Merchant House/Hibiscus

[Andy Lynes]

Those of you lucky enough to have reservations over the coming months at The Merchant House are in for a real treat. Although I have never had anything less than very good food there, my meal last Thursday night was outstanding.

There is something very summery about the menu right now: lobster, turbot, lamb, porcini, summer vegetables, local strawberries and apricots all made an appearance. However, Shaun Hill is not religiously wedded to the idea of 100% seasonal,100% regional produce and will use the very best of what is available at any given time. For example, the chef will quite happily serve asparagus in winter if he thinks it tastes good enough and local producers are not used by default, but must prove their worth against national suppliers.

There is very little room for refrigerated storage space at the restaurant and therefore Shaun is forced to write his dinner menus daily, based on what has been delivered or what he has shopped for that morning. Everyone talks about using the freshest produce prepared simply; here you are guaranteed it.

The Merchant House style is based on prime ingredients and Shaun is content to run with food costs that most other restaurateurs would find unacceptable in order to use and serve them (around 50% compared to an industry average of 25-30%). Take for example a starter dish of steamed lobster with coriander, chick pea and olive oil sauce, a variation of his stone-cold classic scallops with lentils and coriander. With the menu at £35.00, it would only be natural to expect to pay a supplement for the whole tail you will receive. In fact, unless you want cheese as an extra course, you won't pay extra for anything.

The meal began with a single large canape of gravadlax with a boiled quail's egg served on melba toast - stylish and delicious. My starter of calf's sweetbreads with potato and olive cake was as good if not better than the version I ate the first time I visited the restaurant back in 1996. Then it included some kidney, now it is simply one large fist -shaped sweetbread (the thymus heartbread rather than the inferior throatbread), the fried cake of mashed potato and green olives and a piquant caper sauce.

It strikes me as a stroke of instinctive culinary genius to accompany sweetbreads with green olives (although if anyone is aware of a precedent I'd be interested to know). Hill's own take is that the sauce made of a thick mayonnaise whisked into warm veal stock finished with shallots, parsley, chives and capers is the unifying factor between the two main elements and that he took a "why not" approach to the marriage of the olives and offal.

A main course of turbot with porcini mushrooms with beurre blanc reminded me of how deeply satisfying and joyful eating in restaurants can be when there is a true generosity of spirit about the food. The fish must have been a good 8oz, a thick enough tranche to have roasted beautifully. The porcini were fine, earthy specimens. Sliced and simply pan fried, they echoed the meatiness of the turbot. Accurately cooked asparagus, peas and runner beans were arranged around the fish and a delicate butter sauce, a few blobs of mushroom duxelle and a single boiled Jersey Royal completed the picture. I'm struggling to remember a better plate food.

Desserts, along with the warm buttermilk rolls and whole meal bread, continue to be a highpoint of any visit to the restaurant. Having consumed around three-quarters of a bottle of excellent Willi Opitz pinot gris 2000, I abandoned usual etiquette and asked for a half portion each of local strawberries and mascarpone ice cream and apricot tart. If I had polished off the whole bottle, I might easily have added Somloi (a Hungarian trifle Shaun first encountered when cooking at the Gay Hussar in the 70's) and coconut crème brulee to my order.

With a full house, including a table of 6, service ran with its usual warmth and efficiency, indeed the restaurant seems to have somewhat of a spring in its step right now. If you can be flexible with your arrangements, it's always worth adding your name to the cancellation list, or booking now for 4 months ahead. Ludlow has many reasonably priced B&Bs (I stayed at The Mount this time around. A large comfortable room with a superb view and a decent breakfast for £30.00. Best breakfast I have had however is at the Hen and Chickens) which helps to make the trip a very affordable one.

[Bapi]

We- hey, very snazzy Hibiscus website is now up and running.

The Summer menu Lobster dish sounds fantastic - pity we are not going till September !

[Gary Marshall]

very dinky

thought michelin were against establishments advertising their status though?

i've seen a few do it but michelin don't issue plaque, plates, stickers or certificates to alert the unaware of the rating.

personally i think it's good that they have made a big deal out of it. it is a great achievement for such a young restaurant.

bapi, make that table for 3 will you

gary

[Bapi]

Er -has Sarah run off with George Clooney then?

[Romaney O'Malley]

What a lovely website

Does anyone know how much the new menu is? I couldn't find any pricing info.

I assume it's a price for 3 courses?

