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A celebrity chef based in Kent has publicly apologised to a food critic on Twitter after he was accused of 'trying to intimidate' his son.
Mark Sargeant found himself involved in an online discussion after a food critic accused him of 'trying to embarrass his son' at work by 'blowing and laughing in his face'.
Bob Granleese, who writes for the Guardian, accused the chef of holding a grudge over a bad review written several years ago.
But in a series of tweets Mr Sargeant, who is the man at the helm of Rocksalt on Folkestone Harbour, insisted the write up was 'water under the bridge' and 'nothing was meant by' the reported bar incident.
The reviewer said: "Dear @MarkSargey10, *still* got beef about bad review 8 yrs ago?!?
"Take it up w/ me in person, yeh, rather than (try to) embarrass an 18yo in public at his workplace.
"Blow in his face and laugh, repeatedly, in a full bar, cos I’m his dad? Big brave you. Well done."
The chef, who also runs the Smokehouse restaurant in Folkestone, tried to resolve the matter in private messages but also left public comments on Twitter too, noting that his actions were intended only to be playful.
In a tweet, he said: "Apologies Bob. I was just joking around which clearly back fired. Nothing was meant by it in the slightest. Review is water under the bridge of course. Good to see a young lad working in such a great place."
It is not clear where or which bar the reported incident occurred.
He added: "Can I stress again Bob that I would never be malicious on purpose especially to a young lad at work.
"I hope you understand I was messing around and accept my apologies. Thank you."
But Mr Granleese came back, saying: "Messing around, my a***, @MarkSargey10 - you tried to intimidate “a young lad at work”. And I called you out on it."
Mr Sargeant ended the thread by responding: "I really didn’t Bob. That’s not the person I am. Again I apologise."
The review in question was written about Rocksalt in August 2011.
