She goes on: “Some of our best customer relationships have been conceived in a moment of awfulness where somebody has complained. That’s your opportunity then. That’s something you’ve got to build on. It’s about taking ownership, being on the front foot, and smiling and communicating. All basic principles but oft forgotten in restaurants.” During August and September 2023, Sirieix presented the reality series Ultimate Wedding Planner; which aired on BBC Two. [22] Other ventures [ edit ] We don’t value hospitality in this country, that’s for sure. There’s a lot of examples to show that: it was labelled as low-skilled only recently. If you speak to a career adviser, they wouldn’t recommend hospitality as a career for kids. But it’s just incredible what you can do in hospitality. Also, it’s a meritocracy. That’s what I say when I do talks in catering colleges: if you work hard, you’re going to go all the way to the top. It’s your time now.

In Wine Uncorked, Fred decants a career's worth of expertise, revealing how everything from percentage to vintage impacts what ends up in your glass, how to decipher a label and the optimum temperatures for serving. He then takes you on a tour of the regions, showing you how the landscape and climate work their magic on the wine produced around the world, highlighting key producers to suit all budgets along the way. Oysters. Fat, rich, juicy Irish oysters. I love all oysters, but I had some Irish oysters recently and I have to say that they were bloody good. Sirieix is the Maître d' on Channel 4's First Dates, deciding to be part of the show because "it sounded fun and you have to consider any opportunity. I looked carefully at it and became sure it was a good programme at heart." [3] He was also Maître d' on the First Dates spin-off show, First Dates Abroad. [8] In addition to First Dates, Sirieix, along with celebrity chef Michel Roux Jr, co-hosted BBC Two's Michel Roux's Service. [9] In 2012, he appeared on BBC One's The Apprentice whilst the programme filmed at Galvin at Windows. [10] In 2017, he appeared in Channel 4's Tried and Tasted: The Ultimate Shopping List. [11] Fred Sirieix, the French maître d’ joins Jaega Wise to share his ‘Life Through Food’ and passion for hospitality. It’s been a decade since Fred started to appear on television, and he’s best known for being the Front of House on the long-running Channel 4 series First Dates. But before that, Fred had reached the top of his profession working in some of London’s most prestigious restaurants, and has been flying the flag for Front of House roles since he left catering college.If you have ever said, 'I wish I knew more about wine,' this is the book for you. Read more Details Etura came to London from Valladolid in north-west Spain in 2007 to learn English, intending only to stay for a year. He got a job in the first Barrafina as a glass polisher, became a waiter a year after that, and nine months later was a manager. Now 35 and the top man front of house, he has had to devise a philosophy of the queue. “You need to be a psychologist,” he says. “You need to understand different sorts of people, that a banker is not the same as an 18-year-old student.” When people have queued, you have to work 10 times harder for them, because they have huge expectations verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ They share their match-making secrets: from breaking the ice to dealing with surprises and getting to grips with the rules of attraction, along with all the toe-curling moments and across-the-table triumphs as couples seek to find The One.

The French, we’re very structured and organised and disciplined when it comes to eating. So you eat between 12 and 1pm, and between 7 and 8pm. It’s about the respect for the food. Like, for example, when I cook and I call the kids and they’re not coming, it’s so annoying – I’ve turned into my dad now! Because you’ve got to respect the food. I put in all this effort. It’s got to be eaten when it’s ready, otherwise you’re going to lose some of the pleasure, some of the flavours. And why would you do that? Knowing the difference between all those bottles on the supermarket shelves will double the pleasure you get from a glass of wine and, with Fred Sirieix as your guide, you'll discover how to get the flavour you want. For Etura, a big part of the job is calculation: working out how long diners will take and when the number of people in the queue matches the amount of time left in which to get them fed. The biggest mistake he could make, he says, is for someone to queue only to be told there is no space. “I’d rather leave seats empty than that happen.” Not that it’s likely. He knows how to work the numbers. And his tip for reducing queue times? “You can queue before we open. At Frith Street the queue for the 5pm opening starts at 4pm. Or use the 90-minute rule. So come at 5pm for 6.30pm, or 6.30pm for 8pm.” And so to the killer question. Would he be willing to queue for as long as his customers? “Of course, and I have. Friends come from Spain and they want to eat here. So we wait.” She was not a natural as a waitress and only lasted six months. “I’d like to take the opportunity to apologise to all the customers I served,” she says. Glennon did, however, excel at remembering customers, chatting to them about the plays they’d just seen, and was shifted to the position of assistant maître d. At the time, J Sheekey was owned by Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, the men behind the Ivy and Le Caprice. Although Corbin and King would soon move on – selling the business to Richard Caring, Glennon’s current boss – she learned lessons that she still finds useful 18 years on.

From belligerent Michelin-starred chefs to Bollinger-swigging managers, Britain’s best-known, best-loved maitre d’ is here to lift the lid on life behind the scenes of the world’s best restaurants. With over 25 years’ experience of charming guests, Fred Siriex has seen and heard it all, and as always, he’s here to help. In 2018, he presented Million Pound Menu, a new show for BBC Two. [12] In December 2017, he appeared in ITV's Gordon, Gino and Fred's Great Christmas Roast, alongside Gordon Ramsay and Gino D'Acampo. [13] Elena Salvoni never retired. She was just unable to make her last service. In early March, aged 95, she was due to preside over another of her regular lunch events at Quo Vadis on Dean Street, after which I would interview her about her eight decades working front of house. A magazine edition dedicated to the art of service would simply not have been complete without Elena Salvoni. The day before, she suffered a major stroke from which she did not recover. Her son Louie was almost apologetic, but mostly because he knew his mother would hate missing the lunch. “She was so looking forward to it,” he said. Rayner, Jay (6 June 2017). "What happens when you strip food of the branding and just rely on taste?". Radio Times . Retrieved 19 June 2017.

If you have ever said, 'I wish I knew more about wine,' this is the book for you. Read more Look Inside DetailsHe trained at a Michelin-starred restaurant in France, [ citation needed] before moving to London restaurant La Tante Claire where he worked as a chef de rang [ fr]. Following this, he worked at Le Gavroche, Sartoria and Brasserie Roux. He was the general manager of Galvin at Windows, a Michelin-starred restaurant in the London Hilton hotel on Park Lane for 14 years, until December 2019. [4] [5] [3] Yes, it would be good if you could include service in the price of the meal. But then the price would increase and there would be tax implications. And how do you come up with a system that would work both for McDonald’s and Galvin at Windows? It’s an imperfect system, but if we change it, the replacement has to work for everyone. Delgado, Kasia. "First Dates maître d' Fred has gone from matchmaker to musicmaker". RadioTimes. Archived from the original on 29 July 2015 . Retrieved 11 April 2017. This, he says, is what has driven him through a lifelong career front of house both in France and the UK. It has led to his current position as general manager of Galvin at Windows, perched high above London at the Park Lane Hilton and, through his role in Channel 4’s First Dates, as the nation’s maître d’, cupid in a sharp suit, making sure that potential lovers have the best possible chance of getting it together over dinner. “When you talk about hospitality,” he says, “you are talking about connecting with people. It’s about giving first and giving generously.”