Moving to Dubai

from the desk of Clifford Weiner – cliffwaterford

London, 25 February 2008

“After 3 years and a few month in London (since 2 January 2005) I am moving on for a new challenge, this time in the hotter climates of Dubai. London was a unique experience, and the best part was meeting and working with so many wonderful and truly inspiring people! My last day at InterContinental London was 29 February and I will be starting in Dubai on 6 April. During the last 3 years in London I went from closing down the InterContinental, followed by an £80 Mio. refurbishment to reopening a new flagship hotel for InterContinental Hotels & Resorts in November 2006, the new InterContinental London Park Lane.

Since one opening is not enough, I joined Kerzner International (Atlantis, One & Only Resorts, Sun City) where I will be part of an amazing pre opening team of passionate, entrepreneurial and experienced people. I was appointed as Director, Food & Beverage for the opening of the Atlantis, The Palm – Dubai hotel and will be in charge of the Royal Towers section of the resort. Opening is scheduled for September 2008.

The property is rising in Dubai from the coastline of the largest man-made island in the world, the Palm Jumeirah. Positioned as the flagship property it is, situated at the apex of the Palm Jumeirah’s Crescent, Atlantis, The Palm. The resort will offer more than 1,500 guest accommodations at the Royal Towers, and over 39 Food & Beverage outlets. Here are 2 interesting links to follow; www.atlantisthepalm.com and www.thepalm.ae

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who was part of the hugely successful opening of InterContinental London and supported me as great guest, friends, colleagues and business partners. To get updated on new contat details, I am on facebook as cliffwaterford.

Best wishes.”

guess where…!?

Hello. This blog nearly died. I just managed to give some first aid, exciting news, new inspration…24 hours in another city and see whats happening!! Check back soon…

Obsessed with tomatoes

Tomatoes are essential ingredient for tomato sauce, pasta dishes, salads, cooking in general. It is unbelievable what kind of rubbish tomates we get in supermarkets. Grown in greenhouses, tasteless, lifeless without soul and juice. Toamtoes are suposed to be the paradise apples, the hormone Serotonin is responsible to evoce feelings on happiness (…)

Whilst they all look the delicious, on the grapes, different sizes, cherry sweet, cherry spicy sweet, plum, whatever. It has nothing to do with the real tomatoes that seduced me in Spain, in this small vegetable shop run by a local farmer and organic vegetable grower. Make a tomato Spaghetti Pomodoro Fresco with a “good” tomato and you will seduce any diner you cook for, just as the Paradise Apple (or tomato?) aparently seduced Adam and Eve, or the snake, cant remember.

Anyway, problem is that most people dont buy this delicious fruit, because they are expensive and sometimes slightly beaten, not like the supermarket artificial tomato which shine, are faultless and keep for days in the fridge. Same applies for fruits, we all want organic grown but impecably looking fruit and vegetable?

The perfect BBQ Party checklist, in anticipation of July 5

On July 5 is Dad and Steffi’s birthday, yes, both on the same day. Me and Steffi are going to fly home for a few days. In anticipation of the party I put a checklist together, and a possible run down…

2 days before

Print the attached checklist. BBQ party checklist Dad and Kevin go shopping, get all equipment and food & beverage ready and delivered.

Day before

We marinate meats, prep salads, chill drinks, go shopping again, setup the tent and seating area.

On the day

09:04 Get out of bed, drink a cup of coffee, have some breakfast with the family

11:28 Open a can of beer, relax, get an overview, check the check list (whilst mum starts to panic big time and dad goes to practice some golf swings (nur schnell) on the driving range because he anyway has to deliver something to the Margna, Kevin makes Luca run and setup the tent because they didn’t manage the day before, Nona is quite confused. Steffi also starts to stress.

12:07 We start setting up the area, sound check, play very loud music, open another can of beer, I am getting realy hungry, maybe I should fire the BBQ and test some Bratwurst with Senf. Mom goes crazy but everyone joins and has a bite to eat anway.

16:48 Fire up the BBQ for the second time, food ready and all laid out, drinks chilled, glasses ready, Francesca makes the first Mojito, we enjoy, play more very cool and loud music.

