Denise Mullen is a journalist, columnist, writer and entrepreneur.
Tom, Nicole and, Inexplicably ‘Fronk’ the Unintelligible Wedding Planner from that Classic Movie ...Father of the Bride By Denise Mullen
I
t’s not every day one explores the hospitality haunts of A-listers (even if they split up later – ah, remember Tom and Nicole?). So, I was really looking forward to our grown-up ladies’ evening of fine dining at this Michelinstarred restaurant.
The menu had to be described, in full, by the maître d’ we referred to as Father of the Bride Movie wedding planner tribute act ‘Fronk’. Some kind of foreign accent, we think the language he was using may have been English, but none of us are sure.
The establishment was newly re-opened after an expensive bout of cosmetic surgery involving things (and I’m hazarding a guess here) like moving the horizon; personalising the weather. You know, the sort of bold design statements that translate, roughly, as – ‘let’s spend oodles of money on pointless demonstrations of excess.’ They are the sort of modifications that you don’t notice. They have to be pointed out to you, together with how much they cost. That, and that the first Mr & Mrs Cruise had, allegedly, once had dinner there (pre the restaurant’s latest nips and tucks). Given they’ve been split up since forever, it’s probably getting a little old now as a claim to fame, but hey ho. So, there we were. Five women pushing the boat out. One of us pregnant and, unbeknownst to the rest of us, only able to eat cheese and potatoes. So she was going to be disappointed for most of our dinner. Of course, she was drinking no alcohol. At least her status meant the eyewateringly expensive wine went further for the remaining band of four. The aesthetics were good, the wine was phenomenal, the food was indescribable (some good indescribable, some not so good) and the maître d’ incomprehensible. The company was incomparable, so we were ok on that score. 166
LANCASHIRE & NORTH WEST MAGAZINE
www.lancmag.com
