11 Nov 2026, 06:01 PM

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11 November 1976: Five top British chefs prepare a lunch for analysis and textural criticism by their cross-Channel counterpartsBritish and French gastronomic chauvinism fought a land war of attrition yesterday in the art nouveau splendour of Maxim’s in Paris, where the very pissoirs have walls of burnished bronze. I confess I did not beg them to stop, as I was at the time enjoying a five course lunch cooked at the behest of Egon Ronay, sage, and critic of British restaurants and hotels, by five British chefs and valued by Louis Vaudable (proprietor of the restaurant where Goering and Onassis once ate and which was taken over by the British for one day yesterday) at £50 or so.The idea was that the five British chefs praised in Ronay’s Lucas guide should go to Maxim’s in Rue Royale and prepare the five course lunch for analysis and textural criticism by the French. Continue reading...

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