18:01 First guests start to arrive. We make some more drinks. The first steaks hit the BBQ. Do we have enough Ice Cubes???

19:18 Party starts to seriously move, people get relaxed and chilled, the DJ needs some help, I sort him out and plug in my laptop, he grabs some food and stays cool.

20:01 The party is now in full swing. BBQ is burning. Great food with juicy steaks, finger sucking spare ribs, crispy roasted sausages, fresh salads and delicious drinks. Everyone is happy.

22:29 Get a Wodka Tonic. Get an overview of what’s happening. The first neighbours complain about the music and noise. Police arrives. Give them a drink and some food. Thanks. Good night. The party continues without interruption. Nona needs to go to bed. Time to light some Cuban Cigars.

23:60 We sing happy birthday and a swinging party continues until early morning.

next week in Spain

Next weekend we are going to Spain for a long 3 day weekend. Today will be packing up a few things day because next week is hectic and I will have little time to do that.

But which cookbooks should I bring with me? Every time I’m in Spain there is lots of time for cooking, bbq, shopping on markets and I miss my cookbook library from home.

I think I will pack up the 2 books of Elizabeth David, Mediterranean Cooking and French provincial cuisine. That’s it. It’s a lazy rainy cold Sunday here in London and the 2 boring thoughts above are about all I can get on this blog today.

At least I found an inspiring photo which I took last year, looking down the village of Palamos.

some great food blogs

Today is a bank holiday in the UK which means nobody is really working, its gray and rainy, and next thing I will take my work on the memory stick and go home. I went to the office to catch up with some papers and drifted quickly off to look at some food blogs, and thats what I discovered today…

1) The Food Pornographer: with very nice images, inspiring recipes, looks realy good. (the post on Chutney Mary’s Indian Restaurant in Australia is specially inspiring and can be found here http://www.thefoodpornographer.com/?p=711

2) Then there is this one, Foodbloggin where I hope to become a contributor…

3) A Swiss food blog, blogging out of Switzerland, by a Japanese lady called Makiko, married to a Swiss man. The blog is up since 2003 and looks very yumy, I think there is a lot to discover,… you can find it here under Justhungry

4) Tonight we are cooking a classic Swiss dish: Kalbsgeschnetzeltes zuercher Art. (which means thin slices of veal, button mushrooms, white wine, cream sauce, served mostly with Roesti or Taglierini, more of this will follow later on tonight…)

Loads of recipes and insight into Swiss cuisine can be found on Ruedi’s website. There is still the Christmas image on the front page, I really hope nothing happened to him and wish that he is travelling somewhere to update his great food resources. Currently there is Morocco, Italy, and endless other resources on European countries from Algarve to Walloon. All of them are on other sites. It is absolutely fascinating and I would love to get to know Ruedi. (If you happen to be in London, drop me a note and be my guest)

5) and then there is World on a Plate which sounds very interesting too…

Our IT Manager

Our IT Manager is German and his name is Juergen A., von L.! A foodie interview has to follow immediately!! He has created a blog for our hotel on blogger! Check this out! I hope many people will contribute on it and wish you all the best of success with your first posts, and keep it going. http://iclpl.blogspot.com/

Thanks for tagging me!

Edited 22 March 2008: Well, the blog died on 9 May 2007 with some confused content and because some people are sleeping. Juergen is moving to Germany to oversee 2 hotels, Cologne and Dusseldorf and the foodie interivew has still not been completetd. I will follow up, lets see what happens. Bis bald, tschuess.

QYPE

this is great…what a story, compliments Mr. Uhrenbacher! (QYPE developer blog)

I added my first few “reviews” or thoughts to QYPE and it took a while to write it, so I thought I’ll post it here too.

“here anyone can recommend, review or describe their favorite places and secret tips in their city e.g. shops, restaurants, museums, doctors or simply the best place for a first kiss under a beautiful sunset. All in all, everything that makes a city worth living in! If you want to know what I like best about my city just click on the link http://en.qype.com“

my QYPE contributions, click here

and here are some thoughts on other places like Trader Vics, China Tang, Jasmine, that’s it.

