Tonyfinch

sorry?

And the reason you (ie the profession) is allowed to get away with it is because your labour isn't unionised. Restaurant workers are amongst the lowest paid workers in the country and have very few rights. Duty of care on employers has long been fought for by unions and they lobby to enshrine it in law. In the public sector where unions are strong they have been successful in making it practice for employers to seek medical help for employees with addiction problems. Sure, if they fail to avail themselves of it, or if the problem persists and effects their work you can eventually move to dismissal. But if their union backs them to go to an employment tribunal you have to show that you have taken "all reasonable steps" as an employer to support that employee before moving to dismiss. If you can't then you'll have to show that you fired them on the spot because of their gross misconduct while under the influence. If they had just turned up high/pissed once and had done nothing else wrong they may well have a good case for unfair dismissal against you.

Makes no difference........there but for the grace of God...........

You say that BD but I wonder what would happen if an employee in the private sector decided to test it out in the courts.. I suspect the outcome would be the same and that you're all flying by the seats of your pants.

Clearly none of you have managed in the public sector in the UK. If someone comes into work high or drunk or even regularly hungover to the point their functioning is affected, you do not have the choice to turn a blind eye. Yout "duty of care" supersedes that. And this is to the employee as well as others s/he may affect. In theory if you know someone's a cokehead and he knows you know then if he gets ill or has an accident he can claim that you KNEW he was in trouble and yet you took no action. It is not up to him to tell you he wants help. It is your managerial duty and responsibility to refer him to the relevant agencies whether he wants you to or not, otherwise he can claim that you refrained from exercising your duty of care towards him when you knew he was sick and he can end up suing YOU for allowing him to work in a condition which was dangerous to himself and others. His choice or wishes in the matter are irrelevant.

It's not about drugs in the kitchen per se. It's about drugs in the workplace generally. If its allright for people in stressful jobs to be drinking/drugging in the workplace then is it OK for teachers to be doing it in inner city schools before going in to teach your stressful bratty kids? Is it OK for doctors to be drunk or high while having to pretend to be interested in listening to your depression or your varicose veins? Is it OK for social workers to be smashed before deciding to take your children away because you're an abuser? Is it OK for cabbies stressed out by inner city traffic to be swigging gin while driving you around? Need I go on? This stressful job argument just doesn't run. Not that cheffing is not a stressful job, but the notion that a stressful job somehow justifies the regular use of mind altering substances in the workplace is pure nonsense. And if you're an employer who knows it was going on and allowing it I'd be very careful if I were you. Not only do you have a "duty of care" towards your employee, which includes ensuring their health and fitness to work, but also one accident in your kitchen/restaurant and the victim could show that it was caused by a drunk/high employee and that you knew about it and did nothing and you wouldn't have a f---ing leg to stand on in any claim of negligence against you. It could then be bye bye belly up restaurant and then you might have nothing else to do BUT get smashed.

Arancia is also in the area. Good, basic, rustic Italian. Cheap. There's probably a thread on it from way back. Agree with Gavin that Mantannah is much better than Thailand, although to be fair the only time I went to the latter they'd just changed ownership and were in some disarray. Put me off going back, though.

I've spoken to Wasim about organizing another e-gullet dinner there by popular demand. We're thinking of a Raan fest. Raan is not on their menu but can be ordered in advance. Basically, for those who don't know, it is whole roast leg of lamb prepared Indian style but in various ways-it can be wet or dry or in between. Its going to be around October time. I'll start posting details in a couple of months. Something to look forward to after the Summer eh?

Well as long as people keep recommending The Fryer's Delight I will keep going on about rancid beef fat. Believe me you had to be there.............

Are you not going to Malacca? That's the most interesting town in Malaysia for the visitor IMO. Its also the home of Nonya cuisine- a cross between Chinese and Malay. There are a couple of restaurants which specialise in it and if you're going I'll try to dig out the names.

I've mentioned before that for a while I lived close by this establishment and the smell of rancid beef fat emanating from its ventilation outlets literally cast a dreadful pall over my life. I wanted to bomb it. I can barely go near the place let alone eat its food.

Baltic was absolutely packed to the gunwhales with very animated 20/30 somethings last night making this 50 something feel a tad...er.... weary. And smoking! They all seemed to be puffing away like Billyo, especially the women. Fortunately the fan system kept the smoke down. I suspect its backed up by an air con unit. The menu reads very interestingly and given the crowds the service was very efficient. The food was good but it doesn't quite eat as interestingly as it reads, although it was difficult to see how one dish of Gravadlax with Potato Latkes could have been much better-slightly crunchier latkes perhaps. Another starter-Siberian Pelimeni-Pork and Beef Dumplings- was OK, but a bit bland. Mains of Calves Liver with Apple Mash, Kaszanka (Polish Black Sausage) and fried onions, and Loin of Veal with Sweet Pickled Onions were served in copious amounts-no small portions here. The veal was good meat, but it was somewhat overwhelmed by the sweetness of the onions, which were very soft and more like cherries and of which there were loads, rendering a side of braised red cabbage redundant (too much sweetness). The calves liver dish was pronounced "hearty", but my mate has ordered it "well done" so I couldn't judge it-philistine. Apple mash was yummy though. It was hard for a couple of old soaks like us to detect any vodka in the Vodka Cherry ice Cream with Hot Chocolate Sauce. I contented myself with a glass of Royal Tokaj to chase down the three bottles we'd already drunk-there's a long list of vodkas and cocktails but we avoided those(moderate boys that we are). This place is very resonably priced I think. Starters average £7, mains £13. I enjoyed it and its unusual but it was very noisy and you know when you get to my age..............

