There are 20 things every diner should know before they visit a restaurant, including a marking system used by top restaurants to weed out difficult customers, according to the book. Unsuspecting customers are unwittingly paying for tap water and are tricked into eating the food the restaurant is desperate to get rid of, it says. Using anonymous insider information from the country's top restaurant owners, chefs and sommeliers, Restaurant Babylon warns that restaurants, concerned only with their Michelin star, employ a number of dubious techniques to ensure the customer is satisfied and the till is full. In one revelation, author Imogen Edwards-Jones said: “The chef has tasted and sampled, picked and tweaked, gobbed and regobbed into everything on your plate.” They re-use the sampling spoon, and employ the “lick and stick” method to perfect presentation. “How else was that little violet flower petal ever to stay on the plate?” Next time you sit down to contemplate the specials board, you may do well to remember it could be a trick to get rid of food which is about to go off, and only indulge yourself if the ingredients do not appear elsewhere on the menu.
If you have ever wondered why you are surrounded by fat Russian men or Japanese bankers, then maybe you should consider dressing up, as these are considered the “least alluring” customers who are hidden away as VIPs and pretty women sit at the front, Mrs Edwards-Jones said. Alongside practising questionable customer service, restaurants also use a number of tricks to make sure they are making as much money as possible, the insiders claim. For example, when it became socially acceptable to order a jug of tap water, they implemented cover charges of £2.50 per person just to sit at the table or began charging for bread to make up the shortfall. And diners do not always help themselves, Mrs Edwards-Jones says. The quickest way to get ripped off is not to pay hundreds for a meal at a Michelin star restaurant, but to order pizza or side dishes which cost pennies to make and are put on the plate at grossly inflated prices. Although the revelations may leave customers feeling cheated, they should remember their manners, or risk ending up in the little black book of rudeness.
Some trendy establishments such as Nobu, where the black book is computerised, will simply make excuses and refuse to give a table to anyone who upsets their staff. Mrs Edwards-Jones told the Mail on Sunday: “They don't really stand for idiot behaviour in Nobu. They don't have to.” But while you are worrying about what is in your dinner or if you have upset the staff, many of them are indulging in cocaine to get themselves through the shift, Mrs Edwards-Jones alleges, claiming “It's everywhere”. Restaurant Babylon is released this week. The 20 things a diner should know 1. All restaurant food will contain the chef’s saliva, as the same spoon is used to sample dishes. When presenting food they also use the “lick and stick” method to keep things in place. 2 Staff, ingredients and prep time have to be factored into the cost of a dish, with a pizza the quickest way to get ripped off with a huge mark up. 3 Restaurants love side dishes as much as they love a vegetarian option or a bowl of soup as they cost pennies and can be sold for several pounds.
4 Scared to look like cheapskates, customers always order the second cheapest bottle on the wine list, so restaurants give it a higher mark up. 5 Sometimes the 'specials' are only 'special' because restaurants are desperate to get rid of them. 6. Top restaurants keep a little black book of incidents and some of the more exclusive will put a black mark against the names of rude customers. 7 The business lunch is a restaurant's bread and butter but as everyone wants to be in at 1pm and out by 2.30 the waiter will dither over the menu so you do not notice the delays. 8 Restaurants often keep some choice wines out on show and a few less choice ones below eye-level at the bar, so you might not be getting the house wine you thought. 9 Don’t drink the wine if it is laid on its side under spotlights, as it has been stewing for months, if not years. 10 After it became more socially acceptable to order tap water, many restaurants introduced a £2.50 a head cover charge for you just to sit there, or started charging for the bread.
11 Menus are designed for women, who are much more likely to book the lunch or night, and whose partners will follow. 12 Restaurants know women are easier to sell to and they've committed to sit there longer, so there's at least a 'one to share' pudding to be slotted in there. 13 Nobody ever checks their bill properly, and the restaurant could, and sometimes do, add extra items. 14. Seating the clientele is an art form, with VIPs and the pretty girls at the front, and couples put at the back close to the fat Russian men. Japanese businessmen come at the bottom of the pecking order. 15 Nothing matters more than getting a Michelin star. One star puts them on the map, two stars means the phone never stops ringing and three stars means they can charge anything. 16 Restaurants will re-use your half-drunk bottle of wine, serving it by the glass the next day. 17 Restaurants hate email bookings as they are more likely to be a no-show and tend to be computer-literate and likely to review or blog about it online afterwards 18 Drugs use is rife amongst workers, mainly cocaine.
19 Theft is common, and some is accepted including taking the odd bottle of wine. But others examples of theft, including stealing money, are not accepted. 20 It is still a sexist industry, and of the 187,000 chefs currently working in the UK today, only 20 per cent, or some 37,000, are women.Hannaford American restaurant dinette combination of solid wood to do the old vintage wrought iron tables and chairs and coffeeHow do I contact Café Rouge? If you would like to contact Café Rouge, you can submit your query by clicking on the link below and filling out the required fields. Alternatively you can contact us by calling 0207 121 3200. Enquires / Contact Us Is there a customer service department I can talk to/email? If you would like to contact the customer service department, please click on the link below and fill out the required fields. Alternatively you can contact the customer service department by calling 0207 121 3200. How do I book a restaurant? If you would like to make a reservation you can either phone the restaurant directly or make an online booking.
Just click on the link below and select the location you wish to visit. Can I book a table for a party at Café Rouge? Tables for up to ten people can be booked using our online booking system. For larger parties of more than ten people, we suggest calling the restaurant to make sure they can accommodate you. How do I amend my table booking? To amend an online booking you will need to cancel your original booking using the online system and then book with the correct details. You can cancel a booking by clicking on the relevant link in the confirmation email you received at the time of booking. After clicking on the link, please follow on the on-screen instructions. If you need to amend a phone booking, please call the restaurant directly. Contact details for our restaurants can be found by clicking on the link below: Where can I find your menus and prices? Click on the link below and select the restaurant you wish to visit. Where are Café Rouge restaurants located?
