The Caterer Blog

It's official. Boris Johnson has won the race to be mayor of London. But Caterersearch readers in London should not give up their chance to vote just yet. The Tory candidate has only won a poll of diners at Gourmet Burger Kitchen so the real politics remains tantalisingly up in the air.

The Conservative candidate - more famous for his floppy blond hair, inappropriate comments about Liverpool and surprise backing of a London-wide Living Wage for low-paid hospitality employees - took 48% of the GBK diners vote. Evidently the combination of beef and stilton was too much to resist - especially for this ravenous chap pictured.

Here are those all important results in full:

Boris Johnson – the Boris burger: 48%
100% beef with salad, relish and an aged Stilton dressing
“A bit cheesy with hidden depths, quite possibly a bit messy”

Ken Livingston – the Ken burger: 30%
100% beef with salad, relish and a fresh chilli sauce
“Hot, fiery and a bit of a mouthful”

Brian Paddick – the Paddick burger: 14%
A fresh breast of chicken with salad, relish and a spicy satay sauce
“Golden, plucky, with a hint of spice”

Sian Berry – the Berry burger: 8%
Puy lentils, green curry, potato, spring onion with salad and relish
“Good for you, with a bit of bite”

David Sykes, managing director of GBK, said: “Boris seems to have captured the imagination of the City boys and he’s won by a blond head. Let’s see if Ken can ketchup.”

Groan... stay tuned to Caterersearch tomorrow when the official result of today's vote is revealed and we tell you what it means for hospitality in the Capital.

Apparently around the world sailing soloist Dame Ellen MacArthur saved up the money for her first boat by hoarding her dinner money.

Although this may explain why she’s so small, Ellen’s struggle against adversity to make history and her well documented topsy turvey challenges at sea lend themselves to a useful metaphor - namely the battle school dinner providers have faced ever since Jamie Oliver questioned the nutritional merits of the Turkey Twizzler.

On a personal level, it made me regret that I saved my school meal cash only towards Sega Mega Drive games.

Still, at a Caterer round table debate on primary school dinners supported by Apetito last month (see next week’s Caterer and Hotelkeeper – 8 May – for report in full) it was heartening to see all-round optimism from our eclectic mix of participants.

The police are calling for a complete ban on discounted drinks, happy hours and alcohol advertising, after figures revealed that the number of women arrested for being drunk and disorderly has “risen dramatically” in the last five years.

It seems to me that, along with many other civil liberties, the powers that be are now trying to deprive a girl of her one legal social pleasure left-Happy Hour. That glorious 60- sometimes even 120- minute slot where a girl can grab two dirty martinis for a not-so-dirty price. Heaven.

As much as I believe in responsible alcohol consumption, depriving those of us who have a modicum of self-discipline and restraint of the glorious hour that is indeed happy, is just plain wrong. Since when did the police get to decide how much you are allowed to drink? And will the ban only apply to ladies, then?

I’m sorry but I’m not going gently into this alcohol-free night- you’ll have to prize that Mojito from my cold. Inebriated. Hand.

Binge Drinking>>

There's still time to get your hands on tickets for the Wimbledon Ladies Final, British Grand Prix, Golf Open and concerts at The O2 with Nescafe's Britain's Favourite Events promotion.

Four pairs of tickets are up for grabs for each event along with £300 spending money, first class travel, two nights' accommodation in a luxury hotel and a meal for two.

To take part in the promotion purchase a Nescafe Original or Gold Blend tin or box of stickpacks and visit the www.nfspromotions.co.uk website for details on how to enter.

All entries will also be placed into monthly draws with the chance to win one of six iPod Shuffles, four £25 Ticketmaster vouchers and 10 £10 HMV vouchers.

The cut off date is 30th May 2008.

For more information, contact Nestle Professional on 0800 745 845 or visit Nestle Professional.

I was fortunate enough to be on the top table for the annual HIT Scotland industry dinner at the Glasgow Hilton last Thursday evening.

