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We anticipate that each episode will be around 10
minutes with a changing format. Any research that is
referenced can be found, for your further reading or
interest, by following the links on the website to the
podcasts page.
finediningguide was founded in 2004, we have
approximately 15,000 page views a month from around
7,000 unique visitors. The top three most popular pages
of the 150 page site are first, the overall home page,
second the Michelin section home page and third,
somewhat surprisingly, the Michelin Bib Gourmand
page.
The entire site, highlighted by the One Percent Club, is
targeted at the top 1% of restaurants in Britain – the top
500 out of 50,000.
In this podcast we will start a new feature, the top tens, in
this case the top ten restaurants in London and not any
old top ten: The top ten according to three leading guides
– The Michelin Red Guide, The Which? Good Food Guide
and the AA Restaurant Guide with a weighted points
scoring system – 10 points per each Michelin Star, 3
points for each Good Food Guide mark out of ten and 2
points for each AA Rossette.
See Top Restaurants in London.
And so the top two restaurants in London, Gordon
Ramsay’s flagship at Royal Hospital Road Chelsea and
Marcus Wareing’s Petrus at the Berkeley Hotel. Gordon
and Marcus go back a long way: From 1993 Marcus was
sous chef to Gordon at Aubergine, they rose through the
ranks of Michelin together before Gordon rewarded
Marcus with his own restaurant in St James Street.
For a period the cooking there was sublime and one
wondered whether the pupil was surpassing the master.
Michelin were slow to see it that way, with Petrus, in its
new home at the Berkeley, only elevated to two stars in
the last publication.
Rumours have been around in the fine dining world for at
least a year that Marcus was unhappy in the relationship
with Gordon Ramsay Holdings and wanted his freedom.
Finally, come September 2008, he is expected to have a
direct relationship with the Berkeley Hotel. Reported
stories and interviews in the trade press, suggest a
somewhat bitter parting of the ways.
finediningguide salute and respect what these two men
have achieved over the last 15 years for fine dining in
Britain and wish both every success in the future.
2008 will see Silvano Giraldin – the original master of the
culinary art known as les art de tables retire as
restaurant manager from Le gavroche. At the same time
one of his protégés – Diego Masciaga is celebrating 20
years as the face of the Michelin 3 starred waterside inn
in Bray. Congratulations and all the best to both of them!
Should you, like many, enjoy the distinct aromas of
Epoisses and Chambertin or Liveraux and Munster or
simply enjoy the theatre of watching the cheese trolley
being wheeled around the restaurant then finedingguide
bring sad news. It would appear that EU health and
safety regulations may make this traditional part of the
restaurant experience something of the past.
minutes with a changing format. Any research that is
referenced can be found, for your further reading or
interest, by following the links on the website to the
podcasts page.
finediningguide was founded in 2004, we have
approximately 15,000 page views a month from around
7,000 unique visitors. The top three most popular pages
of the 150 page site are first, the overall home page,
second the Michelin section home page and third,
somewhat surprisingly, the Michelin Bib Gourmand
page.
The entire site, highlighted by the One Percent Club, is
targeted at the top 1% of restaurants in Britain – the top
500 out of 50,000.
In this podcast we will start a new feature, the top tens, in
this case the top ten restaurants in London and not any
old top ten: The top ten according to three leading guides
– The Michelin Red Guide, The Which? Good Food Guide
and the AA Restaurant Guide with a weighted points
scoring system – 10 points per each Michelin Star, 3
points for each Good Food Guide mark out of ten and 2
points for each AA Rossette.
See Top Restaurants in London.
And so the top two restaurants in London, Gordon
Ramsay’s flagship at Royal Hospital Road Chelsea and
Marcus Wareing’s Petrus at the Berkeley Hotel. Gordon
and Marcus go back a long way: From 1993 Marcus was
sous chef to Gordon at Aubergine, they rose through the
ranks of Michelin together before Gordon rewarded
Marcus with his own restaurant in St James Street.
For a period the cooking there was sublime and one
wondered whether the pupil was surpassing the master.
Michelin were slow to see it that way, with Petrus, in its
new home at the Berkeley, only elevated to two stars in
the last publication.
Rumours have been around in the fine dining world for at
least a year that Marcus was unhappy in the relationship
with Gordon Ramsay Holdings and wanted his freedom.
Finally, come September 2008, he is expected to have a
direct relationship with the Berkeley Hotel. Reported
stories and interviews in the trade press, suggest a
somewhat bitter parting of the ways.
finediningguide salute and respect what these two men
have achieved over the last 15 years for fine dining in
Britain and wish both every success in the future.
2008 will see Silvano Giraldin – the original master of the
culinary art known as les art de tables retire as
restaurant manager from Le gavroche. At the same time
one of his protégés – Diego Masciaga is celebrating 20
years as the face of the Michelin 3 starred waterside inn
in Bray. Congratulations and all the best to both of them!
