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Putting on the Ritz at home
Two top chefs now offer a catering service which takes the hassle out of parties, writes DAVID BULLARD
THESE days owning a restaurant isn't simply a matter of putting well-prepared food on your client's table night after night. In London and New York, for example, top chefs have now attained a cult status almost akin to rock and movie stars. There are three-month waiting lists for tables at top restaurants - assuming you have a name famous enough even to be allowed on the waiting list. The current darling of the London kitchens is Marco Pierre White, whose ill-fitting surname seems to have been switched at the lost property office of Victoria Station with that of another famous chef, Raymond Blanc. Blanc goes better with Marco Pierre - but perhaps with a name like Ray White your culinary career wouldn't advance much beyond squeezing the cream into a profiterole. The oscillating quality of most South African restaurants has meant relatively few chefs have become well known. Although it had the occasional off night, The Ritz at 17 Third Avenue, Parktown North, was one of the few Johannesburg restaurants where one could count on spending a convivial few hours eating imaginative concoctions. Although I have not been there for a few months, friends of mine who visited the restaurant recently were disappointed and asked for chef-patron Ciro Molinaro so they could voice their displeasure. They were told he was off that night, which might come as a shock to him because he thought he sold the restaurant at the end of last year. Alas, Ciro will not be returning to The Ritz, which he ran for nigh on seven years after an equally successful stint at Chardonnays. The good news is that Ciro has now popped up at 17 Fourth Avenue, Parktown North; one road away from his old haunt. Let's hope the number 17 is auspicious. He has finally left the restaurant business and gone into partnership with pastry chef extraordinaire Gavin Forster (who used to work with him at Chardonnays) to start La Cucina di Ciro. A combination of rising costs, theft, staff problems and crime finally persuaded Ciro to move into the relatively low-overhead business of catering. He believes this will leave him more time to concentrate on the quality of the food without having all the headaches of managing a restaurant.
La Cucina di Ciro will be a boon to yuppies, dinner party hostesses, and companies or embassies looking for something more imaginative to offer their cocktail party guests than Viennas on sticks and rubbery samoosas. Entertaining at home these days is a major event, particularly if you have a full-time job. You can spend at least a day shopping for fresh ingredients and another day in preparation - which often means that by the time the guests arrive you are too exhausted to enjoy your own party. Then there's always the risk things may not turn out quite how the Robert Carrier cookery book intended. Now you don't have to worry. You can phone Ciro or Gavin 24 hours before, collect a fully prepared dinner on the day and impress your guests with your culinary skills. Or better still, you can let Ciro into your kitchen to prepare a gourmet meal for you. Ciro reckons you will save more than 30% on equivalent restaurant costs plus you get to drink your own wine. That in itself is a huge advantage because very few restaurants keep decent wine cellars. Despite this, they are not afraid to charge as anybody who has seen the obscene mark-ups on the wine list at The Westcliff can testify. I would much prefer to drink a bottle of well-cellared wine in the comfort of my own home, particularly if I know that I paid the right price for it. Ciro can provide trained waiters if required, and even glass and cutlery can be supplied if you don't have enough. For those who have tired of take-aways, Ciro is planning to stock freshly prepared single or double dinners which just need to be put into the oven. Apart from the distinction of having one of the city's best-known chefs in your kitchen, you can select a menu to go with your wine collection rather than the other way round. Best of all, though, is that you can now look forward to your own dinner parties again.
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