Thanks

[Bapi]

Gary / Andy can correct me if I am wrong but I think its about £26 for lunch ( 3 courses), £36 ( ish) Dinner ( 3 courses) and £60 Dinner - Menu Degustation (9 courses)

[Gary Marshall]

Er -has Sarah run off with George Clooney then?

no she's been once this year, don't want her getting fat like me (nothing to do with not having to pay for her too!)

gary

Edited July 8, 2004 by Gary Marshall (log)

[Romaney O'Malley]

Thanks Bapi - definitely going to make the journey it looks fantastic

[Bapi]

Romaney- it is fantastic !- have a great time. If you need information about getting there / staying over etc,a bit nearer the time then PM me by all means.

[Pweaver1984]

Just returned from my first pilgrimage to Ludlow from Kent, with my head-chef, a fellow Commis chef and a waitress, us all from the same restaurant. It was a couple of days which involved a roller coaster of emotions.

Firstly dinner at The Merchant House, which was absolutely wonderful, just as I’d imagined. Walking into Shaun and Anja's dining room and having a private dinner party, us being their only guests, we weren't though, as the restaurant was full! Everything was full of flavour, seasonal, fresh and perfectly cooked, top class cooking. We finished the meal in the drawing room with coffee and petit fours, where Shaun actually came in and had a chat with us, signing our books. Such a humble, modest, gentleman, although I got a little star struck and couldn't bring myself to say anything worthy of repeating on here! Had an extremely memorable night here, and it means even more that Shaun is soon to be closing the doors on his little gem soon. On a personal high.

Next stop Hibiscus……

Having booked both of these places 5 months ago, we were all really excited and anticipated this one with great expectations. Anyway we arrived just before our booking time and were shown to our table, which was in the furthest side of the 17th Century building. As soon as we all sat down we were shown menus and the wine list. I'm not going to go into great detail about what we all had to eat but I will say it was all cooked fantastically, although whilst clearing away two of our plates (our main course of suckling pig was presented over two courses), Claire Bosi, joint-owner muttered under her breath "Oh, an empty plate, you must have liked something", and with that walked away. We all stared at each other in disbelief.

During our coffees, Head Chef and the other half of the ownership Claude Bosi came to our table and said "I see plates coming back with food on, what was wrong". We all explained that we'd had a large dinner the night before, and none of us had the biggest of appetites at the best of times, as a chef I'm used to picking my way through the day, however we did say to him, nothing was wrong with the food at all, it was very pleasant, just slightly too much for us. He walked away some what annoyed by our response, and rather confused. He just didn’t seem to believe us, coming across very narcissistic and arrogant.

We quickly drank up then went to the front desk and asked for the bill. Whilst receiving the bill, my head chef approached Claire to make sure we weren't leaving with bitter feelings, expecting her to respond with something like " No, don't worry about it, Claude was just interested in why you didn't finish all of your food", although she was answered back with " I think you lot have come in here and decided to take the piss....... She thus followed with a tirade of abuse towards the whole table, Claude by her side, saying that we were laughing all the time, heard us being sarcastic, saying niggly things about the food, taking the mick out of her staff etc. This lasted for a good few minutes. But she then decided on bringing up things like do you know how hard I work, I work 18 hours a day, from 8am through till 2am, 6 days a week blah blah blah. My head chef, as we all were, was flabagasted in what she was saying, and then the 2 of them had an argument.

Claire also decided to pick on the other Commis who’d attended with me, and really laid into him saying that she’s scared of the future of the industry if this is what is coming through the ranks..... I myself am terrified and fearful entering a an industry full of what were role models, whom I looked up to, turning out to be pretentious people. He was left gutted, totally humiliated, and disheartened. What will he go and tell his class mates at catering college about this so called destination eatery??

I fully confess that we did in fact enjoy our lunch, it was the first time we’d all been out together and I’d like to apologise personally to Claude and Claire, we are genuinely sorry for actually having conversation during the meal and from time to time laughing and being amused at each others company. Now if you think that any of this was directed at you, your staff or the food, which you fully made us aware it was at the time, you really need to question yourselves and your conscience. I don’t want this to sound either sarcastic or a joke.

Now myself and head chef have eaten all over the country in some of the best dining establishments (which I won’t name drop) and had several hours of enjoyment, pleasure, and satisfaction, none of which I received on Wednesday at lunch. But I think they have really made it clear to us all that because they have 2 Michelin stars (an industry bench-mark) that you are not allowed to eat in their restaurant, unless you either shut your mouths, are stiff, old and/or including speaking with a false well-to-do lisp. This is the sort of establishment that puts “ordinary” people off spending that little bit more on the whole dining experience, making themselves look snobbish.

