First look: The Yew Tree Inn, nr Newbury, Berkshire
People often talk about the six degrees of separation, but in hospitality it always seems a lot less, and mine to the Yew Tree is even less still. Firstly, as a commis I trained under one of the youngest chefs to be awarded two Michelin stars (at the Box tree, Ilkley) & who worked with … Read more
Can the last person leaving, turn the light off! ~ Heckfield Place
Oh, yet another story about the beleaguered stately pile in Hampshire, that is Heckfield Place. As many of you will know, & are probably beyond caring by now to be honest. Heckfield place has had its opening date pushed back more times than you, me or anybody cares to remember; to the point where it’s … Read more
World’s 50 Best, 2013
Every man loves a list, and the catering world is no different. There is the ritual award season for about 6 weeks in September & early October where AA, Good Food guide & Michelin release their annual guides of movers & shakers domestically, but the perennial publication of The World’s 50 best restaurant list is … Read more
The cautionary tale of Luke Thomas
Teen chef Luke Thomas has been on everybody’s radar in the culinary world now for about 12months, but on Wednesday night his PR machine reached new limits of promoting the latest stove monkey that thinks he deserves a Michelin star. During the hour long homage to “Britain’s youngest Head chef”, I experienced a roller-coaster of … Read more
Norovirus, Noma & PR spin.
They say a week is a long time in politics, maybe somebody should ask the owners of Noma how a week feels, after being on the end of such an amount of negative publicity about their Norovirus outbreak. Let me introduce the main players: Noma Noma & it’s chef, Rene Redzepi, have basically been hailed … Read more
What to expect from Hartnett Holder & Co – A first look.
This morning there was a pleasant surprise in my email waiting for me. It was an internal document on what to expect from Hartnett Holder & Co, and at four pages long it’s an interesting read. Firstly the name, “Hartnett Holder & Co”, surely there is a comma missing? Next, despite never holding anything higher than 2 … Read more
Great lunch deals in January
As you may have gathered by now, I spend an inordinate amount of time on twitter. And as I sat there watching my twitter feed constantly refreshing, I was thinking ‘what ever happened to the FT & Times lunch offers in January?’. Having said that, one of the recurring themes in the past week is … Read more
