Say it aint so George!

Before April this year I was neither here nor there when it came to bloggers and their lot. Bloggers on food and wine for me were effectively curious people with creative nous who considered sharing their thoughts on a bottle of this or a plate of that as a kind random act, because let’s face it, bloggers do not write with an acerbic pen.

This week the wunderkind George Calombaris in the HUN on Tuesday said “Bloggers have no idea about restaurants. They’ve got no idea how they run.” I certainly hope he has been taken out of context here! If not, then this is a very naive and generalist statement, George.

George continues with, “These are trained professionals. These critics know what they’re talking about.” These people you speak of George are trained journalists, like your co-host Matt Preston who before writing about food, covered TV show’s such as ‘Neighbours’ and ‘Home and Away’ (‘Life Magazine’, The Sunday Age October 4, 2009); they are not trained chefs, sommeliers or front of house managers. In almost 15 years of working in the restaurant/wine industry I have been a part of critically acclaimed restaurants in New York, London and Melbourne, and can honestly say that I have far greater knowledge of the happenings of restaurant service. In these 15 years, George, I have also eaten at some of Australia’s most well known restaurants where I have found it almost impossible not to observe the operations of the service in terms of fluidity, waiter awareness and customer satisfaction; something I have done with experience, George.

When a critic eats out, more often than not they are recognised by the front of house who then alert the chef that the ‘make or break’ service is now upon them. With the order taken by either the front of house manager or the most competent waiter, the chef will then sweat over probably three or four plates of each dish that has been requested by said critic and their guests. This means that the rest of the paying guest’s meals are prepared by second or third year apprentices who are more used to plating salads and burning crème brulee’s.

Today, restaurants are likely to have a carefully constructed PR machine driving the restaurateurs’ ambitions of critically acclaimed success, hats and appearances on reality TV shows; it is not the best restaurant that gets the gongs, but the restaurant that knows how the greater machine works.

Being a local Brunswickistanian, I have visited George’s ‘Hellenic Republic’ on at least six occasions, and have even posted a glowing blog on their weekend mezze menu. This is where you think I am going to take the sour grapes road and have a go at the venue – not true. I will keep on going there and tell my friends to also go when they ask me if it is worth a visit, because George I am a paying customer who just happens to blog about food and wine because I can and have, dare I say, expertise in both fields; I also have a Bachelor of Viticulture/Wine Science which is also pretty good training I reckon George!