The Editor's Hospitality Blog

London's Savoy Hotel has hosted some auspicious guests since opening its doors to the public, in 1889.

Now, Springboard (the organisation responsible for promoting hospitality as a career of choice) is offering you the chance to be among the last people to dine at this Grande Dame of the city's hotel scene before it closes for extensive restoration.

Marlene Dietrich, Winston Churchill, George Bernard Shaw and Claude Monet all visited; Bob Dylan filmed the video for Subterranean Homesick Blues here; and Auguste Escoffier invented the Peach Melba here for opera singer, Dame Nellie Melba. Springboard's December 6th Christmas dinner gives you the chance to add your name to the iconic hotel's lengthy guest list.

Who knows, you might even end up sharing a table with the hotel's most famous four-legged resident, Kaspar, the statue of a cat that's placed at tables of thirteen to stave off bad luck.

there are more details on the Springboard website.

Multi Michelin-starred chef-legend, Alain Ducasse is set to open his first British restaurant at London's Dorchester Hotel later this month.

This interview, recorded for an American TV show as Ducasse prepared to open in New York a few years ago, gives you a glimpse of the man behind the legend (go to -20min 50sec for Ducasse's segment).

Congratulations to Trunkwell Mansion House proprietor, Bob Walton, who has been named as the new chairman of the Restaurant Association, and to Richard, Earl of Bradford, proprietor of Porter's Restaurant in London, and the association's new vice-chairman.

The two were in top form at this week's Restaurant Association 40th anniversary dinner, hosted by 2007 Catey Lifetime Achievement award-winner, Richard Shepherd at Langan's Brasserie in London.

Walton presented a gift to Manny Franks, the oldest serving member of the association, who promptly joked that the presidency and vice-presidency were mere sinecures. "The committee used to work far harder in the past, than it does now", he told guests, to much laughter.

I congratulated Richard Shepherd on the excellent, pink Beef Wellington served to guests. "That was the easy part", he told me. "The hard bit was getting 80 portions of ice cream up two flights of stairs without them melting." The ice cream came courtesy of event sponsors, Movenpick.

With dinner over, Bob Walton took a few of us across the road and signed us in at the Ritz Casino. For someone whose only experience of gambling is a pound each way on a 100-1 in the Grand National, the casino, with its Venetian chandeliers, murals and fine-dining restaurant offering Chinese, Thai, Lebanese, Indian and Western food, was a revelation.

The following morning, I conducted an interview with one of the leading lights of the Ark Foundation, whose remit is to protect hospitality workers from all forms of addiction. I opted not to mention the previous evening's activities ...

In a recent blog I reported on how Marco Pierre White, AA Gill and Tom Parker Bowles had linked up for a photoshoot in support of industry charity, Hospitality Action. this week's Mail on Sunday published the fruits of their labour.

The three agreed to pose together for the latest HA awareness advert. This ongoing series of adverts depicts top chefs suffering the sort of life-altering set-backs often experienced by beneficiaries of HA funding. Previous ads have portrayed Raymond Blanc being led by a guide dog, Heston Blumenthal living rough and Anton Edelmann languishing in a hospital bed.

Once they had finished the shoot, AA Gill and Marco went out to lunch at a restaurant Gill was reviewing for his Sunday Times column, still in full tramps' outift. In the column - which is well worth a read for a first-hand account of the day - Gill describes being "dressed up in a vomitous suit by Detritus and Garbage and a stinking, slimy shirt and dead man’s shoes. My face was distressed and my ankles blackened, and snot was rubbed into my hair."

Last night, superchef Alain Ducasse, the man with the most Michelin stars in the world, hosted a star-studded dinner at his new restaurant at London's Dorchester Hotel before it opens to the public tonight.

Welcoming us, Monsieur Ducasse promised not to serve frogs' legs, if guests promised not to mention the rugby world cup.

