Saturday, 7 March 2009
A week in my head!
Setting a seasonal business back up after being closed for the winter is never easy and most of the time I am starting the season with new chefs. That may not ring alarm bells in your head but in mine the bells are screaming. Firstly I will have written a new menu with ten new starters, main course and desserts all of these have to be cooked off, photographed and when we are satisfied uploaded to the photo gallery of our website.
Not so easy as you can imagine and in the meantime I will be trying to teach food design on the plate. Why does a chef call him/herself a chef when they have never bothered to learn anything about designing food for the plate? Granted I know food should taste good but surely the first thing you do is look at a plate when it is put infront of you, so it should look good who wants to eat food thats just dumped on the plate.
In my last five years before moving to Cyprus my job as a chef and hospitality manager of, at the time, Asprey and Garrard the crown jewellers in Londons prestigious Mayfair was all about image, even on the plate! I ran all the private hospitality for the company. They would invite influential clients to lunch or dinner and I was their to make sure their visit was special and provide them with food that had the wow factor - image its what its all about!
I have applied the same principles to my wedding business here in Cyprus, having done so has put us up there as the number one venue for weddings on this island. When a couple are planning a wedding they are actually planning a dream, they want it to be the most romantic, special and memorable day of their lives. Thats where we come in we have to make that dream a reality in every aspect of their day and that includes the first meal the couple eat together as man and wife.
This is why I spend so much time with the chefs working on the plates. Honestly, the first thing that happens when the waiters bring the food to the table is the guest reaching for the camera to take a picture of the food. One poor bride commented how the guests actually took more photographs of the food than her, she was joking I think?
Anyway you wouldn't have liked to be in my head for the week but it was a huge success and the food all looked very pretty on the plates, photo's above to prove it. Chefs all worked well, next week thay are spending the whole week on getting the flavours absolutely right and will be put through their paces with canapes and petit fours.
Hope you like the food!
Not so easy as you can imagine and in the meantime I will be trying to teach food design on the plate. Why does a chef call him/herself a chef when they have never bothered to learn anything about designing food for the plate? Granted I know food should taste good but surely the first thing you do is look at a plate when it is put infront of you, so it should look good who wants to eat food thats just dumped on the plate.
In my last five years before moving to Cyprus my job as a chef and hospitality manager of, at the time, Asprey and Garrard the crown jewellers in Londons prestigious Mayfair was all about image, even on the plate! I ran all the private hospitality for the company. They would invite influential clients to lunch or dinner and I was their to make sure their visit was special and provide them with food that had the wow factor - image its what its all about!
I have applied the same principles to my wedding business here in Cyprus, having done so has put us up there as the number one venue for weddings on this island. When a couple are planning a wedding they are actually planning a dream, they want it to be the most romantic, special and memorable day of their lives. Thats where we come in we have to make that dream a reality in every aspect of their day and that includes the first meal the couple eat together as man and wife.
This is why I spend so much time with the chefs working on the plates. Honestly, the first thing that happens when the waiters bring the food to the table is the guest reaching for the camera to take a picture of the food. One poor bride commented how the guests actually took more photographs of the food than her, she was joking I think?
Anyway you wouldn't have liked to be in my head for the week but it was a huge success and the food all looked very pretty on the plates, photo's above to prove it. Chefs all worked well, next week thay are spending the whole week on getting the flavours absolutely right and will be put through their paces with canapes and petit fours.
Hope you like the food!
Sunday, 1 March 2009
Back again, away far too long!
Where have I been well its a long story but I have been busy Twittering. Yes I'm addicted and have been Twittering ever since I discovered the site! Go on join Twitter its good fun ad its amazing what you discover about people!Back to normality! The restaurant is slowly being put back together for our first wedding in March. Two more members of staff start back tomorrow that gives me a full house. Tomorrow I start the cook offs with my two new chefs which so far are proving to be very good.
I have just completed an order for Save the date cards for one of my brides, I'm always quite nervous incase they don't really like what I have designed - well she just loved them and wouldn't change a thing - fantastic! Pictures above, I'm not overly keen having to use butterflies on stationary but even I was pleased with the results.
The rain is still persisting but the dams are filling and our water problem will be a little less of a problem in the summer. Just hoping that it won't be as hot as last year, it was unbearable.
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