Our money is and always will be the same as the aristocratic suited lot out there and we ourselves work our arses off in our restaurant and just because it’s not a Michelin starred operation, I’d like to think I understand how much effort, time; knowledge has been put into theirs. However this shouldn't make our peers look down on us. She was so judgemental, insulting and wrong. You simply cannot treat people like this, even if she was having a bad day. I wouldn’t want to be treated like this in my local café let alone that we'd driven 300 miles, spending top end prices and were left so angry and hurt,. I in all honesty don't think they deserve 2 Michelin Stars, and I hope in January they receive just the one, which would be for Claude’s food.

Finally I Quote a line from their own website "We want every single person to enjoy themselves, regardless of who they are or what they do. We want them to feel special and relaxed......." Utter Rubbish!

E-Gulleters please don’t think I’m being nasty or even trying to ruin the reputation of this restaurant, but this is a public forum, and this is just an account of how I felt and still believe. I know all of you seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed yourselves here but it just needs to be told. I’ll happy answer any questions that you might need answering…….

Edited November 5, 2004 by Pweaver1984 (log)

[Gary Marshall]

i think that is the first negative report i have ever read on hibiscus.

i have just had a text from bapi who has enjoyed 3 consecutive meals there culminating in lunch today he seems in happily ensconced in the church, as expected.

I can assure you in my experience Hibiscus is definitely a 2 star restaurant and on track for 3.

2 sides to every story, i don't think claire and claude would react like that without some form of provocation, even if you were doing it unintentionally and your comments were misinterpreted.

sorry that you had a bad time, but it won't put me off.

can't image what they'd have to say to bapi to stop him from going!

gary

[Andy Lynes]

please don’t think I’m being nasty or even trying to ruin the reputation of this restaurant

←

This appears to directly contradict the content of your post: "you are not allowed to eat in their restaurant, unless you either shut your mouths, are stiff, old and/or including speaking with a false well-to-do lisp."; "in all honesty don't think they deserve 2 Michelin Stars, and I hope in January they receive just the one".

I have to question your motives for posting this on a public forum. It appears that the situation came to a head at the restaruant on the day, that you have "discussed" your issues with the restaurant owners and that the matter should now be closed. What do you hope to gain from informing the world about this incident?

In your account, Claire and Claude Bosi were incensed by a table of their customers (industry collegues to boot) enjoying themselves, and you and your party did no wrong. That makes no logical sense. Are you really 100% confident that nothing that was said by you or your party could have been reasonably misconstrued by the Bosi's or their staff as being critical of the service or the food or them personally? Is it totally honest to say that you left some of the food because of a large meal the night before? Or did you dislike it and discuss that between yourselves in a jokey, perhaps even sarcastic manner?

Unless you can provide further details of the discussion at the table which demonstrates that the Bosi's and their staff have no reason to feel the way that you describe they did, I think it would be the natural reaction of anyone reading your post to assume you are not telling the whole story. How the Bosi's dealt with the situation is of course a seperate matter and again we only have your account of that, but you are asking a sizable worldwide audience to judge the situation on limited and biased information. Its clear to me that the desired effect of this is to make you and your guests appear entirely in the right and to tarnish the Bosi's reputation. Your post poses more questions than it answers.

Its my firm opinion that egullet.org is not the place to air personal grievances. Your words would have been better put down on paper and sent directly to the Bosi's. Even better, put down on paper and then put in the bin. You would have got the whole thing off your chest and avoided having a question mark put over your motives.

The bottom line is that only you and the Bosi's really know the full facts of what occured on the day and that is why this matter would have been best kept between yourselves. eGullet is not a mediation service for restaurants and their customers. We are not a consumer organisation. We are more than happy for members to post about specific meals, good and bad, but the simple venting of ill feeling in public ultimately does no one any good - neither the customer, restaurateur or eGullet.org.

[Winot]

The bottom line is that only you and the Bosi's really know the full facts of what occured on the day and that is why this matter would have been best kept between yourselves. eGullet is not a mediation service for restaurants and their customers.

←

Andy - are you really suggesting that service bust ups should not be reported on eGullet? Surely you can imagine a situation in which front of house at Restaurant X has been out of order? Doesn't an eGullet member have a right to report that? Service is a large part of the eating out experience after all.

