Hotel restaurants 'are boring' says chef

Lebanese diners prefer eating in standalone outlets, as hotel dining is ‘boring’, said Maroun Chedid, corporate executive chef at Medi Resto.

“Hotels are boring, they are never challenging, they are never vibrant, they do not change, they are always standard and go by the book whereas with standalone restaurants you are doing creativity and the best food, the best meal, the best presentation, and it is something different,” he said.

Speaking exclusively to Caterer magazine, Chedid — who is also head of culinary art at Beirut’s Saint Joseph University — revealed said that standalone restaurants were far more popular in Lebanon’s capital city than hotel F&B outlets.

“People in Beirut prefer standalone restaurants, and hotels find it hard to bring people in to eat. Most of the F&B scene is standalone; even weddings, which used to be held in hotels, are not so much anymore. People are fed up with them,” he added.