Chefs armed with rolling pins chase away thugs at upscale London restaurant

Armed with rolling pins, fry baskets and other assorted kitchen weaponry, kitchen and wait staff at a Michelin-starred restaurant in London are being commended for leaping to the defense of their dinner guests after being stormed by hooligan rioters.

The gloves came off at the upscale, high-end restaurant The Ledbury Monday night, when thugs armed with bats crashed through the glass door and yelled at everyone to hit the floor.

But the chefs and waiters at the two-starred restaurant fought back with what they had - rolling pins and deep-frying baskets - and scared off the looters, reports food blogger Louise Yang of Naked Sushi, an American from Los Angeles who was in London this week.

In her account, she says the kitchen staff at The Ledbury "went beyond their call of duty" by rushing up from the kitchen and charging back at the thugs who were terrorizing guests and stealing their personal effects.

After the thugs left, the restaurant delivered "well-needed" rounds of champagne and whisky to their traumatized guests. But when word came down that the looters were coming back, staff ushered guests into the bathrooms and ordered them to lock the doors. They were then led into the wine cellar where they were put in lock-down mode, Yang wrote.

The valiant and heroic efforts of the Ledbury staff are being hailed on Twitter, with readers and fans tweeting, "You staff are legends!!!!"

Jennifer Rosina was also a dinner guest at the restaurant Monday night to celebrate her anniversary when she and her partner were ambushed during the cheese course.

"#theledbury staff were amazing," she tweeted.

Unfortunately for Yang, the attack came before she was able to get to that course, as she laments: "I was sad for the wonderful smelling cheese cart that had glass littered all over it. So much cheese gone to waste!"

Glutenfree_Chic Leanne Lucy McGirr commended the restaurant as well, saying, "Staff at #TheLedbury were incredibly brave last night, well done!"

A Jamie Oliver restaurant in Birmingham was also trashed during the rioting.

"Sadly my restaurant in Birmingham got smashed up windows all gone whole area closed, can't open, staff and customers all safe!!thankfully j ox," he tweeted Tuesday.

http://www.runawaysquirrels.com/2011/08/london-riots-comes-to-the-ledbury/