The evening was, as ever, a great success with more than £30,000 raised for the charitable trust and Neil Thomson, from the Federation of Chefs Scotland, a deserving winner of the industry award - recognising his 45 years in hospitality education.

I am reliably informed that there is always a good atmosphere at the do - 550 Scots and plentiful wine tends to see to that - but one can't help but wonder if events over in Florence may have added an extra sense of bonhomie to the occasion.

Speaking at the recent Arena Face to Face lunch Baxter Storey’s Alastair Storey made the case not to cut back on staff training and development as times get tougher.

"I believe the next two years to three years will be a lot harder. There’s always a temptation to make cuts and trim training, but if you’re serious about using fresh food you need to keep training all the time."

You can see our exclusive Arena video for a taste of the networking event and a glimpse of Storey in action.

The caterer was expertly quizzed by ITN journalist Alastair Storey on a number of areas, which I thought I’d jot down for your delectation.

Has Gordon Ramsay been knocking back Royal Hospital Road cooking sherry and gonzo phoning Five Live again? That seems to be the public opinion in reaction to his latest diatribe on British cooking, with responses springing up like weedy shoots of roquet on the BBC forum this morning.

“Seems a bit ill thought out to say the least. Farmers in developing countries have it bad enough already with the huge distortions, barriers and unfairness of the CAP, this would be the nail in the coffin for many poor people in Africa. Just to please the Islington dinner party set? Don't give up the day job Ramsay...” says Jon Cooper in Herts.

Vicious…

This Monday's 2008 Chef Conference has been on your radar for months, maybe years - the tie's ironed, the chip-fat burns are dressed and you've degreased your favourite cooking pants. Then the wife announces she's booked you both a break in Benidorm that week.

First up on the speaker-front is eco-restaurateur Arthur Potts Dawson. He's talking rubbish. Bottles, plastics, vegetable waste - "I've been in the restaurant industry for some time and I know the waste that goes on in professional kitchens".

Using a flash machine from Korea, he says, he manages to crush down his recycling and reduce collection to once every ten days. Only one bag a week is un-recyclable. He's also got worms - which is where some of the compostable items end up, as well as on his garden.

It's 9.45 and the first challenge is chucked to the crowd. It's like 1960s Greenwich Village in here. "Can we as an industry be more accountable? Talk to growers, talk to suppliers, talk to delivery men - find alternative ways and be more responsible. Everyone can change and be more accountable in this industry. Let's make a concerted effort to move forward."

Mark vs Marco, question one: how has the industry changed since he started? "When I was a young boy every chef dreamt of winning just one star not two or three, that didn't feature. I was from tough streets in Leeds but look at, say, the pub world now, people from the middle class and upper class are coming into an industry that was always working class."

Describe some of the places you worked: "Gavroche was a powerhouse. Started 6.30 in the morning and worked til late at night. Everything was dealt with in French. It was magical, like stepping out onto the turf at Old Trafford."

Was it scary? "You're programmed to be the a certain way. Even if I was at my most tired, I was programmed to turn food out in a certain way."

"Nico (Ladenis) was very supportive. A great friend of mine. It wasn't the real world, he'd spend an hour making a sauce, but he had a great palette and knew what he was doing."

"Koffmann was Koffmann. He didn't speak to you, you didn't know if he liked you, but every day you got to watch the great master cook. I knew when he accepted me when - I used to have a cup of tea before and after service - he told the kitchen porter to get me a tea after one service and I knew he had accepted me into his kitchen."

I learnt in a golden age of cooking. It was like the golden age of boxing was in the '70s. I look at people like the Rouxs, Koffmann, Nico, Raymond and they were the heavyweights of our time. Their hands didn't touch the food but their eyes did, their palette did. I don't mind paying £300 for Michelin star food but I want the chef to be behind the stove. If I bought Elton John tickets and his right hand man turned up to play I wouldn't be too impressed."

He's joined by mushroom-man forager and supplier of wild food to top end restaurants, Miles Irving. "Noma would not be noma without people like Miles," says Redzepi. Which explains that.

