The Chef Hermes Blog

2011, A year in review

Posted by chefhermes on January 6, 2012 · 2 Comments 

2011 was a landmark year for Chefhermes.com, it’s the first full twelve month period that the blog has been going and after a long hiatus I finally moved to hosting. As with most things IT related there are the usual hiccups but nothing major. The advantage of this is that I now have full control of every aspect of chefhermes.com: content, advertising, style and no longer tied by any of wordpress.com’s terms & conditions.

Recognition

Throughout the year the blog has been recognised by the trade journal, Hotelkeeper & Caterer. Several times it has made the blog of the week article and in October it was shortlisted in their annual web awards. Unfortunately the blog didn’t win, but being placed in a category of the final three was an achievement in itself. For me it had confirmed that what I was doing was right & that there was an audience, especially as I had written a guest post for one of the other shortlisted finalists, theblackboard.net. Needless to say the followers & friends on the two main social networking sites have grown, with both now exceeding two thousand.

As with most things that are a little different, there are the detractors. In the past twelve months the blog has overcome the irritation of amongst other things, less than flattering parodies on Twitter & Facebook . But having spoken to former Michelin starred chef Chris Horridge after his cookery demonstration, there was a little eureka moment. Mr Horridge para-phrased the icon that typifies the stiff upper lip attitude, Sir Winston Churchill:

You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.

And the rest just fell into place.

I’ve met with many high profile chefs this year, some have even featured once or twice within the blog in one form or another. All, without exception, have been extremely flattering about the blog, as well as offering words of encouragement. One of the more entertaining moments this year was sending a Gordon Ramsay video viral. It did kind of help when the chef himself re-tweeted & commented on it, to his half a million followers, saying:

You are very very naughty @sttobes: This is extremely funny! RT @ChefHermes: genius: http://t.co/F6lly6vm @GordonRamsay01 being errr dirty

The user @sttobes is in actual fact Toby Stuart who worked at Aubergine with Mr Ramsay & also features in the ‘5Questions’. It’s such a small world.

And for those that missed it:

Dining Out

2011 was an outstanding year for meals. Jason Atherton’s Pollen Street Social, Robert Thompson at The Hamborough, The Prince of Wales, Drakes at the Clock House & Martin Wishart’s eponymous eatery all received favourable posts. Unfortunately the same could not be said for L’Enclume, for all the hype surrounding it, the Cartmel restaurant fell short of expectation. There was one other restaurant which featured in my road trip of 2011, Restaurant Mark Greenaway at No12 Picardy Place. I had an excellent meal but unfortunately due to a failing on my part, it never made it to a post. This isn’t to say that I wouldn’t recommend it against the established names in the Scottish capital, I would & he is definitely one to watch for the future. Fortunately, I did manage to save nearly all the images of the food from that meal, and so hopefully you as the reader will get an understanding of Mr Greenaway’s talent.

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Posts Written

As far as content is concerned 2011 slowed down considerably compared to the ferocious writing and posting rate of 2010, to the point where it is nearly halved. Having the philosophy of quality over quantity seems to have reaped the rewards as viewing figures have nearly doubled.  Some of the highlights include: the lively comments & discussion concerning the post about bloggers; the chance to take part in the ‘7Links’ project after being invited by fellow blogger Elizabeth on food- this was a good chance to reflect; and unsurprisingly the highest read post was in October with the second release of the year by Michelin. The top ten most read posts for 2011 were as follows:

1. New Michelin Guide for UK & Ireland 2012
2. Food Bloggers, are they all tarred with the same Brush?
3. Words of Advice ~ Johnny Mountain
4. A Review of the AA 2012 Restaurant Awards
5. A Review of Michelin UK & Ireland 2012
6. The 10 most followed UK restaurant critics
7. John Campbell & Coworth Park.
8. Cheaper Eats: Pollen Street Social, Jason Atherton
9. ’5Questions’ ~ The Journalists, Jay Rayner
10. Out & About: L’Enclume, Cumbria

The Future?

So what does the future hold for chefhermes.com ? I’m not going to give you some hot air about apps & such like. Why? Because I don’t need to.

Yes over time the blog will evolve, but as the growing number of readers proves if it ain’t broke….

Some of the objectives for the coming twelve months are, to bring more thoughtful insights from professional kitchens, more versions of the ‘5Questions’, more ‘Cheaper Eats’, more recipes, better photography and basically all the stuff you like.

I’d like to thank each & everyone of you for your support, in making chefhermes.com what it is today.