Prue Leith

Diary – 26 May 2016

Also in her diary: Doctor difficulties, Liverpool’s grands projets, Kenneth Baker’s brainchild, further adventures with bats

Why do we assume all doctors are good? We don’t think there are no bad cooks or bad plumbers. But everyone thinks their surgeon is the best in the world. Recommended to one such, I booked an appointment. He rattled off his spiel about the pros and cons of surgery, physio or jabs for a bad shoulder, while looking at the ceiling and at his watch. He waved away my scan: ‘I never look at those. Just heaving oceans of muscle. They all look the same.’ He favoured surgery, but I asked for a jab. It hurt like hell and made no difference. So I went to another ‘top of his profession’ consultant, who gave me a jab, while looking at the scan on a monitor to hit the right spot. It worked. After nine months, I can move my arm. Yippee.

You might believe really bad food was hard to get in the UK now: B&B breakfasts are ambitious, pub food has changed beyond recognition, the country glitters with Michelin stars. But when were you last in a big three-star hotel? It’s like going back to the 1950s. The misnamed Futures Hotel in Plymouth serves a ‘steak sandwich’ of overcooked roast beef, reheated in thick gravy and sandwiched, gravy and all, in factory bread. The Weston Hotel in Burnham-on-Sea gave me beetroot and goat’s cheese salad with less than an ounce of goat’s cheese and no beetroot.

I exempt Holiday Inn from these moans when they have Marco Pierre White doing simple, flavoursome food in the bar. The Double Tree by Hilton in Bristol have gone further and opened a great MPW Steakhouse Bar and Grill. The only downside is the sight of the great man everywhere: on huge posters, framed pictures, cartoons.

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