September 2009 Archives

Just when you thought Gordon Ramsay couldn't sink any lower, he goes and does something so unbelievably lacking in integrity that you realise there really is no limit to the man's desire to dominate the world.

No, he's not planning to roll out a chain of restaurants with outlets in every city across the planet, nor is he launching a book on how to offend an entire country. It's worse.

According to US entertainment magazine Variety, Ramsay has agreed to a stop-motion animation series based on none other than himself.

Called Gordon Ramsay, At Your Service the half-hour comedy will take "the essence of who he is and have a bit of fun with it," according to Cuppa Coffee, the Canadian animation studio tasked with creating the show.

It will be on offer at next month's Mipcom international TV sales convention, where buyers will have the opportunity to snap up the show.

Of course, there is no limit to where the story of animated Gordon Ramsay could take us, but once there, there'll be no point of return to credibility for any of us.

Picture supplied by Cuppa Coffee.

Restaurant Sat Bains in Nottingham has won the AA's top accolade of five rosettes.

The Michelin-starred restaurant with rooms on the outskirts of Nottingham was the only restaurant to have been given the top award at the 2009-2010 AA Hospitality Awards held at the London Hilton Park Lane last night.

The restaurant was recognised for its continued high standards and for providing inspiration to peers throughout the industry.

Housed in a converted Victorian farmhouse, the 32-seat restaurant is renowned for its trademark tasting menus that include a degustation menu offering diners a taste of 12 different courses.

Bains said he was "absolutely blown away" by the accolade. "It's a great testament to what we are doing here at the restaurant and it's fantastic to be recognised in this way," he said.

"When I found out I was totally speechless, which to those who know me well is a very rare occurrence."

Four rosettes were awarded to Claude Bosi's two-Michelin-starred restaurant Hibiscus and French chef Hélène Darroze's Michelin-starred restaurant at the Connaught hotel, both in London; as well as Michael Wignall at the Michelin-starred Latymer at Pennyhill Park in Bagshot, Surrey.

Iconic chef Pierre Koffmann's pop-up restaurant at London department store Selfridges has been extended by two weeks following overwhelming demand for bookings.

The former three-Michelin-starred chef patron of the famous La Tante Claire restaurant is still so popular among chefs and foodies alike that his temporary restaurant, which was first scheduled for a week, will now run from 8-31 October.

The 80-cover La Tante Claire at Selfridges, which forms part of the inaugural London Restaurant Festival, will be housed in a marquee atop the Oxford Street department store, which this year celebrates its 100th anniversary. The restaurant will be designed, set up and managed by Selfridges with its high-profile sommelier Dawn Davies overseeing the front of house. All produce will come from Selfridges's suppliers.

Koffmann will be joined in the kitchen by some of his former protégés including the Michelin-starred chefs Eric Chavot, Tom Aikens and Tom Kitchin.

Raphael Duntoye, head chef at La Petite Maison, and Helena Puolakka, head chef at Skylon, will also be part of the restaurant together with award winning chocolatier William Curley.

Each will spend a day in the kitchen with Koffmann, cooking a three-course menu to represent their respective restaurants.

Koffmann, whose passion for cooking is clearly as alive as it has ever been, said he was excited to stay at Selfridges for longer and was thrilled people still remember him.

"By extending my time I am thrilled to have more opportunity to experiment with new dishes and introduce a daily special, which will sit alongside some of my more classic dishes," he said.

Things have gone from bad to worse for our favourite culinary wizard Heston Blumenthal.

Victims of the food poisoning outbreak at his three-Michelin-starred Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, Berkshire, are now seeking legal damages from the chef, reports the Daily Mail.

Blumenthal closed the iconic restaurant for two weeks in February after more than 500 diners were struck down by norovirus, or winter vomiting bug.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) released a report on its investigation into the outbreak earlier this month stating the official cause was contaminated shellfish.

The report pointed to "several weaknesses in procedures" at the Fat Duck including delayed response to the incident and staff working when they should have been off sick.

The victims are now seeking damages against Blumenthal over the chef's 'pathetic response' to the episode - among them high profile diners including boxing promoter Frank Warren and TV presenter Jim Rosenthal.

However, a spokeswoman for the Fat Duck defended the restaurant saying it was still in the process of reviewing the HPA's report and was not yet in a position to respond to claims.

"Unfortunately, until our insurers and legal teams have completed this review we are unable to comment further and we have written to all of our guests who were affected to advise them of this," she said.

