Staff at Hotel du Vin co-founder Gerard Basset’s latest venture TerraVina felt the heat last month after a kitchen fire ignited moments before service.

The incident happened at the Woodlands, New Forest, property on 29 December, two minutes before service as the restaurant re-opened after a short Christmas break.

No major damage occurred and the fire was put out quickly by the Bassets and their staff.

Guests staying at the hotel were temporarily evacuated as a precautionary measure.

Speaking to Caterersearch Nina Basset said: “A spark from some duck confit which was cooking on the stove spat out and caught fire and before we knew it there were flames licking up the Charvet range.

But we managed to deal with it – with fire blankets and some water – and were able to resume service pretty quickly. We even managed to put provide duck confit for the guests.”

The Bassets opened TerraVina at the end of August 2007. See this week’s (10 January) issue of Caterer and Hotelkeeper for a full report on their new venture.

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TerraVina website >>

By Joanna Wood

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