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Category Archives: BRITISH

Raymond Blanc – exclusive interview

 
Raymond Blanc
Guess what’s coming for dinner

Raymond Blanc first talked about sustainability 18 years ago; now, it’s all the rage. We caught up with the original ethical chef for an exclusive interview about the current trend for all things sustainable.

While other chefs are now jumping on the greenwash PR bandwagon, Blanc developed his passion for food and quality ingredients many years ago. Where does his enthusiasm come from?

“It’s my culture. I was born in a tiny little village in a very rural part of France where, basically, there were about 25 peasants – each with six or seven cows called Margarite, probably,” he reminisces.

“We would partake in the running of the house, at the age of five or six – getting the wood from the forest, helping at the time of the harvest. And of course lots of wild hunting, too. At the age of seven my father had already taught me to hold earth in my hand, he’d say, taste it, look at it, and tell me if it’s good earth or bad earth – ask a chef that now!” Continue reading →

 

Sting's staff speak out

 

While celebrity chefs can be a terror, last week saw a celebrity’s chef the one being terrified. Sting and Trudie Styler’s UK chef, Jane Martin, is suing the couple for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination. She alleges she was forced to work 14-hour days towards the end of her pregnancy, and then fired shortly after going on maternity leave.

 

Be careful what you wish for

 

A protégé of Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsay has come under fire after a premature PR offensive for his new restaurant – the renovated and renamed Alexanders in Limpsfield, Surrey. The gormless chef, Simon Attridge, went onto the eGullet website – a well-known site devoted to the “culinary arts” – asking for advice on how to attract critics to his new restaurant.

 

Inner Food zone

 
Oliver Rowe
Eat your heart out, Jamie

After 18 months away, the new kid on the media block has come back to his other block – and is taking it over.

The actual block being King’s Cross and his starting point being head chef of Moro in Exmouth Market, it is Oliver Rowe, also owner of Café Konstam in the King’s Cross Road, who is about to take a small step within WC1, a large one for food-loving kind.

Back from faraway Hammersmith, where he discovered what happens to over-cooked ideas (a vague franco-spanish menu), this 32 yr old, press-friendly great grandson of a German-Jewish Konstam is about to launch an original concept as Konstam at the Prince Albert,a former pub which remains,from the outside, as traditionally robust as any Albert should. This new venture,scheduled to open at the end of March, is project M25 . Continue reading →

 

Roadkill Delicacies

 

Fergus Drennan is a man who literally feeds off the land – and counts Jamie Oliver as one of his biggest fans. Nothing is too odd or disgusting for him, from nettles to roadkill. He’s had his share of interesting experiences and speaks knowledgeably about badger dishes: “There’s no rhyme or reason to badger. Sometimes it tastes really gamey and uriney, even if it’s fresh. It can be excellent though.”

 

Heston's Sensory Overload

 

Heston Blumenthal’s latest dish has been designed to appeal to all the senses – not just the taste buds – and would be more accurately described as an experience rather than a meal. It’s certain to attract customers of a curious and seafood-loving nature.

 

Stein's Car Stolen

 
Rick Stein
In happier times

Rick Stein’s new TV series, Rick Stein’s Mediterranean, was ‘gifted’ an unexpected dramatic twist when Stein’s beloved car was stolen from a hotel car park. The celebrity chef was distraught when two thieves stole the trademark blue Land Rover Defender, costing him around £30,000.

Sadly, the car also contained some of the crew’s camera equipment – and the chef’s favourite blue shirt which he was fond of wearing onscreen.

It seems that the thieves broke into the car park of the hotel in Puglia, where Stein and his production team were staying. It is unlikely that they knew of the car’s celebrity status when they stole it, according to the director of the series, David Pritchard. Continue reading →

 

Ramsay scorns Battersea

 
Gordon Ramsay
Not heading for the heliport

After persistent rumours last week that Gordon Ramsay is to head up a restaurant at the redeveloped Battersea Heliport-cum-riverside hotel, it seems that they are “completely unfounded” according to the chef’s spokeswoman.

And a similar denial was issued by Marco Pierre White, who told Caterer: “I don’t know anything about it, so I can’t possibly pass any comment.” Continue reading →