ETHICAL REVIEW? MY ASS!

The way customers hear about a restaurant has dramatically changed over the past 2 to 3 years.
A good article by Fay Maschler in the ES would then assure you of a great occupancy for a long while.
However, with the democratisation of restaurant reviewing on the internet, it is really now down to consensus across restaurant reviewing/booking platforms to fill up a restaurant.

As a restaurateur, I always check our reviews online- toptable, opentable, Hardens, tripadvisor… I tend to check their sites every other day.
It is nice to know that every single guest has the potential to express their views and it helps us checking consistency and guest enjoyment on an almost day to day basis.
Also, sometimes guest take the time to email me directly to express their enjoyment but also their disappointments. I always make sure to respond as quickly as
possible after investigation and always try to buy back the trust our guests
have put in our brand.
It is not rare that we re-invites guests or sends them bottles of wines or Champagne or even reimburse their bills when we feel that we really made massive mistakes.
Those cases are very rare but they do happen.

But now we have almost felt the victim of a very nasty cocktail between Jeremy (diner) & London-Eating.co.uk(review site)

So last week, Jeremy after having diner here, sent Alice, our booking coordinator this email:

Date: 18 October 2011 at 12:57
Subject: RE: Booking from Jeremy , Oct 17th

Hi Alice,
Unfortunately we were not able to see the
kitchen last night, even though the restaurant was not full. In addition to my
email, I also asked a waiter halfway through the meal, who said it would be
fine. But by the end of our dinner, we had still not been taken to the kitchen,
so we asked again - by which time, we were told that the kitchen was closing!

I know it sounds like
a small detail, but my wife loves cooking, and it would have really helped to
make the occasion special. I hope if we visit again, we will be able to arrange
it.

Thanks
Jeremy

Upon receiving this email, Alice forwarded to me and after talking to my manager and watching the service on CCTV I replied with this email:

Dear Jeremy,
I was so sorry to read that you did not manage to visit my kitchen on Monday night when you came to celebrate your wife’s birthday.
It was really unfortunate, but as Alice told you, Monday night was very busy for us (the only table available was the one next to you) and the entire building was full.
Service is quite intense and it would have been considered as a safety hazard to have you coming down during the service.
However, I understand that your wife loves food and I really appreciate when my costumers are so passionate about food.
I noticed that your wife took many pictures during the meal and that is fascinating.
I wanted to send you one of my Anniversary book with a note, but Damian told me that he did gave you one upon your departure.
So, I was wondering if you were free Wednesday or Thursday next week.
As from Sunday, we are filming a week long TV programme with NHK (Japanese TV) with Harumi Kurihara – We would like to invite you for a complimentary diner for 2 – you will be able to visit the kitchen and meet myself and Mrs Kurihara.
Please do let me know if Wednesday or Thursday is good for you.
Kind regards
Alexis

I thought that it was the normal thing to do for a couple who did not have a chance to visit the kitchen.

Jeremy accepted my invitation promptly.

However, before receiving my reply, he did post a review on London-eating website stating that the whole experience was just ok and not good enough.
That the service was not up to standard- overall a bad review!
So when I checked London-eating, I was obviously unhappy with the review. I was going to take notes of it and learn from it. But I sadly learned something else when I realised that it was signed Jeremy.
I quickly sent an email to Jeremy to find out if it was him who wrote this email:

Good afternoon Jeremy,

I have just read with
horror our latest review on London Eating and it occurs to me that you share
the same name and dining date as the person who posted it. Did you do that
following my invitation back to the restaurant?

Please respond.
Kind regards

Alexis Gauthier

And this is the dreaded email I received back from Jeremy:

Good afternoon,

I actually wrote that
review the morning after our meal. We enjoyed most of the courses, but were
disappointed with one of the desserts, and the undercooked guinea fowl. In
hindsight I think the scores were harsh, and I actually emailed London Eating
last week, to amend the scores and some of the text. Unfortunately the changes
have not appeared on the website yet.

Please bear in mind
that I would not have written that review after your invitation, and they were
my own words - not my wife's. She was very much looking forward to the
occasion, so I would hate for her to miss out because of me. But whatever you
decide, please accept my apologies, and rest assured that the review is being
updated.

