The rooms even have dessert-inspired themes, including the Sticky Toffee Room, the Chocolate Suite and the Oriental Ginger Syrup Sponge Room. Yum. There are rules though, including you may eat only one pudding at a time. Thankfully, the number of puddings you try in one night is not limited!

Want to indulge your sweet tooth a little further? Head to www.puddingclub.com.

One of the basic problems that hoteliers are facing in today’s difficult economy is that there are just too many eateries and not enough customers to fill them. There has been a massive explosion in the number of hospitality businesses in Australia over the last ten years, largely due to the activities of property developers who seem to want to put hospitality facilities into everything they build.

To put a figure on the dual effects of decreased customer numbers and decreased average spend, the average business we deal with is reporting around a 20% decrease in food and beverage revenue. A decrease of this magnitude is bound to cause problems with cash flow and business development at a minimum, and worse for some, namely the demise of quite a number of businesses that were marginal before the current recession took hold.

Assuming our economy is not going to return to health for quite a while, and you’d better assume this as a fact, or risk becoming a statistic; what can you do?

Well, let’s define the basic problem you are facing at the moment. I would express it as: “How can I get more than my fair share of the available customer base?” Another way of expressing the same thing is: “How can I steal customers from all my competitors, so I remain healthy and they become the casualty, not me?” This might seem harsh, but you’ve got to guard your own patch. I call this enlightened self-interest.

Clearly, the only way you are going to achieve this is to be seen as a clearly better alternative than your competitors. It’s not what you think of your business that is important here, it is public perception of the surrounding population’s idiosyncratic view of what you deliver for the price you charge. You’ve got to give the people around you a reason to drive past half a dozen competitive businesses and come to you, because you are clearly worth the extra distance.

The only way to get people to do this, is if you operate your business to a standard that is clearly recognised (by the public, not you) as above average food and service, and very good value for money. This is why some hospitality businesses are still trading well while others around them are struggling with poor numbers. There is nothing new in this; it is not a revelation. Any marketing person will tell you that you need to differentiate your business from your competitors. The primary way to do this is to offer better value for money. Unfortunately, the common management knee-jerk reactions to economic downturns work clearly against achieving this. Consider what cutting all ‘unnecessary’ spending, like staff training and marketing will do to your operating standards and public perception. It is not the time to adopt a financial foetal position, even though these seem at first appearance to be responsible management decisions.

The secondary means of differentiating your business from your competition is to give it a clearly different identity. This needs a little explanation; take hotel bistro for example. If you have standard pub fare (parmas, fish & chips, etc.), your customers have plenty of choice of venue. They will probably head to the nearest bog standard bistro, which is probably not yours. But if you do something a bit different that your competitors don’t have, they have to come to you if they want it.

To illustrate this, one of our pub clients installed a tandoor oven and serves delicious, hot, spiced naan bread with a range of Asian and Middle Eastern-inspired meals. Nothing too confronting, mind you, but well done and quite different from the surrounding competition. Public perception in the area is that the food is better and more interesting at my client’s pub, despite the prices being a dollar or two higher.

The average well-trained chef is quite capable of producing reasonably simple Asian food, stir-fries, etc, with a wok and a little research. Beware, however, of choosing a popular theme like seafood or steak which will undoubtedly attract customers but which will have very high food costs attached to it and you will struggle to make a margin.

Beware of being nondescript, or trying to be all things to all people, like an eatery featuring an ‘international’ cuisine. Consider the way your customers decide where they are going to eat. You’ve no doubt all experienced the debate: “Where are we going to eat tonight: pub, Chinese, Thai, Malaysian?” How often do you hear ‘international’, or ‘eclectic’ as a response to these debates? The point here is not that places described like this don’t have any customers, but they don’t have a clear identity and therefore don’t come to mind as readily when the choice of venue is being made.

Finally, don’t make it hard for people to find you. Clever names may appeal, but if you use non-standard spelling (e.g. Fissh House or Toni’s) for your business name or foreign names that are not easy to spell phonetically, people won’t be able to find your phone number on the internet or by directory assistance and will go somewhere else. A lot of positive word of mouth is wasted this way because people make a mental note to try you but when the time comes, they can’t find you.

Tony Eldred

The principal consultant of Eldred Hospitality P/L ‘The Hospitality Management Specialists’

Nestling in the foothills of the Southern Grampians, Victoria, in the little town of Dunkeld, it is set among native gardens and fruit orchards with stunning views of the Ranges. The hotel has positioned itself at the high end of the visitor experience, with an award winning restaurant and wine cellar, bistro, meeting and conference facilities and the historic Mt Sturgeon Estate for guests to explore and enjoy.
Executive chef and manager Dan Hunter has been cooking for about 12 years, and is strongly influenced by his time in Spain. He joined the Royal Mail in 2007 after a career at the two-Michelin-starred Mugaritz in Spain’s Basque Country.
After work experience at Mugaritz, he took on the position of Chef de Partie and then worked his way up to Sous Chef. In 2006 he took on the role of Head Chef, which he held for one year before returning to Australia and joining the Royal Mail.
Here he has his own kitchen gardens with free-range chickens, fruit orchards and a greenhouse for herb production. He works closely with his dedicated garden and kitchen teams to produce food reflecting his natural surrounds and the seasons.