For those unfamiliar with Scandinavian hedgerows; what grows in the wild out in Denmark this time of year is very much the same as in Britain. The noma menu is a mix of costly and everyday ingredients, including foraged native foods and home-prepared vinegars, beers, spirits and wines. I made a home-made beer once. It grew a head that resembled sewage effluent and tasted like I'd stewed a wet dog in pond water. I'm guessing noma does it better.

Irving is running through the wild products Redzepi uses. Dandelion in there. And a few others up on his table; some moss, some sea lettuce - a nice summery ingredient - wood sorrel, wild garlic flowers, a glass of water (probably not foraged), wild celery, pennywort, wild rocket, sweet woodruff.

"There's a huge variation of pureness out there in the wild. And if you represent that in cuisine it should have a lightness to it," says Redzepi.

View more of the dishes from the Chef Conference lunch here >>

For those unfamiliar with Glynn's beef dish, the only recommendation I can mete out is move to Birmingham just to be near it. It is, of course, not yet legal to marry a dish, but as soon as it is, this one can expect a seedy proposition from yours truly. I'd take an eternity wandering the NEC centre just so long as they fed me this each evening.

"I've got a bit of a problem with fillet of beef, never used it before I got this tail of fillet of beef off my butcher. Very few chefs use the tail whole, it goes into things like straganofs," says Purnell. Fillet of beef can be cooking by numbers sometimes, an easy option to look good, but Purnell's is something else. 'Beef with liquorice and malt vinegar, that'll never work,' you might say. Well, you're wrong, it works better than a German engine.

How is Claire finding the Naper Valley, home to the French Laundry? Well apparently it's beautiful, quaint, almost perfect. And the inside of the restaurant freakishly well ordered and borderline obsessive compulsive with its dedication to cleanliness.

How much autonomy does Clarke have with chef-patron of the French Laundry, Thomas Keller? "He gives me a boundary to work in. He might say he wants something with popcorn and I will work within that."

How is Keller to work with? "He's honest, he's hard working, he drives people. He can say nothing, not one word, but you still know what his expectations are. I've never known someone to be so respectful. We're like a little united family, he'd never talk disrespectfully to someone."

"Arbutus is synonymous with cheap cuts and under used items. We're a modern bistrot," says Demetre and starts laying down the beat of flying cleaver on rabbit torso.

Burning a haunting lead vocal, Smith waxes on a few wines. "Maybe I'd choose Pinot Noir with such a classic rabbit dish." Such sumptuous melodies.

The cameraman's panned in on the cleavered rabbits head in a pot- a little eyeball's poking out.

It's still on screen.

And still.

It's actually looking a bit weird now.

Gone.

The heavy cleaver beats are done now and the dainty notes of knife on rabbit ribcage are gambolling from the masterclass table.

Rob Hartwell is the 2008 Acorn Scholar. As part of a year's development activity, he has been given a sabbatical from his sous chef role with Peach Pub Company to take a four-month cooks tour.

After finishing my stint at Bills, although I felt that I hadn't really learnt anything to further my cooking skills, I had discovered how people like to run their kitchens differently. I won't elaborate but I like the traditional way better.

The weekend before starting at Rockpool, Neil Perry's flagship Sydney eatery, I went up to Terrigal, a popular getaway for trendy Sydney folk.

I have to admit I'd been abusing my taste buds with a major onslaught of Sambuca and jugs of cold beer at an extended house party on the beach and was trying to find some food to kick them back into a state of high alert.

I'd been dreaming of the fresh tasty fusion food the Australians can do so well but instead was greeted with a half assed attempt of a Frito misto and aioli.

When I mentioned this to the owner and offered to tell him how to put it right, he threw me out. So not everyone wants to learn from their customer feedback.

Monday morning, with freshly ironed whites, I headed off to the 'Pool thinking 'This really needs to be better than Bill's' or Oz cooking is surely doomed.

As soon as I walked though the door though, I was amazed. I was instantly given a smell and taste of flavours that I never new existed, freshness that matched the fish in Fiji and an organised kitchen that could stand the test anywhere in the UK and beyond.