Jeremy

So here I was being reassured that that the review was being updated.
Updated by London-eating.co.uk following the order of Jeremy!

And yes, the review was magically updated during the courses of the afternoon.
So Jeremy’s review wasn’t just not good enough anymore- it wasn’t bad value for money anymore; Gauthier Soho became really good!
Unbelievable!!!
How many reviewers have managed over the years to transform their reviews?
I really wonder! But it seems so easy that I fear the whole thing is a massive joke.

As far as I am concerned I would not trust a word (good or bad) of what they publish.

Bangkok Market- Short story

I have had a busy summer. One I will remember for the rest of my life and for many reasons.

One of the reason is my special trip to Bangkok open air food market. The really special market where Bangkok top chefs visit every night. Tee took me there for the second time

and I was as impressed as the first time; to be fair I could have been going thru the garbages of Phonm Phen, I would have found everything marvelous - (as long as I was next to Tee)

After a second thought, I can say that the garbages of Phnom phen are probably cleaner than Bangkok's most sought after chef's market.

Chef Tee

Market entrance

But hey! I am here to discover great ingredients and get a lot of inspiration.

The smell was absolutely umberaeable the moment I entered the market.

A snif cocktail of durian mix with sewage water.

As Tee said: you'll get used to it. And I did.

Everything was marvelous: meat coated in flies;

rats and cats going across the alleys.

Bodies sleeping on top of white river of rice bags. Pig heads hanging from coat hangers and

still dreeping of semi coagulated blood. Frogs swiming in their intestine and blood juice

and still looking like they are breathing!

Very weird for me but it seems to really excite Tee's senses and I bet he was finding those frogs absolutely delicious.

Brilliant! Circus, zoo, jungle- you call it what you want; here they call it FOOD MARKET!

Rusty Scallops!

Yet I managed to delect myself with the sweetest rambutan I ever had the chance to taste.

I bought the freshest prawn and the greenest Thai broccoli on earth.
Thailand is blessed when it comes to fruits & vegetables and this market is just amazing for that.

Rows after rows of perfectly formed Thai asparagus and other long stems.

You just can't resist that- and the good thing with this market is that,

despite the perfectly formed Thai products there is not a single fat-old pervert German in sight.

Green Thai Delights

Piggy Bag

Pollen Street Social un-edited

Monday 18th April 2011



So I feel slightly weird walking the streets of Soho on my way to sample the first opening night of Jason Atherton Pollen street Social. Weird because I really don't want to go- not really interested- not my job to sample restaurant on their first night- but I do it for Perm; I find him somehow attractive and good company.


He booked a table for 2 and has offer to take me there. He wants to be the first to review the place as a blogger so he can climb the ultimate blogger scale list and become, hopefully, the most read restaurant blogger- in front of professional weirdo blogger Andy Haller; re tweeted by Hardens and ignored by Gilles Coren.



Perm is good company; if not a bit gauche- he takes a while to relax- probably far too intelligent for his own good,. Anyway, the good thing about him is that he knows exactly what he wants; and tonight he wants to eat. he is starving. He hasn't eaten for 18 hours so I guess he is going to love everything as long as it removes its appetite. Sure to be a good review I am thinking. Lucky Atherton- I wasn't that well received by Perm when he visited us.


The front of the restaurant is impressive- Large bay windows surrounded by black walls- very original I said- Perm wonder if I am serious- probably takes me for a retard and leads me into the restaurant. he hasn't stop tweeting for the last 3 minutes- as if he has already started to post his review... The reception is small and the girl seems to be standing in front of hundred of keys and mail boxes- don't know why. The bar is there half full- I can start feeling the tones of the restaurant- wood, little bit dark, exposed light bulb, contemporary British Arts on the walls... Polpo meets Scotts. A good mix I think- no- no serious!


We sit down on a round wooden table- they use linen napkins- very nice. The waiters are not good looking; that is annoying. The menu is brought to us and we order 1 orange juice and sparkling water. Suddenly, Perm said he wants still water- too late I can't cancel my order- shit! we will never drink 2 bottles of water I am telling myself! wasted money. I am too tight. The menu is divided in 4 sections: cold, warm & hot, main course and vegetarian. The waiter tells us that eating at pss is all about sharing! I tell Perm- back to 98 and Asia de Cuba is here again! Don't think he gets it-too young and too starving I guess. So Perm orders many, many dishes. This guy is going to ruin me I think. meanwhile I indulge on the amazing sliced Pain de Campagne and the delicious butter.