THE place for an English cooked breakfast is Simpson's-in-the-Strand. Go ravenous, order the Ten Deadly Sins, and don't plan on doing much or eating much for the rest of the day. You can get good traditional fish and chips in London but away from the centre-Faulklands in Dalston, Nautilus in West Hampstead, Toffs in Muswell Hill, Olleys in Herne Hill are good examples. More central is the Seashell in Marylebone and Fish Central in the Barbican area. People like Geales in Notting Hill but I've never been there. Joe Allen in Covent Garden is probably as good a place as anywhere for a burger. It used to be off menu and you had to ask for it (goodness knows why). I don't know if this is still the case. People like Gourmet Burger Kitchen in Battersea (and isn't there another branch somewhere), but I haven't been. AVOID CURRY HOUSES. If you want to eat Indian food buy the Time Out Guide and follow their recs. They're very strong on Indian food and include most of the best places to eat it at a range of price levels.

If the room is important, forget Racine. What about Quaglino's? Elegant room. Eclectic food acceptable to everybody, centrally situated, not over pricey. Failing that I'd take Circe's advice and stick to upmarlet Italian-Zafferano or one of those. Andy,IMO the most beautiful room is The Criterion Brasserie. The food is totally ordinary but the room.........

Concur with Blueprint Cafe.

I do not think Matthew's review was coloured by pre-conceived cynicism or a pre-disposition not to like it. He was clearly surprised and disappointed to dislike it so much. My reading was that he really wanted to like it but honestly found it impossible to do so. And I think he gave clear and rational reasons for his feelings about it. What I can't quite get is where is all this phenomenal influence Adria is supposed to have had. All right maybe in the use of more gellees and foams and mousses in restaurants, but were'nt top French chefs using these before him? Savoury ice creams? Maybe But if El Bulli was so influential where are all the other restaurants ploughing a similar furrow to El Bulli? Where are all the other places practicing "molecular gastronomy" and deconstructing everything and serving up 20+ mouthfuls per meal etc? OK-The Fat Duck in the UK and Trio in the US. Is that it? You know often the avant garde is a reactionary rather than a progressive force. Maybe Adria is not at the leading edge of anything-just a one off- interesting, talented, original- but a one-off nevertheless

I can't talk about the business as I'm just a restaurant customer but to pick up on one of Baruch's points. If the work is so hard and the profit margins so low why is there such incredible competition? I mean I know everybody has to eat but everybody needs their clothes cleaned. Why, in London, are there twenty restaurants for every one dry cleaner? Why open a restaurant when everybody's crying out for decent car mechanics, or plumbers or electricians? Or is it that restaraunt owners have an initial sexy vision of their work and then become disillusioned and whine when it turns out to be just as hard and as mundane as plumbing?

Oofff! Now that's what I call a damning review. And a darned "good" one as well. I've never been there but it's never held much interest for me. I'm sure I would react like you. I enjoyed The Fat Duck because it was a fun day all round and I entered into the spirit of it, but if you seriously analyzed the food it turns out to be all smoke and mirrors really. Maybe the trick is not to expect anything other than tricks. It seems that if you go hoping for serious food you're bound to be disappointed. As for the wine service------KILL KILL KILL!

Great avatar WP. I think Nathan's pigeon dish was a clear indication of his ability. As a Londoner I'm unclear about what dishes will work in a place like Rock all year round and out of season. Should he "go for it" and damn the consequences? Or hold things back and go for the general trade? He's obviously aiming a touch above Margot's in terms of culinary ambition ( no disrespect to Basildog) but is he in the right place at the right time. I think maybe "yes" but you'd know better.

The question should read: "Does Tarka like Otter Curry?"

Balex, North African restaurants in France are a minute and insignificant number compared to Indian restaurants in Britain. They are almost totally confined to Paris and Marseille and, more importantly, have had little or no impact on French cuisine or on what the vast majority of French regard as good food. And a handful of Ethiopian restautants around a run down part of Rome does not make for a significant and influential cuisine. IMO Italian cuisine in Italy is the most conservative and the most resistant to change of all. By contrast, in the UK Indian food is now the most popular cuisine of choice and every one horse two bit town has its Light of Bengal curry house and its Chinese take away. This tells us three things: 1) Indigenous British cuisine was not strong enough to resist powerful Eastern influences for a major share of the market. 2) Brits are far more open and receptive to multi culturalism and foriegn influences than France/Italy/Spain as well. 3) The Brits still like to eat crap, especially outside of London. Its just that its now Indian and Chinese crap, rather than British crap.

