My roundtable discussion with Raymond Blanc and Marco Pierre White, which I referred to in my last posting, was as high-octane and eventful as you'd expect from two such big, impassioned personalities.
I've yet to write up the notes I scribbled through the lunch, and when I make sense of them you'll be able to read my account of the day in the September 6th issue of Caterer and Hotelkeeper, which Marco is guest-editing. Meanwhile, one snippet of conversation springs to mind.
The two chefs are no strangers to catering for - and hobnobbing with - stellar celebrities nowadays. But both could remember the first time they ever catered for a star. For Marco, the star in question was Sasha Distel, for whom he cooked a full English breakfast at the George Hotel in Leeds. Marco admitted that he waited around all day to cook a dinner for the French crooner upon his return from the local theatre where he was performing. Sadly, Monsieur Distel went straight to his room, leaving White desolate.
Raymond's first celebrity diner was the rather more A-list Charlton Heston. "He filled up my tiny red-and-white tablecloth restaurant in Oxford, but he was just a normal guy," reminisced Blanc, who resolved never to be starstruck from that day on.
Who is the biggest star you have ever cooked for? And have you ever been left tongue-tied by seeing one of your idols walk into your restaurant or hotel?