Should you, like many, enjoy the distinct aromas of
Epoisses and Chambertin or Liveraux and Munster or
simply enjoy the theatre of watching the cheese trolley
being wheeled around the restaurant then finedingguide
bring sad news. It would appear that EU health and
safety regulations may make this traditional part of the
restaurant experience something of the past.
So to our final piece of this episode, an editorial about
tipping.
What is the origin of the word tip in the context of giving
thanks for good service?
The short answer is that no-one really knows.
There are two romantic urban myths; the first that a
gentleman in the 17th century would ‘tip’ his hat to say thank
you and one day this coincided with the handing over of
monies.
The second, and considerably more popular romantic
conjecture, is that early tea and coffee houses held a box in
the corner with the words inscribed “To Insure Prompt
Service.” Over time this was abridged to TIPS.
Etymologists tell us that, prior to the start of the 20th
Century, there’s no single example of an acronym providing
the derivation of a word. One suggested fact often cited is
that literature first described a tip in 1706, “Then I, Sir, tips
me the verger with half a crown” in George Farquhar play,
the Beaux Strategem.
Three hundred years later there’s a lot of confusion, for
different reasons, about tips in restaurants. At the turn of
the 1990’s the US IRS noticed missing tax dollars from the
tipping of croupiers in Casinos. This prompted closer
examination of restaurants where the IRS later found an
estimated $9bn tax revenue shortfall.
Where the spotlight falls in the US sometime later the
spotlight falls in the UK.
The UK however is more complicated, not only because it is
laden with different old customs and practices but also the
legal structure is very different. There’s the minimum wage,
PAYE, National Insurance and VAT.
Untangling where and when tips qualify as income for each
or any is a matter for sophisticated consultants and
accountants.
Some clarity has come into view recently with
acknowledgement that tips cannot make up the difference
in a basic wage that is set below the minimum wage. The
minimum wage is the minimum wage and tips go on top.
The most commonly used system for pooling and dividing
up tips in the UK is called a tronc – literally meaning trunk,
or the French example tronc des pauvres meaning poor
box. Here a points system is used to reward members of
the front of house and kitchen staff.
The administrator, or troncmaster (sounds grand and
slightly Masonic), has the unenviable job of ensuring that all
taxes are appropriately avoided and not evaded.
More complexity arises from the UK practice of a 12.5%
discretionary charge taken on credit card slips.
The restaurateur has processed this payment and
experienced a 2% administration charge from the credit
card company. Owners too point to damages and
breakages and whether they should be covered as
expenses taken from the pool of tips?
In any event – Everyone - The restaurateurs, the waiting
staff, the customers and the government would all
appreciate clarity and transparency; although achieving this
is understandably more difficult than first thought.
tipping.
What is the origin of the word tip in the context of giving
thanks for good service?
The short answer is that no-one really knows.
There are two romantic urban myths; the first that a
gentleman in the 17th century would ‘tip’ his hat to say thank
you and one day this coincided with the handing over of
monies.
The second, and considerably more popular romantic
conjecture, is that early tea and coffee houses held a box in
the corner with the words inscribed “To Insure Prompt
Service.” Over time this was abridged to TIPS.
Etymologists tell us that, prior to the start of the 20th
Century, there’s no single example of an acronym providing
the derivation of a word. One suggested fact often cited is
that literature first described a tip in 1706, “Then I, Sir, tips
me the verger with half a crown” in George Farquhar play,
the Beaux Strategem.
Three hundred years later there’s a lot of confusion, for
different reasons, about tips in restaurants. At the turn of
the 1990’s the US IRS noticed missing tax dollars from the
tipping of croupiers in Casinos. This prompted closer
examination of restaurants where the IRS later found an
estimated $9bn tax revenue shortfall.
Where the spotlight falls in the US sometime later the
spotlight falls in the UK.
The UK however is more complicated, not only because it is
laden with different old customs and practices but also the
legal structure is very different. There’s the minimum wage,
PAYE, National Insurance and VAT.
Untangling where and when tips qualify as income for each
or any is a matter for sophisticated consultants and
accountants.
Some clarity has come into view recently with
acknowledgement that tips cannot make up the difference
in a basic wage that is set below the minimum wage. The
minimum wage is the minimum wage and tips go on top.
The most commonly used system for pooling and dividing
up tips in the UK is called a tronc – literally meaning trunk,
or the French example tronc des pauvres meaning poor
box. Here a points system is used to reward members of
the front of house and kitchen staff.
The administrator, or troncmaster (sounds grand and
slightly Masonic), has the unenviable job of ensuring that all
taxes are appropriately avoided and not evaded.
More complexity arises from the UK practice of a 12.5%
discretionary charge taken on credit card slips.
The restaurateur has processed this payment and
experienced a 2% administration charge from the credit
card company. Owners too point to damages and
breakages and whether they should be covered as
expenses taken from the pool of tips?
In any event – Everyone - The restaurateurs, the waiting
staff, the customers and the government would all
appreciate clarity and transparency; although achieving this
is understandably more difficult than first thought.
| The Top Ten Restaurants in London. (2008) |
