Olympic Record

Little Chef (like G4S) should be ashamed at any Olympic connection.  The Popham site (famous for a great reincarnation by Heston Blumenthal) managed to take 42 minutes to produce the above with two items missing and only four other tables of two in the place.
The talented restaurant critic, Giles Coren, in last Saturday's Times Magazine reports on his visit to Little Chef: "The Olympic Breakfast is completely s****.....if you happen to catch sight of the Little Chef in this, our historic Olympic year, my advice is to take him away and hold him till he pees in a test tube.  Then ban him for life".

The Return of the Doily

The Times (23.3.11) says Granny clutter is all the rage and that sales of doilies are booming. I have spent most of my catering career trying to get rid of these unnecessary and old-fashioned accoutrements but fashion has come full circle - Doilies are back!

I have been recommending tea cosies and brown betty tea pots for a while - Conran led their reintroduction at the wonderful Albion Caff - and I suppose doilies are just another retro item that will conjure up memories of yesteryear.

Cup cakes, home baking, tea cosies and now doilies - Great for the explosive growth of bakery cafes. Good for Granny.