Infrasonic

probably a lot worse now kaupthing has just been placed in administration ← Just in case anyone's losing sleep: Link ← Looks like he's not just a pretty face then... ← Well considering that RBS has gone from £6 to £1 a share in the last year, not the best move in my opinion! HSBC is the only one not to have been caught up in this fiasco as they have stayed above the golden ratio for banks. I can see them picking up an awful lot of business. Obviously they can cherry pick the best businesses that they want to support. edit; just to add. HSBC wanted nothing to do with the UK govt. bailout, but in order not to smear (crash the share price) of all the other numpty banks have had to go along with it. http://www.hsbc.com/1/2/newsroom/news/news...-s-announcement

probably a lot worse now kaupthing has just been placed in administration ← Time to go and talk to your local HSBC manager?

^^^ Along the same lines I wonder how Ramsay is feeling at the moment. I wouldn't want to be in the hole to a PE firm right now.

I can see the quality of ingredients tanking in the low to mid range as an effort to maintain GP is undertaken without putting up prices. (I discussed this in another thread with reference to the inexorable rise of the cheap all you can eat buffets in Mcr.) YoY for Aldi,Lidl, Wetherspoons etc. is up, so it's obvious where the cost conscious money will be going. Top end? Depends how much in cash the majority of the uber rich are I suppose. Anyone fully invested in the markets/property etc. is going to be in a lot of pain at the moment.

^^^ One of the more cringeworthy aspects of the M.Roux jnr "le gavroche" cookbook is the inclusion of the "famous" guest book entry's, and the stupidly expensive wine pairings for some of the dishes! Although expensive wine pairings are probably not an issue for you Howard...

So what's the general feeling about how the economic scenario is going to impact on restaurant spending over the coming months.

I once, in the course of duty, had dinner at Stringfellows. It was better than at several Mich-recognised places I could mention (and will: Mirabelle, Rhodes 24, One Lombard Street). Also, while the staff looked very similar to those in Hakkasan, they were much friendlier. ← Sort of the breast of both worlds...Lapdancing followed by fine dining, it's the future

So are Michelin going to have the balls to drop it a star or two, or are the Rouxs like royalty, untouchable?

Double post...

Must say Derek looked good from the heats and I had him as my favorite to win. Agree that M Roux has a bright TV future ahead of him. Played the game of injecting tension with the "watch the clock boys" guff, but has a sincerity which Ramsay et al seem to lack. You get the feeling he really wanted all the chefs to do as well as possible without using the programme as a vanity vehicle.

http://www.manchesterconfidential.co.uk/in..._take_Manhattan 19.5/20 for the Modern Manhattan, what time does happy hour start

Anyone watch last nights head to head? I found it quite exciting (I know I am a little sad like that), thought that Dans service @ MC's might have seen him through, but they went for the slightly wobbly under pressure Murray (but who's dishes had more panache). I was absolutely starving by the end of it!

Deservedly taking the night off? Maybe, but considering Saturday nights is probably still the busiest night for most restaurants it's surprising that head chefs take it off (in my mind at least). Standards will slip, staff will surely get a bit disgruntled if the boss lets them take the heavy shifts, and eventually the customer will notice. ← Just a theory, but isn't Saturday night in any major city "out of towners night" (or Bridge and Tunnel as our NY buddies call it ). So the chances of cooking for people with a real appreciation of what's going into it drops dramatically. The drunken chav quotient increases exponentially. Personally I've never booked anywhere decent on a Saturday for this reason, preferring midweek or a Friday. I see a lot more fights on the streets on a Saturday than a Friday. (Must be all those head chefs with a night off )

Yeah Glamorous is a five minute walk from where I live, been a few times. Sunday Dim Sum trolleys are good fun and it's usually rammed. A very successful HK Chinese acquaintance of mine who owns a bean sprout growing business was saying that the buffet explosion is being driven by the Chinese wholesale/cash 'n carry owners who set these places up to offload soon to be expired date stamp frozen goods! The economics of it all stack up. He's not a BS type, so I lend it some credence. All the regular big hitters in the casinos are cash 'n carry guys, so some serious dosh is being made for them to drop <20k in a night without flinching. (Of course, whether it has all been declared to HMRC before it hits the casino is another matter entirely!) I noticed that the buffet idea is spreading to other nationalities now as well. It's no longer the preserve of the Chinese or Indian. I just hope it doesn't wipe everybody else out at the low to mid range, the buffets are extremely popular. As a city center dweller it's good to have that option of not cooking and being able to have a regular quality ALC sit down for less than a tenner.

