I sent the Cayman Net News a contribution to their letters page on 14 May complaining about a recent restaurant review, which the editor failed to publish. This is unsurprising because I have noticed in the past that while that newspaper consistently publishes sensational stories, with scant regard for the facts, it is unable to cope with criticism of its actions.
The following is a copy of my letter to the Cayman Net News:
I was extremely interested to read a recent article by one of your correspondents, which featured Ristorante Pappagallo. I am a retired professional, fairly well travelled and very interested in food and wine.
Since the first week this restaurant opened in the 1980s, I have been a regular diner and I have successfully introduced friends and clients to the restaurant. Without exception I have received excellent comments from all diners. The kitchen staff is a talented group under the supervision of Steve, the Canadian executive chef.
Franco, the maitre d’, demands the highest standards from his waiting team.
Gerardo is an odd sort of sommelier, very untypical of his breed. He actually knows about his wines and is desperately eager to share his knowledge without patronizing the diner.
These good folks are under the captaincy of Vico Testori, the proprietor and consummate professional, who learned his trade on cruise ships and at the Savoy hotel in London. In short, I consider Pappagallo to be among the finest restaurants I have visited, and the entire staff provides service to the highest standard.
I was intrigued therefore, to read such a condemnatory review of this establishment that I decided to research the background to the article and the qualifications of your reviewer.
The first interesting point is that as a contributor to your letters page, I must declare who I am and yet your correspondent can cloak himself in anonymity. I have discovered his name but I will respect his desire for secrecy, which is denied me, should I want it.
I understand that your young correspondent, who is less than half my age, comes from Sheffield in Yorkshire. I have nothing to say against Sheffield or Yorkshire men or young people in general, except to say that Sheffield is particularly well known for the production of knives and forks, rather than for a proliferation of fine dining establishments.
What is curious, however, is that when this ‘gourmet’ made his reservation, he explained very succinctly that he was coming to the restaurant in order to review the food and service for the purpose of reporting on it in a local newspaper. In my experience, restaurant reviewers, never give advance notice of a visit so they may be treated as ordinary diners. The less charitable might think that your correspondent was more interested in impressing his three guests and obtaining a discount on the price of his party’s evening, to which he obviously felt entitled.
His first complaint, was the time he was kept waiting to be shown to his table. He failed to explain in the article that his reservation was during the weekend when the restaurant is always full and that he arrived at 9.30pm although his reservation was for 8.30pm. Most diners in this situation, would apologise to the maitre d’ and visit the bar for a drink while they waited, but perhaps your correspondent was worried the bar man did not know who he was, and he might have to pay full price for his drinks. Frankly, I am astonished the restaurant honoured his reservation after an hour delay. The typical rule in Cayman is that you use it or lose it after 15 minutes.
Another complaint also concerned time.
None of his party ordered a starter before their main meal.
Our star reporter eschewed the many fine varieties of homemade pasta as a starter, which represent extraordinary value for money and ordered a well-cooked steak as his main course, not a natural choice for most food reviewers. Unfortunately, the kitchen’s vulcanizing machine was down that day and the steak had to be cooked from raw by conventional cooking methods and it is impossible to overcook a steak in just a few minutes.
The group did not order a desert course and only drank sodas and beer, yet your correspondent felt qualified to vilify the restaurant based on this scant repast. I am only surprised that he went to the effort of travelling all the way into the bowels of West Bay for some overcooked meat, which is readily available at any of the fast food outlets along our Miami Beach strip.
I consider it to be invidious that your newspaper could publish this unwarranted attack on one of Cayman’s finest dining establishments by a person whose qualifications for reviewing restaurants must be considered questionable at best.
This restaurant is an important part of Cayman’s tourist product and can be counted on to provide one of the good memories for the long stay visitor.
The staff at the restaurant are disturbed by this attack and obviously are not in a position to respond to the article, thus it falls to me as one of their long term contented clients to do it for them.
I have precious little faith that this letter will be published and even less faith that your reviewer will provide comment upon it, but I feel better for having written my first ever letter to a newspaper concerning something that requires correction if not retraction.
Kevin Sedgwick
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