Sunday brunch and the best Egg Benedict @ Cookbook Cafe on Park Lane

Sunday I had the best Egg Benedict in my entire life, at least so far. Now how does an Egg Benedict qualify to be “the best in 30 years” of life time. In all fairness to all Egg Benedict’s out there, this one was with Smoked Salmon, Creme Fraiche and Caviar. I only know and eat EB since about 12 years, so not my entire life, but usually EB gives me instant heart burn. This one didn’t at all. It was made with 1 and not 2 eggs. The hollandaise was light and creamy, not like a warm thick mayonnaise but just the way a lite contemporary and elegant Hollandaise should be, the right balance between richness with a hint of acidity to break the fatty edge on the palate. The happy laid free range egg, perfectly poached, was sitting on top of a toasted muffin, with a slice of smoked salmon! The caviar gave and bits of creme fraiche gave it this extra touch of extravagance, I just gulped the whole plate down and wanted another one. I didn’t, because when shopping on Saturday I couldn’t fit the usual size suits…This egg was served at the Cookbook Cafe during Sunday brunch. Steffi met with a friend around 1ish and I joined in later. A lady DJ from London was spinning the Vinyl with some groovy ambiance, nu-jazz and other light to digest on Sunday brunch tunes. The view through the great windows onto Park Lane and a wintry Hyde Park laying in low level winter clouds, the passing traffic and Sunday crowd made this a most memorable Sunday brunch, a casual urban feel, not stuffy and stiff at all.

Bloody Mary, Iced Tea Martinis and other cocktails, water, soft drinks and coffees are included “as much as you like” in the price of £39. There is a market style table in the center of the restaurant with all the great food you can imagine. Seafood, Muffins in baking trays, salads, breakfast items, Home Made Granola with Greek Yoghurt, Seafood, etc. Steffi was raving about the crayfish cocktail, I didn’t try it because I hate crayfish with passion. The main carving station had roast beef, duck breas, leg of lambt and some other stuff, served by a medium introverted but knowledgeable cook.

The head chef Michel Gehrig was around all the time ensuring all foods are fresh, explaining to guest what it is, how it’s prepared, provenance, it’s not often that one can see the Head Chef in the restaurant, and I thought that was really cool.

Roberto, the restaurant manager and his team of good looking waiters and waitresses, in funky stripy shirts, are a really cheerful, happy and very friendly, not pushy crowd and give the place a good relaxed vibe. Overall, a place to hang out for hours, read the newspaper, chat the afternoon away with friends and have some bites to eat in between. Oh and I forgot to mention, the roast potatoes with herbs and garlic were to die for…

Cookbook Cafe, InterContinental London Park Lane, 1 Hamilton Place, London.

The Year of the Dragon – Kum Hay Fat Choy!

Kum Hey Fat Choy – or happy new year in Chinese!

Tomorrow the new Chinese Year of the Pig starts and the year of the Dog ends. Each year in the Chinese calendar is represented by one of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac, the Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig, Rat, Ox, Tiger and Rabbit. London’s China town and Oxford street are colorful decorated with red lanterns, dances, dragons, firecrackers and fireworks take place. The year of the pig is supposed to bring good luck and prosperity. Now this time it is a golden pig year, which happens once in six decades. London (and all other) Chinatown’s are colorfully decorated, there is a parade, the restaurants are full and everybody goes for great lunches and dinners. There is even some sort of a baby boom in China…it’s the lucky year to make children that will become rich and successful. On the day before New Years day people clean their houses, pay the loans, get new clothes etc. My friends are going for Hot Pot to China Town tomorrow, I have never had it the real way and perhaps we will join!

I was born in January 1977 which was also a Dragon year, besides the Dragon year I was born in the period of Fire, so I am a Fire Dragon!! In China, the Dragon is the sign of the Emperor of China or the male element Yang. The Dragon is the symbol of power and wealth and many other great things… In Chinese tradition fire is one of the five elements. It is associated with the planet Mars, summer and the south, and the colour red. It is believed to govern the heart. Fire is associated with the qualities of dynamism, strength and persistence, and with restlessness and a sense of adventure.

Ok, now take a break, here is a video I found on youtube, it is cracking funny and has nothing to do with Chinese New Year or Dragons, Pigs and other animals, listen to it carefully from the beginning to the end…it is some guys that order in a Chinese take away shop and then call up another one, the first one repeats the order to the second one, then chaos, it’s hilarious.

