Table Talk

Something fishy about blumenthal's boot Heston Blumenthal is a better chef than fish-delivery man, as Tom Kerridge, chef-proprietor of the Hand and Flowers pub in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, found out. When Blumenthal was down at the opening of West Country fish supplier Chef Direct's new shop, he promised Kerridge he would bring back his fish in time for evening service. After all, he only lives round the corner. Kerridge became concerned as service approached with no word from Blumenthal. Eventually he had to borrow some fish from friend Aiden Byrne at Danesfield House. In the morning he got a phone call from a red-faced Blumenthal, who had woken up to find a boot-load of fish in the back of his BMW.

Ice bar is just too cool
The UK's first ice bar, in which the whole bar area, including the stools and walls, is made of sculpted frozen ice, curiously also includes a fridge. The new Absolut Icebar in Soho, London, which is a collaboration between the Below Zero restaurant, Sweden's Icehotel and Absolut, is actually too cold for the mixers, which, if left, would freeze. The bar has installed a fridge to keep the mixers a little warmer.

Alpha maps out contract
It was back to school for global airline caterer Alpha Flight Services for some basic geography lessons. At 9.30am last Thursday, Caterer received a press release announcing: "Alpha's catering division has won a major new contract with Belgium's Sofia Airport.' Six hours later, presumably after consulting a map, a second release arrived saying Alpha had won a major contract with Bulgaria's Sofia Airport. Granted, for a company that serves 50 million meals a year to more than 100 airlines operating from 59 airports on four continents, they've got a lot of place names to remember. Belgium's pretty near Bulgaria. They're both in Europe - right?

The price is right for 1979 What do Gloria Gaynor's classic I Will Survive and London's Archduke restaurant and wine bar have in common? They both appeared in 1979 and have done just what the song says - survive. All this month, the Archduke on the South Bank will be offering classic 1970s dishes at 1979 prices. Guests can relive those taste-bud sensations of 1970s favourites such as eggs in curry mayonnaise (95p), Steak Diane (£4.25) or vol-au-vent filled with ham and mushrooms in a cream sauce (£2.25).