss at the time- a famously volatile Michelin-starred chef - once turned up in his expensive motor and, instead of finding a parking space, simply handed our man the keys.

"Drive around Soho for a couple of hours, will you," the chef demanded. "I will give you a call when I need the car."

Naked women and sustainability

2008-04-14T16:48:03Z

It’s not often you hear the words “naked women” and “sustainable” in the same sentence. It certainly brings a new meaning to the phrase “mixing business with pleasure”.

But Kurt Ritter, chief executive of the Rezidor hotel group, managed to do just that when he spoke of the horrors he suffered when he took up an invitation from Stelios to go on an 'Easy Cruise' in the West Indies.

Ritter spoke of the walls of flesh coming at him from every angle -“Everybody was naked!”- the plethora of alcohol and the eardrum bursting music onboard. “I hope you’ve never been!” he said with a wizened shake of his head, a sorrowful look about the eyes. Mr Ritter is clearly from a time before Brits Abroad became a competition to see who could show their undercarriage the quickest, and seemed shocked and appalled by his experience.

And just what was the hotel lord’s chief concern for this picture of Dorian Gray-esque debauchery? “I just don’t know whether it’s sustainable.”

Well I think that probably depends on the amount of alcohol you consume, Mr Ritter.

Caterers' code of conduct is not to everyone's liking (part 2)

2008-04-10T09:00:23Z

The problem with doing the right thing is that everyone thinks it’s a marvellous idea until they realise it might actually apply to them.

Tired of “school boy” style pranks at handover time the Stern Consultancy and a number of contract caterers have got the ball rolling on a voluntary code of conduct for handover to a new supplier.

As ever time has flown by and the meeting is set for next week at McGraw Hill at Canary Wharf , which was won last year by Bartlett Mitchell one of the early supporters of the charter.

]]> Joking aside, it seems there’s been a good response from caterers to setting up a code they can all agree on with 20 or so due to attend on the day and others sending their apologies.

Good response that is if you don’t count a well known professional body and a trade association that have apparently come over all precious.

The bothersome bodies have apparently got in touch to make it quite clear that consultants and caterers shouldn’t be setting up codes of conduct willy-nilly without their say so. So there.

Although it’s tempting to suggest a code for codes-of-conduct at this juncture Kitchen Rat will instead shut up, sit back and watch the forthcoming fireworks.

Contract catering code of conduct doesn't get support from everyone>>

No honour amongst thieves?>>

The unusual pastimes of hospitality's biggest names

2008-04-04T07:35:57Z

Hospitality types have some unexpected hobbies and pastimes.

While Gary Rhodes likes pumping iron his chef peers Giorgio Locatelli and Bruce Poole are happiest leaping on motorbikes and hitting the open road.

Hotel chief Sir Rocco Forte competes in Iron man competitions (apparently for fun) and Michel Roux Jr is an accomplished long distance runner.

Chris Scragg former boss of Marston Hotels (now part of QHotels) has his own racing team and Alastair Storey and William Baxter of caterer BaxterStorey have been able to combine business with pleasure feeding staff at the Honda Formula One Team.

]]> But we thought we’d misheard when told that Vacherin director of food Alan Eggleston has got hold of a candyfloss machine to fill his empty hours. Sweet.

Whether Alan has bought his culinary knowledge to bear on the nation’s fetes and funfairs is unknown although Vacherin co-founder Clive Hetherington when confronted with this news was heard to say “so that’s why we can never get hold of him to work at weekends”.

Vacherin is Ace pub quiz champion>>

Vacherin: even iron men bend>>

Made in Italy: Giorgio Locatelli recipes>>

Michel Roux Jnr joins Compass Group’s Restaurant Associates>>

The mystery of the disappearing De Vere managers

2008-03-31T16:47:40Z

We don’t mean to scaremonger but strange things appear to be afoot at hotel group De Vere.

If you remember a few weeks back on Kitchen Rat we put a call out for Niels Sherry to get in touch after the former De Vere Deluxe chief operating officer, who only joined in September 2007 from Morgans Hotels, left the hotel chain abruptly in January.

Now in another twist in the De Vere disappearing management saga that would have FBI agents Mulder and Scully scratching their heads Jeremy Rata, who joined the company less than a year ago to oversee a £5m refurbishment of the landmark five-star Grand hotel in Brighton, has disappeared, also.

]]> Apparently Rata’s departure two weeks back means the hotel is looking for its third general manager in as many years (one presumes not literally. 'Help I'm lost in the west wing!' Afterall, coming out of closets means quite a different thing in this picturesque town).

Perhaps he's on his way to Von Essen, which recently recruited a couple of De Vere men as part of a managment restructure.

Eithier way, as they used to say on the X-Files: The truth is out there.

Full investigation for De Vere Grand hotel fire>>

Alternative Hotel Group closes De Vere HQ>>

Niels Sherry to join De Vere from Morgans>>

Michael Jackson: From Sheikh to chic

2008-03-27T16:48:41Z

If you thought that Michael Jackson only hid from the world at the Sheikh’s palace in Dubai - think again.

Kitchen Rat can in fact reveal that last summer he was holed up in the Prince Charles suite in Von Essen’s Cliveden Hall, Berkshire.

The stately home turned hotel, owned by the Von Essen Group, may at first seem somewhat of a bizarre place for the King of Pop to carry out his self-imposed exile.

But it has pedigree like the pop-star himself.

Cliveden played a part in the Profumo Affair, with the then Secretary of State for War, John Profumo. He used the cottage on the estate in order to sleep with someone he shouldn’t- his mistress Christine Keeler-who was affiliated to a Russian Spy, a bad idea during the Cold War- and then proceeded to deny it in court. Very much the tabloid Thriller of its day.

Back to Michael Jackson then, and instead of a chocolate on the pillow during his stay he had a Cliveden Teddy to keep him company and paintings of some rather creepy cats on the walls. A room fit for a King (of Pop).

Given his recent very public struggles to pay off his Neverland Ranch debts, Kitchen Rat can state for the record that he paid his hotel bill on time and in full, proving that he’s not so Bad at all.

VON ESSEN BUY SEAHAM HALL
VON ESSEN CONSIDER LEGAL ACTION