The food arrives. It is complicated, micro leaves and sorbet are everywhere, the aim is very high. Everything is truly delicious for a first night. (Fair) Details of the food in Perm Blog.


I decided to visit the toilets: marble and wood= wow! (lounge music from Buddha Bar- not classy) I think.
On my way up I get stopped by another blogger- she tells me that she is here to be the first to review the restaurant as a blogger. I needed to tell Perm- quick- she decides to take a picture of me in front of the hanging meats downstairs. Not sexy- she will learn. I run back up to urge Perm to hurry writing his review.


We order pudding and then I feel like the room got electrocuted; everyone seems to be stressed; I see chefs looking across the kitchen window; waiters and managers going around trying to look busy. I wonder if Kate & Will have just walked into the restaurant; I turn around and guess who is here? The mother of all food blogger The inspirational and ultimate restaurant decider who made and destroyed everything that worked or failed in the world: Fay Maschler- Mama!



I felt really bad for the team; I know how much it is stressful to have her on your first night and wondered how Jason is copying in the kitchen. I am sure he is doing an amazing job. I ordered a delicious espresso; paid with my card , which they had to process the old way ( I thought : great it can't be declined like that!) Paid the bill- kind of cheap for the quality of the cuisine.



And we left. Didn't regret one minute visiting Pollen street Social after all...

Taste The Difference! I didn't....

Surprise, surprise...

As I was reading the Times a couple of weeks ago, I found myself wondering as why on earth our Louis XV Crunchy Pralin with gold leaves was on a full page spread!

I thought that our PR company had managed to pull an amazing trick.: Full Page in The Times free of charge!

That is when I realised that Sainsbury's had just released their new line :

Taste The Difference

The Times was not showing a great picture of our Louis XV Crunchy- Pralin; no! they were advertising the DOUBLE CHOCOLATE & PRALIN CRUNCH.

A very close cousin of our star dish here at Gauthier Soho.

And to make the resemblance even more pronounced, they added a magnificent piece of Gold Leave on the top of their PRALIN CRUNCH. Just like us!

I could not wait to try this new "original" product from the new "original" line of Sainsbury's.

I called Clive and asked him to rush to our nearest Sainsbury's and get one as soon as possible; I would try it as soon as I got home at night.

I spent the day wondering how awful this copy could be. I was certain that they would have messed up the entire pudding. I had the feeling that it was going to be a disaster- and I was quite happy about that.

How on earth could a chain of supermarket like Sainsbury produce such an exquisite and refined classical French patisserie.

When Alain Ducasse created this dish, he thought about the crunchiness of the praline topped by a very light and intense chocolate mousse- and to round the whole things up a Glacage Paradis would take everything together under a very slight Resistance of the reduce chocolate sauce. The osmosis would be perfect....

IMPOSSIBLE TO REPRODUCE- unless you are a Patisserie genius with God gifted hands....

I spent the night in the kitchen tasting every single dishes that was going to be served to your guests- so I wasn't particularly hungry or willing to be impressed with food by the time I reach home.

Everyone was asleep and I rushed to the fridge to discover this little box stuffed with 2 very ugly chocolate dome topped with the smallest piece of gold leave you could think of!

It started well.

My spoon went in the soft glacage- I said: Merde, this is perfect texture.

Then my mouth felt covered by the unctuously of the chocolate mousse- it was a very high quality chocolate mousse- I was dreaming.

Then the crunchiness of the Pralin came right thrue my mouth- the balance of crunch & softness was just perfect- YES fucking perfect!

I had one; and the other one. Didn't want anybody else to have one.

I didn't want to risk my 5 years old son Arthur saying : Papou, this chocolate Crunch is better than yours!!

I would have answered: "Pfuuf...Not me who created it anyway- Call Ducasse and tell him if you want....."

So as far I am concerned I saw the Difference but didn't taste any Difference!

Brilliant Louis XV at £2.30 for 2!

