2009 may have been a bit of a bad year for Heston Blumenthal, what with the Fat Duck being shut for passing on the norovirus to its customers. But 2010 is already looking up for him as he’s has just been voted Chef of the Decade in a poll of Sainsbury magazine readers – with Gordon Ramsay and Raymond Blanc scoring second and third place respectively. Another winner in the poll was MasterChef which picked up the gong for food programme of the decade (runner-up Jamie at Home and Come Dine With Me).
Other things we’ve learned today:
- That the saintly Delia used to be a bit of a flasher way back when. In a TV interview she tells how she used to reveal too much back in her waitressing days. ‘If I did waitressing and I couldn't pull the cork out of the bottle, I would put it between my ankles like this - and I used to get told off because I had a mini skirt,’ the Telegraph reports.
- Bag it up: the Evening Standard’s predictions for this year include sous vide ready meals hitting the supermarket shelves (that’s boil in the bag to you) and home chefs being able to sell their wares through online takeaway services
- That Emma Bunton’s bloke (former Damage singer) Jade Jones, now works as a chef in the kitchens at Claridges
- And that Dorchester’s Promenade will get a bit of Hollywood glamour this April in a five-day pop-up restaurant when Beverley Hills eaterie Polo Lounge crosses the pond. Open from breakfast through to dinner, diners can try huevos rancheros, Tortilla soup and the McCarthy salad.
