Webster is also keen to incorporate seasonality in the restaurants’ menus, but admits working in Dubai has taken some getting used to.
“Coming from the UK, I’m very passionate about seasonal and local produce. Here it’s difficult; everything is imported and the quality of some of the local stuff isn’t great so what you want to achieve with the dishes and style of food is very difficult to do.
“We do try and operate within certain seasons, we look at the air miles of certain products — a local potato is good for a lot of things. It is challenging, my passions and beliefs are tried and tested, and to mould and change has been an experience,” he says.
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Webster agrees he faced similar challenges with suppliers. “Working with suppliers was a big learning curve, it’s quite challenging. In the UK I probably had 10 suppliers maximum; here we have 35 different suppliers bringing food in on a daily basis because they all operate with such a small basket,” he explains.
“There’s not really a monopoly of produce supply in Dubai as there would be in the UK. It gets frustrating. You want to try and consolidate the deliveries coming into the hotel, you want to consolidate the invoices, you want to streamline it and make it as easy as possible. It becomes difficult for the team to understand and learn when the different suppliers arrive and with which products.”
However, while coming to terms with operating in a different market, Webster says he has also enjoyed learning about the city and it’s culinary offerings.
Yet to come are two more culinary concepts that the team is staying tight-lipped about; all Ostuni hints at is that these will be announced in Q1 of 2015.
Ostuni also reveals that rooftop bar Dawn & Dusk will host a special concept for SPG members from this month. “We will have a tailored SPG Unwind Hour, for which we have a dedicated SPG food and beverage coordinator that takes care of the admin and service component. The event allows our SPG coordinator to get in direct contact with SPG members and drive awareness of the programme.”
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