Every now and then we like to portion out our news into bite-size chunks so you can squeeze in your reading in between the manic round of parties, hangovers and inevitable Christmas work lunches. We’ve got more spice than a Szechuan salt-and-pepper squid hotpot: Read full post
The race is on to find the official Capital of Cuisine. Which town produces the finest food? The best cheese…? The most delectable wine…? The finest sweetest ham…? The most accredited restaurants….? At least it is in food-loving France where a government committee, the French Mission on Food Culture and Heritage, have been assigned the frankly not-very-onerous task of deciding upon the town with the most to offer food tourists of the world. And to settle once and for all who’s the best in the world, ever ever ever (because the French really really care about that). Read full post
You might have caught Hotel GB on Channel 4 in October and wondered at the point of it all, apart from resurrecting Big non-Frowny Gordon’s TV career. If you didn’t, the concept was to take long-term unemployed young people and train them in the hospitality and catering industry in five days, at the end of which team leaders Gordon R and Mary Portas each chose an apprentice to go on and work for them. Apart from stating the obvious, which is that some people are really good at dealing with the general public (Liverpudlian Emily who was so very sincere) and some really aren’t (Tom who seemed to lack an ‘edit’ function), and that Gordon can (shock horror) make a devastatingly good personnel manager when required, it also caught the zeitgeist in highlighting the huge amount of investment currently being ploughed into the industry starting at the bottom – with the students. Read on and salivate at the thought of the slick professionalism both front- and back-of-house which is all set to enhance that dining experience.
How much is too much? Or rather how much is too much for £12? That was the question for champion freebie-takers Andy Miles and George Dalmon recently as they achieved the egregious feat of actually being thrown out of their local all-you-can-eat buffet for eating too much. Man, did these guys go for it: two visits a month for two years, eating the Brighton-based Mongolian restaurant into its own private food famine like two ravaging Pac-men. They have been banned from ever crossing the threshold again. Like, didn’t you guys realise the restaurant has to make money off you, not the other way round…? Read full post
Xanthe Clay, a well-known and respected food writer, wrote an article recently on fake food television; what if anything do the Nigellas, Jamies and Lorraines of this world actually offer us? She posits we have become addicted to a world of food porn (lite), where we are titivated by the notional food on offer, yet we remain glued to our sofas rather than being inspired to race to the kitchen.
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Turning Japanese… Chinese…. Thai…. Malaysian; Asian food is set to dominate the restaurant scene in the near future. Keep your tastebuds peeled for specialist ramen houses, UAE’s Noodle house making its UK debut, the expansion of the Vietnamese Pho chain, Brazil-Japanese fusion (hmmmm… the jury’s out on that one), and ‘stick specialists’ such as yakitori places.
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Children + restaurants = bad news. Everyone knows that. It’s a fact of life – you take the trouble to book a romantic table for two at a nice place down the road and odds on, you’ll be sharing it with a squabbling bunch of teenagers or a squawking baby. We’ve blogged before about the horrors of children in restaurants and even mused on possible solutions, but very few restaurants, apart from the chains, really take the fact of kids eating out on board. Until now…
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