table talk
Indian chefs face a deep-fried battering from Scots
Much to our surprise and amusement, we received a press release this week announcing that "two Scottish chefs will fight a lady chef from a top Bangladeshi hotel, and four other expert cooks, for a world title".
Surely this isn't the sort of thing caterers want to publicise?
Further examination revealed the "fighting" did not involve pistols, or even fisticuffs at dawn, but a competition to find the international Indian chef of the year.
It's a mystery… even to the Mystery Diner
To be an effective mystery diner you have to be extra-observant.
The directors of the Mystery Dining Company, which provides the service to a number of organisations, including Ask Central, were particularly impressed by one of their diners, who spotted another customer acting strangely and tipped off staff. As a result, the customer was prevented from leaving without paying.
However, not all mystery diners are so on-the-ball. Another failed his probation by successfully making his way to an Ask restaurant - but in the wrong town.
Cocking a snook at the German pasty hunters
Cornish cuisine is hot in Germany, following the opening of a new shop in Berlin selling traditional pasties.
The Cornwall Pasty Co is the brainchild of German couple Andreas and Conny Scholz, who fell in love with pasties while on holiday in south-west England. The Scholzes' ambition is to set up a franchise operation, which they hope will lead to a further 50 shops all over Germany.
They seem to have lifted the concept and name from the highly successful West Cornwall Pasty Co, which has 30 outlets in the UK.
But boss Ken Cocking isn't bothered - far from it. "It's a compliment," he says. "I get 10 calls a week from people all over the world asking for franchises. We don't do them."
However, he thinks the Scholz couple will struggle to make a profit, given high importation costs.
We shall see.
Birthday takes banoffee pie back to its roots
The restaurant that invented banoffee pie is celebrating its 35th anniversary.
When Sue Mackenzie and her sister, Jenny, first opened the Hungry Monk in Jevington, East Sussex, they had no experience of the restaurant business. In 1969, they invented and started serving banoffee pie, and it is still their most popular pudding.
The name was originally just a working title made up from banana, coffee, and toffee - the three principal ingredients - but it stuck.
The Hungry Monk even has an imitation English Heritage blue plaque to say it is the birthplace of the famous dessert, which many people mistakenly think is American.
A marriage made in rugby heaven
A couple of Welsh lovebirds tied the knot in a St Valentine's Day ceremony at Swansea boozer the Glamorgan Arms.
Swansea superintendent registrar Edith Morgan said the trend towards pub weddings "increases the number of wonderful locations in Swansea in which to get married".
Guests were understood to be concerned that a TV would be on hand to relay the Six Nations' Wales versus Scotland rugby clash.
Well, you've got to get your priorities right, boyo.
