For a variety of reasons we are normally overstaffed out front  in the restaurant on a Saturday nite. That allows me to be surplus, and to leave the desk to Rhonda, but to also be in the background should I be needed. Rhonda is my manager, and if I'm not present at the restaurant then she runs front of house, and I decided earlier this year, that it was only fair for her to get the opportunity to learn to do that effectively, by actually doing it  on a busy night ,on a regular occurance. And the reality for us is that Saturday tends to be on average our busiest nite of the week - not always, but on most weeks. It is the nite that people are most likely to want to go out for dinner, unless of course the All Blacks are playing and its being televised at 7.30pm at nite, and then wild horses wouldn't drag out the average kiwi male. ( Thank god the world cup is being played in the Northern Hemisphere, so televison times don't coincide with dinner times in NZ! but I digress....)

However that is all an aside - the subject and need for my whinge tonite, and what has brought me over to the house to my computor is the fact that 2 tables tonite have turned up with less people than they booked for - and that bothers me. It bothers me becos on a Saturday nite we turn away a reasonable number of tables, becos we are usually fully booked earlier in the week. We usually ring and confirm most tables ( but not all I have to concede), to ensure that people will turn up in the numbers that have booked. The configuration of tables varies every nite in the restaurant - we have capacity of 65 people, but can have every table occupied with less than that, and sometimes, when we turn tables ( ie have more than one sitting at the same table) we can end up doing more than that.

But with the layout of the restaurant we can alter the formation of the tables - for instance where a table of 6 people is usually postioned can become 2 tables, one of  of 4 , and one of 2 if that is what is required. However if a table of 6 has been booked, we set it for 6 - and then ( as has happened twice tonite) people turn up at the restaurant door, and state ever so casually - oh sorry, we meant to ring, we're now only a 4 - those extra seats go begging, and that is lost revenue to us, but more important to me is the annoyance caused by the fact that we've turned away customers, telling them we are full, when in fact we could have fitted them in.

 I know from my reading that alot of top restaurants around the world, deliberately overbook, so that they can always slot customers in when they have no shows. One of New Yorks top restaurants,  talks about a 10% average of no shows every night. Fortunetly that is not our experience - possibly becos people dont' book quite so far ahead here in NZ ,as they need too, to get into the top restaurants in the major metropolitan areas overseas. But it does happen - and when it does its irritating, ( although markedly less so, when people apologise genuinely, and explain why they didn't get the opportunity to alert us to the drop in numbers in advance). But more normally I've found - people arrive ,we seat them and ask about the extra people still to arrive, and get told almost as it we've asked a stupid question, that no, they aren't coming, and could they move to that table over there, becos the table we've seated them at is too big. If we get annoyed with them at that point, for their inconsideration, then we become responsible for setting the tone for the evening in terms of the interaction between us and them. And it becomes our fault becos we have showed our irritation over their inconsideration - and if we do that, then we set ourselves up for them to find fault with everything else. So the moral of the story is you really can't win.

Don't get me wrong. My problem is not that people have the audacity to change their numbers. I fully understand and respect that life can provide many perfectly valid reasons for why there may be a alteration in the numbers that arrive on those that were initially booked. We set up the restaurant late on a Friday nite, for the following Saturday nite ( we don't do lunch on Saturday so the restaurant isn't used during the day), and the configuration of that setup will follow the bookings in the book. It is not unusual for me to come over at the start of Saturday evening and to find the Rhonda has altered the seating arrangement quite substantially , becos people have rung during the day to cancel or to alter numbers. It happens. All the time actually - and we are well used to rolling with the punches and just getting on with it, becos we do understand that we are not the centre of everyones universe. And that is OK. Thats not the point - what gets me going is peoples attitude - their rudeness and lack of manners if you will!

The Prickly Pear in Auckland, a very small restaurant that I remember from 20 odd years ago, attracted alot of negative publicity back then, when it charged a fee to a group of 8 who turned up as a 4, without any  warning. The restaurant disappeared about a year after the customers who were charged for the non appearing members of their group  complained vigorously in the media.The restaurant owners had my natural sympathies, becos I understood their position totally, but it hasn't been a method I've been inclined to duplicate, becos as a business we are so dependant on public goodwill, and the reality is, that a reasonable percentage of the paying public just don't get it in terms on the financial impact on a business like ours when they turn up with less people than they've booked for. It is simply immaterial to them.

And becos that public goodwill is crucial to our long term survival, I am not allowed the luxery of responding to rudeness from a customer, with rudeness of my own. If I do - and imply that the customer has done something wrong, then during the evening, human nature being what it is, that customer will go out of their way to find something wrong with what we supply so as to shift 'blame' back to us. It creates a double negative, from which no one emerges as a winner.

