Here at Hot Dinners, we just love the Great British Menu. When it comes to guilty pleasure foodie TV, only Come Dine With Me could beat the joys of watching Prue Leith, Matthew Fort and Oliver Peyton cast aspersions on each other's ability to know what would make a meal fit for a queen - or in this series's case - a regiment of hungry soldiers back from Afghanistan. So it's with a weary sigh we report that our tasting trio have decided on a quartet of winning chefs for the current series. The chefs who will cook for the homecoming banquet next month will be Kenny Atkinson from Seaham Hall Hotel near Durham, Glynn Purnell from Purnell's in Birmingham, Nigel Haworth from Lancashire's Northcote manor and Shaun Rankin from Bohemia restaurant in Jersey.
On a more negative note, the credit crunch seems to be hitting some of the UK restaurant industry's biggest names. Perhaps responding to a number of rumours doing the rounds about his funds, Gordon Ramsay has come clean about the state of his finances. He explains that, while things were looking pretty dodgy for a while, he should be getting a clean bill of health from the accountants any day now (even if NewYork health officials still aren't too happy with him).
Alas, celeb chef John Burton Race is less lucky, and has this week been declared bankrupt.
In other news...
- What sort of restaurant do Mr & Mrs Obama were look for when out on a date? Even though Mr Obama still likes the odd cheeseburger, on a recent night out in New York, they chose Blue Hill Restaurant. If you're heading to the States, expect it to be a little harder to get a reservation there.
- Apparently, Kabul has a lively restaurant scene.
- The latest way for footballers to put two fingers up to the general economy and show just how rich they are is to dish up elaborately shaped cakes to their guests
- Nobu needs to lay off the bluefin tuna.
- In fast food news, the pizza business is booming while Nando's goes green and Little Chef's Heston-designed menu goes nationwide.
- And finally, find out how roast lamb is harming the environment.