Now I'm not saying you shouldn't question Pweaver1984's motives in this instance. We can all draw our own conclusions about the incident in question and the neutrality of the reporting. By all means put him/her on the spot if you want. What I'm uncomfortable about however is the suggestion in your post that there are some aspects of the restaurant experience that should not be reported.

Furthermore (and please don't get defensive about this), can I respectfully suggest that your reaction to Pweaver1984's report is coloured by your personal acquiantance with the Bosi's? I don't expect you to "switch this off" when responding -- by all means give him/her a hard time -- but please don't let it lead to censorship.

[tony h]

Sorry Andy, I completely agree with winot on this - there's been much good praise for hibiscus on this board & I see no reason why someone can't add a damning one too, if justified. I think we're getting fairly good at judging postings which are just rants (i've certainly posted enough!). I don't know hibiscus but Pweaver1984's post wouldn't put me off as the food was acknowledged as good. I also dont know Pweaver1984's posts well enough to know how left field this is - the post is, afterall, a refelection on them just as much as hibiscus.

[Andy Lynes]

Andy - are you really suggesting that service bust ups should not be reported on eGullet?

←

No, as long as members continue to post on individual meals in restaurants, then the good and bad should be reported. The purpose of my post was simply to point up the gaps in Pweavers1984 report and underline that the best way to resolve a dispute with any restaurant is directly with the establishment in question.

For the record, my "personal acquiantance" with the Bosi's totals meeting them on about four or five occasions over a period of nine years.

[Andy Lynes]

I see no reason why someone can't add a damning one too, if justified.

←

I agree totally, there is no question of inhibiting negative reports about any restaurants.

[Bux]

Andy - are you really suggesting that service bust ups should not be reported on eGullet?  Surely you can imagine a situation in which front of house at Restaurant X has been out of order?  Doesn't an eGullet member have a right to report that?  Service is a large part of the eating out experience after all.

Now I'm not saying you shouldn't question Pweaver1984's motives in this instance.  We can all draw our own conclusions about the incident in question and the neutrality of the reporting.  By all means put him/her on the spot if you want.  What I'm uncomfortable about however is the suggestion in your post that there are some aspects of the restaurant experience that should not be reported. 

←

What struck me as over the line and not part of any report on what actually happened, but the frame of mind of the poster was this:

I think they have really made it clear to us all that because they have 2 Michelin stars (an industry bench-mark) that you are not allowed to eat in their restaurant, unless you either shut your mouths, are stiff, old and/or including speaking with a false well-to-do lisp.

Nothing in the post suggests to me that this was necessarily on the minds of the hosts/owners, but it offers some insight as to how the diners may have felt all through dinner and perhaps going into the meal. In general, I don't like to have other people tell me what a thrid party was actually thinking when they said something. It actually offends me. It's bad enough to have access to only one side of any encounter. It's worse yet to be told what the other party was thinking and didn't stay and in this case I think it makes me suspect a good deal of this should have stayed private because it comes across as too personal. There is also in the post an admission of at least some of the diners being all too willing to escalate the unpleasantness that detracts from the empathy I might otherwise feel, but I commend the honesty.

[Marlyn4k]

Reading the post doesn't lead me to question "motive" as it reads like the stream of consciousness (not quite tirade) of someone who is genuinely upset. If Pweaver1984 wanted 'revenge' then a more calculating approach would be factual/reasoned piece to each of the guides. Instead he shares his feelings (and that's what they are - emotions) with eGullet.

Equally I understand Andy's initial response - a forum host must feel vicariously responsible for the content of posters. Andy has inteviewed these people and may in turn become somewhat emotional when he sees a rant about them.

Doesn't make either a bad person!

When I read PWeavers post I thought - did they feel underdressed, did they feel too young, did they feel intimated? Perhaps they mocked other guests due to insecurities? When you feel insecure you may easily take a misunderstanding personally and blow it out of proportion in your own mind.

The unexplained in the review devalues an important point; front of house should avoid a confrontation at all costs, and there is always the risk they will be having the dispute with a wider audience. I would advise PWeaver1984 to give Claire a call with an open mind and positive attitude (ie if they did something inappropriate then mention it and apologise) and see the response. Then perhaps we could see a more factual/reasoned piece.

[MobyP]

I have to side with Winot on this as well. Besides, as you say, this is a public forum. If Claire and Claude want to give their side of things, they're free to post under the same guidelines.

