The Editor's Hospitality Blog

Well done to the team from Blackpool and the Fylde College for triumphing in this year's Nestlé Toque D'Or competition, which reached a climax last Friday at the Dorchester Hotel in London.

As ever, Nestlé's Martin Webster treated guests to a slick and pacy show, and guest presenter James Martin did a good job of hosting proceedings, even if his scatalogical references to chocolate puddings threatened to put the gathered throng off its lunch.

As he opened the gold envelope to reveal the winning team's identity, Alastair Sykes, Chairman and Chief Executive of Nestlé pulled off a dramatic pause that Brucie would be proud of on Strictly Come Dancing.

If you've ever been to a Toque D'Or final, you'll know just how bonkers the winning team goes when it hears its name announced. This year's winners were no different - and who can blame them? As well as the thrill of being crowned the best college brigade in the country, they get to enjoy a study tour at the Johnson & Wales University in North Carolina, USA.

Much screaming and punching of the air later, we settled down to a suitably lavish lunch created by Henry Brosi to mark the occasion:

* Seared scallops with cauliflower pureé, parmesan crisp and sherry vinaigrette

* Roast fillet beef with red onion marmalade and ravioli from shank, seasonal vegetables, horseradish mash, burgundy jus

* Citrus fruit granité with rosemary cream cheese sabayon and vodka sorbet cannelloni

If the rosemary sabayon sounds odd, take my word for it: it worked really well.

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.