Consuming Interest
Starry Eyed
LESLIE ADRIAN By
PROFESSIONAL grumblers like me ought to be de- lighted at the slaughter of five-star hotels just carried out by the joint committee of the Automobile Asso- ciation, the Royal Auto- mobile Club and the Scot- tish RAC. But I never be- lieved in astronomical, as opposed to gastronomical, guides.
The joint committee applies a set of require- ments, twenty-seven altogether, which range from the vague (`the highest standard of service is essential throughout the hotel') to the dubious (`. . mirrors for all purposes'). Many of these conditions are sensible: room service, telephones, soundproof rooms, dinner till 10 p.m., and so on. But some are so elaborate that they belong to another age. Condition 11, for in- stance, demands accommodation for chauffeurs and servants 'with separate arrangements for meals.'
Apart from the fact that the automobile clubs ignored the whole subject for ten years, and one tended to use their guidebooks as directories rather than as one would use Michelin or Ronay, the first step to take before they denuded their galaxy would surely have been to revise their basic requirements. Better still, why did they not devise a points system somewhat more helpful than a bare award of stars for a whole bagful of tricks, none of which would seem to tv simply good food. Under 'Dining Rooms' there are three conditions. One deals with times. One suggests that the hotel should have a Grill Room/ Buttery as well as a Dining Room/Restaurant. (A Buttery, Cedric, is a 'place in colleges; etc., where bread and ale, butter, etc., are kept.') The chief requirement asks for a 'table d'hate menu with good choice of dishes and extensive a la carte menu and wine list. Cuisine, presenta- tion and service beyond reproach.'
On this point Egon Ronay comments in his 1964 guide, in the hotel section, 'It is an anachronism to insist on full restaurant facilities at hotels,' and he indicates good restaurants in the vicinity in every listing. And he finds no difficulty in classifying London hotels. Why the motoring societies shirk this cannot be explained solely on the grounds that London standards ,pre different. There is no reason why they should be, and many motorists would value this kind of guide in the metropolis through which their journeys must often lie. The British Hotel and Restaurants Association has complained, with some justice, that the impression has been left that Britain has only three hotels in the grand luxe class.
' The BHRA's own official guide, just pub- lished at 3s. 6d., reflects the industry's attitude hotel accommodation. It is facilities that botint (radios and television, fishing, parking space, dancing and the rest).rather than ambience and creature comforts. Ronay supports this view, 'accommodation,. not gastronomic feasts,' when all that the 'traveller is really seeking is usually a good night's rest and a decent meal at a reasonable price. The guidebooks tend, of course, to be keyed to holiday requirements, not to short stops, but it should be possible to in- dicate this distinction by means of a simple code. The motoring guides have to cram in a lot of other information as well and have little room to elaborate on their star system. This gives Mr. Ronay an opportunity to do for hotels what he has now done for pubs, and produce a separate guide. Better still, the Consumers' Association could compile a 'Good Hospitality Guide' to supplement Postgate's GFG. As things stand, the star-spangled hotels tend to be elabor- ate, enormous and oppressively servile. I would award stars for comfort, cooking, cleanliness and kindness of heart.
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt and even smaller than Thomas Hardy imagined, put in a non- appearance at my dinner table a few days ago. For an extravagant five shillings I bought a tin of pâté de grives from my local delicatessen, not because I enjoy eating song-birds, but because I rather hoped that the 'analysis' that appeared on the packet would be proved false. Palates are funny things, but mine could not detect the presence of the third ingredient in this list: porkmeat, porkliver, thrushmeat, eggs, milk, spices and condiments-to be served as very cool. It tasted just like any pâté de port from Denmark or wherever. I do believe, to my relief, that the thrush's contribution to the pâté is mainly pictorial. No wonder that the same packet gives the chef's name as Mr. Truc.
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