The Editor's Hospitality Blog

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.

In it's early days I wasn't exactly compelled to watch Masterchef, the BBC2 series, but I did find it easy, Sunday afternoon viewing if I happened to be in. 

Over the past few years - as it has slowly increased the involvement of the professional trade - I have found that I have enjoyed it more and more. But I wouldn't say I plan my social diary around it - unlike some of my friends.

In the last week, however, I feel like I've been receiving subliminal messages from the makers of Masterchef. Last week I attend the London Restaurant Awards, where John Torode presented an award with recent Celebrity Masterchef winner Liz McClarnon. Yesterday, at a bash in the 'burbs, a woman was telling me that she records every programme and religiously watches it in bed (I bet her husband loves that).

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The announcement was made by Albert Roux at a Champagne reception this evening. Desai (pictured left with Alain Roux) commented: "The Roux Scholarship is the competition as far as I'm concerned and I've entered before but failed to reach the finals. I am so relieved to have managed to win after just one attempt at the final."

Desai, who credited Hywel Jones as being the "driving force" behind his recent career, and his fellow competitors were judged by Albert, Michel, Michel Junior and Alain Roux, Heston Blumenthal, Andrew Fairlie (the first winner of the Roux Scholarship title), David Nicholls, Gary Rhodes, Brian Turner and guest judge, Bloomberg food critic Richard Vines.