Custom cooking suite offers interactivity for guests

Nation's Restaurant News,  Feb 25, 2008  by James Scarpa

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LONDON -- Hotel functions may never be the same if the guest interactivity model introduced last month at Andaz Studio here catches on.

The early word about the private dining room of the Andaz Liverpool Street, London, the first of a line of luxury boutique properties to open under the Andaz brand of Chicago-based Global Hyatt Corp., is that guests are enthusiastic about events that are more personalized and interactive than traditional hotel gatherings.Those events include lavish meals prepared before their eyes on a highpowered cooking suite.

"We're taking the chef's table into a new era," said Jaco Le Roux, the hotel's executive assistant manager for food and beverage. "We've just opened it, and it's working amazingly well.There's nothing like it in London."

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For example, guests arriving for a party at Andaz Studio are greeted at the door by a chef, sommelier and cocktail barman. The hosts offer aperitifs from a table set with wines and spirits, and guests may help themselves to drinks if they wish. They're likely to focus on the centerpiece of the 48-seat, 1,900-square-foot space--a completely open kitchen featuring a red-enameled Bonnet cooking suite. Guests are even able to cook, if they have the interest.

The suite, custom built for the hotel at a cost of approximately 40,000 British pounds--nearly $80,000--incorporates open burners; solid cooking tops; a pair of deep-fryers; a plancha, or stainlesssteel heated cooking surface; two ovens; and a salamander.

Dishes are prepared from top-quality seasonal and often locally sourced ingredients. Recent menus have included oven-roasted saddle of Welsh venison with truffled celefiac mash, Brussels sprouts and cepes mushrooms and freshly baked fruit crumble with gingerbread ice cream.

"We're focusing more on serving the perfect roast than on fussy presentation;' Le Roux said. The Bonnet is not just a showpiece; it's the primary cooking tool. "There's a convection oven in the back room;' Le Roux said. "But 98 percent of the food is made right in front of you. Our president was adamant that this would not be a finishing kitchen:'

While guests mingle and sip drinks, chefs sizzle up the meal. Afterward, there's a spread of desserts, cheeses and after-dinner beverages they can enjoy at their own pace.

Le Roux said the Andaz Studio follows the Andaz brand ethos, which Hyatt touts as a combination of casual luxury, boutique sensibility, personalized service and residential feel.The first two Andaz properties in the United States are slated to open in NewYork City in 2009.

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