And here is one of my favorites when I cook Chinese at home…

NYC 2007: Marco Burlimann, 30st Birthday, Pink Elephant and other stories…

It all began with one of the first posts…and here we go, last weekend we flew to NYC to visit my dear friend Marco Burlimann for his thirstiest thirtiest birthday, the program was well planned and executed, a tough one, awesome and freaking expensive.

 

We started on day 1 with bagels cream cheese smoked salmon, then some culture at MoMa where I saw my favorite painting for the four seasons, also displayed at Tate Modern in London. This was followed by immense hunger sorted out in Chinatown for lunch, via Pastis for a few Bourbons on lots of rocks and watching beautiful people, then to Gin Lane which Robbie recommended for guess what, – not a GT but a bottle of Champagne.

For dinner we went to Tao, a huge buzzing and loud Asia Japan meets West food temple resembling a night club with the large Buddha statue and loud music. A power scene. Claudio passed out.

Dinner was followed by Pink Elephant Club for clubbing where Marco “in the know” organized a hard to get table (in the video below you see the two girls which passed out on our sofa and where just sleeping for an hour or so until security removed them…) Dom Perignon, a bottle of Belvedere Wodka, another bottle of Perrier Jouet Belle Epoque and lots of dancing! A gorgeous waitress and the quickest “private” waiter at the table for ice refills, fresh fruit, lighters, cigarettes, red bulls, you name it. The bill was quite steep to. (Thanks Marco-man, next time in London its on me, poor guy spent 1700$…)

That day and night it was so damn cold with polar wind gales hitting the pavement that our noses nearly froze. The weather channel was talking of snow! – which arrived on Sunday night only…

Next day, Chicken Noodle soup and bagels in Carnegie Deli, then Greek Salad and Lamb Chops in Queens Astoria at Taverna Cyclades on Ditmars Boulvard and a visit to Marco’s flat, a local Greek Tavern, Schwarzwäldertorte in some neighbourhood cake shop and off we went for some shopping on 5th Avenue. Followed by drinks at Stone Rose bar at Time Warner building, Sushi in Wholefoods, then dinner at Gramercy Tavern followed by I don’t know anymore.

Sunday, the greatest 4 hour brunch I had in my life, (bagels before…) at Artisanal. Start with Bloody Marie, Cheese Platter with 4 different Swiss Cheese an amazing selection of Swiss Cheese in this place from Appenzeller, Stanser Fladen, Gruyere and Vacherin you name it, then Cheese Fondue and Snails in Garlic sauce to end before desserts, wine and lots of water to rehydrate the body from the nights before. Walk in Soho to Noho, back to the Columbus Circle, more drinks in Stone Rose followed by Sushi in Wholefoods (again) and run to the airport with a nearly heart attack. SNOW flakes in the sky!

Marco & Daniela, Peter, Claudio: Thanks to all of you for an AWESOME weekend and Marco especially for the whole organisation. See you shortly in St. Moritz for the last of 3 birthdays in a series!!!

Saturday night cooking with Steffi; from Roast Rib of Beef to Panna Cotta

…last Saturday, Steffi made Panna Cotta from the River Cafe cookbook. I got involved, I always do. Saturday is cooking day and since month the only day and evening off in the week. The recipe says 1 liter double cream, sugar, vanilla, 124ml milk, 2.5 leaves of gelatin. We only had 0.5l double cream, milk and no scale to weigh the sugar. When I got involved adding lemon zest and orange zest, some milk, some this, some that…anyway, it came out perfectly.

