Table talk

When money is no object

There can't be many pubs around that make so much money they can afford to turn parties away, but that is what Table Talk found at a visit to the Slug & Lettuce chain.

A group of 13 friends went to the Slug & Lettuce in Richmond, Surrey, waited for three hours and were told every time they tried to order food that the kitchen would be closed for half an hour while the backlog was cleared.

By 5pm the group was fed up. Close to £100 had been spent on drinks and the friends would have gladly parted with more. But when they asked for an explanation for the delay for food they were told: "You can see how much money we're making, why don't you go next door?"

Reaching the peak of his career

Thistle and Mount Charlotte Hotels' boss Robert Peel was uncharacteristically effusive in his praise of Andrew Coy, who joined the group last week after four years as conference and banqueting director of London's Grosvenor House.

"I can personally say that I have not met his equal in my career. He has undoubtedly mastered his trade," said Mr Peel. He should know - his own CV includes a spell as conference and banqueting executive at the Grosvenor House.

How to be a pub quiz winner

If you want to be champion of the pub challenge, then read the quiz in Caterer each week. There are reports that the questions in our Culinary Quiz are beginning to turn up in quiz evenings in pubs and clubs throughout the land.

So if you want to stun your opponents with your encyclopeadic knowledge of all things food, drink, travel and etiquette related, start swotting now.

The quiz can be found on page 50 this week.

Sitting down to squirrel stew

Table Talk often feels tempted to ask chefs for their favourite recipes, but one we won't be asking for is Lord Apsley's squirrel special.

Some 3,000 grey squirrels are shot each year on his Cirencester Park estate - and he serves them to guests. The squirrels are stewed with carrots, onions, potatoes and "some Guinness or whatever else is around," he says.

Daring to be different?

Bored with the same old menu items? How about some of the following, picked up by a Table Talk reporter while on holiday in Greece. They include: toasted sand; roast lamp; cheesebulls; and soft drinks from the grill. Table Talk is keen to hear from anyone who successfully serves these ideas.

Identity crisis at BDO consulting

Change is never easy to adjust to. But at BDO Hospitality Consulting someone is finding it very hard indeed to accept the name-change in October last year from Horwarth.

BDO's 1994 round-up of English hotel occupancy figures, published earlier this year, uses the new name on the outside - but inside, each page is headed Horwarth.

To compound matters, the document with February 1995's occupancy figures drops the Horwarth name from the top of each page but the first line on page 1 states that hotels report to… Horwarth Consulting. Whoops!

When good staff can damage your health

Staff at the Kings Hotel, Hinckley, were taken aback at the severe operational warning that came with their new foreign ice-maker.

It read: "Do not place on top and around the ice-maker any sort of good staff, which can limit proper circulation and hazard the hygienic conditions."