By BW Hotelier LE MIAMI, the world’s first invitation-only travel tradeshow to reflect the shift in luxury, has honoured Priya Paul, Chairperson of The Park Hotels as one of the forbearers of the contemporary travel industry. Paul, selected as one of the 12 original rebels honoured, will participate alongside Ian Schrager, Nick Jones, Alex Calderwood, Andr- Balazs, Tim and Kit Kemp, Anouska Hempel, Claus Sendlinger, Carlos Couturier and Moises Micha, Loh Lik Peng, Sam Nazarian, and Alan Faena. To pay tribute to Priya Paul and all the Rebels with Cause, LE Miami have commissioned international award winning artist Mia Mandela to illustrate every designers’ portrait, to be displayed at the show. ’I wanted to show people that you could have an alternative experience in hotels, one that was about a lifestyle. The elite industries were basic in India ’ I wanted to educate people as to what design is about,’ said Paul on being honored as the forbearer of the contemporary travel industry at LE Miami 2015. Traditional luxury is a thing of the past. Instead the emergence of the ’creative class’ has driven a demand for travel products that are unique, lifestyle-driven, and bespoke. LE Miami is the annual meeting place for the creative thinkers behind this shift. It connects only the most influential buyers representing creative clientele with the edgiest and most rebellious international travel brands and properties. The event has been called a Ministry of Ideas with networking events into fashionable parties.
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By BW Hotelier THE LEMON Tree Hotel Company announced that 18 of its 26 hotels in 15 cities of India, and 4 of its pan-Asian ’Republic of Noodles’ restaurants, across four hotels, received the TripAdvisor Certificate(s) of Excellence 2015. The TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence is a sought after industry level certification based on voluntary customer feedback. The survey is considered the definitive statement on hotel performance across all parameters and is based on the traveler’s overall experience. This award, places Lemon Tree Hotels in the top-performing 10 per cent of all travel businesses worldwide on TripAdvisor. This award is given to businesses that consistently achieve outstanding ratings from TripAdvisor travellers and demonstrate hospitality excellence. Lemon Tree Hotels have been winning TripAdvisor Certificates of Excellence for 4 years running now. This year it is their biggest win percentage, basis operating hotels, open for one year and more. Its 3 new high-performing Lemon Tree Hotels Gachibowli-Hyderabad, Manakapakkam-Chennai and Dehradun did not qualify for this year’s awards as they are yet to complete one year of operation. Speaking on the occasion Patu Keswani, Chairman and Managing Director, The Lemon Tree Hotel Company said, ’This certificate is a testimonial of how our guests perceive us. It’s wonderful to know that our refreshing brand and service standards meet the expectations of our discerning guests in a fitting manner. This award once again reassures us that we are delivering a good quality experience at the right value. The credit for this record performance goes to our hotel teams and their ability to go beyond the call of duty, to delight guests.’ The Lemon Tree Hotel Company currently owns and operates 26 hotels in 15 cities of India across 3 brands Lemon Tree Premier (upscale), Lemon Tree Hotels (midscale) & Red Fox Hotels (economy). The TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence 2015 was awarded to most hotels of the group. In the upscale category, Lemon Tree Premier Delhi Airport (see photo), Leisure Valley-Gurgaon, HITEC City-Hyderabad and Ahmedabad; in the midscale category, Lemon Tree Hotel in Chandigarh, Chennai, Kaushambi-Ghaziabad, Hinjawadi-Pune, Whitefield and Electronics City-Bengaluru, Udyog Vihar-Gurgaon, , Chikalthana-Aurangabad, R.N.T. Marg, Indore and Muhamma-Kerala and in the budget category, all 4 Red Fox Hotels, in East Delhi, Delhi Airport, HITEC City-Hyderabad and Jaipur were also recipients of the Certificate of Excellence 2015. Republic of Noodles, the award winning and highly popular pan-Asian restaurants at Goa, Ulsoor Lake & Electronic City- Bengaluru and HITECH CITY- Hyderabad were also awarded the Certificate of Excellence 2015.
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By BW Hotelier THE LEELA Palace New Delhi has something decidedly cool this summer as far as their F&B promotional event goes. The ’Summer Therapy Sorbets & Ice Creams’ promo, which was launched for The Qube, the hotel’s all day dining restaurant, centres around a huge selection of sorbets and ice creams. Samir Jilani, Manager, Food & Beverage at The Leela Palace New Delhi said,’-With summer temperatures rising in Delhi, sorbets and ice creams are the perfect value addition for our guests. With feedback from thousands of our guests and our proactive approach, we have introduced a range of tantalizing frozen delights. With our attractively-priced-menu that starts at INR 200 plus taxes, we want to provide a one-of-its-kind experience that is a confluence of high quality ingredients, unique flavours served The Leela way.’ The ice cream flavours range from the classic vanilla and pistachio to the more unusual strawberry cheese, espresso coffee and honey. Sorbets flavours are equally varied, from blueberry, strawberry and raspberry to mandarin, litchi, mango and manjari chocolate Rishabh Anand, Pastry Chef at The Leela Palace New Delhi said,’-We wanted to offer something different, something that is not so easily available yet perfect to offset heat. Thus we introduced unique varieties of summer sorbets and ice creams with especially handpicked exotic ingredients. Surprise your palate with an array-of rare flavours like Honey extracted from Eucalyptus, Japanese Melon and Strawberry Cheese cake and more. ’Crafted with-pure fruit pulp instead of any artificial flavours-and-with lowest added sugar, our sorbets are a perfect retreat for the health conscious and lactose intolerance’. The ice cream and sorbet promo happens Monday to Saturday at the Qube and ends August 1.