PANNA COTTA

0.5L double cream, 1 vanilla pod, scraped out. Heat in a sauce pan and reduce about 1/3. In another container, soak 2 gelatin leaves (Tesco, they look like half leaves to me, there the confusion came up) in about 0.1L cold Milk, 1/3 Durobor 0.2l glass with sugar, then warm and add to the previous heated liquid. (we just have now disputes whether I write this right or wrong…) Infuse some lemon and orange zest for a minute or so, not longer. Then we poured the delicious creamy rich liquid into glasses to harden. This is always the moment of truth, will it harden, remain soft, whats going to happen?? It came out perfectly soft, the softer yet not liquid, the better, not like silicon tits but soft and silky…we ate it with Kirsch infused raspberries and fresh blueberries. (the easiest is probably to google another recipe for this)

So we cook and invite some friends, to be precise one only and this twice. We drink a few bottles of fine wine. Which wine first, the finer one and then decrease to the normal every day wine or the other way round? Every would like to be wine connoisseur and professional sommelier would of course advise of doing the opposite, increase not decrease in quality. However, Bradley our regular diner made a well thought through comment that we should get drunk on good wine and then it anyway doesn’t matter anymore. Correct. That’s what we did, start with white Chateauneuf du Pape, then 2001 Bordeaux, decreased to Crozes Hermitages of medium value, ended with whatever was left, Swiss Kirsch and Gin Tonic. Some Cohibas and Partagas with it. Bradley passed out temporarily.

The first meal consisted of a amazing Beef Rib, roasted, the drippings with roasted onions we used to soak delicious crispy toasted Poilaine bread. Roast potatoes from Simon Hopkinson’s recipe book, vegetables, etc.

Another night, we tried out Seabass in Salt Crust, what a fucking mess, a very difficult dish to prepare yet so simple if the know how is there. Served with fennel boiled with potatoes in Le Creuset, with herbs, tomatoes, capers, white wine, a delicious vegetarian dish by itself. Worth a separate post. We started with the most amazing Spaghetti Aglio Olio Chili, worth another post, coming soon, this recipe will work 100%.

Saint on a grill and Sauerkraut by Henri de Tolouse Lautrec

The Art of Cuisine by Henri de Tolouse Lautrec and Maurice Joyant

is my favorite treasure in my cookbook library, published in 1966, I just love the way the food is described, the stories, the illustration. Recipes are only workable for experienced cooks as they are not very exact. Let’s start with a partial extract from the books cover:

“For Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, painting was, first of all, a way of living. Thus, he brought to his art a zest for life as well as an impeccable style. It is an exciting discovery that Lautrec applied this same exuberance and meticulous technique to the art of cuisine – that he invented recipes and cooked new dishes as an artistic creation worthy of his serious attention. This volume is a collection of recipes which Lautrec invented, or which were garnered in his company from clever cooks and conscientious mothers of all classes of society. It has been illustrated with the menus that Lautrec himself designed and decorated, as well as with a rich abundance of other appropriate Lautrec paintings and drawings….”

Some of my favorite recipes are in the chapter “Ultima Ratio Finis” and “about certain vegetables”

SAINT ON A GRILL (Saint sur le grill)

With the help of the Vatican, try to procure for yourself a real(!) saint.

Treat him as St. Lawrence was treated on August tenth, A.D. 258. When you have whipped him, lay him on the grill over a big bed of charcoal. Like his predecessor, if he is a real saint, he himself will ask to be turned over in order to be grilled to a trun on both sides.

GARNISHED SAUERKRAUT: (Chocroute garni, this really works and is a great winter dish)

Use one pound of sauerkraut per head. Take some nice sauerkraut straight from the tub; wash it and drain carefully.

Into a cooking earthenware pot (preferably a Le Creuset) put butter, place very good processed lard or (even better) goose fat, the sauerkraut, a piece of rump steak, and pork butt or even some preserved goose. Moisten to height of the ingredients with some good bouillon. Add several juniper berries and a good pinch of peppercorns. Cover, and let simmer for three or four hours on a gentle heat, then add half a bottle of good Rhine or Epernay wine. (or Champagne)

If the sauerkraut is to be served for lunch, begin it in the afternoon of the previous day – it can never be overcooked.

Two or three hours before serving add some round potatoes and, an hour before, add some Toulouse or Morteau sausage, Strasbourg or Frankfurt sausages, and cervelat.

Skim the fat before serving.

Per person: 2 Tbs. each of butter and ohert fat; 1/4 lb. each beef and pork. 1 small piece of goose, 3 new potatoes, 1/2 cup wines, 1/4 cup hard spicy sausage.

Find more good stuff on the Independent Online.

What do you take to bed?

