Given the paucity of new concepts on TV, it was only a matter of time before Channel 5 wheeled out a sibling to The Hotel Inspector, and so it was this week as The Restaurant Inspector hit our screens (10pm, 6 June).
Picking up where Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares left off but in less histrionic fashion The Ivy's Fernando Peire is on a mission to help struggling restaurants across the country, beginning with Alexandra's, a family-run Italian in Ramsgate.
Now, I'd be the first to admit parts of Thanet are stuck in a time warp. When we moved to Margate, the house had been untouched since c.1984 and the load of junk left in the loft included Jackie annuals and a Bembom Brothers gold card for Dreamland (sigh). At least it was in the loft, though!
Luciano, Maria and their son John had not only done little to update the décor of their 23-year old restaurant, they'd strewn loads of tacky mementos around the place much of it Diana-related. It was like straying into your batty auntie's living room. But the matriarchal Maria was not for turning. "I would like to say something immediately," she declared haughtily after their first meeting with the inspector. "I briefly met you. I didn't like the meeting. We are not a good match."
Peire looked bemused. "I'm not looking to marry you!" he spluttered, but the battle lines had been drawn and most fighting was to be over the "legendary" salad bar. Maria had no intention of getting rid of it. Customers had said it was the best in Thanet, which may be true, but a salad bar has no place in a good restaurant and neither did any of the other food at Alexandra's.
So how do you solve a problem like Maria? It was time for a visit to London to seek inspiration from an Italian restaurant serving simple but appetising fare rather than the tinned stuff Alexandra's dished up. Given the chance to doll herself up and eat some decent food for once, the former model was softening. Luciano, meanwhile, had ripped up the menu and started again.
Peire's masterstroke, however, was to adorn Alexandra's freshly painted walls with photos of Maria in her modelling heyday. Suddenly it was salad bar, what salad bar? And problem solved.
Picking up where Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares left off but in less histrionic fashion The Ivy's Fernando Peire is on a mission to help struggling restaurants across the country, beginning with Alexandra's, a family-run Italian in Ramsgate.
Now, I'd be the first to admit parts of Thanet are stuck in a time warp. When we moved to Margate, the house had been untouched since c.1984 and the load of junk left in the loft included Jackie annuals and a Bembom Brothers gold card for Dreamland (sigh). At least it was in the loft, though!
Luciano, Maria and their son John had not only done little to update the décor of their 23-year old restaurant, they'd strewn loads of tacky mementos around the place much of it Diana-related. It was like straying into your batty auntie's living room. But the matriarchal Maria was not for turning. "I would like to say something immediately," she declared haughtily after their first meeting with the inspector. "I briefly met you. I didn't like the meeting. We are not a good match."
Peire looked bemused. "I'm not looking to marry you!" he spluttered, but the battle lines had been drawn and most fighting was to be over the "legendary" salad bar. Maria had no intention of getting rid of it. Customers had said it was the best in Thanet, which may be true, but a salad bar has no place in a good restaurant and neither did any of the other food at Alexandra's.
So how do you solve a problem like Maria? It was time for a visit to London to seek inspiration from an Italian restaurant serving simple but appetising fare rather than the tinned stuff Alexandra's dished up. Given the chance to doll herself up and eat some decent food for once, the former model was softening. Luciano, meanwhile, had ripped up the menu and started again.
Peire's masterstroke, however, was to adorn Alexandra's freshly painted walls with photos of Maria in her modelling heyday. Suddenly it was salad bar, what salad bar? And problem solved.
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