‘The original bad boy of the New York restaurant/hotel scene… No one has ever surpassed the master’ Anthony Bourdain

Acerbic, colourful and spirited reminiscences from a grand New York hotel in the nineteen twenties – perfect for fans of Evelyn Waugh, Kitchen Confidential or The Grand Budapest Hotel

Welcome to the grand Hotel Splendide, where hilarity and chaos reign. In the mirror-lined dining halls, the champagne is constantly flowing; in the kitchens downstairs, malcontent waiters incite revolution.

In this classic memoir, Ludwig Bemelmans encounters eccentricity on every level of the hotel hierarchy as he works his way up from busboy at the restaurant's most undesirable table, to assistant manager of the magnificent private banquets. There may be Russian ballerinas and Wall Street tycoons to entertain, but there is also Mespoulets, the world's worst waiter, to contend with and a murder plot against Monsieur Victor, the authoritarian maître d'hôtel, to solve.

Accompanied by Bemelmans' own witty illustrations, this account of a bygone era of extravagance is as charming as it is riotously entertaining.