‘FINE DINING IS DEAD’. I SAY WHAT A LOAD OF B*LL*X!

Fine dining is very much alive and well. 

The huge following that the highest ranked restaurants around the globe get, is nothing short of amazing. I recently discovered @Alexanderguest on YouTube, I'm hooked, the man is brilliant. He gives me an insight into some restaurants I know I will never visit and some I definitely will (including his own). His deep love affair with food and wine comes across on the screen like the 3 shiny stars that he so admires.

I would say fine dining is going strong. 

That said however, it's not everyone's bag. I will let you into a little secret. The food style that really gets me super excited is that from less refined and more rustic venues. I am like a kid in a huge sweetshop when I find one of these beauties. I love the unfussiness of the food, the simple decor, the way the team is still proud and enthusiastic. Quite often these are independents, but I have encountered some brilliance in larger groups (all down to the training with enthusiasm I guess). The way a great bistro or humble restaurant makes me feel, well I couldn't even put it into words (you may have guessed I'm not a writer).

You see, I still want the very best quality of produce, but, humbly cooked and presented. I still order the best wines I can afford, and I say this, I am more into the way the place makes me feel. I don't feel the need to complain about the world of "fine dining", it certainly is alive and well, and, on occasions I do indulge. I just know what excites me the most.So, what is fine dining? Yes, I get this question a lot. I will save that long winded answer for another day. For now, I will let you make your own distinctions. I will however tell you one extremely important message. It doesn't matter what your class. You too have the power to make the guest feel amazing. Steak restaurant, pub, Grande brasserie, bistro etc. In hospitality there are ways in every lane to shine. Get behind what you do, put the experience of the guest first and you too will have diners that are queuing up to come back for more.

The first pub I owned was set up in the style of a rotisserie and grill offering. I displayed and cut my cuts of beef (day boat fish too from the show fridge in the restaurant. We cut to order and sent to the kitchen for me to lovingly grill away. Served in a beautifully restored pub dating back to 1540 It was the talk of the town (well at least village). A couple of years later I was on a trip in Europe and saw a "rotisserie/ grill in the hotel we were staying in. Of course I had to try it. I was sat on a high table next to the glass window looking in the kitchen, just like I had at my pub. The rotisseries that they were cooking on were made by Molteni, the same make as mine. The cuts of prime beef and fresh fish were not on display, but the similarities were uncanny. The main difference was the decor and the way they conducted the service. It was dressed like a true old fashioned hotel dining room, the kind that I found in 5 star hotels in days gone by, but it was made more modern and fresh feeling with amazing lighting and decor.

The service was a white gloved affair. They filleted my Dover sole table side and even silver served the accompaniments on my friends baked potato that garnished his prime rib eye steak, definitely not something I had seen before. They had a huge wine list and sommeliers dotted around the room. They even had a liqueur trolley and fine cheeses being paraded around the room. The experience was amazing.The food was no better than what I was serving from my historic country pub, but it delivered a very different experience.

So, my question is, was that a fine dining experience?

I would say so.Let's face it there is no rule to say the modern day "tweezer food" is the only way to be branded fine dining. I have nothing against tweezer slinging chefs, I simply choose not to be one. Although the chefs I work alongside keep trying to sneak a pair in front of me.Whether your thing is being a chefs tasting menu kind of place or a la carte, the evidence I see is that fine dining is defiantly not dead. Remember this though my hospitality loving readers, all dining can be a fine experience.Never forget, get behind your identity, get behind your produce and suppliers, enthuse your teams and give your guests an experience they will remember forever.

Thanks for reading