Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons

header — So as an early Christmas present to you, my readers, I’ve got some juicy rumours for you which are yet to be announced. Replacement for Wignall First up, chefhermes.com can reveal who will be replacing the soon to be departing MIchael Wignall at the 2Michelin starred Latymer. As Wignall is […]

Chef rumours & gossip: Michelin star recruitment & news

21 Dec, 2015 in Rumours and Gossip tagged Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons / Michael Wignall / Michelin / The Samling by chefhermes

The Elm — I reviewed Paul Liebrandt’s book ‘To the bone‘ back in January, and likened it to this generation’s version of ‘White Heat’ by Marco Pierre White. So imagine my delight when I scored a table at his restaurant, The Elm, in the residential area of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. As we were staying […]

Out & About: The Elm, Brooklyn, New York

11 May, 2014 in Out & About tagged foodporn / Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons / Michelin / NYC / Paul Liebrandt / Raymond Blanc by chefhermes

header — After the recent disappointment in Tripadvisor reviews & the loss of a Michelin star, clearly something had to give at Mallory Court. The 3Rosette & Red star, Relais and Chateaux property, seem to want to change the direction & style of the fine dining food offering, with its newest recruit. […]

New chef & change of direction for Mallory Court?

10 Jan, 2014 in Rumours and Gossip tagged AA Rosettes / Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons / Michelin / Tripadvisor by chefhermes

opinion — A few years ago a mate asked me about doing some chef stages (working for free to gain different/more experiences). ‘Sure’ I said, ‘where were you thinking of?’. Needless to say he was thinking of the Fat Duck in Bray, it was number two in the Worlds 50 Best list […]

Chef stagiaires: Career progression or free labour?

31 Oct, 2013 in Culinary life observations tagged Gordon Ramsay / Heston Blumenthal / Jason Atherton / Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons / MPW / Noma / Raymond Blanc / Rene Redzepi by chefhermes

opinion — In early May I wrote a post about reducing VAT in hospitality to 5%, & why it won’t happen. The lowering VAT movement has been trying to gather traction by announcing a “Tax Parity Day” on Wednesday September 25th, where they will reduce the prices of restaurant bills by 7.5%. […]

Re-visiting the debate: Cutting VAT in hospitality.

18 Jul, 2013 in Culinary life observations tagged France / Gidleigh Park / Hospitality / Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons / VAT by chefhermes

opinion — Earlier this week I posted on the social media about the terrible menu writing that chefs seem to impose on their customers. Whilst there are various ways to describe your dishes chefs, maybe you should just leave the actual writing of them to somebody who has a decent comprehension of […]

Chefs & menu writing – a simple guide.

10 Mar, 2013 in Culinary life observations tagged el Bulli / Fat Duck / Gidleigh Park / Le Champignon Sauvage / Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons / Marco Pierre White / Menus / Michelin / Pierre Koffmann / Twitter by chefhermes

Twitter header — I remember (back in the day) when my best mate, who works for a multi-national IT company, said to me “get involved with this, it’s the next big thing”. Being a bit of geek, although this has now increased as time has gone on, I took a look. I was […]

Twitter for Hotels & Restaurants.

14 Jan, 2013 in Culinary life observations tagged Blogging / Gidleigh Park / Jay Rayner / Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons / Marina O'Loughlin / Michelin / Restaurant critic / Social Media / Social Networks / The Caterer / Tim Hayward / Twitter by chefhermes

opinion — Revelations, The Caterer ~ The Full interview This week I’ve appeared in The Caterer’s Chef section after answering a tweet sent out by Managing editor Amanda Afiya, asking for chefs to take part. Despite how some chefs deride The Caterer for what it once was (ie lots of pages, but […]

Revelations, The Caterer ~ The Full interview

6 Sep, 2012 in Culinary life observations tagged Ducasse / Gidleigh Park / Jason Atherton / Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons / Michelin / MPW / Raymond Blanc / Robert Thompson / Shaun Hill / Twitter by chefhermes

opinion — This week saw the release of GCSE & A Level results, and after reading a heartfelt post on another blog it got me thinking. Catering was once the last refuse of the less academically gifted & where career advisors would often recommend school leavers to go if they couldn’t do […]

Qualifications aren’t everything in catering

26 Aug, 2012 in Culinary life observations tagged Education / Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons / Marco Pierre White / Michael Caines / Michelin / Nathan Outlaw / Raymond Blanc by chefhermes