The prestigious Catey Awards took place earlier this week and culinary legend Raymond Blanc took the big trophy of the night, the Lifetime Achievement Award. Fellow chef Nigel Haworth and business partner Craig Bancroft were awarded the Special Award for their services to local food movement and Gordon Ramsay chef Angela Hartnett became the first female chef to clinch the Catey Chef Award in the event's 26-year history - watch our exclusive video.
Speaking of Chef Award winners, 1998 winner Philip Howard announced a new partnership with London restaurateur Rebecca Mascarenhas. The deal, which will see Howard take on the running of Mascarenhas's former Bistrot Eleven in Abingdon Road, Kensington, later this year will not effect Howard's day-to-day running of the two-Michelin-starred The Square, where he has been chef-proprietor since its launch in 1991.
Also in London, we learned that the first Jamie's Italian in the capital would open ahead of plan and we started to see the first green shoots of recovery. Even Clapham House was remaining positive despite a profit fall.
Lifetime Achievement Award winner Raymond Blanc was in the news again this week with the announcement that Philip Newman-Hall has returned to the two-Michelin-starred property, Le Manoir, as general manager and director following the departure of Tom Lewis last month. Fellow hoteliers Von Essen confirmed a spending spree after boosting annual profits and Stanley House stated it was to double in size after a £15m revamp.
Things were also looking up in the education sector with a rise in the number of pupils opting for school meals in both primary and secondary schools in England experiencing a rise. Meanwhile independent contract caterer Charlton House has retained its contract with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the UK's independent specialist aviation regulator and Chester Race Company announced plans to bring the catering inhouse at its Chester and Bangor on Dee racecourses.
AWT's smoking campaign failed to catch fire this week as industry bodies slammed his Save Our Pubs and Clubs campaign to overturn the 2007 smoking ban, claiming it is "too late to turn back the clock".
And finally, in the land of our fathers, Welsh pubs were being encouraged to cash in on an initiative to open their toilets to non-customers as part of the Welsh Assembly Government's £385,000 public facilities grant scheme.
Now, is that just potty or a stroke of genius?
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Quote of the Week
"I'm not one of these self-assured people, I have enormous self doubt and, in front of cameras, I felt like I was dying,"
Chef Ken Hom on working in TV.
By Amanda Afiya