The table plan read like a who's-who of the UK dining scene: Mark Hix, Tom Aikens, Marcus Wareing, Raymond Blanc, Philip Howard, Michel Roux jnr, Gary Rhodes, Giorgio Locatelli, Henri Brosi, John Campbell, Theo Randall, Sir Terence Conran and many others came to meet the great man and sample his food. At the end of the meal, all of them lined up like kids outside a sweetshop, to view the magnificent kitchen Monsieur Ducasse has had put in at the restaurant.

The sight of so many top-drawer chefs in one room prompted the Vineyard's John Campbell to tell me: "if a bomb drops on the Dorchester now, you'll have nothing to write about anymore in the Caterer!" I replied that it would leave UK foodies dining on beans on toast from then on.

Christopher Cowdray wouldn't have been at all pleased to see a bomb land on us. Christopher is the CEO of the Dorchester Collection. As our seared scallops course arrived, Christopher pointed out to me the amoeba-thin shaving of dried tuna that topped the dish, and which moved like a flickering flame in the heat rising off the scallop below. Stunning.

Head of Prison Service Catering and Public Sector Catey winner Alan Tuckwood was in full comedic flow at this week's CESA Conference at the Cotswold Water Park Four Pillars Hotel.

Appearing onstage immediately after an in-depth global overview by an economist, Tuckwood announced that he had no slides, only a "mystery toy" which he asked delegates to pass among themselves. "There's a weekend away, all expenses paid, for the person that guesses what it is", he promised.

"I run the largest hotel group in the country", Tuckwood continued. "we've got 71,000 beds, a negotiable rack-rate and 105% occupancy."

The audience knew, though, that he had Strangeways or Wandsworth in mind, not Gleneagles or a Four Seasons.

Tuckwood raised the issue of kit maintenance, and said he insists on five-year warranties on all purchases. "I'm prepared to pay, but I expect you to absorb some of the risk", he told his audience of kitchen equipment manufacturers. His message was echoed later by Neil Watson-Jones, head of the Hospital Caterers Association, who challenged manufacturers to offer more innovative ways of building maintenance into packages, now kit is becoming increasingly complex.

The mystery toy turned out to be a prison services butter pat, by the way. No one guessed correctly.

So Tokyo is the most Michelin-starred city in the world. Hands up who saw that coming?

Incredibly, every one of the 150 restaurants listed in the Tokyo guide has been awarded at least one star and Joel Robuchon, who has a deep-rooted relationship with Japan’s capital, bagged six.

This will no doubt result in debate on the subject of which country holds the much-fought title of gastronomic capital of the world.

My money has always been on France, despite protestations from Spain and of course, Old Blighty, as I believe it’s hard to argue with France’s culinary heritage.

But as Michelin director Jean-Luc Naret rightly points out we perhaps overlook the heritage of countries a little further afield.

“[It is thanks to] Tokyo’s incomparable quality of the products and cooking techniques used, and to the heritage and culinary traditions handed down from generation to generation, that the Tokyo Michelin Guide has given stars to all restaurants," declares Naret.

Of course, this also presents an interesting twist in “Star Wars” (the battle between Gordon Ramsay and Alain Ducasse to be the most starred chef in the world). Joel Robuchon now proudly boasts 17.

Last week, twelve months of celebrations to mark the British Hospitality Association's centenary climaxed with a lavish dinner in the magnificent Locarno Suite of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on Whitehall.

If BHA Chief Executive Bob Cotton had received air miles for all his nationwide travels during the centenary year, he'd surely be enjoying a well-deserved holiday in Australia this Christmas. As well as this summer's well-attended BHA Luncheon in London, the association has held a series of events throughout the British Isles, enabling members nationwide to share in the festivities. Bob has been at them all.

Sodexho's boutique catering arm, Directors Table, laid on a suitably impressive dinner that drew inspiration from all of the regions Bob has visited during the past year. For an expat Welshman like me, the highlight was the Welsh lamb with laverbread mash. Who'd have thought seaweed and potatoes would combine to such delicious effect?

