Sour grapes?

Never mind Michelin, the Good Pub and the Harden’s guides: if you really want to know which restaurants are hot and which should be closed down by the health authorities immediately, ask a restaurant owner.

Now take what I’ve said and add a massive pinch of salt. If I took the bile spewed by one proprietor about another (usually the one next door/across the street/down the road) seriously, I’d never eat out again - except of course at the one with the owner whose just spent 20 minutes dissing the competition.

Before the credit crunch chewed everybody up, most restaurant owners were only too happy to discuss and even recommend other, even similar, ventures in a healthy, ‘compare and contrast’ exercise. Now the heat is on for independent restaurateurs, perhaps it’s inevitable that - in an effort to keep their own doors open - such confidence has given way to forked-tongued practises. Today, I’m the regular recipient of information that would lead to several high profile libel and/or slander cases should I ever commit them to print, while the on-line food guides are forced to double-check the source of negative reviews in order to guarantee that they really are unbiased opinions submitted by a neutral source and not part of a smear campaign launched by another restaurant owner.

Contemporary foodies know instant mashed potato when they’re served it. We’re all familiar with the characteristics of microwaved food, and most of us can tell a homemade pastry case from its pre-prepared, ready-formed cousin blindfold. Don’t restaurant owners realise that, by implying otherwise, they’re actually accusing their customers of being really stupid? If we took their ranting seriously, we would be. Personally, I’m sick of the side order of petty bitching that comes with the petits fours.