Table talk
•
It's a dog's life, being famous
Appearing on the cover of Caterer gives instant sex appeal, Table Talk has discovered. Since Nick Ryan from the Crinan hotel in Argyll appeared full length and in glorious colour as the Hotelier of the Year in December, he has received several propositions from extremely eager females. Every man's dream? Not quite, as the disgruntled Ryan explains. "All the phone calls were not for me but for Caruso, my pedigree Italian Spinone dog that shared the cover with me," he says. "They want one just like him - but he's a bit old for stud."
•
The food was fresh, the research wasn't Kitchen staff at Pied à Terre will be licking their wounds after the sudden departure of head chef Tom Aikens in December, followed by a demotion to one Michelin star the following month. And new head chef Shane Osborn is finding it hard to throw off the shadow of his predecessor, if the latest review by Siôn Simon in the Spectator is anything to go by. Spouting about the "grievous injustice" visited on the restaurant by Michelin, having experienced an evening of "tremendous food", Simon continues: "Chef Tom Aikens is an impressive talent whose reputation is unfairly traduced by this demotion." Oops.
•
Not so much bathrobe as dressing-up gown
Hoteliers, beware bathrobe snobbery among your guests when deciding which rooms warrant the inclusion of a luxurious fluffy gown. US robe manufacturer RobeWorks reckons it has noticed a worrying trend, whereby hotels are only placing its robes in the premium rooms. Some of its clients have even noted that a number of guests have been spotted arriving for meals in their robes. Surely such irresponsible behaviour could lead to robe-rage.
•
The butler didn't do it, he had it done for him
Ivor Spencer, the butler's butler, is the man who has trained many a modern-day Jeeves. And not just in Britain - he recently did the tutoring for the butlers at the Saint Geran hotel in Mauritius, and was quite properly invited to the opening of its new complex. By all accounts, he enjoyed himself. "I was thrilled," he said. "They flew me out first class on BA, gave me a suite and laid on a Mercedes. "Oh, and they paid a fee. It's obviously a tough life, being a butler.
•
Reckon he spoke a little too much this time
Staff at the Cardiff Hilton are a forgiving bunch. They were among a long list of people to whom Welsh accountant Howard Potter publicly apologised when he took out a £150 newspaper advert last week in which he said "sorry" for his drunken behaviour during a 10-hour New Year's Eve Champagne binge.
The ad read: "I would like to say sorry to the entire staff of the Cardiff Hilton Hotel, several city centre landlords, the residents of Prospect Drive, a man called Toni at a fish bar, two passing police constables and the council cleansing department." The Hilton accepted his apology, but the Welsh branch of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, for which he was official spokesman, has given him the boot.
