RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY!

I'm not going to go on about how rubbish the weather has been, all I will say is, yes, we got flooded!

On Friday, just as lunchtime service was about to commence, the water came pouring in through the wall downstairs. With in minutes the bar was flooded and the floor under the blackboards began to soak up the pouring water.

Quickly running round to The Dolphin car park, which runs adjacent to the said wall, with the help of the staff there we managed to lower a drain away pipe which had been, for some unexplained reason, been moved. The water level quickly lowered and the problem was solved. All that was left to do was mop!

Needless to say we closed for lunch, but did re-open at 5.30 for business as normal, although we did have to close off one small section due to a very soggy carpet!

We lost a lot of early bookings that night due to the bedlam on the roads and railways, however we picked up later on and were full (Except for the soggy section!).

Saturday night was a different story! 93 covers, Head chef on holiday, weekend chef didn't turn up! So it was down to me and Tony to feed what seemed like, the 5000!

We got through what was probably the worst service I have ever experienced, Tony coped remarkably well and sent his food out quickly and precisely, I on the other hand was swamped with orders for starters, large starters and sweets and in no time at all became one of those stressed, swearing, bad tempered chefs, who think that by shouting and screaming it will all go away.......it didn't!

Fortunately, no one really suffered and only a couple of free bottles of wine were given to apologise for having to wait a little longer than we would normally like.

Well I'm glad it's a new week, the sun is shining, Chef is back on Thursday and new commis chef Tom has joined us. We we're full last night and the rest of the week is looking good.

I'm now going to put on my chef's jacket and head back in to the kitchen, where I shall be calm, witty and fun to work with, as long as it doesn't get too busy!!

The Madagascan Gin Palace Web site