Diva required?

We've had a frantic (and franticly fun) few weeks...

...As more people have discovered our little place we've had to really graft to keep up. Having said that, we're not standing still. In amongst welcoming many great customers, BBC's Food and Drink programme, a light sprinkling of celebs (you wouldn't expect us to name names), and a team trip to the Ginstitute at London's Portobello Star - we've been planning some tweaks to the food and drink menu, are about to pimp the area on the first floor, and FINALLY, have been able to make plans to sort those toilets out now that the managing agents have arranged to repair the roof.

We were very pleased to discover that Northampton's Mr Ice Cream, Aldo Gallone, had paid us a visit, sampled our home-made baked alaska and has given it his seal of approval. He thought that the use of Gallone's excellent rum and raisin was the making of the dish - but we already knew that! He did also tell us that our vanilla ice cream was a bit short of the mark - and as he knows more than any of us about ice cream, it's time for a change.

About that Diva. Several people have mentioned that we seem to have an all-male employment policy. Not so - but we would certainly love to hear from anyone who thinks that they could add some extra sparkle to our handsome team.

That's enough for now. Time to get back on it...

Now that's a bit naughty...

Regular followers of our all too infrequent blogs will know that we weren't best pleased when someone put us on Trip Advisor, but we've embraced it and received some lovely comments, so maybe things aren't as bad as we feared....

.. or are they??

We were more than a bit shocked when we got a bummer of a review. Further investigation led us to believe that the person (who has until that day, and since, had no Trip Advisor history) had in-fact never been into our little establishment and, it has since become apparent, probably has a vested interest in giving us a bit of a knock....

It's all a bit bunch of arse!

But - back to those nice reviews. Getting a nice review makes us feel all fuzzy inside. It's nice. But - we prefer feedback at the time so much more. So far, at the suggestion of our customers, we've upgraded our extract fans, introduced a welcome prosecco option while you peruse the menu on arrival, added green beans and salad options to the menu - and even encouraged Albert to go to a proper hairdresser...

So, by all means drop us a review on TA, but always tell us about stuff you'd like to see us do better. We can take it - and we're small enough to change pretty quickly too.

Now all we need to do is get the landlord's managing agents to fix the roof so that we can get the toilets the way that we want them...

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186349-d5522495-Reviews-Haycock_Tailbar-Northampton_Northamptonshire_England.html

Review of Haycock and Tailbar Associates

Many of you will know that we at Haycock & Tailbar Associates avoid publicity just so that we can remain a wee bit mysterious - and completely outside the vision and knowledge of people who just won't get it...

Having said that, when we were recently surfing around for some of the better things to enjoy about life in Northampton we came across the NorthamptonGent website (northamptongent.com). Not only did we enjoy a good read, but we also came across a review all about us.

Now, this review was not only eloquent, and very flattering, but it also fully appreciates why we ask our customers to tell only a small number of their friends about what they get up to behind our locked door - which is why we can heartily recommend that you have a read too:

Read it here

2014 Resolutions

A New Year's Resolution is a challenge to yourself to achieve something that you don't really want to do - or that you do want to do, but don't think that you can.

That's enough philosophy for any one blog - so let's talk about something that can be achieved with minimal effort: Getting together with friends for great times. 

As we take no greater pleasure than sharing a meal and drinks with our chums - we hereby resolve to do it even more than we did last year.

We hope that this little thought inspires you to do likewise - and that we hope that at least some of these excursions will lead you to our door in 2014.

Christmas. It takes some thinking about...

It's so easy to plan to do stuff - and never get around to it. 

We hope that you will make it in to see us at some point over the festive period, especially as we heard from a very reliable contact that you deserve some pamper time...

Booking a table for food, or just cocktails, isn't vital but is worth doing to avoid disappointment at peak times.

Don't forget that we're doing New Year's Eve Eve on the 30th. This is designed for people who can't get a baby sitter on NYE, who for people who will be working on the big night. And - yes - we will be doing the full midnight thing!

Space is also available for Christmas Eve and the real New Year's Eve too - but book soon, we're only little.

Have a happy time - whatever you get up to this Christmas!

Bob_bones, who are you?

Just imagine having had a week battling with overflowing boilers from the flats above flooding our toilets - only to then find that SOMEONE HAS PUT US ONTO TRIP ADVISOR!

We love our customers, we love it even more when they tell their friends about us - and we're often told that they decide only to tell some of their friends...

It's our own fault. We should never have allowed ourselves to bask in the glory of our customers having decided to keep our little secret to some close friends - instead of sharing us with the entire chuffin' world!

Never mind. There's nothing we can do about it. There's work to be done, so it's time to move on.

No hard feelings Bob - we still love you.

Snap Happy

In the news this week - we have had a photo shoot for Beluga vodka (which is an extremely palatable premium Russian vodka), we've been perfecting a sticky toffee pudding dessert, we've come up with a warm fruit salad that uses heated sweet chilli sauce instead of orange juice, and we are turning our heads to the festive season - and all that it brings....

In other news....our steaks are as delicious as ever! (although we would be interested in growing our selection of mains for veggies from one to..more than one. As we're all big meaties we need some suggestions. Remember to think outside the box - it's no fun if it's like everywhere else.)