A war of words has broken out this morning between Londoner Jay Rayner and New York chef David Chang over Rayner's review of Chang's newest restaurant Ma Peche in the Guardian this weekend.
It seems that Chang has taken rather violent exception to Rayner's review, taking to Twitter last night to declare 'Dear guardian.uk Didn't know fact checking was optional This is very silly. It's irritating and utterly British. Bon chance motherfuckers!'
Chang goes on to say 'oh i get it now, my bad...jay meant to post his review on yelp. jet lag must've confused him,' before finishing with his final volley, 'dear geoffrey rush u helped king george w his stammer, can u help rayner w his writing skills. we will get the food better, promise. xoxo dc.'
In response to this declaration of war, Rayner's happily taken the Catherine Tate 'Am I bovvered' line of defence. 'Blimey. What would you be like if it had been a properly bad review?' he tweeted first, adding 'no desserts were offered to us. Had to beg waitress to slip us cookies from the bar out front. Extremely silly.'
Taking a quick squizz at the Ma Peche menu, it does look as though as though there's one dessert on the menu, Apple Tart. But that said, most reviews of the restaurant from published critics to general diners make note of the fact that there's no dessert and you're encouraged to move upstairs to the milk bar to order there instead.
Perhaps Chang's taken offence at the fact that this is the second time Rayner has taken a pop at him in recent months. In an interview with Eater.com last month, Rayner said of Chang, 'I'm slightly confused as to why Manhattanites are so obsessed with David Chang. Maybe it's just pure physical beauty.'
Of course, all this brouhaha won't hurt Rayner's profile at all in America, where it's rumoured he'll soon be writing reviews for high-end food magazine Saveur.
