Q : Changes in the UK restaurant scene

[Andy Lynes]

Shaun, what changes have you noticed in the UK restaurant scene during you career. Do you think things have improved or got worse in any way?

[Shaun Hill]

Undoubtedly the restaurant scene has improved dramatically since I started cooking. In the late 60s a meal out was still largely a formal almost ritualised and definitely intimidating experience. The etiquette of dining was more important than the substance of what was served. Most restaurants outside the centre of London were in hotels and even those that weren't provided a nasty imitation of Edwardian haute cuisine for a limited number of punters. The only exception being the jewish community who were discerning and demanding customers in most every ambitious restaurant any weekend.

Menus used names from the "repetoire de la cuisine" or Escoffier so all you got to indicate what a dish might consist of was the name of one of Napoleon's battles like Marengo, or mistresses like Marie Walewska. Chefs were motivated by success in competitions called Salons Culinaires where medals were won for producing snow white and the seven dwarves from marzipan or sailing ships from pastry margarine.

Egon Ronay and Postgate's Good Food Guide were influential in changing priorities and encouraging people to eat out for pleasure. Robert Carrier - who I worked for - was at the time more influential than Elizabeth David through his columns in the Sunday Times and cookery books in making the whole business exciting and entertaining.

Once people felt comfortable and less intimidated by the whole performance the scene changed swiftly and dramatically for the better and whilst it is possible to grumble about specific restaurants and trends in restaurants now, there are at least plnty to choose from and the certainty that those who do not please enough people will go bust.