These guys really know what they're doing. I learnt a lot there: not only how to cook his signature stir-fried blue swimmer crab omelette and an incredible Chinese roast pidgeon, I learned about their fantastic relationships with the best suppliers and how they really respect the ingredients they cook with.

I learned how badly we fish our oceans; how we could do it better and how we consume fish.

 It helped working under such a passionate head chef, Michael, who is one of Neil's prodigies. He was so passionate about his kitchen and the food he produced; it was easy to see how the Rockpool is such a success.

There is a heavy Asian influence and an emphasis on the freshest possible seafood and produce. With his signature ponytail and line of Neil Perry Fresh food products, Perry is a Sydney cultural fixture.

Although the menu has changed over the years, some dishes, such as the China Roast Pigeon, remain time-honoured favourites.

I left the Rockpool in high spirits, thoroughly inspired, with a book full of recipes and ideas and filled with excitement for the next leg of my tour.

I'm now in Singapore, where it is very hot and sticky but exciting. Every street is filled with a clashing, though wonderful, mix of strange food, smells and languages. It feels like a place you could lose yourself for a few days and no one would notice.

On my first day there we asked our bus driver to drop us some where nice but cheap for dinner. We ended up at Frog Porridge Café, which far from being just a quirky name, was a description of their signature dish. It was tasty but not quite sure what was in there apart from the rice and the frog?!

Due to the heat and the time changes, time I have found it hard to sleep at night and I have got in to the habit of late night walks. It started in Sydney where I use to walk around for a late night snack, and now in Singapore to find that 'little restaurant' and ask for the chef's special and a few beers to wash it down with.

The food always seem to taste better when you don't know what's coming and the beer compliments the food - all together a great combo.

One night, I felt as though I was lost in no man's land and up for eating anything in the back of a small kitchen with an 70+ year old chef cooking up his best dish.

He was enthusiastic about giving me a good quantity to gorge myself on and happy to share his "secrets" (more notes for my book).

He and his team (aka family) watched me eat every mouthful. Occasionally you get "let's play with the westerner" that's when they put scuds (small chilies that could wipe out a huge population) in your food and watch you squirm.

I know I am not quite in reality at the moment but I feel I am learning lots about myself and food every day.

I am due to fly to Bangkok tomorrow but not before trying the chili crab from the east coast, supposedly the best in Singapore and wash it down with a Singapore Sling from Raffles - well it's got to be done!

Paul Haeberlin, the iconic chef-patron of the three-Michelin-starred Auberge de l'Ill restaurant in France died at his home in Illhaeusern, Alsace, last weekend. He was 84.

Haeberlin was one of the most influential chefs of his time and his innovative takes on French classics helped to firmly put Auberge de l'Ill on the international culinary map. He transformed the restaurant, which has been in the Haeberlin family for more than 100 years, into the culinary destination it is today.

It has held three Michelin stars for more 40 years, ranking it alongside those of culinary heavyweights Paul Bocuse and the family Troisgros as one of the most consistent restaurants ever to hold the top Michelin accolade.

If you're lucky enough to be planning a trip to Europe soon you might be interested in places to grab a bite to eat.

Although McDonald's is everywhere, and you probably won't struggle to track down a branded coffee and croissant, for those looking for something altogether more substantial we have a few choice suggestions. 

Caterer sister title Travel Weekly has done the hard work for us and checked out a selection of Michelin starred hotel restaurants for you to sample when on the continent. Enjoy! 

It was all going so well for Manchester based hospitality operators ahead of last night's UEFA Cup Final between Rangers and Zenit St Petersburg.

Pubs, hotels and restaurants anticipated a massive increase in turnover, with one eaterie hoping for a 300% boost in trade as fans mingled in the city centre ahead of the game at the City of Manchester Stadium.

It was predicted that the extra tourists - an estimated 100,000 were in the city - would boost the local economy by £20m.

What do you get if you go into a bar and ask for a gimp? A smack in the mouth? A disapproving look and asked to leave the premises? Manager calls the police? Not at Galvin at Windows.