The Gay Hussar

Good food and good eating in Britain has developed since WW2 via two routes: 1) British going on foreign holidays en masse and experiencing "Mediterranean" food for the first time and demanding it back home via the likes of Elizabeth David. 2) British tolerance and liberal attitudes (relative to our European neighbours) to multi culturalism and our receptiveness to imported foreign cuisine, especially Chinese and Indian. Ironically 2) could only happen because of the poverty of our early 20th century indigenous cuisine. Places like France, Italy and Spain have been far more resistant to foriegn influences. So Britain began re-discovering its own cuisine through an appreciation of the delights of other cuisines and I would contend that we now eat more "broadly" than any other country. However, eating is still a class issue in Britain and breadth doesn't necessarily imply quality. The truth is that most Chinese and Indian restaurants in Britain are crap. The food served up in 99% of pubs is crap. Many Brits still like eating crap for reasons which I find myself mystified by.

Well this is dinner at Basildog's. Margot's is yer perfect neighbourhood bistrot-friendly-relaxed, well priced, good service and hearty portions of excellent, unpretentious food. It serves 22 and on Sunday night was turning away a lot of passing trade. There's no table turning here. It was David's night off so BD did us the honour of cooking our meal himself The kitchen is tiny but by now his much looked forward to new range will have arrived and the'll all be pouring over it hoping that they can fit it in and get it to work. After a discussion with the friendly young server about her bad knees, olives and superb home baked herb bread arrived. The bread was so soft it was like cake and was perfect for mopping up the juices of Fahro's Seared Scallops( wonderful, juicy scallops)with Smoked Bacon and Balsamic Dressing starter. My grilled mackerel with onion and tomato salad starter showed just how delicious this fish can be when spankingly fresh and grilled to a crisp skin. My rack of lamb was like butter and Fahro's Duck Confit with Mustard Cream Sauce and Spring Onion Mash was the star dish and as a good an example of duck confit as I've had- again crisp on the outside and meltingly soft and tender inside and full of flavour. What's so great about Margot's is that everything is locally sourced from good suppliers and everything is cooked on the premises from scratch- for example the caramelised walnuts and which accompanied coffee were a real treat but a faff to make. BD is running a rare kind of outfit showcasing local produce in a relaxed atmosphere for a more than reasonable price (£21.95 two courses. £25.95 three). The wine list is also really reasonable. A lovely 1997 Louis Latour Beaune Premier Cru was £26.50- and I think the most expensive red on the list! At those prices you feel like splashing out. I was trying to think of a negative or two purely out of an innately spiteful nature and not to seem like buttering up one our own. OK maybe the sticky toffee pudding was a tad dry. But that's it. An excellent really satisfying evening and a pleasure to meet BD again and Julie and, of course Becky. Keep up the excellent work.

Judging by the name I thought it was going to be a restaurant attached to a pub or something but it turned out to be a newish, squat conservatory like building next to an unprepossessing shopping parade about 20 mins. walk from the ferry point. They've been open less than a week and things are still clearly bedding down. The servers were very pleasant if a little tentative but the food, apart from one fanttastic dish was disappointing overall. The crispy belly pork main was chewy rather than crunchy with little of the unctious fat which gives belly pork its point. It was dry. The red onion marmalade and was pleasant but the scallop seemed redundant to me. The braised lamb's shoulder main had tasty meat but the amount of thin dark gravy gave the whole dish a schooldinnerish quality. A dessert of frozen rhubarb/ginger sponge/lemon syrup was just too restrained, as if the chef was holding everything back. Good was an amuse of -wait for it Andy-veloute of summer vegetables. with (another) scallop, fresh peas and truffle oil. However - a starter of Marinated Pigeon-Slow Cooked Leg-Cherries-Watercress-Bitter Chocolate was ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC and one of the best dishes I've eaten anywhere this year, including the pigeon dish at RHR. Beautiful, meltingly tender, gamey pigeon and a wonderful combination of cherry and chocolate which highlited every nuance of flavour in the pigeon. I've never had chocolate used better in a savoury dish. You could tell it was there but its assertiveness was just at that correct point of use. Anymore and it would have been overpowering but it was just perfect, rich and bitter- it made me want to start using chocolate in my cooking. It was such a bold dish that it only showed up the hesitancy I sensed in some of the other dishes, although paprika in a Lemon Sole starter was also assertively used. The wine list is refreshingly short. I knew the wines because they were from a local wine merchant whose shop I'd been in only hours earlier. It was an interesting selection and not at all greedily marked up (120%?) At the end I suggested to Nathan Outlaw (great name) that he makes that pigeon dish a main course and he said he'd consider it by adding a raviolo or something to it. Just more of the same would do for me. I'd go back but I'd like to see the man really expressing himself with some of the other dishes. Maybe he'll do so more confidently as the place beds down.