Sketch

[Kikujiro]

Very positive reviews in Time Out & Metro, this morning.

(Though only for the fine dining option - not the rest of the complex).

I'm noticing a trend on this thread. I say something which nobody notices, and a day later Gavin says it

Besides this comment, I have nothing to add, except, Steve, there's no apostrophe in the possessive form of 'it'.

[Jon Tseng]

This restaurant from a food perspective is the most important restaurant to ever open in London.

I suspect we should refer Chou En-Lai who, when asked what he thought of the French Revolution, replied

"Too early to tell"

[Matthew Grant]

Fay Maschler gave it a single star - Cost £450 for 2 including wine and service charge:

"....Here or there, in the dessert fanfare particularly, was something that was arresting in its own right, something that stood out form what felt like being pelted with tepid mousses and flaccid proteins" She apparently felt that the meal at such high prices was particularly "...vulgar,decadent"

Not a glowing review!

[Andy Lynes]

Also mentioned that the huge Grand Prix Cafe complex in Berkeley Square had closed after only a year and a similar sort of investment. So maybe what we have been saying about a doubtful future for Sketch on this thread is not so far fetched.

[jayrayner]

I'm thinking about reviewing but I'm not sure I could take the scolding from Plotnicki.

From an interview with Mourad Mazouz (most of which hasn't gone in to a finished and upcoming piece):

a) he says the place is financed to take more than five years to break even

b) quote: 'all I need to do is find 35 people a night in London who want to eat in the restaurant. Is that so hard?'

[Adam Balic]

b) quote: 'all I need to do is find 35 people a night in London who want to eat in the restaurant. Is that so hard?'

Yes, but will they 'get it', I ask you.

[Andy Lynes]

quote: 'all I need to do is find 35 people a night in London who want to eat in the restaurant. Is that so hard?'

I'd want to know the answer to that question for sure before sinking £12mill into a restaurant. My guess is that it may not be so hard, be it definately wont be easy. Two for one vouchers in the Observer maybe?

[Steve Plotnicki]

Rayner - You'll do fine. Just make it 75% food and 25% the other stuff and I will salute you. What people really want to know is how the food compares to Gagnaire in Paris? That's the most important issue for the haute cuisine crowd. Everything else is more about lifestyle then food.

[jayrayner]

What people really want to know is how the food compares to Gagnaire in Paris? That's the most important issue for the haute cuisine crowd. Everything else is more about lifestyle then food.

And now we get to the crux of it. I'm not - and never am - writing for the haute cuisine crowd, and neither are any of my colleagues.

[mrshugget]

Oh my Lord. The haute cuisine crowd. The haute cuisine - doncha just love the last casual bit - CROWD. Should we start a separate thread RIGHT NOW.

[Steve Plotnicki]

Well who else is going to eat in that restaurant?

[Lord Michael Lewis]

Well who else is going to eat in that restaurant?

Succesful crack dealers.

[Tonyfinch]

There are certain restaurants-Nobu and The Ivy currently spring to mind-that attract the B-Z celebrity crowd and where people go as much to be seen as to eat.

Sketch might well be wise to aim to attract this crowd rather than the "haut cuisine crowd" if it wants to survive at these prices for five years. If it can appeal to them plus the American gastro tourists it may have a chance, but the average Brit recoils instinctively from spending this kind of money in a restaurant and getting 35 of them in per night may well be harder than the guy thinks.

Edited December 12, 2002 by Tonyfinch (log)

[Gary Marshall]

b) quote: 'all I need to do is find 35 people a night in London who want to eat in the restaurant. Is that so hard?'

i am reminded of a quote i heard recently (or read on the board) about a provincial restaurateur 'i could open only 2 days a week and do well, as long as they were both saturdays'

£400 dinner on a wet monday night?

[macrosan]

'all I need to do is find 35 people a night in London who want to eat in the restaurant. Is that so hard?'

The most common word appearing in failed business plans is "only"

Assuming very few people will eat at Sketch at those prices more than once a year, "only 35 a night" represents the need to find 12,775 customers each year, just to achieve break-even.

Is that so hard? Yup

[Jonathan Day]

I think it's a fair assumption that the readers of most UK dailies won't eat at the Library at Sketch on a regular basis. Nor would they take a holiday in Sydney or Tokyo on a regular basis. But these are things that they might do at least once in a lifetime.

My French friends (and these range from the fairly poor to some captains of industry) don't rush to Astrance or Arpège every night, nor do they structure their holidays so as to guzzle as many 3-star meals per kilometre travelled as possible. But they do, now and then, go for a special meal at a special restaurant. It's not impossible to save one's pennies for something like this.

I agree that a bite-by-bite replay of a meal at the Library (as exemplified in some reviews on these forums) would be ridiculous. We, the food-obsessed, get great vicarious enjoyment from these reviews, but ordinary newspaper readers would not.

Nonetheless, couldn't a review focused on the food and covering some spectrum of courses be done without arousing envy. Isn't part of the function of a review to strech the readers a bit, to invite them to try new things? Or, if it doesn't stand up, to be able to say to them, "if you are saving up for an incredible meal at Sketch, don't bother".