At such a request, bar manager Lino Marchese will skilfully whip up a concoction of fresh ginger, vodka, lime, pineapple and ginger beer, with not a leather mask in sight.

It's one of the house cocktails at the bar on the 28th floor of the Hilton Park Lane and was inspired by a scene in 90s cult movie Pulp Fiction.

"It's a naughty name and makes people smile," said Marchese. And it doesn't take up as much room on the cocktail list as a Long Slow Comfortable Screw Against the Wall.

Anyone who has worked in the hospitality industry has been there - forcing a smile at even the most repugnant customer, all in the name of providing a service.

But it seems smiling too much at work can seriously damage your health.

Researchers at a university in Germany now claim enforced jolliness on the job is much more likely to make people fall ill.

The researchers said 'professional smilers', such as waiters, flight attendants, sales personnel and others in contact with the public for extended periods of time, were at risk of seriously harming their health.

There's such fear around the issue of race that the hospitality sector has adopted an "everyone's the same" approach that's failing to see any true diversity in the boardroom.

Okay, that sounds deadly serious but hospitality has a race relations problem and the sooner it accepts it the sooner the industry can prosper from all the talent it's currently squandering.

I mean it's mad for an industry facing a seemingly never ending skills shortage not to be promoting more workers, regardless of background on merit, into management positions.

Given the massive diversity at entry level in the hospitality industry, which in the UK employs some two million people, I struggle to think of many members from minority backgrounds that aren't self made bosses such as Surinder Arora or Cyrus Todiwala at the top.

There's clearly a problem and research from consultancy and recruiter Chess Executive last year found just 2% of hospitality boardroom members came from minority backgrounds.

Raising the spectre of the dreaded beer-tie (where the volume of specific beers sold directly impacts on the landlords rent) the average price of a pint of lager in a leased pub in April was £2.63, a price that has risen by 12p since September.

However the average price per pint of lager in your averaged managed pub at the same time was just under £2.50, and this price has risen by 10p in the past seven months.

Finally, giving M&B its plug (this is its research after all), its average pint of lager costs just £2.23 in April and has risen by just 5p during the same period.

The cheapest place to buy booze is, of course, the supermarket where the average price per pint is approximately 70p having risen by just 8p.

With micro-economics like these no wonder the traditional British pub is under threat. How can the individual boozer compete with the managed giants across the country, let alone the supermarkets?

No wonder a group of MP's have asked the Competition Commission to address the dominance of Britain's largest pub companies and make rents sustainable. Now, if only we all had faith that these proposals might result in something more tangible for struggling landlords.

Forget fish - its not sustainable these days anyway - pigeon and chips is the new dish of choice.

Unlike cod, the humble pigeon is plentiful these days and infiltrating the trendiest of menus.

Marco Pierre White lists a stuffed Bresse squab pigeon in a sea salt crust as one of his ten favourite dishes. Bresse pigeon with fois gras even ordains White's menu at his restaurant at Chelsea Football Club.

But for those of you who can't get hold of wood pigeon, remember that every city centre street is filled with the flying rat, some of whom clearly want to be remembered fondly by hungry diners.

A Worcester chip shop last week told the tale of a hapless pigeon flew directly into one of its deep fat fryers. Yes you read that right - the bird embarked on a kamikaze mission of flying head first into boiling fat.

"It must have been a painful death," said Dawn Jennings, owner of the Angel Plaice, with no hint of irony. "It was quite distressing at the time, but we can laugh about it now."

One wonders what would have happened if the pigeon had gone into a Glasgow chippie. Deep fried pigeon with tatties anyone?

 "The challenges are unique". Yes that's certainly one way to put the idea of building the world's first hotel on the craggy, no gravity surface of the Moon. And yet that's just what budget hotel chain Premier Inn is intending to do.

The Whitbread group has bought an option to build on the moon for a Princely sum of £24. The land will subsequently cost a further £1m from Moon Estates (come on are you kidding me?) Apparently the group feel "it is now more feasible than ever to expect travel to and from the moon to become a common occurrence within the next 20-30 years."

