Parties: March of the penguins

There aren't many occasions when a black-tie dress code serves a useful purpose, but at last week's London Restaurant Awards, at Grosvenor House, the democracy of the dinner jacket was clear: with half the guests top London chefs, including Marcus Wareing, Jason Atherton and Richard Corrigan, and the other half their fiercest critics, including our very own Terry Durack (one of the judges), Giles Coren, Jay Rayner and Tom Parker Bowles, how ingenious it was to ask them all to come as waiters!

It may have been the levelling effects of the dress code or the soothing Mumm champagne, but no fights broke out all evening. Perhaps it was the absence of a camera crew, as at the last minute ITV mysteriously pulled out from televising the event. "Gordon Ramsay was to make a speech and they couldn't afford the Ofcom fine," joked Jack Dee, who hosted the post-dinner awards ceremony.

Some unexpected faces appeared to present awards, including Spice Girl Emma Bunton, describing herself as "a greedy cow", singer Suggs, Dragon Duncan Bannatyne, lyricist Sir Tim Rice and model Sophie Anderton.

Award winners included Rowley Leigh, resplendent in a fuchsia pink shirt, who bagged the prize for best new restaurant, as well as the top gong of London Restaurant of the Year for his Le Café Anglais, and Mark Hix, who got the prize for Outstanding Contribution to London Restaurants. Having been responsible for choosing the evening's menu – roast partridge for 400 – Hix certainly deserved a medal for bravery.