Restaurant Criticism

Claude Forell - 3 Daggers

Editor of the Age Good Food Guide since its inception; an honour he has shared with Rita Erlich since the early eighties.

His family emigrated from Germany when he was about eight and he still retains a strong interest in Germanic food. His other gastronomic love is Thai cooking and he has attended the week long course run by the Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok.

After university, where he was editor of Farrago, he joined The Age and has been there ever since - more than thirty years. For the last twenty he has been their senior editorial writer.

He says: "Without being egotistical, who could do it [edit the AGFG] better than I from among the available staff at The Age."

"I have looked at other good food guides around the world - in fact our publisher, Anne O'Donovan , ordered a large number from America, from Britain, all English language, and we looked at them to see if we could learn anything and we decided we couldn't, we thought what we are doing is right for our market ... providing a brief, entertainingly written description plus all the relevant details plus some sort of grading, is what is required. Now if somebody thinks there is a better way of doing it then we are willing to listen but we found that our formula has been successful and generally accepted."

Claude doubts that criticism can: "close a place - some places deserve to be closed as you well know and we may hasten such a thing or we may deter people from going there but none of the places that we've really condemned have lasted or would have lasted anyway.

"We are not in the business of power ... we don't assume power ... we are not there as the Lord High Executioners of restaurants."

Isn't there power in criticism?
"Not power - influence and there's a big difference."

Similarly, we would suggest, the difference between murder and manslaughter is the intent not the result.

June 1991

Update November 1996

Claude took a 'package' from The Age in 1993 but still retained editorship of the AGFG and reviewed restaurants for Epicure. He rejoined The Age in 1994 and relinquished his editorship of the AGFG in 1995 - a position he resumed this year,1996, again in partnership with Rita Erlich.

This year Claude Forell is the sole editor of the AGFG. He no longer appears to write for Epicure.

Claude Forell now covers country restaurants only.