Having spent several decades in the gastronomic wilderness, steakhouses are currently enjoying a spectacular renaissance.  The Berni and Beefeater Inns of old have been cast aside in favour of a new breed that are altogether more sophisticated, contemporary and unapologetically glamorous.   

In London the leading proponent of this revival has been the burgeoning Hawksmoor empire, with its emphasis squarely on meat of British provenance.  But this September saw the arrival of a New World contender in the form of Wolfgang Puck’s CUT at 45 Park Lane.  A legend on the US dining scene, Puck’s reputation most definitely preceded him and his first UK venture was one of the most hotly anticipated openings of 2011.  I am pleased to report it did not disappoint. 

Read More

Woop-de-woop!  So I’ve been a bit quiet of late but that’s because I’ve been waiting to announce the following: the lovely @Bonvivant has published my review of Cut at 45 Park Lane on his blog.  And, may I say, what a fine blog it is too.  You should all follow him forthwith for the latest on what’s hot and happening in hospitality.  

As you know, I’ve done a bit of moonlighting in the past, but I’ve had to keep it on the down-low.  This is the first time I’ve been published under my own name (with a link to my Twitter - @half_board) so I am understandably excited and very grateful to the folks at www.bonvivant.co.uk for giving me the opportunity.  Hopefully there’ll be a few more more where that one came from….

So I’ve been doing a spot of moonlighting to help out a friend and my ghostwritten review of Benares has been published on the esteemed www.superyachts.com.  Plus it was picked up on Twitter by @benaresofficial themselves.  I feel quite proud, even though I’ll be the first to admit it’s not my best work plus I’m not really allowed to take any credit.   But a cheeky mention here is surely allowed….

I went to L’Anima for dinner about a month or so ago and, having fallen somewhat behind with my blog admin, have been meaning to write about the experience ever since, only to discover I’ve been pipped to the post by @CriticalCouple who have written a rather good review of it on their blog already.

Read More

On the menu at L’Anima

E, who works in ‘apparel’ and therefore knows about such things, recently explained that although the cost price of their tee shirts is probably 5 Euros, Balmain can’t really sell them for anything less than about 300 when they retail alongside jackets in excess of 1000 Euros.  ”It would undermine the brand” he said, managing to sound both apologetic and slightly patronising simultaneously.  I was reminded of this logic recently at Royal China Club who have seemingly enlisted the help of Balmain to determine their own pricing policy.  

Read More

Not your average Friday night Chinese….

The small, predominantly residential island of Lilla Essingen, to the west of Stockholm city centre, is not perhaps the most obvious choice of location for a Michelin starred restaurant.  It seemed a much more likely destination for an NCT coffee morning or perhaps a boating club than a temple of Nordic gastronomy.  But then, housed in the former Electrolux canteen (itself now a listed building) it’s hard to see how this place was ever home to one of Sweden’s giants of industry either.  There was something a too serene about the quality of the light to be conducive to the pace of restaurant cooking, much less large-scale manufacturing.  Electrolux must have eventually felt the same as they’ve now shipped out, leaving only Lux Stockholm (translation: Light of Stockholm) – one of a growing handful of Scandinavian restaurants whose reputation is starting to keep the chefs at its Southern European counterparts awake at night. 

Read More

Apparently, it’s customary for Germans to give home-made bread and rock salt as a house-warming gift.  This fine specimen of a loaf was just given to my friend James by Teutonic friends of his; certainly a step up from a jar of Nescafe Gold Blend. Wouldn’t it be nice if hotel rooms smelt of freshly baked bread when you arrived? Perhaps bread bins are the new mini-bars?

It’s not hard to see why traditional hoteliers are getting increasingly nervous about Airbnb; it’s A. N. Other example of the internet disrupting existing business models and, in this case, seemingly circumventing the strict rules and regulations that govern the hotel industry.

But it’s also hard to have much sympathy for a sector that’s been so complacent about better serving its customers.  Yesterday I read a particularly depressing discussion on LinkedIn about whether or not luxury hotels should offer free internet access as standard.  When the best argument against was “most guests who use the internet are business travellers; their companies are the ones paying for it so we should carry on charging” you can’t help feeling that some of these folks have it coming to them.

Read More