Wouldn't it have been better at The Belfry?
Dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner - yes, it's Batman. Filming for the latest instalment of the Caped Crusader's movie adventures is taking place this week in none other than Plateau, Sir Terence Conran's restaurant in London's Canary Wharf.The location was chosen, apparently, for its Manhattan-like appearance (What was wrong with Manhattan itself? Who knows?), and head chef Tim Tolley has been promised a part as an extra, perhaps singing (in the manner of reggae-rockers UB40): "There's a bat in my kitchen - what am I gonna do?"
Breaking up the rock cakes for sir Rocco
An unusual party is taking place at Brown's, Sir Rocco Forte's London hotel that is set to close for as much as a year for refurbishment. To mark the closure, on 7 April, guests are being asked to wear suitable working gear, and will be given hardhats and tool belts. The party will last from 7pm till midnight - or "until the job gets done".Well, that's one way of ensuring cheap labour in these days of diminishing budgets.
Listen very carefully, I weel say zis only once
French restaurants have been warned that business will suffer unless they improve their attitude towards foreign customers.A report commissioned by the country's ministry of tourism denounces the condescending attitude adopted by many Gallic restaurateurs towards diners from this side of the Channel. It tells them not to insult British cuisine and to abandon the widely held idea that Britons know nothing about food and wine.One piece of advice to waiters is to "consider the British great connoisseurs of wine", while advice on Americans says tourists are not the fat, uncouth hamburger-eaters that they are thought to be. "Consider American customers as kings," it says.And, just in case it wasn't obvious, the report also recommends not mentioning the war to any visiting Germans.