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Original poster

Anyone watching the Heston Blumenthal/Little Chef thing?

119 replies

Habbibu · 19/01/2009 21:51

It's hilarious. CEO of Little Chef (failing badly, shit food (allegedly)) telling the owner of the restaurant voted Best in the World that his food isn't radical enough. Fucking hell.

OP posts:

expatinscotland · 19/01/2009 22:58

I really wouldn't want to eat any of Heston's menu, though, tbh. I don't like oysters or thyroid or any of that stuff.

I think another celeb chef could have done a better, more realistic menu for a chain like Little Chef.

stephla · 19/01/2009 23:00

I so agree about the CEO. I loved the way he talked to Heston Blumenthal as if CEO was the expert and Heston was a trainee, as if CEO was the success and Heston was the one in need of help!

And the way he just wanted The Fat Duck at Little Chef prices. But didn't want to exert his little brain over how that possibly could be done. He just wanted it done. Because he said so.

In the face of this I thought HB gave a masterclass in self control. Gordon Ramsay take note!

TsarChasm · 20/01/2009 11:31

Agree with Tommy. The menu doesn't need to change radically - that's clearly what the customers want and expect.

But the food they use and how it is prepared is ghastly. That's where they need to up their game. Jamie Oliver would have been more help to them I think.

Also do something about the decor. Ripped up seats and cobwebs...dearie me

I vowed never to go in one again a few years ago. It was packed (strangely enough)

A lady asked where she could change her baby and they told her to use a table in the restaurant next to where people were eating Also a waitress in the mayhem dropped a scalding teapot next to my little dd who was about 8 mths old at the time. It missed dd by millimeters. We left pronto and as Heston said I'd rather buy a sandwich and eat it in the car than go in one again.

FairyMum · 20/01/2009 11:33

Loved this programme, but HB is so the wrong man for LC. CEO was a dick, but so was those two assistants of HB who came to cook in LC. Arrogant twats, no?

ThumbBurns · 20/01/2009 12:57

yes, they were. No need to be so snidey or make poor jokes against long-serving workers there.

choppychopster · 20/01/2009 13:13

Will be interesting to see what happens next. I agree that HB is not necessarily the right fit for LC, but this will definitely generate more publicity than Jamie or Gordon.

I also noticed that the CEO didn't bother acknowledging any of the LC restaurant staff when he met HB in there. Hate this kind of attitude.

NorbertDentressangle · 20/01/2009 13:23

We watched it until the CEO said "blue sky thinking" for the third time and that was enough to push us over the edge. Couldn't face watching any further.

Did I imagine it or, somehwre near the start of the show, did the CEO say something along the lines "I feel Heston and I had a strong bond/will get along so well" ? er...no...it was obvious from the beginning you were not going to get along matey!

TheCrackFox · 20/01/2009 13:49

Watched this programme last night and must agree that the CEO was a wanker. However, I think HB might have be the wrong choice. Although, has to be said that HB seems to be a lovely person.

DH is a chef and he reckons Marco Pierre White would have been a better choice. He is all about British food and he would have told the CEO top shove it up his arse.

fishie · 20/01/2009 13:50

i suspect the ceo was set up by production company. otherwise it would be v dull prog

elliott · 20/01/2009 13:52

disagree that HB is a 'lovely person' - I thought he was wrong to bring in his poncey fat duck side kick chefs and they were very very irritatingly adolescent when they were together bitching about the place and the people (wrong verb but that's what it seemed like anyway - puerile giggling on the back row). Total lack of sensitivity and maturity. I feel someone like JO or GR would at least have shown a bit more empathy for the proletariat!

staryeyed · 20/01/2009 13:54

I dont think they need to revamp the menu and especially not in a HB way peeople who go to little chef are expecting fry ups. They just need to improve the ingredients and cooking methods.

PuppyMonkey · 20/01/2009 13:59

Little Chef is failing because people don't like that faffing around with waiters/waiting to be seated malarkey any more. They buy sandwiches from the M&S Simply Food sections in motorway service stations and then bugger off on their journey. It's quicker.

And I didn't like Heston or his horrible little chef mates at all, the patronising numpties.

Two years making the perfect Black Forest Gateau? Twat.

elliott · 20/01/2009 14:03

a little gang of jumped up bullies is how they came across.

rabbitroo · 20/01/2009 16:39

Little Chef vs Happy Eater in a fight?
There's only one way to find out...!

Funny.

womaninblack71.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/heston-blumenthal-puts-wizard-to ngue-on-the-menu-at-little-chef-five-reasons-why-little-chef-kicked-the-happy-eaters-arse/

lilolilmanchester · 20/01/2009 16:56

Re ThumbBurns comment "It's all for tv though, isn't it? I mean, the CEO has done it purely for the tv coverage, no question - if he really wanted it to work out sensibly and uncontroversially he would have picked Antony Worrall-Fatface, or someone more on the LC cooking wavelength, I believe. "
Couldn't agree more. Personally would have chosen Gordon Ramsey, imagine the fireworks! No, actually, I would have asked Mumsnet. Would have got a better result more quickly and more cheaply. But probably no TV deal!!!!

elliott · 20/01/2009 20:09

I would imagine the whole narrative of the shows was staged - heston goes and does something that is obviously going to go down like a lead balloon, fireworks ensue, then eventually they get to the obvious common sense solution. I mean, the menus in the recent reviews seem pretty normal don't they?

Original poster

Habbibu · 20/01/2009 21:04

It's back!

OP posts:

Original poster

Habbibu · 20/01/2009 21:07

It's all going a bit Jamie and dinnerladies

OP posts:

ThumbBurns · 20/01/2009 21:22

oh, if you thought "blue sky thinking" was bad yesterday, the bloody narrator twittering on about "blue skies thinking" is doing my HEAD in!

Steph2926 · 20/01/2009 21:30

When I was a kid on holiday, I always wanted mum and dad to stop at a Little Chef - why? - because they made proper milk shakes made with ice cream - gorgeous!
If they have dishes that appealed to kids and truck drivers they will do well!

Ivykaty44 · 20/01/2009 21:55

The Milkshakes and there pancakes with ice cream...

i think you hit the nail on the head Steph - do something plain and simple that the kids will like.

ThumbBurns · 20/01/2009 22:01

Whoops, Heston has just flounced - but understandably, I feel.

Steph2926 · 20/01/2009 22:05

Smacks a bit of 'people will just think it is a publicity stunt so lets make them think it isn't by having HB flounce out'?
Poncy food in first one, dinner ladies in 2nd one, real end result in final one. Stretches it out with a bit of drama and human interest...

or am I just being cynical?

ThumbBurns · 20/01/2009 22:09

nah, sounds about right, that CEO is such a tosser though - he's a real mushroom manager, isn't he.

fruitstick · 20/01/2009 22:14

Love the comparison between Heston and 'that woman from Hi-di-di'

I bet he was beside himself.

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