Time to eat

There has been talk about a high-profile hotel in Cairo going "dry" recently, at the owner's insistence. If your outlets became alcohol-free, what impact would that have on your menu selection?

Benson-Flower: I think we would have to adopt a slightly different approach to dining by offering more of an Arabian experience at one of our outlets. Pachanga for instance offers mainly meat and seafood dishes, which go best with wine - this concept would perhaps need revisiting. The menus across our outlets may also have to adapt accordingly.

Frank: We do not use alcohol in too many of our dishes, just if it's necessary for the recipe. Therefore it would have no impact at first. However, some of our outlets are upscale and exist with wine and food paired together.

I assume that these concepts would not work any more and it would also change the menu selection.

Gerosa: If that happened then we would definitely change some of our menu concepts, but I'm sure we would adapt quite easily to any requests.

Arabiyat: From a food preparation point of view, we are already preparing food without the use of alcohol.

Paramasivam: It all depends on the type of food that the restaurant serves. For example, for French cuisine where wine pairing is part of the dining experience, this would have a heavy impact.

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Furthermore, for dishes that require cooking with wine, they may be excluded from the menu. In addition, without wine the full flavour potential of a dish may not be realised and tasted.

Traditional cuisine such as Thai, Indian or Middle Eastern where alcohol does not play a role, would fare better.

Haviland: It would actually not affect our menu selection too much, as we are able to substitute white wine with verjus, and we can use a balance of vinegar and fruit juices to replicate the effect of red wines in various preparations.

Having said that, we feature two French restaurants, so it would definitely affect the authenticity of some dishes.

What impact would going dry have on your bottom line/profitability?

Benson-Flower: It would mean lower revenues and therefore reduced profits. It may also have an affect on staffing levels.

Frank: Certainly [it would have] a big impact. We have beverage outlets like the Brauhaus and the Ma Tai bar that would not work without alcohol.

Paramasivam: Generally, as beverage sale accounts for 60% of restaurant billings verses 40% for food sale, going "dry" would see a lower profit margin.

Haviland: We currently have three very busy bar operations, and considering that 40% of our guests are from countries that are alcohol-friendly, it would have a major impact on our overall F&B profit margin.

What has been the most unusual dish you have had a guest request?

Benson-Flower: I can't think of anything here at Hilton Dubai Jumeirah, however back in South Africa, I had a strange request from a food scientist regarding a 400-person Scientology gala dinner.

Everything we made was unusual - blue sushi for example, made out of blue rice! Also as a main course, we prepared a chicken and noodle dish that was wrapped in a cellophane bag and popped in the oven for a brief amount of time and at a certain temperature.

When it was served at the table - the bag puffed up giving the dish this funky sort of look. The noodles tasted normal though!

Frank: Just a few weeks ago I was asked to provide seal meat - a request which we declined.

Gerosa: I have been asked to prepare eggless "Béarnaise" sauce and a "well done" Carpaccio.

Arabiyat: [I have been asked for] tramazini (round flat bread) stuffed with apple wood smoked salmon.

Paramasivam: The most unusual request that I have ever received was from a guest in Cambodia. A Russian businessman who was staying in the Presidential Suite wanted an exotic local dish prepared specially every night.

For the next 10 days, my team and I created dishes using ingredients such as stir-fried crickets.

Haviland: We recently had a guest request a burnt black toast sandwich, totally carbonised. Apparently, it makes your teeth white.

What changes (if any) are you planning for your menu in the next six-12 months?

Benson-Flower: We will soon be adding more rustic, South American dishes to the Pachanga menu. At Oceana, our international all-day dining restaurant, we are currently working on changing the daily theme nights; we will be introducing new themes whilst retaining some of the old favourites such as the steak-night and Arabic-night.

We are also adding a new kitchen to Wavebreaker, our beach bar and grill, which will allow us to offer even more variety, including light and healthy options.

Frank: All menus will be changed at least once every six months. We will go through the process of evaluating guest feedback and menu engineering to decide on new dishes.

Gerosa: We change our menus three to four times a year, according to the guest feedback we receive and the season. In addition to that, the chefs' skills and style help us to create impressive menus.

Arabiyat: We aim to update our menus every six months. We start with a menu analysis, which assists us to gauge our more popular dishes, and then we commence menu engineering. It's an important process to ensure we continue to evolve as our guests evolve.

Haviland: I will review all the room service menus over the next three months, and make appropriate changes based on sales figures.

Instead of just offering food items, I would like to incorporate our "In The Know" experience into the room service, as well as look at more regular cooking class options for guests. We are also planning a guest chef calendar for our outlets, so we will adjust all menus according to the highlighted cuisines.

We also plan to introduce special one-off customised menus for individuals, to be eaten in all sorts of different areas around the hotels, which would offer the guest a unique dining experience.

What could be done at your hotel to make your daily work easier?

Benson-Flower: I could get a personal secretary!

Gerosa: I guess that most chefs would answer the same: to have additional kitchen facilities. Regardless of how many facilities you have in your kitchen, you always need more.

Arabiyat: Communication is the key to success within any line of work; hotels especially require clear lines of communication, as there are so many departments working together to reach overall success.

Paramasivam: I would not change anything, as I believe that easy work is a state of mind. However something to make my job more efficient, would be the establishment of a website or guide on the best produce available in the local market.

In the US for example, a web portal - working very much like the stock market - was set up where food suppliers could upload data on what was in stock and buyers, primarily chefs, could enter to purchase whatever they required.

Haviland: There would be no more unnecessary emails; a larger receiving area and sanitising room, with extra large receiving chillers and freezers; and better coordination between our receiving department and suppliers to ensure regular delivery times.