Food guidance
Sir: Pamela Vandyke Price (March 3) really lets the cat out of the bag — or should it be the oyster out of the shell? — when she claims that over-indulgence in the convoluted phrase is fair for reviewers, but not for food guides. Why? The refreshing thing about the Good Food Guide, to which I am a newcomer and certainly not a contributor, is that it is so much more readable, prejudices and all, than most guides. Nor is it afraid to pull punches. It's right to be " fidgety " about wine temperatures — with a 100 per cent markup let's for goodness sake have the thing served properly. While I can't claim knowledge or the sort of bank balance for the 1961 Leoville Barton, I am glad the Guide is nervous about prices. Most of us want value for money, and eating out at a good restaurant is still a treat; what goes on matters from the moment we enter the door. PVP is welcome to her railway waiting room and her "many dear friends" (how oddly she chooses them) to their range of gimmicks. But I welcome the Food Guide for its salutary warnings about loud music (here we agree), surly waiters and over-priced vegetables. It's entertaining too. PVP's final admission that the Guide is " serious and competent " after inferring that it was, at best, wayward reminds me of nothing so much as the diner, who having grizzled throughout the meal, gives a smiling " very nice, thank you " to an inquiry as to whether he is satisfied.
Alastair Norton 4 Eccleston Square, London SWI
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