From Runaway Girl to Silversmiths

5 08 2008

Gordon Ramsay and the relaunch of a city centre bar and restaurant

There was plenty of coverage last week of Gordon Ramsay’s stay in the city and the visit of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares to Runaway Girl on Arundel Street.

The celebrity chef even appeared in the Peace gardens to record a feature for the show and to give chance for Silversmiths staff to promote the relaunched business.

Although entertaining, I find Kitchen Nightmares a bit formulaic, and have no doubt that as usual, Ramsay’s revamp proposes a new menu serving “simple, seasonal dishes, made using fresh, locally-sourced ingredients”. We’ll find out when the show is broadcast.

I liked the name Runaway Girl and was also a bit cynical about the new name until I walked past the relaunched restaurant yesterday. I originally thought he might have proposed it after unimaginatively linking a Sheffield restaurant to the city’s cutlery heritage, however given that the premises is actually a converted silversmiths works and it still features the George Ellis Ltd. livery on the façade, I think it works well. The subtle, highlighted silver name is also a nice touch:

The menu in the window gave a glimpse of the modern Yorkshire dishes on offer, I just need to pay it a visit now to taste the food:





Professional Yorkshiremen

5 06 2008

Did ‘God’s own county’ cringe as the professional Yorkshireman picked up a knighthood?

There is nothing wrong with being proud of your roots. I was born in Sheffield and people I know regularly get bored with me going on about and talking-up my home city (as you can see I decided to start writing a blog instead.)

This post isn’t strictly Sheffield-related, but I am sure that Sheffielders get as annoyed as I do when Yorkshire folk in the public eye take it upon themselves to be official ambassadors for the county, over-egging their roots at every opportunity.

Former cricketer and now commentator Jeffrey Boycott has been accused of this in the past, but for me the biggest culprit of them all is Cudworth-born Michael Parkinson, who was knighted this week.

I wasn’t old enough to remember his TV show when it began in the 1970s, but in the programme’s final years on the BBC and then ITV it became almost unwatchable.

I have nothing personal against the host, but watching him cosying up to celebrities was painful viewing and left you crying out for him to dust down his journalism skills and ask just one probing question. Unfortunately this was a rare occurrence and his show became just another stop-off on the promotional treadmill for the stars.

Throw into the mix at this point the professional Yorkshireman routine and I would soon be reaching for the remote.

Sir Michael is now retired…and living in Berkshire.