One of the biggest pieces of restaurant-related news this week was Mark Sargeant resigning from Gordon Ramsay Holdings to work as creative director at The Swan Collection, which runs the Swan at the Globe and the Swan at West Malling, Sargeant's home town.
Who is Sargeant, you may well be asking? Well, while he may not be known to the average restaurant-goer, he's been Gordon's right hand man and pal for 13 years, being head chef at Claridges for seven years and more recently overseeing the expansion of Gordon's empire into gastropubs like The Narrow. But while Sargeant's leaving Gordon may be significant, he's not straying far as he's still staying on with Gordon to work on his TV and publishing ventures. That said, Ramsay's enterprise could possibly do with some fresh blood to counter the bad press he's been getting of late, so what will be more interesting is finding out who will be taking Sargeant's place in the coming months.
Elsewhere this week, we learned:
- The best way to complain in a restaurant, something Michael Winner probably does a lot of, as we discovered that he doesn't like restaurants
- Tokyo has overtaken Paris to become the Michelin capital of the world
- There's a new, allegedly more humane, way to immobilise lobsters
- The winner of the Finish Diamond Standard Innovation Challenge was announced - will every kitchen now need a scrudle?
- Pubs could be taking over from restaurants as everyone's favourite places to dine out.
- Corrigan loves serving squirrel to his diners
- Gwyneth gets her chef pals (and AA Gill) to recommend their favourite restaurants
And finally - it's not all bad news for Gordon as he does get to serve up turkey for Posh and Becks this Christmas.
