Food’s answer to Einstein?
The godlike Heston Blumenthal may have met his Waterloo in the shape of a small fat cartoon character.
His latest project – to restore the fortunes of the downmarket Little Chef catering chain – was only given him by Channel 4 after Jamie Oliver turned it down.
It goes without saying that Heston Blumenthal has his work cut out, though – The Telegraph reports:
Now Heston Blumenthal is to bring his peculiar brand of kitchen chemistry to the Little Chef chain for a Channel 4 series this summer. The experiment will see Blumenthal take over one of the motorway cafes and re-invigorate its menu, interior and service standards. His ideas will then be implemented in all 193 outlets. Cathy Stevenson, the marketing director at Little Chef, said:
“Heston will be helping us with our menu, the restaurant interiors and our training and service standards. It will be a total re-brand.”
Like us, this news probably stirs up all kinds of conflicting emotions. Little Chef is a British institution, as old as motorways themselves, and we’ve all got fond memories of golden childhood holiday journeys broken up by stops at Little Chef for an Early Starter or some Jubilee Pancakes. The last thing we need is for some crackpot ponce to waft in and change everything around until the menu comprises nothing but lavender-scented asparagus tips and thimbles of poached quail gazpacho reduction served by waitresses dressed like leopardskin astronauts.
Then again, at the same time, we haven’t been to a Little Chef for about a decade and that’s because last time we went the food tasted like balls and the waitress had a face like a slapped arse. So maybe Heston Blumenthal really can turn the fortunes of Little Chef around.
Or maybe he’ll bugger everything up and destroy the company forever. We don’t really care either way. Like we said, we haven’t been to one for a decade.