[Gavin Jones]

Nothing of note - I just wanted to point out that I appear to be echoing kikujiro with around a 24 hour lag.

[Tonyfinch]

I think it's a fair assumption that the readers of most UK dailies won't eat at the Library at Sketch on a regular basis. Nor would they take a holiday in Sydney or Tokyo on a regular basis. But these are things that they might do at least once in a lifetime.

JD, the average Brit would perceive £5000 being spent on a holiday in Sydney or Tokyo as has having infinitely more value than spending £500 on a meal at Sketch, or any other restaurant.

That's because of national value priorities. The Brits will spend on holidays, cars and property. The French will spend on food and clothes. The Italians will spend on clothes,shoes cars and modern art and design. I may be stereotyping but studies on national spending patterns have shown this again and again.

The British in general just do not consider hundreds of pounds spent in a restaurant as money well spent,although funnily enough they will pay a lot more for wine than,say, the Spanish who will just refuse to pay more than about £12 per bottle on average. Fay Maschler's use of the words "vulgar" and "decadent" sums up the British attitude. There is something almost indecent, faintly obscene even, in spending this kind of money in a restaurant-but a holiday in Australia! Fabulous. Go for it!

Edited December 12, 2002 by Tonyfinch (log)

[Steve Plotnicki]

Nonetheless, couldn't a review focused on the food and covering some spectrum of courses be done without arousing envy.

But most newpaper writing about expensive things (meaning more then most of their readers will spend) is written from the envy/jealousy perspective. It's one of the worst things about newpapers and even the New York Times falls prey to it on occassion. I can never understand why other people spending large sums of money on whatever has much interest for other people. Yet time and again you read articles that sensationalize it. Can you imagine if there was a newpaper that made fun of the things middle class people did? How many stupid purchases are made by your average person? They buy tinned foods, they put plastic on their furniture, they buy silly, mass-produced art made from velvet on their walls, they eat pie for god sake. You can make a list a mile long but you will never see the newpaper using it in a way that derides them.

[Jonathan Day]

The Brits will spend on holidays, cars and property. The French will spend on food and clothes. The Italians will spend on clothes,shoes cars and modern art and design. I may be stereotyping but studies on national spending patterns have shown this again and again.

My perception is that this is changing in Britain, though perhaps not fast enough. The chattering classes now chatter as much about food as about house prices. It's hard to think of a homeowner in Clapham who isn't installing a new kitchen. Shiny 6-burner Britannia stoves (useless tin fiddles, but I guess it's the thought that counts) are everywhere. We just completed the 8th anniversary of our neighbourhood "progressive dinner" with over 70 people dining. There was some phenomenal food served.

So my sense is that Fay Maschler and Jan Moir are just a bit behind the middle-class curve in their reactions. It would be interesting to understand the audience that the Telegraph, for example, is targeting.

[Tonyfinch]

They buy tinned foods, they put plastic on their furniture, they buy silly, mass-produced art made from velvet on their walls, they eat pie for god sake.

Sorry but that's the working class you're describing and they are despised by all newspapers (and everybody else)

The middle classes buy mozarella and River Cafe cookbooks, they most certainlty do NOT eat pie, but fresh pasta with parmesan grated from the lump and a bag of curly salad leaves accompanied by a bottle of Pinot Grigio. The adults go on about how the Harry Potter books are as enjoyable for adults as they are for children and they all dream of being Peter Mayle and having that dream house in Provence.

[Jonathan Day]

How many stupid purchases are made by your average person? They buy tinned foods, they put plastic on their furniture, they buy silly, mass-produced art made from velvet on their walls, they eat pie for god sake.

Yes, and as Tony notes they eat pasta (perhaps before their pie, but they definitely eat pasta).

Weren't you going to give us an essay on "The Problem With Pasta"? Or has this been adequately covered in the Italian Culinary Irrelevance thread?

[Steve Plotnicki]

I have it pretty much written. But I'm trying to fine tune the annoyance factor. When I have calculated the best way to get Pumkino's head to explode on screen, it will only be a matter of moments until it's posted.

Anyway, I though Adam Balic said that pasta and pie were the same things, or derived from the same place. One of his Pie = Paste = Pasta rants.

[Tonyfinch]

When I have calculated the best way to get Pumkino's head to explode on screen.

Well if Pumkino's head explodes there'll be a lot of pasta flying about. Will it be as it is served in Italy I wonder?

[macrosan]

... they eat pie for god sake.

No, Steve, they eat pie for Balic's sake.

I think you must read the wrong papers, Steve. Well, I guess most American papers are the wrong papers The broadsheet press I read in the UK is not at all as you describe. Sure the press derides presumption and pomposity and elitism and arrogance, but then so do most British people. We call it satire and long may it continue. Do any of these descriptions fit Sketch ? Well maybe the jury has not yet retired on that one, but in the meantime I think it's entirely reasonable to poke some fun at them.