Latest news
- Written by Catherine Hanly
Hot Dinners rounded up yesterday’s coverage of London Restaurant Festival events at the Starter for Ten Quiz at Vinopolis which pitted critics against chefs. In the quizmaster’s chair was none other than Bamber Gascoigne, who claimed kinship with LRF co-founder Fay Maschler as it was his uncle Quentin Crewe whose position at the Evening Standard’s restaurant critic Fay took over, way back in 1972.…
- Written by Catherine Hanly
The first London Restaurant Festival opened in style last night with a glitzy party at London’s revamped Quaglino’s restaurant, hosted by Vanity Fair. Chefs and celebs were in attendance – as were the restaurant’s famous cigarette girls, brought back for the evening by D&D London.
Among the guests scarfing down canapés such as H Forman smoked salmon on pumpernickel, boudin of pike and lobster…
Read more: Quaglino's hosts London Restaurant Festival opening party
- Written by Catherine Hanly
Hard on the heels of the London Restaurant Festival comes Chocolate Week (hoorah!). So put off that pre-Christmas diet a moment longer, and book yourself in for a divinely decadent chocolate dinner at the May Fair hotel.
The six course dinner on Saturday October 10th in the hotel's Amba restaurant has been devised by two great London chefs, Tristan Welch from Launceston Place and Maria Elia from W…
Read more: Chocoholic dinner at the May Fair hotel opens for booking
- Written by Gavin Hanly
Brushing aside worries about the recession, three Soho restaurants launched last week: Aqua, Polpo and Hix.
Polpo, a Venetian Bacaro, has had promising early reviews and seems primed to become a Soho staple. We're yet to hear any real word on Hix, his second restaurant in town and run by chef Kevin Gratton, ex head-chef of Caprice. If you've experienced Hix's latest, we'd love to hear from you o…
Read more: Aqua opening, influential restaurateurs and more news...
- Written by Catherine Hanly
Marcus Wareing has capped off a spectacular year by winning the Chef's Chef of the Year Award at this year's 2010 AA Hospitality Awards.
The AA award, 'the icing on the cake' as Wareing told Hot Dinners, is voted for by the 1800 chefs whose establishments appear in the guide. When we asked him how he was feeling, Wareing said; 'It’s quite special because your peers have voted for you and because I…
- Written by Catherine Hanly
Celeb haunt and general impossible-to-get-a-reservation-if-you're-not-Simon-Cowell restaurant, The Ivy, has just announced it's going to take on a capsule on the London Eye over the London Restaurant Festival. The Ivy's dinner will take place on 14th October 2009.
Ten lucky diners, whose winning bid secures them the capsule, will enjoy a menu specially created by Alan Bird, Executive Chef of The I…
Read more: The Ivy takes a London Eye capsule at the London Restaurant Festival
- Written by Catherine Hanly
The biggest recent restaurant news is that Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray of the River Cafe, one of the places most often cited by critics as their favourite place to eat in London, are seriously considering opening a second restaurant. In an interview with the Evening Standard, Rogers said: ‘We would like to open another now, in London. We've been asked to go to New York but it'll be here. We haven't…
Read more: Another River Cafe restaurant is planned for London
- Written by Catherine Hanly
The London Restaurant Festival has announced the full line-up of chefs cooking on capsules on the London Eye over the course of the London Restaurant festival.
They are as follows:
8 October: Richard Corrigan from Corrigan’s of Mayfair
9 October: Gordon Ramsay
10 October: Francesco Mazzei from L’Anima
11 October: Vineet Bhatia of Rasoi Vineet Bhatia
12 October: Ross Shonhan from Zuma Restaurant
13 Octo…
- Written by Gavin Hanly
Several months ago, the initial reports of a norovirus being the root cause of mass illness at the Fat Duck some months ago were just a taste of the full thing, with a full report to follow. And, as you've no doubt seen this week, that report has now been published, and the results are not good for Heston.
The key finding that the press have taken out of the full report is that the virus was caus…
Read more: Heston's Oysters come back to haunt him and more news...
- Written by Catherine Hanly
Although Mayor Boris had to send his apologies, the press launch for the London Restaurant Festival had an impressive turn-out this morning with no less than 25 of the city’s best chefs turning up in support. Hot-dinners spotted the likes of Richard Corrigan and Angela Hartnett to Tom Aiken, Racine’s Henry Harris, Pierre Koffman, Mark Hix and many others as they mingled for a photo-call in Covent…