It seems clear to me that Claire and Claude tagged the table as industry. It also seems somewhat evident that the staff were eavedropping throughout the entire meal, and picking fag ends (Bux and Americans - this expression means picking up ends of sentences and extrapolating the rest of the sentence indicated - usually inaccurately - by said ending), then reconstructing what they had picked up back at the waiter's station (or elsewhewre). Anyone who's waited tables will know what this is like.

Having booked both of these places 5 months ago...

The fact that they had booked five months in advance, to be told by Claire that she thinks they're taking the piss is shocking. That she would previously comment:

Claire Bosi, joint-owner muttered under her breath "Oh, an empty plate, you must have liked something", and with that walked away.

is also outrageous. This is completely unacceptable behaviour.

The only explanation I can make of this is that they read the table wrong - by eavesdropping. And then started misinterpreting the table by this false impression. Marco Pierre White, I understand, once threw Raymond Blanc out of his restaurant because he shrugged during a meal. Obviously, if you're standing 20 feet away, trying to extrapolate meaning from the mannerisms of a table, you're going to make mistakes. What's not acceptable is to behave in this manner because of it.

During our coffees, Head Chef and the other half of the ownership Claude Bosi came to our table and said "I see plates coming back with food on, what was wrong"... He walked away some what annoyed by our response, and rather confused.

She thus followed with a tirade of abuse towards the whole table, Claude by her side, saying that we were laughing all the time, heard us being sarcastic, saying niggly things about the food, taking the mick out of her staff etc.

Claire also decided to pick on the other Commis who’d attended with me, and really laid into him saying that she’s scared of the future of the industry if this is what is coming through the ranks.....

I'm stunned by this. They should have asked for ttheir money back.

I've been in restaurants of different levels with almost half of this board - and I can't think of a single instance where the people I was with (and I) didn't engage in some form of deconstruction of the experience we were having. It's part of dining out. You don't behave in a manner unacceptable to the room - i.e. in a way which would disturb the meals of other customers. But, equally, we all analyse what we're eating, and how it was cooked, and if it could be bettered. And we don't expect them to bug our table, or eavesdrop on our conversation.

Let's be clear - the conversation of a table is none of their business. At best, it was indiscreet and ill-mannered to listen in. At worst it's a violation. To then use the fag-ends of that conversation against them - in public, and presumably in front of the rest of the room - is completely offensive.

I would advise PWeaver1984 to give Claire a call with an open mind and positive attitude (ie if they did something inappropriate then mention it and apologise) and see the response. Then perhaps we could see a more factual/reasoned piece.

But isn't that what PWeaver said his head chef did, when he approached Claire at the end to clear up any misunderstanding? It was Claire and Claude's reaction to this approach which strikes me as deeply regrettable.

[Andy Lynes]

It also seems somewhat evident that the staff were eavedropping throughout the entire meal, and picking fag ends then reconstructing what they had picked up back at the waiter's station

←

This is of course pure supposition of your part Moby and in my opinion not a satisfactory basis upon which to be drawing conclusions about the restaurant owners and staff's behaviour, and in particular to be using words like "shocking" and "outrageous".

To say that the Bosi's exhibited "completely unacceptable behaviour" on the basis of PWeaver's account of things is at best premature and at worst misguided. But I thank you for your post as you have illustrated exactly why this sort of incident is not suitable grist for the eGullet mill.

As always, this sort of speculation gets nobody anywhere and simply serves to drag the level of debate and discourse on the UK forum down to the lowest common denominator - "he said" "she said" "oh isn't that terrible" "I agree" "I disagree". This is a futile subject for one very good reason - it's none of our business.

I'd be interested to know details about the food, the technical aspects and timing of the service and so on, but that's all irrelevant in this case because a chain of events that none of us will ever know the full details of made those things of secondary importance.

[Pweaver1984]

Could I just say that Moby P was spot on with everthing they said, it was as if you were there....

Seems like I've opened a can of worms on eGullet, which was not what i wanted. I was just honestly writing my view of what happened. I'm not a proffesional writer or a politician, I'm a 20 year old chef, who loves going out for meals at top end establishments with friends and family, eating superb food and getting treated with the respect that I'm due, whilst at the same time learning. After this particular meal I felt so strongly about the issue I had to tell other people, people whom I thought would listen and take things a said on board, thats why I choose Egullet.com.

Andy I do think you have been very unfair with my original post and I'll be happy to discuss the matter further with you.

