There was an astonishingly A-list chef turnout last night at Brown's Hotel at a party for the retiring Editor of the Michelin Guide, Derek Bulmer. Brown's, as Bulmer explained, was chosen as it was the hotel he'd been working in over 30 years ago when he read the job advert from Michelin which changed his life. Hot Dinners saw Claude Bosi, Pierre Koffmann, Heston Blumenthal, Gary Rhodes, Tom Aikens, Marcus Wareing and Anthony Demetre, to name just a few, in the crowd. And Bulmer had special thanks for Tom Kitchin who'd travelled down all the way from Edinburgh for the party and was heading straight back on the sleeper train.
Bulmer may be retiring from Michelin, but he's not hanging up his hat just yet. He announced last night that he's taken on a role as consultant at his son James's PR company MyJam where he'll be offering his services, honed from years dining out at the best restaurants in the UK, to restaurateurs. We imagine he'll be much in demand.
Spotted looking rather happy with himself was Polpo's Russell Norman. Earlier this week it was reported that plans to open his third restaurant, Spuntino, had been scuppered by problems with the lease of the site he'd set his heart on. But he told Hot Dinners that events had taken a turn for the better and, all being well, he might be signing on the dotted line at lunchtime today.
