Table Talk
Room for some old favourites at new prices After Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant hit the headlines with its fine-dining £5.95 version of baked beans on toast, John Pallagi, the restaurateur behind Room in Leeds and Glasgow has emerged as the real daddy of the everyday snack with a twist. His Leeds restaurant serves up chicken "pot noodle", ice-cream and jelly, and at the newly opened Glasgow restaurant, freshly made Scotch eggs and chicken nuggets are on offer. There's even a "gourmet" version of that student favourite, cheese on toast. For £5.50, head chef Chris Draper fills a toasted muffin with cranberry, basil and cheddar, topped with blue cheese and Brie.
The only silver wedding Britney's likely to see For the millions of fans who were shocked at the news that Britney Spears had "done it again", a celebrity caterer is offering to organise another wedding for all her fans. Rhona Silver, who has organised parties for Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton and Billy Joel, plans a big wedding for Britney and husband Kevin Federline in New York's Central Park at no charge. Fewer than 20 people attended the couple's wedding in Los Angeles. It remains to be seen whether the newly-weds accept the offer.
Shot in the arm for the spirits industry The creator of the world's most popular rifle, the Kalashnikov, came to London last week to launch a vodka under the same name. It took entrepreneur John Florey two years to track down the 84-year-old Russian former general, who is now living quietly in retirement on his army pension. Mikhail Kalashnikov, who has become honorary chairman of the vodka company, helped Florey secure intellectual property rights to the name and approved the recipe for the spirit.
What's hot in catering equipment Thieves got away with £2,400 worth of catering equipment when they raided a chip van at Barford Raceway in County Durham, where stock-car racing was being held over the weekend of 18-19 September. They took a hotplate worth £1,800, a fat fryer priced at £450 and a water boiler worth £140 from the van, which serves hot snacks during race meetings.
