Blanc is on top of two leagues
Raymond Blanc and Sir Rocco Forte have overtaken Anton Mosimann and Lord Forte as the people in the hospitality industry most admired by Caterer & Hotelkeeper readers.
And Rick Stein, patron of the Seafood Restaurant in Padstow, Devon, is a newcomer to the league tables. His restaurant appears at number three in the list of establishments readers would most like to eat in, and Stein himself comes third in the list of most-admired people.
Neither Stein nor the restaurant appeared in the 1994 survey at all. That proves the power of television: his restaurant has featured in the guides and on the eating out pages of national newspapers for years. Now Stein's television series about food from the sea has added him to the ranks of the media chefs and he has shot up the tables.
Gordon Ramsay shoots up from nowhere to number 6 in the "most-admired" rankings, and the new Gordon Ramsay restaurant makes a spectacular debut at number 2 in the list of desirable eating places. La Tante Claire, which previously occupied the site where Ramsay is now, has moved with Pierre Koffmann to the Berkeley, at London's Hyde Park Corner.
Reflected glory could explain the appearance of the River Café in the restaurants table. Ruth Rogers' and Rose Grey's restaurant was the subject of a television series - but it was also the place where "Naked Chef" Jamie Oliver was discovered.
Albert and Michel Roux appear again in the table of most-admired people and their restaurants Le Gavroche and the Waterside Inn are also both in the "restaurants to visit" table for the second time.
Marco Pierre White may have announced his retirement from the kitchen, with effect from 23 December, but he is still much admired, as are his three London restaurants, the Oak Room at Le Meridien Piccadilly, Mirabelle and Titanic.
In the hotel sector, Sir Rocco Forte gains admiration for St David's Hotel, Cardiff, and the way his ambition to develop his own hotel group is being realised. Ramón Pajares can add his votes to his many industry awards as he looks forward to retirement from running the Savoy.
Garry Hawkes and Prue Leith share 20th place in the table, and are the only representatives of the contract catering sector.
A mixture of the vain and the frivolous appears in the questionnaires returned. All votes for "myself" and "my restaurant" have been disqualified on grounds of vanity. Votes for "my boss/my proprietor/my head chef" have been ruled out on a technicality, because they amount to votes for several different people. We have, however, allowed votes for some of the hotel brands in the hotels table.