For the record my head chef is a female!

[John Whiting]

I find it curious that a small group of budding professionals should have approached these two meals with such anticipation and been so delighted with one but turned off by the other – and not the food, but rather the psychological ambience. They may have behaved irritatingly in some fashion – but deliberately, when they had committed so much time and money to the experience? Management should have been able to deal smoothly with such a minor contretemps; presumably the group were not shouting their displeasure and throwing the food about the room. I would venture a guess that they were behaving better than many a high-rolling table of pubescent stockbrokers.

Sometimes it's wise to remember, both at table and in post-mortem dissection, that a dinner is only a meal.

[tony h]

Marco Pierre White, I understand, once threw Raymond Blanc out of his restaurant because he shrugged during a meal.

moby, any other gems to share with us?

[Andy Lynes]

After this particular meal I felt so strongly about the issue I had to tell other people, people whom I thought would listen and take things a said on board, thats why I choose Egullet.com.

Andy I do think you have been very unfair with my original post and I'll be happy to discuss the matter further with you.

←

I can understand your position on this. Just this week my wife to her mother out for an 80th Birthday lunch to a restaurant in Brighton. Due to problems with both the food and service, they had a terrible time. My wife was very angry and she phoned me at my office and vented her feelings. Although she had complained to the waitress at the time, I urged her to call the restaurant and calmy explain the circumstances i.e. that it was a special occasion and what the problems had been. When she did, the manager who had not been on duty when my wife dined, was apparently mortified and has asked my wife to return and be taken care of properly. Issue resolved. Whether or not my wife will actually return or not is another matter, but the restaurant have in my opinion done their best to make her happy.

When my wife phoned me, I didn't quiz her on her behaviour in the restaurant. I didn't ask for a chronology of events, I just sympathised. That's because it was a private conversation between two people who are close to each other. I can think of numerous occasions where people have complained to me on a one to one basis about the way they have been treated in a restaurant, how bad the food was or how big the bill was and I say to them "Oh God, no! Really, how awful!"

But eGullet.org is not a private conversation. Its a very public forum, read by thousands of people all over the world everyday. When there are reputations at stake, eGullet members and its officials cannot in all good conscience simply say

"Oh God, no! Really, how awful!" to every sob story.

Imagine if it was your restaurant that was being talked about in this way, and the members of eGullet as one united in saying how terrible a chef you must be, how bad your food is and how amateurish the service at your restaurant must be for such an incident to have occurred. Wouldn't your reaction be "How can they say that, they weren't even there?"

You feel let down and slighted by your experience at Hibiscus, it obvious that you don't feel that you have been accorded the respect you deserve. You felt the need to tell someone about it, I completely understand. But because of the nature of the circumstances, you should have picked up the phone to a mate, had a good rant and got it off your chest. He or she would have been in a position to listen and take on board what you said at face value, which is what you say you want. Then you should have picked up the phone and thrashed the whole thing out with Claude and Claire, although now that you have written what you have, I think that's going to be a very difficult thing for you to do.

Let me say again that this is in no way intended to deter members from posting about bad restaurant experiences. We all have them, God knows living in Brighton I have more than most. But I would ask that members think very clearly about the circumstances in which the meal was taken and be totally honest with themselves about the reasons for their disappointment.

Nine times out of ten, it will be very straight forward - the food was over/undercooked, the waitress was surly, you weren't offered a drink for 20 minutes after sitting down at the table, you felt it was overpriced. But when it gets more complicated, as is the case here, where the food was great and there are apparently no complaints about the technical aspects of the service, be sure that you are able to offer a complete and accurate account of events or be prepared to be asked to fill in the gaps.

And think carefully about why you are posting in the first place, what you want to achieve by posting and what you imagine the effects might be of your actions. If you are satisfied that you are acting in the best possible interests of all parties, go ahead. If not, phone a friend.

[John Whiting]

This correspondence does not leave me with any certainty as to who was in the right, but it does suggest strongly that the management handled the situation inexpertly. If I were they, I would think very carefully in the future about how to respond to "offensive" diners. They are the professionals, and they have much more to lose from any public drama. Unless you deliberately cultivate a macho image, it is embarrassing to lose your cool.

I find it impossible to imagine any such situation arrising at the Merchant House -- which, in fact, it didn't, and with the same party.

EDIT: A vital "im" was omitted before "possible".

Edited November 7, 2004 by John Whiting (log)