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By Arun Sundararaj THEN: PEOPLE-have asked me many a times what does it take to be Chef? I reflect on the way I became a chef. I got into cooking very early as my parents were travelling and I needed to feed myself. There was food that was made which did not appeal to me, so I decided that it would be better if I whipped up an omelet. This was my introduction into the world of food. The simple omelet has myriad variations and even today a Sunday brunch with the family is about something new with a new ingredient and cooking style. At Taj Mahal, New Delhi, I discovered the legendary Machan with its famous egg preparations and a lot more! I soon realised that I loved to cook and enjoyed churning out dishes. The next step was to move to catering college and I was told that the food served in the college cafeteria is great and the girls are good looking--what more motivation would one need to join and start my first few steps into the industry? Things went well, till I had to do my industry exposure. I was lucky as I was training in hotel kitchens during December and January. I was left in a trance-- large platters of cold meat, with names I had never heard of like ’ballotine’ or ’Parma ham’--I felt that I had found my true calling. New names, new dishes, new ingredients! I then moved to the hot kitchen where there was so much work that it just never seemed to get over. Once when I was training a senior manager came in and asked us how is it going and all I had to say was ’all balls’-- there was pin drop silence. I saw the shocked look on her face and then realized what I had said. I explained when I come in the morning I am deputed to the hawali and all he made me make were gulab jamun balls. I then moved to the snacks section and again all I got to make were hara kebab balls, once that gets over I was made to make vegetable kofta balls and then finally I end up making naan dough balls so ’all ball’ everyone had a hearty laugh but I realised that apart from skill we need a lot of physical stamina and the ability to stand in one place making the same thing in large volumes. I got my dream job at the Taj, when I became a trainee chef 23 years ago. From the outside it sounded very good, but we knew it was the lowest job in the entire kitchen brigade. We were outcasts as most of the cooks knew that someday this chap is going to be his boss so equate that to the type of jobs that we would do. We were basically shown how difficult their job was. I loved the challenge as it meant that I just got better at their job and had a steep learning curve. Every day was a roller coaster ride, many ups and downs with super high pressure hours with a few minutes of relaxation with the team thrown in. There were days when you silently muttered, ’when are these guests going to stop eating’? The thrill that one experienced after finishing a fully packed meal session with no errors was something else! NOW: Quality, quantity, consistency and passion ’ yes, the ingredients for a Chef and the recipe for a delighted patron. Here, at the iconic Taj Mahal Delhi, my team and I are proud to be in a culture of constructive communication, empowerment and innovation that leads to culinary creations for a wide variety of palates. My mantra is, and has always been, Learn Learn Learn. As Chefs now, we have to be in tune with domestic and international trends, constructive technology, health and wellness and a plethora of innovations. Our engagement with our patrons as well as our team has changed dramatically. At the Taj, we lay immense emphasis on mutual respect and in the kitchens, plan our work in such a way to encourage the team to give their best into their work and spend relevant quality time with their families. Work harder, smarter and party even harder is the moto! The Author is Executive Chef at Taj Mahal’New Delhi.
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By Stephen D’souza OVER TIME, JW Marriott Hotel Mumbai Sahar has retained its position as the ideal destination for both business and leisure travellers from the upper-middle segment. Cashing in on this foundational advantage, we have managed to circumvent the threat of the standalone restaurants. I am happy to say that our F&B revenues have not been affected. The question remains why? We at JW Mumbai offer our guests two F&B outlets- JW Cafe, an all day dining multi-cuisine restaurant with a North Indian Cuisine speciality and Romano’s which is an authentic home style Italian restaurant serving up food true to the regions of Sicily, Milan, Rome, Naples and Florence. These two restaurants, together, offer our customers a huge array of foods. JW Cafe also serves Japanese, Thai, Arabic and Western cuisines. The sheer diversity of the menus allows us to attract, retain and cater to a wide variety of people. The advantage of giving choice is what shields us and puts us ahead of the standalone threat. Other than this, hotel restaurants inherently have an advantage over standalones, in the sense that they are affiliated with a global brand that inspires loyalty from its guests for the reputation of the unmatched quality of services provided. The market today is growing, there is enough space for everyone and there is a wide range of people whose needs are to be catered to, and that is why standalones do not hamper the business of hotel restaurants. As a hotel, we reach out to a wider audience by offering F&B requirements such as weddings, events and conferences. This acts as an added advantage to the hotel. However, we cannot dare to believe that our advantages are status quoist and aggressively market ourselves to stay ahead of the competition and attract more customers for our in-house restaurants. We at JW use promotions like offering Sunday brunch, Sea food nights, BBQ evenings, having the largest vegetarian spread in town etc. We also have specialized Expat and local Chefs on board for each cuisine to ensure that the authenticity is maintained. Along with this, we are constantly innovating and creating options for our guests to indulge with various cuisines under one roof. Though the standalone restaurants exist, thanks to our global presence, the services provided by us are definitely a league apart. And although we must credit social media and our digital presence for playing an important role in attracting and sustaining business, it is our customers who have been our biggest endorsers and promoters and as long as we continue to uphold our standards and keep trying to meet their needs and expectations, we have no competition to fear. The author is-Director of Food & Beverage, JW Marriott Hotel Mumbai Sahar.
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