The stars of the industry were out at last night’s National Restaurateurs Dinner at London’s Park Lane Hotel. Roy Ackerman, Bob Walton of the Restaurant Association, Lexington’s Tim West, chefs Jason Atherton, Brian Turner and John Williams from the Ritz, Andrew Davis of von Essen and Bob Cotton were among the hundreds who gathered to raise cash for the Restaurant Association, Academy of Culinary Arts and Academy of Food and Wine Training.

In total, well over £25,000 (and counting) was raised on the night, most of it from an auction that featured such tempting highlights as a visit to the Martell cognac house, a weekend the Prague Rocco Forte Collection hotel, the Augustine, and a stay for six people at Bovey Castle.

Last week’s Independent Restaurateur Catey winner, James Thomson, was clearly in a mood to prolong his personal celebrations, as he bagged a gourmet, chauffeur-driven tour of London that will take in Zafferano, Aubergine and L’Oranger, courtesy of the London Fine Dining Group and von Essen.

And Richard Shepherd revealed himself as a closet Spandau Ballet fan, when he successfully bid for a set of tickets to see the elaborately coiffeured, be-frilled Eighties popsters in concert this autumn.

The Ritz Carlton and Marriott hotels in Jakarta have been hit by two bomb blasts overnight. 

At least nine people, including foreigners, have been killed and 48 injured in the explosions at the luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital. There are no reports that any British people have been killed.

The first two blasts, in Jakarta’s central business district, occurred at about 0730 (0030 GMT). Reuters quoted police as saying another, unexploded, bomb had also been found at the JW Marriott. 

“I heard two sounds like ‘boom, boom’ coming from the Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton. Then I saw people running out,” security guard Eko Susanto told AFP.

Latest reports as that a second unexploded bomb has been found at one of the hotels.

The Marriott Hotel was the target of a bomb attack in August 2003 in which 13 people were killed.

 Video from Sky News

** Twitter was apparently the first to break the story. First at the scene was user Daniel Tumiwa – who’s first Tweet read: Bom @ marriot and ritz Carlton kuningan jakarta. 

On Sunday, myself and pubs & bars editor, Emma White headed to London to take part in the British 10k run.

We were running for Hospitality Action, and it was great to see a huge number of lesser-known charities out there such as St Dunstan’s (help and support charity for blind ex-Service men) and Crossroads – Caring for Carers as well as Cancer Research, Anthony Nolan Trust and the Rainbow Trust.

The race started at 9.35am at Hyde Park corner, and being two of 37,000 runners that morning it took us just over an hour to get to the start line – not great for our nerves!

The course took us through central London passing some of the most famous tourist attractions including Trafalgar Square, St Pauls and Westminster.

Luckily the weather held up and despite start-line nerves, we both completed the race in just over an hour!

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