Ronay relaunches publishing operation
Egon Ronay has published his first restaurant guide since winning back the right to publish under his own name in the High Court last October (Caterer,16 October, page 7).
The new publication is a relatively small one - a booklet guide to eating at seven British airports run by BAA - but the veteran food critic said it was an emotional moment to print again.
The airport guide is the start of a busy few months for Ronay. He is hoping to produce his national hotel and restaurant guide on the Internet later this year. A paper-printed guide for 1999 could be available by January.
Ronay has high hopes for the Internet guide, which he argues is only worth doing if it is continually updated. He is not kind about current Internet guides.
"The present electronic guides are dismal," he says.
Top airport restaurant in the guide published this week is Noon, in Heathrow's terminal one, which Ronay says is "one of the best Indian restaurants in the country."
But almost as important as the restaurants that won, says Ronay, are those that didn't. The guide lists restaurants without a rating because, he says, "they are not worthy to have a rating". At Heathrow's terminal one, for example, the unrated include Burger King, Cafe One, Tap & Spile, Cafe Select, Garfunkel's and McDonald's.