 

I must admit that I occasionally take a cookbook to bed as late night reading material. A great penne arabiatta is not a bad thought to entering REM state.So, last night I gathered up a few classics, and began reading Simon Hopkinson’s and Lindsay Barens, Roast chicken and other stories. A well-written book with fascinating stories and recipes. All ingredients are sorted alphabetically. Each recipe is described in full, and then analyzed as to whether it worked, or not, and why.

Then I got my hands on Giorgio Locatelli’s book on Italian cooking, with stories of his life – his family, his grandmother, and photos of him as a kid on a bike – reflections on why and how he became a chef.

I love Italian people – their mentality, their ability to be chic and fashionable at all times, and of course…their food! Sure it sounds cliche to say, “I love Italian food and culture!” But what I love most is the tradition – the importance of a meal in bringing friends and family together. The comfort of a warm and familiar minestrone soup with a fresh baked loaf of bread reminds me of when I was a kid. My entire family would gather around the table for lunch – we ate, conversed and connected.

Eating together is like building bridges; emotional liaisons (comparable to an emulsion in culinary terms) where an egg yolk and oil whipped up together become mayonnaise. However, if not carefully combined, they can end up as a strange liquid of oil with flakes of egg.

Oh yes, and then there is…garlic! That wonderful, healthy and powerful substance which can transform any blase’ dish into a masterpiece. Should I ever develop and allergy to it, surely the world would come to an abrupt halt. Garlic adds zest to food, and to life. What would cooking be without it? What would Italy be without it???

I would love to hear about your favorite cookbook, and what flames your passion for cooking?

Panna Cotta

what do you think about this one? dessert at Arbutus. most delicious…who has a great recipe for Panna Cotta to share?

Steffi’s Lasagne and Ned’s Noodle Bar

Late evening, getting back from work, sometimes I am the lucky one to encounter Steffi in her cooking outfit swinging the wooden spoon in steaming pots and pans. She recently started cooking, only when I’m not there because I also love to cook and then usually intervene, take over and it ends in a mess, tears…and so on, until we get to the first glass of wine. Anyway the food at home is always the best. I prefer it a million times over all restaurants.

Steffi’s first great success was a most delicious lasagne. I took a picture but messed it up, so I will post it soon with her recipe and a nice picture. Absolutely delicious. It’s quite amazing how it got together, I asked her to go to M&S and buy lasagne, the lasagne they do is good solid stuff, put it in the oven for 30minutes and it tastes good, I usually eat a family size lasagne myself… Now on that specific day she decided to make a lasagne herself. Later I called from work and asked what’s cooking, she is making lasagne, hallelujah I thought, this is going to be chaos, bechamel sauce burning, garlic exploding in hot oil, … guess what, it was the best lasagne I had in my life! And lasagne is not an easy one to make, you have to get the right balance between moist and sauce, seasoning, cripsy on top, enough bolognaise and enough bechamel, but not to much etc. It was just delicious. Interesting to see how somebody is becoming a passionate cook. She always like good food and was interested in cooking, but not so confident. I think many people are slightly insecure about cooking for others, especially maniacs like me. I think the most important is just to read recipes, look at food pictures, try it out, season, seasoning is important, buy good produce and then just do it, cook it. But seasoning is really important, you can cook the best spaghetti sauce in the world, if the spaghetti’s are boiled in water without salt or not enough it will always taste bland and once cant figure out what went wrong. When I cook I find that trying every thing many many times is important and the fun of it. OK, enough waffling now, great cooking and now the controversial side to it. (but with time being a precious thing, sometimes the following kind of food is just great…)

The title of the post was about Ned’s noodle bar and rating Home delivery food places, in two words, FAST FOOD. I noticed there are masses of restaurant rating websites, magazines, papers and journalists etc. But when searching a rating of home deliveries, i.e. Domino’s, Ned’s, Pizza Hut, Feng Sushi etc. there are no ratings for this services. Or at least I haven’t come across a decent one. From now on I will start to do this. Rate and comment home delivery services.

Today starting with Ned’s Noodle bar.

