Had dinner with friends a few nights back, and during the extended wine soak that followed conversation got on to one of my TV unmissables, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. For the uninitiated, each episode of RKN features foul-mouthed and tempered UK celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay troubleshooting a struggling restaurant and seeking to turn business around inside a week.
Recalling some of Ramsay’s spectacular irascible moments – eg: throwing Joan Collins and her food critic companion out of his restaurant; bellowing something along the lines of “fuck me, who the fuck do you think you are, you arrogant French PIG” into the livid face of a blinking continental chef resisting advice – we chuckled heartily (veritable beacons of humanity that we be). But then from across the table came a comment that sliced apart the bonhomie of the night like a Gustav Emil Ern carving knife:
I had a resentful swipe at Fosters in my previous post in response to their underhand profiteering in sizing down their Cascade Premium bottles while keeping the price the same. Apart from dudding clients by offering less value for money, they changed the bottle size by stealth – it was a fait accompli by the time they released the news, the bottle shops having already replaced the old bottles with the new stock, thus ensuring consumers had no opportunity to stock up on the larger bottles before the downsizing came into effect. I’ll be drinking Becks from now on…when it’s on special.
On to today’s topic. I’m wondering if there is some sneaky, Fosters-like profiteering going on in Perth as a direct result of this bloody boom and the bucks those who have hitched a ride on the mining industry are throwing around with abandon.
It’s common knowledge that house prices here have shot through the stratosphere, along with rents, but the reasons for that are transparent and well documented. I’m referring to the staggering increases in some food prices. Continue reading Is there something fishy about Perth price increases?→
After my rant on the chronic abuse of the word “perfect” by the BHG team, I had to tune into the beginning of Friday’s show to see whether they’d make a liar of me. They didn’t. Scant minutes into the intro the “perfect” count was up to 3. Vindicated, I wasn’t about to hang around, but then Fast Ed’s segment came on… Continue reading Fast Ed Full of Gas→