So.  Tonite when it happened for the second time,  and I could feel my reactions souring, I poured myself a rather large glass of Kina Beach pinot noir, and told Rhonda that I was over people - I knew that I was being unprofessional becos my irritation was going to win out and show itself to customers that I  had deemed to be rude , and therefore I decided it was safer if I removed myself and come home to my dogs! 

Maybe I need a holiday

David and Pam, owners of Kina Beach winery in Nelson, approached us a couple of months ago to see if we'd like to do a winery dinner with them. David had come to see me before last Christmas to do a tasting with his wines - and I had been so taken with them that we'd listed all 3, a sauvignon, chardonnay and pinot noir.

Doing a winemakers dinner is always a chance to focus on the wine and food matching, but we are also very conscious that it is first and foremost about the wine, and we try and come up with food ideas that will complement and add nuances to the wine flavours, without needing to take centre stage.

For this dinner we were doing comparative tastings of two vintages of each wine; the 2006 and 2007 Sauvignon, 2005 and 2006 Chardonnay,  and 2004 and 2005 Pinot noir. I especially enjoy vertical comparisons - becos the variation can be quite pronounced sometimes, all of which I feel adds to the intricate fabric of understanding that is wine appreciation.

David was a natural and relaxed raconteur - and spoke elegantly about their wines and what they are hoping to achieve with the vineyard. As always, when listening to someone who is passionate about their craft, you can't help but get enthusiatic in response.

It was a fun night! - a bit tense in the kitchen at one point as they were trying to get entrees and mains out to the tables in the other part of the restaurant, who weren't part of the wine evening, plus find enough bench space to start plating up the prawns with potato ravioli as the first dish - but we got there!

One of the aspects of this business that gives me, personally the most satisfaction, is dealing with people who  I like and respect - sometimes it can feel like a real priviledge to have an association - and certainly that is how we both felt after that evening.

I hope we get to do it all again!

We are in the process of getting an offlicense, purely so we can sell via mail order, some of the wines that we get for the restaurant that aren't readily available to purchase from other retail outlets. The process to acquire this off license has been long and labourious, and we are not as yet there. When we do ultimately achieve it, we will have a seperate webpage for wine discussions and sales, and I hadn't anticipated saying much about wine until that happened. However.

I was lent by good friends who've just got back from Europe a couple of DVDs. One was on the history of Venice, cos they know of my fascination for that unique city, and the other, which has inspired me to write this email is: Oz and James Big Adventure. Oz Clarke, a well respected wine expert from Britain, takes James May ( from the car show " Top Gear"), on a road trip thru the main wine regions in France. Oz is an expert, and James prides himself on  being someone who enjoys a glass of wine but who has no time for all the peripheral pontificating that can go on about it. He's a natural cynic,  whereas Oz is one of those naturally exurburent characters, so passionate about the subject of wine, and so keen to submerge James ( who he hardly knows at the start of the series.) in the whole culture of French wine.

Its a fascinating journey - and as someone who is neither a wine ponce, nor a complete ignoramus, I have to say I learnt alot about French wines, but even more, I delighted in the process and the interplay between these two quite different men.  Needless to say, the scenery made my spirits rise, knowing that we will very soon be travelling down some of those same roads. (There is major debate in our house hold at the moment over whether Courteney should be taking her bike to France - and I couldn't help noticing that in virtually every road scene there was a bike somewhere in the background...)

If you are in any way interested in wine, I would suggest that you will find this  delightful  viewing. A wine rep friend who I lent my borrowed copy too, has just emailed me to say that she's ordered a couple of copies from the BBC website - I'm not sure if its available in NZ or not.

Strongly, strongly recommended!!

A book that has been sitting beside my bed for months - the pomposity of the title acting as  a disencentive for me to start reading. I'd bought it becos Brillat-Savarin is oft-quoted by food writers, and his pithy and sage little bon-mots had often caught my eye. The previous food book I'd read, Heat, contained a number of references, so I finally made the call it was time to get over my prejudice, and on one especially wet, miserable afternoon curled up on the couch ( as you do!) and proceeded to be absolutely delighted.

Brillat-Savarin was a magistrate, not a chef or a writer - who lived during the tumultuous times of the french revolution and the upheaval of the years that followed.  The book, which consisted of a number of meditations that he'd written over the years, and was published just before he died in 1825, is best described as a treatise on  a life well lived in the appreciation of gastronomy. He roams accross a wide ranging number of reference points, interchanging a study of food related history and personal anecdote with a scientific understanding of digestion and the impact of diet on health ' in the present state  of our knowledge'.