Ned’s delivers a selection of Asian noodles, you can choose from a great menu, they also have changing dishes on the menu, and then you select the type of noodles you want, Udon, Egg noodle or rice noodle. My preferred ones are the thick Udon. I often order Malaysian beef, spicy, with rump steak, choy sam, onions, bean sprouts, french beans, red peppers, red/green chillies, soy, lime, coriander. Delicious. Could eat two boxes every time. Also the sweet and sour chicken or the thai green curry noodles are superb. They consistently deliver good solid quality. Only once the green curry was burnt, but only once from several times I ordered. The Prawn crackers are a delicious addition, you can also order spicy sauce, Ben & Jerry’s ice creams, beers and drinks. On the phone friendly and helpful, prices are fair, delivery prompt and the motor bike guys always walk up the stairs to meet one. Rating in 5 of 5 = 5+, thanks Ned’s Noodle Bar for making our life sometimes after long working days, coming home hungry and the fridge is empty, a tasty and easy closing!! The beauty of Ned’s is also the

cute boxes… I didn’t really mange to make a photo that shows the really beauty of it, go to flickr and search Ned’s Noodle, there are some great shots there. (the picture is from “

Good Bye Hammersmith, hello Park Lane

On September 7 , 2006 we boxed up our pre opening office stuff in Hammersmith and moved back to Park Lane. The hotel was to open in exactly 2 month. I was based in the pre opening offices for nearly 1 year. We moved office once from the left to the right side of the street. The office, a big open plan place with about 20 people working was actualy quite nice once one got used to the new environement. We were fed with Pret a Manger sandwiches for 1 year, better then nothing, but I have had enough of that for now…

The best thing in Hammersmith is deffinitly Cafe Brera. Ouf offices were in the same building, so often I would quickly go down, 4 or more times a day, to grab a espresso macchiato. The boss there is a realy funny chap, he makes the perfect coffee but has no clue how to teach his staff to do it the same way. So during the year I ended up teaching them how to make the espresso macchiato I like.

filtering messages and loosing the inbox

Interesting conversation tonight, at the pub, some pints of Stella after a long day of interviews and recruitment. The hotel opening is getting serious business, people start to get tense and in modus operandi panic. High pressure, expectations, exposure, people from everywhere get involved, know everything, have an opinion. This is very good and helpful.

Drinks are required. Long days,

Kevin, Marco, Christmas 2004

new post. for my friend the schmuck face Marco “the director of food & beverage” Burlimann International. Now in New York. To important to call or mail. On Blackberry. Adios Amigos. We must think about what we will do for the 30th birthdays coming up next year. You, Claudio, me. 90 years of intelligence or something like that….

My thought were to celebrate (…) 3 times. We do London as I am the first one to turn to this critical age. The New York if MB is not to busy…and the St. Moritz for full recovery and Claudio’s Birthday. Lets plan and get our act together. Any input from the world highly appreciated!

Ciao

who is behind the blog?

What’s it all about? First I really want to explore the world of blogging. As I am also not a hero of keeping in touch with people, this could be a great way of randomly posting whats happening. Pictures, comments etc. and most important, recipes and about food. It’s all about food, wine, good drinks, good music and enjoying it!! What else would there be? Fundamental questions of major importance need to discussed, what would the world be without garlic?? I couldn’t do a single day without garlic. Great Coffee? Japanese Gyokuro Tea? Evian Water? My Illy Coffee Machine (x-mas present from mum & dad) is anyway one of the most important tools on earth. And the list is could continue…

Memories of October 1, 2005 at 3 am – Closing a hotel in central London

http://www.flickr.com/groups/iclondon/

October 1st, 2005 at 3 am. This photo was taken after the last event was cleared down at the Intercontinental London before closure. Wendy, the Director of Events is still in here Dinner Suite as Frithjof, Chief Steward at the time and myself, Director of Food & Beverage started to get it going. The boys from a company who provided labour and logistics support (real wild cowboys) had just finished ripping out the carpet so they could start rolling in containers. The Tables in the back were setup for all the equipment which we collected in the whole hotel, it was then sorted and packed.

Click the picture and you the browser will take you to flickr, the same folder and there are more amazing pictures of closing and emptying a hotel. Not an everyday thing…

Below an image of items being wrapped up for transport and storage.