Chain pain

Just round the corner from 170 Gloucester Place, where I live, within a matter of about 200 metres, there is an ASK, a Subway, a Pizza Hut, a Pizza Express, a McDonalds, a KFC, a Gourmet Burger Kitchen, a Strada, a Nando's and a Zizzi. Just down the road from Zizzi there is a Giraffe, a Ping Pong and The Real Greek. Where the bloody hell are all these chain restaurants coming from? In the age of economies, standardisation, and franchising, we accept there to be some chain restaurants, but the number springing up these days is a damn disgrace. Oh yes, and another thing that has led to the pitiable state of affairs - feminism. If women had just stayed at home rather than getting into the workplace, the death of good old home cooking could have been averted and these sad excuses of restaurants would not have sprung up like mushrooms. Says Prince Rose. Not me. I am all up for feminism and all that bollocks. (Rose on the BBC).

There's something about most chain restaurants that makes me cringe. It's probably to do with how industrial they make the food feel. And how modular the establishments themselves are. I can't help but think of the kitchen in these places as assembly lines; food should NOT be prepared using flowcharts and  standard operating procedures. We are not talking of building furniture here. And what I find really disturbing is that this chain phenomenon has, from the junk food brands, crept into the kind of restaurants that serve three course meals. Not great meals, but meals nonetheless. There is an upside. More people can enjoy the 'dining out' experience without having to sell their children, but the food, ah, its just 'okay' at the best of times. Not talking about the junk food chains here - the 'food' there isn't really food.

Chains aren't all bad. My local butcher, Ginger Pig, is a chain establishment. They rear their animals in the Yorkshire Moor and operate a few shops in the Greater London area. They specialise in rare breeds of pigs, make some awesome sausages - they have a chili and ginger sausage, a real man's sausage. Will put hair on your eyeballs - and make some great pies and pasties too. And every time I go there I am greeted by the same man, who will have a bit of banter, put in his two bits with regard to how I should cook what I am buying, suggest something new that they might have, and just be generally enthusiastic about the food he sells. Oh yes, and they run butchery classes too.

My local fishmonger, FishWorks, also a chain. They source fish from small independent fishermen, and women, around the Devon and Cornwall region. Sourcing fish does not get more sustainable than this. Of course you can buy monkfish tails, halibut and sea bass from them, but they also have gurnard, bream, great sardines, sorry, pilchards, and other more reasonable and sensible fish. They normally have a damn good selection of flat fish. And ray wings. Talking about ray wings - the shop doubles as a seafood restaurant. And a damn good one. The roasted ray wing, with caper and butter sauce is great. Most of the food is very simple, and the quality of the fish is allowed to shine. A good selection of oysters too. Have enjoyed some great dinners there with some great people. Also runs a cookery school.

So, lets have some more chain establishment that are designed around connecting people with good food, rather than around getting people fed quickly, cheaply and, well, badly.