Tributes to the late Keith Floyd, who died this week of a heart attack, have been making waves across the media.

The great and good of the hospitality industry have been singing their praises of the legendary TV chef, who was adored by food lovers across the world.

Floyd, who had been diagnosed with bowel cancer in June, died at his partner's home in Dorset on Monday night aged 65.

It has emerged that on his last day, Floyd, cigarette in one hand and glass of wine in the other, spent a leisurely lunch with long-time friend Celia Martin to celebrate her 65th birthday.

The pair went to celebrity chef Mark Hix's restaurant in Lyme Regis, Dorset, where they feasted al fresco on Champagne, oysters and partridge on the terrace.

"At the Hix Oyster and Fish House they began with two champagne cocktails on the sun terrace," reports the Daily Mail. 

"The lunch of oysters with potted shrimp followed by partridge - Floyd had actually ordered the grouse but was given the other dish by mistake - and perry jelly was washed down with a glass of white Burgundy and a couple of glasses of Cotes du Rhône."

After the lunch, Floyd settled at home in front of the TV where he later suffered the fatal heart attack.

As a "humorous tribute" to Floyd the Hix Oyster and Fish House yesterday offered a special on its menu, serving his main course as Keith Floyd's Last Lunch priced £21.50.

But the joke didn't go down all that well with Martin, who said: "I can't believe they would do anything that sick."

Keith Floyd, the legendary restaurateur, TV chef and bon viveur, has died following a heart attack aged 65.

He died at his partner's home in Dorset last night, according to the BBC. He had been diagnosed with bowel cancer in June.

Floyd shot to fame in the 1980s with his flamboyant presenting style and his love of red wine and gutsy food.

He began his media career as a radio chef on Radio West, an independent commercial radio station in Bristol before being offered a role as a presenter on the BBC.

The celebrity chef went on to author 32 cookery books and present 18 television series, endearing him to audiences across the world.

The latest, Keith meets Keith, where actor and documentary-maker Keith Allen tracked down Floyd for a one on one interview, was televised last night on Channel 4.

Industry figures including Marco Pierre White and Heston Blumenthal have paid tribute to Floyd, with White saying "a little piece of Britain has died with him".

Is Jamie Oliver planning another restaurant?

The famous cheeky chappie, who last year launched his Italian high street chain, Jamie's Italian, has hinted he's got a new concept up his sleeve.

Oliver, who is currently appearing on Channel 4 in his new TV series Jamie's American Road Trip, has been talking a lot about how his travels have inspired him to broaden his culinary repertoire.

On the Jonathan Ross show last Friday he revealed that he plans to launch a new, small restaurant next year.

"In February next year we're doing a little restaurant with charcoal and wood and we are going to do quite a lot of South American-inspired stuff," he said.

Yesterday morning, on the Heart Breakfast radio show, he told listeners how much he loved the Mexican food offered in the US: "In England we don't do Mexican food at all or we do it really badly."

Could Jamie's Mexican be on the cards?

The official cause of the outbreak of the norovirus, which forced celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal to shut his three-Michelin-starred Fat Duck restaurant last winter, has been revealed as contaminated shellfish.

Blumenthal, chef-proprietor of the iconic restaurant in Bray, Berkshire, was forced to close the Fat Duck for two weeks in February/March after up to 40 diners were afflicted with a mystery illness resulting in vomiting and diarrhoea. Following media coverage of the outbreak, the number of potential cases leapt to more than 500.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) today released a report on its investigation into the outbreak stating the organism responsible was norovirus "which was probably introduced via shellfish".

"Oysters were served raw; razor clams may not have been appropriately handled or cooked; tracing of shellfish to source showed evidence of contamination and there have been reports of illness in other establishments associated with oysters from the same source," the HPA report said.

Pretty scary stuff. If you can't trust the oysters at a three-Michelin-starred restaurant, who can you trust?

TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has called on UK restaurateurs to offer diners doggy-bags to take left over food home in.

The River Cottage star and chicken saviour agreed with an article in Waitrose Food Illustrated urging more people to take home unfinished food when eating out - even in high-end restaurants.

20 million tonnes of food are thrown away each year in Britain. That includes three million tonnes from restaurants alone, according to figures from Wrap, the Government's environmental pressure group.

Waitrose Food Illustrated editor, William Sitwell, argued diners need to get over their embarrassment, and restaurants need to offer doggy bags in order to waste less.

Michelin-starred doggy bags then?

What are your thoughts?