Category: Food and drink

The Guardian today has an article about Elena Salvoni – one of London’s legendary Maitre d’s. I was fortunate enough to dine a couple of times at L’Escargot in the early 80s during her time there. She was so charming, and put me completely at my ease. I remember that her husband Aldo prepared the bill.

I also have a memory that she and Aldo had a flat in the same house where Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell lived (and died), but I don’t know whether it’s true or not – it may have been a piece of salacious gossip fed to me by one of my fellow diners…

I confess that I had thought that by now she would be either retired or dead – but no, apparently she’s still running her own restaurant, L’Etoile – at the age of 84. Long may she continue to reign!

Went to Deksels in The Hague to have dinner with an ex-colleague. Deksels is currently my favourite restaurant in The Hague (I’ve been going there for at least a year). Fusion cuisine. I see that it has now made an entry into Lekker (the Dutch restaurant guide). This will doubtless bring pressure on it to maintain standards in the face of a noticeable increase in popularity. I hope that Deksels is up to the challenge.

During the meal another six of my ex-colleagues came in to a separate table – I’d taken some of them there when I still worked in Shell. The nice thing was that they were all pleased to see me!