A small postscript to Howard's admirably well recollected thoughts from Saturday. I, too, arrived at the Savoy in spirited but wobbly mode. A fine time in The Princess on Friday night was followed by a typically messy trip to Charlie Wrights International Bar. When will we ever learn...?
The Savoy staff were indeed great, although it was a shame Marcus didn't follow up his too-early table chat. But the good folk of Delicious were conspicuous by their absence. Having been on one of these jaunts before at the excellent top floor of Smiths of Smithfield, I was expecting more of the same: chats with the editorial staff, gentle criticism of other food magazines, a few words from the publisher, the chef, the wine supplier and even - on that occasion - the head honcho from Riedel. The goodie bag even contained a presentation set of Riedel tasting glasses. Fantastic. This time, however, we were more or less abandoned once we'd signed in. Now the speeches I can live without, and the format of the Savoy lunch (business as usual throughout the rest of the restaurant) didn't lend itself to this. Fair enough, but we were all a bit surprised not to have met anyone from the magazine at all. Apart from anything else they missed out on the lowest of hanging fruit when it came to flogging the cookbook.
Still, no real complaints: it was a bloody good lunch, which was the point of things as far as I, the folks, my pals and everyone at the Savoy were concerned.
Ben
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