Donegal crab cake on FCO tartar sauce

English coxes orange pippins baked in puff pastry on Famous Grouse cream

Celebrity chef-restaurateur, Aldo Zilli stepped in as a last-minute replacement host of last week's Caterer and Hotelkeeper Excellence in Food and Drink Awards, sponsored as ever by 3663 - First for Foodservice.

The Italian fish specialist took charge after it emerged that scheduled hostess, Clarissa Dickson Wright, of Two Fat Ladies fame, had been struck down with food poisoning. At the end of the event, Aldo signed off by saying: "If you've enjoyed seeing me, I'm Aldo Zilli. If not, I'm Clarissa Dickson Wright".

The shy, retiring chef had an extra surprise waiting for winners, as they came to the stage to receive their trophies: a signed picture of himself. One winner was so overcome that he kissed Zilli's hand in thanks.

Check out next week's Caterer and Hotelkeeper for full details of the event and winners.

Chef-restaurateur Raymond Blanc's famous country hotel, Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, was evacuated earlier this week when ventilation equipment above the kitchens caught fire.

Fire crews were called to the hotel and double Michelin-starred restaurant in Great Milton at lunchtime on Monday, when smoke tripped the fire alarms. I was at the hotel at the time, interviewing Raymond Blanc - when the alarm went off, Raymond was leading me on a guided tour of Le Manoir's grounds. He had shown the good sense to don an overcoat and scarf; I had come out without a coat, as usual.

Hotel guests, lunchers and staff poured out onto the lawn - paying customers on the gravel path to save their high heels and expensive brogues, kitchen brigade on the lawn in their clogs. "We must thank God it is not raining", Raymond told his guests.

It may not have been raining, but the day was bitterly cold. Determined to conclude our interview, Raymond pulled his scarf from around his neck and used it to mop the rain water off two cast-iron garden chairs that were shaded from the winter sun by a giant old tree. We sat down and cracked on, though soon I was so cold that I could barely grip my pen, let alone force it to move across my notepad.

Provided I can decipher my notes, I'll be putting together a major article on Raymond's plans for Le Manoir in the new year.

As stress levels in commercial kitchens rise in the run-up to Christmas, head chefs wanting to release pressure in their brigades might wish to take inspiration from staff at HM Revenue & Customs.

Apparently, morale is so low at HMR&C, that employees are demanding punchbags, squeeze balls and aromatherapy to help them relieve work-related tension.

One posting on Disgruntled Lemmings, a discussion web site run by tax staff, have called for stress balls, "a cheap idea, these could be placed on every desk within easy reach for people to squeeze away the tension after dealing with an awkward caller or a difficult piece of post." Another suggests that "a punchbag could be kept in a staff room/chillout area for those on breaks to take out their frustrations on." And a third asks tax bosses to consider offering "discounts for stress-relieving therapies such as Indian head massage, aromatherapy and reflexology".

Could such techniques be applied to the kitchen? Aromatherapy is probably out: the delicate aromas of lavender and patchouli might be lost amid the smell of the stockpot. But a meat carcass hanging in the cold room could double as a punchbag; and balls of dough would work nicely as stress balls.

On the other hand, other, bosses might opt for more practical ways of keeping staff happy and motivated.

US billionaire Donald Trump's plans for a £1bn world-class golf resort and housing development in Aberdeenshire have been rejected by local councillors and other lobbying groups.

Among the opponents of the planned development were the RSPB, which claimed that it would have a harmful impact on the local wildlife and landscape.

According to the BBC website, Geoff Runcie, the chief executive of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said: "The prize of a world-class golf development and related resort appears to have been completely missed by a group of experienced councillors who, it might have reasonably been expected, would have been able to grasp this ecosuomic prize.

Donald Trump is currently considering an appeal.