The restaurants I've been to!

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I have some ox cheek in the freezer, ear marked for this José Pissarro recipe

https://www.matchingfoodandwine.com/news/recipes/slow-cooked-ox-cheek-in-spicy-tomato-sauce/

[Alexandria Profile]

Sue,

Correct Spelling: Chef José Pizarro ..

Rare to find a doublé "ss" in Spanish. Common in Italian.

[Lusciouslush Profile]

Tut tut Sue...………………...the pot has called your kettle black!

[Pampy Profile]

I've just been reading about a woman who has died (and 28 people have been taken ill) after eating at a Michelin starred restaurant in Spain - just goes to show that this sort of thing can happen at any level of dining.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-47318923

[Suffs Profile]

I read about that too ... tragic ... of course some folk are more susceptible but it does appear that quite a few customers were made ill.

I’ve eaten foraged mushrooms quite a bit in the past ... either ones I’ve gathered or gathered by an expert I knew ... I don’t think that there is a regulated training in the UK for foragers ... does anyone know if such training exists elsewhere?

[Joanbunting Profile]

It does here Suffs usually run by pharmacists. Anyone can take their foraged mushrooms to the local pharmacy for verification and any chef worth thier salt would do the same or expect the forager to do so.

I had a expert neighbour to instruct me , sadly no longer with us. It is also true that some muchrooms can be renered toxic by storage in plastic bags or by under cooking. As this incident was relayively recent I suspect they were using dried mushrooms and I suppose a rogue one wouldn't be that easy to spot. Who would be a restauranter?

[jeral Profile]

I notice the head chef of Riff says :
"I have made the decision that the restaurant remains closed until the causes of what happened are established."
Isn't staying closed (or not) pending causation a decision that the authorities would take? I.e. having to wait for an "all clear" before re-opening.

If you watch any of those melodramatic US resto make-over progs, some of the kitchens are unbelievably unhygienic. It's amazing that people aren't falling like flies from some of them. We must be a resilient lot - except the unfortunate ones who aren't. Very sad

[Lusciouslush Profile]

Very sad indeed & awful for all those affected.

I still have crystal clear memories of the campylobacter poisoning I had for 14 days back in the summer...…..….I never ever want a repeat of that, & I have always had what's been regarded as a 'cast iron stomach'.

[jeral Profile]

Absolutely. My dad would rely on his cast iron stomach, but processed food eaten after Use-by date would sometimes get him with a vengeance.

The trouble is that it's the food you can't rely on if it's been mucked about with so as to be unrecognisable as some tasting menu hands-on concoctions are as well as bog standard microwave packs.

[Lusciouslush Profile]

I have made the decision that the restaurant remains closed until the causes of what happened are established." Isn't staying closed (or not) pending causation a decision that the authorities would take? I.e. having to wait for an "all clear" before re-opening.

Absolutely!

It's certainly not his decision, so he's not doing anyone any favours - big man ( not) - investigation goes with 'closed down' from the relevant authorities . Suck it up!

[Alexandria Profile]

I just read the article about French Chef Bernd Knoller in Valencia.

Truly unfortunate.

[Pampy Profile]

Think you might find he is German.

[karadekoolaid Profile]

I´ve seen (at first hand) some impeccable kitchens, and some really, truly disgusting kitchens in my time. Unfortunately, it´s often just a one-off disastrous bacteria (or whatever) that appears out of nowhere, for no particular reason, and is impossible to prevent.
I can remember some of the dingy Indian, Chinese and Turkish takeaways in New Cross ( SE14) in the 70s: we (students) happily noshed away on anything , completely unfazed by the insalubrious environments. Very few cases of food poisoning as I remember - although I´m sure there were.
However, when this happens in a Michelin-starred restaurant these days, everyone is horrified - perhaps rightly so, given the huge advances in public health. But hey, it can happen; and it does!
( Remember the Fat Duck poisonings a few years ago?)

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

14 days! Christ on a bike!
I was laid low for 4days after moules in November, and was wiped out. And agin! I'm cast iron, so even 4 days is a long time for me of sipping water only.

How does someone live with themselves and carry on when this happens.

[Lusciouslush Profile]

Yup ! 14 days & nasty days they were - by the 10th day it looked like it was going, but it came right back & bit me all over again!

A good few years back a girlfriend of mine had Cryptosporidium - she was off work 6 months with that - the irony was she compulsively watched her weight & hardly eat anything - she caught it from the water the lettuce had been washed in at a resto.

[dennispc Profile]

Oh Luscious, that was bad. OH had campylobacter once. She was doing stuffed chicken breast with goat’s cheese. Loving goats’ cheese she licked her fingers clean. Scary scary night, doctor came out, took about a week to recover. GP explained it was a notifiable disease, if anyone else the town had it, the butchers would’ve been closed down, etc., etc.

Gill, so sorry for you as well. OH has a cast iron stomach, glad mine’s a bit on the weak side, supposedly.

Talking of restaurants I’ve been to … six of us had sailed across to France - took longer than planned thus late getting into L’Aber Wrac’h. Large shed looking building was a restaurant. That late in the evening all they could offer were moules and bread. Bare wooden long tables and benches.

Moules were served in the saucepan plus mountains of bread and, of course, wine. All fairly basic but those mussels were divine.

And none of us were ill, either.

[Joanbunting Profile]

Wasn't there a problem at Wahaca - Tommy Myers first restaurnt ? Both that incident and the one at the Fat Duck were traced to noro virus which could have been brought into the restaurant by anyone, staff. supplier, customer All they would have to do is touch a door handle with unwashed hands and the next person to touch the handle could catch it.

A friend of mine in Newcastle came down with salmonella after a first cless flight from New York - several other passengers were affected - but only in first class. It took weeks before she was cleared to go back to work

[Alexandria Profile]

Chef Bernard Knoller was born in La Selva Negra, The Black Forest Región of Germany on March 19th, 1962.

This could happen to any Chef, at any level, and I am sure he feels awful about the incident.

Terribly sad ..

[Joanbunting Profile]

Yes, I goggled him too. I thought he might be from Alsace.

[Pampy Profile]

Chef Bernard Knoller was born in La Selva Negra, The Black Forest Región of Germany on March 19th, 1962.

Think I said that he was German several posts ago, when I corrected your earlier post. Could this be saying that you got it wrong first time?