Now it might be just me, but if I had blown, what is bound to be, a hefty wad on flying to the moon, I think I might, just might, want to stay somewhere a tad more upmarket than a Premier Inn. A Four Seasons perhaps, hell even a Hilton!  This, coupled with the fact that you are most likely to be indoor-bound due to the absence of gravity outside for the entirety of your stay, makes the scarcity of extras in a budget hotel a very bad idea.

Gordon Ramsay Holdings and two-Michelin-starred chef Marcus Wareing are to part company. Marcus Wareing, who has worked with Gordon Ramsay for 15 years, is to leave the company in September and launch his own restaurant at the Berkeley Hotel, where Petrus is currently housed.

Speculation in the industry suggests that Gordon Ramsay Holdings, which owns the name Petrus, will relocate the restaurant within London. La Noisette has been suggested as the most likely venue.

According to an article in the Mail on Sunday, the news of the split has been confirmed by the Maybourne Hotel Group, owner of The Berkeley.

A spokesperson said: "We can confirm the group's intention to work directly with chef Marcus Wareing to operate the fine dining restaurant at the hotel.

"The existing contract with Gordon Ramsay Holdings expires on September 19 and a new contract with Marcus Wareing will then commence."

By Amanda Afiya

We all love a bit of McDonald's after a heavy night out and just yesterday a friend was telling me about a recent late night trip to one of the golden arches' drive-throughs after a wedding reception.

But one happy couple in Cornwall seems to have got the order of events a bit mixed up and plans to head to the fast food chain before rather than after their special celebration.

Next month, Alice Clark and husband-to-be Terry Speller from St Austell, will be chauffeur driven straight from their wedding to McDonald's where they will tuck into burgers and fries before joining friends and family at their reception at the County Arms pub in Truro.

Springboard's annual Slingsby Cup takes place on Friday 19th September at Westminster Kingsway College and if anyone fancies pushing their work colleagues around London in a shopping trolley now is your chance.

The fund-raiser for the charitable trust, which works with young people, the unemployed and the disadvantaged in the hospitality industry,  will be awarding prizes for the most originally dressed trolley and the most creatively dressed trolley pushers.

The parade (it's not a race remember) takes place in Vincent Square, outside the Westminster Kingsway College.

To register, in teams of four, click here.

Contract caterers have all sorts of demands placed on them but negotiating a funeral procession isn't normally one of them.

Yes, clients want to be green but at no extra cost; the offer must compete with the high street but often match the best in-fine dining for directors also; and it's got to be keenly priced, of course; but funeral cortèges, that's a bit different.

Still, in one of the best, and let's be fair justified, excuses for running late I've heard this year Frank Bothwell managing director of Oxfordshire based contract caterer Thomas Franks came up tops earlier this week.

Bothwell called up ahead of our meeting this week to let me know "he was running late", on the usually rather uneventful drive to Reed Towers, home of Caterer and Hotelkeeper, in not-much-ado Sutton, Surrey.

 A juicy headline if ever you've heard one. Alas, gossip fans, it's not that kind of dogging.

All round altruist Jamie Oliver was spotted cooking up hotdogs for hungry gig-goers at a recent charity gig held by Razorlight drummer Andy Burrows in aid of children's hospice charity Jack's Little Stars Appeal.

Oliver, a fellow drummer of course, enlisted the help of his apprentices from Fifteen London, serving up sausages in buns with rocket and onion chutney, to the likes of Radio 1 DJ Edith Bowman and and Razorlight frontman Johnny Borrell.

Burrows, who put the gig in Islington as part of the launch of his new solo album The Colour of My Dreams, invited a whole host of guest musicians from bands such as Guillemots and The Bluetones, to serenade the audience, who were treated in the last half hour to an acoustic set from Razorlight.

Oliver, a self confessed Razorlight fan, also donated signed cookbooks to the raffle, and enjoyed the concert from an upstairs pew in the chapel.

It's a dog's life!

By Rosie Birkett