His comments belie a witty, shrewd personality, and the sort of enquiring mind for which I have so much respect. His cornerstone thesis is that we must eat to live, and therefore it behoves us to make the most of that process.

"Animals feed: man eats: only the man of intellect knows how to eat"

and: "gourmandism is an act of judgement, by which we give preference to things which are agreeable to our taste over those which are not"

Naturally for someone like me, for whom food and its preparation is such a huge part of my daily life, a book that extolls the virtue of taking time to value and appreciate the food that we eat is going to find a ready and receptive audience, especially when it is written in such a remarkably delightful style.

"the manner in which meals are conducted is an important ingredient in the happiness of life"

Is that why there is so much laughter at c/school lunches - we've watched the food we're eating be skillfully prepared, smelt the aromas and seen the transformation of ingredients into beautiful dishes, stimulating the appetite and by natural extension, creating a sense of well-being and happiness? I like to think that connection makes sense.

The book was written almost 200 years ago, and while some of the meal descriptions belong to another time, so much else of the detail is in fact, remarkeably relevant to how we should approach food in todays world.

His observations of the world around him, and the people who inhabit it, belie a keen intellect and delightfully piecing honesty. I laughed out loud on reading the following, and could think of a number of modern applications  where it would be most appropriate.

"here let me remark that those who are never satisfied with anything are almost always ignoramuses who only criticise so loudly in the hope that their boldness will gain them credit for accomplishments they lack the courage to acquire"

Sage words indeed! The book is full of such head nodding comments, and was an absolute delight. As far removed from the ponderous treatise that I was expecting to have to diligently work my way thru, as it's possible to imagine.

We had a cookschool this morning, which is taken in the restaurant kitchen, after which the attendees head out to the restaurant, and the staff move into the kitchen and serve lunch. Today, that oft repeated, and normally relatively seamless process was interrupted by an unpleasant acrid smell - the source of which wasn't located straight away.  It took a few minutes for John to realize it was coming from our main power box, and pulling that open revealed that the mains switch was in fact smoking.

Do you ring the fire brigard or is that total overreaction given the lack of flames? Are there no flames purely becos we've been so fortunate to catch the fire in its infancy, and is it likely to get dramatically worse suddenly? Should we  just ring the electrician? How do we turn off the power, when in fact its the main switch thats smoking?

Rick made the decision to dial 111, AND ring the electrician- both of which proved to be the appropriate calls. I warned the ladies in the cookschool not to panic should they see a fire engine suddenly arrive, and suggested to Rhonda that it might not be a smart idea to take anyone else for lunch, cos at that point we weren't quite sure what the outcome was going to be.

2 fire engines arrived in incredibly quick time - lights flashing and the whole routine, which I did feel wasn't especially great from a PR perspective, and slight overkill - but was assured by the gentleman in charge that that is standard procedure for what could have rapidly developed into a structural fire. Ahh...  They were great -we offered coffee while we waited for Powerco to turn off the supply of power from the road, but just as they were deciding whether they wanted flat whites  ( firemen picky about their coffee! - does that mean the coffee culture is definetly mainstream now!) one of them managed to get the main switch off, meaning the coffee machine was inoperable.

Once Powerco had done their thing, the fire department departed, having earned my heartfelt appreciation for the manner  and speed of their response. Our own electrician duly arrived, and replaced the switch and we got reconnected, meaning that prep could continue for dinner service tonite, but too late unfortunetly to serve the cookschool attendees coffee. ( We had an extra glass of wine instead!)

For a period there we weren't sure if the problem was going to be fixed in time for us to carry on getting ready for tonite, so we were hugely relieved not to have that fear realised. We've dealt with Rob Weatherley from Laser Electrical for  20 odd years, and it is always immensely reassurring to be able to ring these guys in an emergency and have them respond so quickly.

Both he and the Fire Department explained to us what could have potentially happened if the smouldering had started at a time no one was around - like last nite, or even worse, when we're closed for 3 weeks in a couple of months. It would have ignited the whole switch board and all those wires, and potentially gone up into the roof, and well ...... suffice to say we are feeling very, very lucky.

Oddly I've had issues about fire all week - and had just been discussing in the staff meeting yesterday, what we should turn off when we're closed, becos we can't hit the mains switch due to the chillers and the burglar alarm. And then Rick said he'd got up during the nite, convinced that a noise he heard was fire at the restaurant, and that just isn't normal for either of us to be unduly conscious of it. So - premonition maybe, coincidence more likely, but I'm currently saying my thankyous to the guardian angel, that I do feel looks out for me on occasion!