The Editor's Hospitality Blog

Summer has arrived in London. A riot of hydrangea colours the Ritz's Piccadilly frontage, and outside Gordon Ramsay's flagship restaurant on Royal Hospital Road, the agapanthus are blooming.

There were more agapanthus on show in Sir Rocco Forte's beautiful central London garden, where I went to a press party yesterday to mark the tenth birthday of Rocco Forte Hotels. Sir Rocco was there, of course, along with Lady Forte - who looked stunning - and his sister, the hotel designer Olga Polizzi.

When journalists get together, the conversation can quickly descend into a game of one-upmanship, and yesterday was no different. There were loads of luxury travel, conference and incentive journos at the bash, and they all proceeded to outdo one another with tales of swanky press trips to New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, the West Indies ... I was able to get my own back, mind you, when the conversation turned to UK restaurants.

Sir Rocco was on top form, and told me all about his training for the forthcoming triathlon world championships. I munched guiltily away on the tasty canapes circulating the garden, as he described his gruelling daily exercise regime. How is it that captains of industry always manage to fit two-hour, pre-dawn gym sessions into their super-hectic schedules?

I'm fascinated by the Sunday Mirror's story about a kitchen porter's claims that he suffered racial harassment and discrimination, religious discrimination and victimisation at Gordon Ramsay's flagship restaurant in Chelsea.

The paper quoted a friend of Ramsay's as saying:

"Gordon employs more than 1,000 people of all nationalities. He spends a fortune sponsoring youngsters who want to be chefs through the Gordon Ramsay Scholarship Programme. It is a real hot-house in a kitchen and people shout and swear all the time - but he would never tolerate racism."

This is a fair comment. The commercial kitchen has to be the most testosterone-charged of workplaces, as well as one of the most racially diverse, and banter goes with the territory. As for Gordon himself, he has forged a hugely successful TV career out of being a foul-mouthed genius of the kitchen, but his abuse is blind to colour and creed - he'll tell anyone to f**k off out of his kitchen.

The question, then, is this: when does banter go too far? And can employers ever hope to keep it within the boundaries of acceptability?

Let me know what you think.

A few months ago I posted a story about a kitchen porter at Gordon Ramsay's flagship restaurant in Chelsea who claimed he had been a victim of racial harassment and religious victimisation.

The story set me thinking about how you can ensure healthy banter doesn's get out of hand in the commercial kitchen. Check out this response to the posting from a chef, who thinks there is still a place for a good bollocking in the kitchen from time to time:

The head chef's job is to make sure all foods go out the kitchen to his standard not his underlings'. If this does not happen the chef loses his rag - is this not acceptable?

Do you agree or disagree? let us know.