Everyone’s a critic, so the saying goes and in the foodie world, that’s certainly never been more true. With the now-established world of food blogging, Twitter and the like, no-one need ever let a bad meal go uncriticised or a good one praised. Just log on, select your restaurant of choice and it’s guaranteed someone, somewhere will have a point of view on it.
Times have changed since Egon Ronay, who’s sadly critiqued his last meal, first started. The story goes that when he first arrived in England at Victoria Station in the 1940s, his very first experience of good old British hospitality was on buying a cup of tea and discovering the spoon to stir it with was both communal and tied to the counter to guard against those pesky cutlery thieves. So outraged was he by the quality of post-war food here that he set up his own restaurant, then went on to found the eponymous guide which changed the eating habits of restaurant-goers nationwide, giving diners a heretofore undiscovered voice against the establishment. Gone (or are they?) are the days when diners were worried of ‘making a scene’ and being patronised by the wine waiter. Read full post
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