To locate a restaurant please click on the link below: Once the restaurant you wish to visit has been selected, you will be able to view further details such as postcode, telephone number etc. When are Café Rouge restaurants open? Opening times for our restaurants can be found using the link below: Select the restaurant you wish to visit and the opening hours will be displayed. Where can I use my Tesco Clubcard Deal tokens? Tesco Clubcard Deal tokens can be used at all Café Rouge restaurants excluding those listed below: Café Rouge Center Parcs Elveden Café Rouge Center Parcs Longleat Café Rouge Center Parcs Sherwood Café Rouge Center Parcs Whinfell Café Rouge Center Parcs Woburn Café Rouge Heathrow T1 Café Rouge Heathrow T4 Café Rouge Gatwick North Café Rouge Gatwick South Tokens can be used as full or part payment for food only (not to purchase drinks, merchandise, gift cards or towards promotional and set menus).
No change is given from tokens and they cannot be used for a tip. Maximum of 8 guests per party. What facilities are available at Café Rouge restaurants? Braille / large print menus - all of our restaurants should have Braille and large print menus but you may wish to check with the restaurant before you visit to avoid disappointment. Contact details for our restaurants can be found using the link below:Find your nearest Baby changing – not all of our restaurants have baby changing facilities so please check with the restaurant before you visit to avoid disappointment. Disabled toilets - not all of our restaurants have disabled toilets so please check with the restaurant before you visit to avoid disappointment. Non-smoking - all of our restaurants are non-smoking but it is possible to smoke where outside seating is available. Please contact the restaurant directly to check the availability of outside seating to avoid disappointment. Is Café Rouge child-friendly?
Café Rouge welcomes families and children of all ages and has a kids menu which includes three courses and a drink for only £6.93, check it out and book a table now. What facilities are there for children? All of our restaurants offer a children’s menu and activity pack, available on request. Does Café Rouge offer a children’s menu? All of our restaurants offer a children’s menu and activity pack, available on request. Details of the children’s menu can be seen by clicking on the link below and selecting the restaurant you wish to visit:Menus Does Café Rouge cater for special dietary requests? Our restaurants will cater for special dietary requests wherever possible. Please speak to the member of waiting staff for further details. What allergen information is available? Our allergen information can be found on the menu pages of our locations. Due to the mix of dishes within our restaurants required to meet customers’ needs, we do not declare any of our meats as Halal.
Furthermore all of our dishes are prepared in kitchens where all meat products are commonly used. Does Café Rouge use GM–free products? None of our menus contain GM ingredients. Are Café Rouge’s ingredients ethically sourced? If you have a specific question on this subject, please contact us directly by clicking on the link below and filling out the required fields. Does Café Rouge source its seafood from sustainable stocks? The sustainable sourcing of our food is hugely important to the Casual Dining Group and a key criteria in developing menus across our portfolio of restaurants. We require all suppliers to source fish products from sustainable fisheries, and some have already started the process of having these products independently certified. Our aim is for all fish products to be sustainably certified as soon as operationally possible. Our suppliers can provide evidence of sourcing from well managed sustainable fisheries and any relevant certification at any given time to support this commitment.
In addition to this, we do not use or will accept any red-rated endangered fish species in any of our dishes. We are working on a plan to ensure that the work done to date and our future commitments are clearly communicated to our customers. As part of this, we hope to work with the Marine Stewardship Council to better understand what needs to be done to ensure we can use the MSC label in our communications in a proper and accurate way. We are committed to ensuring that information about how and where our fish is sourced from is readily available through menus, websites and through our restaurant teams. Where do your eggs come from and what is your policy around them? Café Rouge understands the importance of good animal welfare standards. We work in close partnership with our suppliers to ensure our animal welfare policy and its requirements are followed at all times. We source eggs for our kitchens from the UK and these are all free range and produced to the UK Lion Mark, which guarantees high standards of food safety and traceability.
Suppliers of eggs used as ingredients such as bakery products comply with all EU and UK legislation on the welfare of laying hens and the use of enrichment systems. In addition, they also comply with independent accreditation standards (such as ISO 14001) and farm assurance, which are equally important to us. As with many other food companies and restaurant groups, we continually seek, and listen to, advice from welfare organisations, independent experts and supply partners as to the best approach in moving to ever-higher standards and welfare systems. Are employees paid minimum wages and do they receive their tips? 100% of all tips and any service charge go directly to the team in the restaurant. This includes credit card tips and service charges paid via a bank or debit card, which are distributed in full to our employees. We do not make any deductions for administering tips. I have a product or service your restaurants might be interested in, who should I contact?
Please contact us by calling 0207 121 3200. We will then be able to put you in touch with the correct department. Can I open my own Café Rouge restaurant? Unfortunately not but if you would like a Café Rouge restaurant to open in your town, please feel free to get in touch as we are always interested to hear about potential new locations. Can I suggest a dish to go on a menu? We are always interested to hear ideas for new dishes, so please submit any suggestions using the link below: Can I work for Café Rouge? We are always on the look out for energetic and enthusiastic people to work for us. For more information, please visit our careers website using the link below: Do you accept luncheon vouchers? Yes we accept luncheon vouchers. Do you offer support to charities? We are committed to helping local charities and fundraising wherever possible and ask that you contact the manager at your local Café Rouge restaurant to request support.