The case for de Blank
Sir: Justin de Blank has been knocked about in your columns recently (Restau- rant, 13 April), so it's time someone said that for many years in Elizabeth Street he ran a wonderful grocery and take-away. The grocery was stocked with a connois- seur's eye for novelty and quality. The take- away provided a marvellous service of home cooking that ranged from first-class soups, main dishes both exotic and homely, through to yummy sweets. It wasn't cheap but it was consistently good. (And the clien- tele was intriguing: Ingrid Bergmann, the Princess of Wales, Ronnie Corbett, Dennis Norden.) Justin employed excellent staff: Vanessa Lam (now running the restaurant, Ransom's Dock) and, for manager, that epitome of old-fashioned service, Robert Troop. Not a week passes that I don't lament the passing of J. de B. at 42 Elizabeth Street; and I know I am one of many.
John Amis
17 Eccleston Square, London SW1
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