Festival Food

So the restaurant festival has just started and we couldn't have kick start the celebration better than with a tube strike! Quite a lot of restaurants had to close their doors tonight in Soho- staff & costumers alike couldn't get here or couldn't go back home.
Having a restaurant in France, I can tell you that a strike day is wonderful for restaurant owners. Everyone take the streets, protesting from 10am and then at 12, take a long boozy lunch before starting the afternoon march.
Only when the day finishes, they all meet again in restaurants for long arguments on how the day has been or what will be the next day of strike!
Early September when striking was on everybody lip in France we made our best day ever at the Voyageur Nissart (taking wise). Today with a massive tube strike we did our worst day ever at Gauthier.
We need to educate British Tube Strikers.
I wonder what Bob Crowe had for lunch today?

Visitors and critics

I was supposed to finish this blog about review and reviewers weeks ago! Time flies- big time. Everyday brings a little more distraction and I end up writing this blog 10 minutes before the service starts!

I was going to tell you how much reviews in newspaper and magazine influence me.

I was going to tell you that I read and and read reviews from my favorite food critics while putting the restaurant together...

I was going to tell you how I felt when a review is brilliant and when a review destroys me!

Well actually it is quite easy to imagine : happy or very sad.

One thing that I realised is that every review has a point- so it was vital for me to weight Le pour et Le contre of each review.

One week end during the month of July we had 2 reviews in 2 Sunday magazines; eaten the same day, in the same room by 2 different reviewers:

one loved it and can't wait to comeback- the other one finds the all experience useless.

If you read left- Great review

if you read right- Crap review

So that is the point of review- a matter of taste and politic- just like our customers.

What is important now is to keep our guests happy by providing superb food, superb service..etc

and most important making sure that our pricing is right.

During my last trip to France, I was almost tempted to try a very up and coming restaurant near Nice.

1 Michelin star, young chef, exciting cuisine...

Sadly when I saw the price of the A la Carte, I knew that I will end up banqueroute if I ever order anything from his menu. The price was horrendous-

35 euros for a starter & nothing below 65 euros for a main course!!!

I felt very sorry for the chef as I am sure even at this price he doesn't cover his costs.

Running a restaurant relies too much on having hands serving plates, hands preparing the food, hands washing dishes..etc But those hands are attached to French voters body who believe in being looked after by THE STATE.

The NI contribution is enormous: 1euro goes to NI for every 1euro you give to your staff.Working hours are at 35hours a week (even in the catering industry)- every extra hours after 41 hours a week costs you another 50% extra(with a maximum of 45 hours per week); I know that every month you have to pay for a new tax: keeping the 50's + in employment- sending your staff to the STATE doctor for nothing other than 80 euros per employee- apprenticeship tax- CSG... plus all the bank holidays and the strike days.

Mission impossible to succeed.

Happy to be in London? Oh yes..........................but I have a restaurant in France too.

Merde alors.

LONDON RESTAURANT FESTIVAL MENU HURRY

GAUTHIER SOHO

21 Romilly Street

London W1 d5af

0207494 3111

4-18 October 2010

PREMIER PLAT

Foie Gras Apple-Sultanas
Crispy Herbs Caramel
Calvados Reduction Deglazed with Verjus

Or

Scottish Scallops & Girolles
Parsley Cream, Garlic & Crunchy Granny Smith
Light Crustacean Dressing

Or

Salsify & Curry

Braised Salasify, Poached Quail Eggs
Light Curry sauce & Mango Chutney

DEUXIÈME PLAT

Autumn Truffle Risotto
Chicken Jus Reduction & Brown Butter

TROISIÈME PLAT

Cut Of Welsh Lamb
Autumn Vegetables from Secrett’s Farm
Classic Pommes Dauphines
Garlic & Lamb Jus

Or

Slowly Baked Icelandic Cod
Marinated with Soya & Sugar
Braised Celeriac & Leeks
Lime Aromatic Jus

Or

Light Herb Millefeuille
Wild Mushrooms & Almond-Tofu
Crunchy Pear & Port Jus

QUATRIÈME PLAT
Golden Louis XV
Crunchy Pralin & Gold

Or

Warm Apple & Caramel
Crumble Chiboust
Caramel Ice

4 Plats

£25