Consider the following: Tebay South, a motorway service station in Cumbria, has recently been awarded an unimprovable and unprecedented five star ranking from VisitEngland. The tourist board praised the family-run and -owned business for its excellent ethics, including local sourcing, own-made food, professional service and in general making the inevitable pitstop one of unconfined joy and delight for the driver.
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The latest story to do the rounds, if you haven’t already heard, is that of the tweeting chef. Alexis Gauthier, late of the acclaimed Roussillon in London, recently opened his second Soho restaurant, Ducksoup. In a truly weird coincidence, it being a brand new restaurant in the heart of London, two national food critics both booked to have lunch there. On the same day. (What were they thinking?) One was reviewing, one merely having a civilian lunch. Gauthier happened to be in the restaurant too (we sense it’s getting rather crowded), got rather giddy and made the awe-inspiring decision to tweet his opinions on the critics’ behaviour and conversation, ignorant of their individual purposes there. (Equally strangely, neither critic seemed aware of Gauthier’s presence at any point and acknowledged him.) Read full post
Is there anything more ridiculous than the concept restaurant? It seems no-one, nowhere and no cuisine is immune. Cherry-picking from the headlining new openings in the next few months, we see that St Jamie of O is not content with dominion over Italian and whatever the heck Barbacoa is supposed to be; his next new thing is a chain called Union Jack’s, but – wait for it – the concept is ‘undecided.’ Well, we’d hazard a guess it’s not going to be Korean. Also down South, Mark Sargeant is expanding The Smokehouse, his newest venture with a ‘fish and chip concept.’ Erm, that’s just fish and chips to you and me. While we’re at it, look out for the latest in confusion dining – Orchid’s ‘Pizza Pub’ concept, which is, and you would never guess it, a pub serving pizza ‘in a casual environment.’ Clearly necessity is the Godfather of invention – who knew? Read full post
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