Thanks for the heads up on Red & Hot, never been in that one! Does anyone else feel that the standard has dropped in Chinatown over the past few years? I've been a regular for almost twenty years now, and it seems that in an effort to keep the prices down (to compete with the recent AYCE buffets?), the standard of ingredients is lessening on the ALC side. Especially seafood. A few of my Chinese friends concur with me. I've stopped going to a few of my regulars like Kwok Man as it has got really dire lately. . Was never that impressed with Pacific, apart form the Thai lunch deal. Not been in Yang Sing for years, general opinion seems to be it has slipped considering the prices it charges. Red Chilli started off great but seems to have slipped a bit. Wings was fantastic at first (the best of the Cantonese, I felt) but again the last couple of vists were so so, especially the Dim Sum (which was the high point the first two visits when it opened). For the money (£4.50 for all main dishes), I've been favouring the noodle bar in Mint casino on Princess Street for a cheap scran Sun-Tues 7pm -2am. They do a Prawn Wonton soup in a poly cup for £1.50! Half crisp/ half char siu pork, soup noodle is another fave. Need photo ID to join any of the casino's but it's a thirty second job worth doing. Anyone else add to a list of standouts?

Offer been extended 'till the end of September...

No shows is a bit of a sensitive issue , in that it really can mess up the economics of a high end restaurant in a major city. I know of owners who have had parties of twenty not turn up on a Saturday. Having said that... No doubt someone will correct me but I'm pretty certain that you could refuse to pay for the no shows (in the UK at least) at the time and ask the restaurant to pursue it through the courts if they believe they have the legal mandate to do it. I think it's a civil matter rather than criminal. It may be something that is covered by the OFT unfair terms and conditions legislation. If the restaurant puts it through on your card number as customer not present afterwards they are on a very sticky wicket. Personally, if I have made the booking in my name I always make a point of telling my fellow diners upfront that if they are avoidably late or don't show at all, I won't ever ask them again...

Anyone heard anything about Paul Kitching and his missus (ex Juniper)? They are looking for a site in Edinburgh apparently.

O/T fact. Norwich is the hotbed of bespoke slipper making in the UK, if one is so inclined...

http://www.thehambrough.com/robert-thompson.html

<conspiracy mode on> So the tax and NI may go up...Hmmm it wouldn't be in the Govts. interest for that to happen now would it... <conspiracy mode off>

http://www.michaelcaines.com/restaurants/m...ster/lunch-menu 3 courses matched with wines £16.00 'Till the end of August apparently.

So that's a refinancing of existing debt, which wouldn't have been paid otherwise. So there was no working capital left. Ever since Claridges, the GRH model has been for Blackstone (a big, terrifying New York private equity house) to pay for the hotel then install a Ramsay nameplate on the restaurant with a ten-year lease. The Camden Folly is a different prospect entirely, not least because of the capital requirement. And it has quite clearly ended up biting R on his much-discussed bollocks. ← Hmm, if he's relied on PE in the past for funding no wonder his working capital is snookered..

Infuriating story that one, saw it on the bbc. I'm sure they 'didnt realise' how damaging it would be, but even to take that stance is sheer ignorance, how can the public expect local producers to continue when theyre losing money to these idiots. ← Should have just charged a flat fee upfront, bit like the all you can eat buffets, and then put a time limit on how long you could stay in the field. Not condoning what people did, but there are ways round it.

Still not eaten but popped in for a drink on Sunday. Layout is small restaurant on ground floor, small bar on second and third floors. Third floor was booked out for a private do 'till 10pm. Access via lift or very large staircase which appears to have swallowed most of what could have been punter space...Hmmm. Doorman was Tony (ex-Panacea) Lots of familiar faces running around on the staff front, mostly all the good ones (from memory!!) Had a Ginger Mojito @ £6 (very nice), prices go from sensible to stratospheric...as you would expect. So..I liked it, fit out is very high spec...but I just wonder how all the money (over 3 million apparently) that has been laid out is going to be recouped. I can't see the per head spend being over £100 every night of the week, which is what it's going to need. Either that or some serious money is going to have to be blown at the weekends.