the salt & pepper diaries

The Shoreditch House gang have begun works on their new hotel, due for launch this Christmas. The new 10,000 sq ft Hotel will be an addition to the Club and makes use of the derelict White Swan pub on the corner of Ebor Street and Bethnal Green Road.

It’s going to be a large-scale job judging by work that started last week, but will add substantially to the ever changing Redchurch Street scene. The Boundary is in full swing now and there have even been rumours of Ian Schrager sniffing around.

The Olympics are going to be well serviced this side of town!

Giles Coren is causing a bit of a stir.

First of all he takes some stick from a few regarding his views on the great British Fry-Up and a bogus MySpace profile.

We now find him slogging it out with the editorial team at The Times. This is well worth the read and I really want to see the response he requests from Owen, Amanda or Ben. Keep an eye on the comments for this one.

Urban Spoon has just released a great new i-Phone application. Simply select your country, then city, cuisine type and price bracket and a single restaurant recommendation is presented, along with all details, link to web site and a diner rating.

The neat part though is the ‘shake’ feature. i-Phones have a clever technology feature called the ‘accelerometer’ – this detects whether the handset is being held in ‘portrait’ or ‘landscape’ positions and adjusts the screen view accordingly. The Urban Spoon app though is using this tech a little differently - when a gadget obsessed foodie just fancies a random suggestion – give the phone a shake and see what pops up. You never know, could be a nice surprise.

So momentum is accelerating for the case to stop restaurateurs abusing the tipping system and using the ‘service charge’ to top up wages, and in some cases, cover total salary costs, instead of providing these extras as a genuine reward for good service.

To give a little background, ten or so years ago, the then Department of Trade and Industry reached an agreement with the hospitality sector that allowed service charges – not cash tips – to be used as wages. This was a back down by the government to appease opposition toward the use of the minimum wage.

So not illegal, but entirely unfair to cheat the individuals who serve so well AND the punters who believe that the 10% or 12.5% that they gladly add to the bill is being offered as a thank you for a great experience.

Currently, the only thing the concerned diner can do is ask when paying what the restaurants tipping policy is. If unsure, give cash. The only downside to this is often the back of house team, all who contribute equally to any dining experience, perhaps miss out – but at least it’s a start.

The Independent newspaper has launched an energetic campaign supported by names such as Mark Hix, Giorgio Locatelli, Shaun Hill and Tom Aikens. To join in and add your thoughts, go to www.independent.co.uk/tipping. There’s also a few stories here from restaurant staff and customers alike regarding teh subject.

Do you have a burning desire to call Chef Ramsay (I love Kitchen Nightmares US!) a plum AND have a three course dinner along with a bunch of celebs? Well, sign up to the new series of the F-Word and you can. In their words, they are looking for people who are “passionate, opinionated and enthusiastic food lovers”. Go for it, your 15 minutes awaits…