Diners are offered a creative cuisine linked to nature, the hotel’s location and the seasons. Each day the kitchen prepares two tasting menus based on organic and heirloom produce selected from the kitchen gardens.
These ‘menu omnivore’ and ‘menu vegetarian’ are a progression of small, refined dishes focusing on purity of flavour inspired by the natural surroundings. Dan employs a variety of techniques to enhance these values. Cooking at low temperatures, extended cooking in temperature-controlled water baths are combined with non-traditional ingredients to achieve unique textures and balance of flavours.
BISTRO spoke to Dan Hunter and asked him about his style of cooking.

The produce from the hotel gardens and greenhouse is what is cooked in the kitchen. What inspired you to create this ultimately seasonal and regional model?
Cooking seasonally and regionally is not only an idea that has been in fashion since the dawn of time but is an obvious and necessary choice when you live in a rural community without daily access to capital city markets. I want to produce a menu that speaks of a time and a place that demonstrates the nuance of season and celebrates diversity.

What are the advantages of being ‘local and seasonal’?
The advantages are always centred around the final result – flavour. Fruit, vegetables and to some degree, proteins, all have an undoubtedly better flavour when they are in season, grown organically and eaten close to where they were grown or raised.

What are the challenges of this approach?
To be true to our ethos and to use produce relative to the seasons. Often, there are discrepancies between what the magazines say are in season and what we have in our garden. Someone asked recently ‘why do you have artichokes on the menu when they’re out of season?’ We’ve had artichokes producing for about eight months solid. So sometimes the public perception of seasonality is driven by what they see on supermarket shelves in Sydney or Melbourne.
It’s also very demanding running a restaurant and a garden at the same time – although I believe that restaurants should have gardens.

How much work is involved in growing and sourcing local produce?
Every day of the week for at least three hours, part of the kitchen team is in the garden. Aside from that, there is the annual planning and evaluation of the needs and wants of the kitchen. It’s a very involved process and hard to break down into hours.
Of course there are physical hours worked in the garden, but there are also many hours spent in the garden or in Dunkeld thinking about our production needs and also future dishes.

Where do you source your recipes?
We are involved in a creative cuisine, that is to say that we have influences, but ultimately when it comes to designing dishes we hope to be individuals and come up with our own ideas.
What amount of research and testing do you do to produce a menu of your standard?
Again, this separation of physical working hours spent at the restaurant and time talking on the phone to a farmer is really difficult. I think most people would be shocked at the hours we work and the commitment needed to produce two 10-course menus each night.

How do you keep your skills and ideas current?
I’m not sure some days if our skills and ideas are current! We are aware that people find what we do to be not only interesting but of an extremely high standard. I just try to continually refine our style and improve our execution. There will always be people who don’t enjoy our food on a style basis, but I hope they would at least acknowledge the obvious effort that goes in and that what we do is of a good quality.

On the Royal Mail Hotel website you mention using ‘non-traditional ingredients’– please give us a few examples. What do you achieve by doing this?
Tradition is generally based on the past or things that have always been done a certain way. In cooking terms this relates to not only methods but also ingredients. We currently live in a very creative period where advancements in professional cooking are taking place quite rapidly. I am all for the genuine advancement of our profession, and so when a new method or ingredient gives a superior result over a traditional technique, we will use it.
Often a new ingredient or technique may simply be the result of sharing ideas or the interaction between cultures. A good example is Kuzu, a plant starch from Japan. It has amazing thickening qualities and gives a very stable clean flavoured result. Traditional western methods for thickening have been rouxbased, egg-based, bread-based or simple reduction. All of these methods have some negative effect on the modern palate, so in this instance kuzu may be a better option. Xanthan gum is also something that, when used correctly, can provide body to liquids that could not previously be thickened without changing its flavour, such as olive oil.

What are your plans/visions for future?
To improve.

Your favourite dish?
It’s hard to beat really fresh raw fish prepared by Japanese chefs.

Your favourite restaurant?
I’ve been lucky to have some really great experiences in a number of restaurants. In no order: Extaberri and Mugaritz in the Basque country, and l’Astrance in Paris are standouts.

Who was the chef who you inspired you? Why?
Any chef who is at their restaurant every day trying to be better at what they do inspires me. I think there will always be standouts from every generation, but there are many chefs who are not particularly interesting to the media and probably go unnoticed.
Michel Bras, Andoni Luis Aduriz, Ferran Adria have all had, or are having, a significant impact on people cooking at the highest level today. This could simply be because of the number of chefs that pass through their kitchens on work experience.

BISTRO, March 2010

Daniel Fountain started in the trade as a kitchen hand – or, as he says, “a dish pig, as us chefs call them”. He adds: “That’s where most good chefs start.” This statement couldn’t be any truer in his case. After 20-plus years in the biz, he now has the prestigious title of executive chef for the J&J O’Brien hoteliers group.
J&J O’Brien owns a number of stunning bars, restaurants and venues in Sydney, including The Belvedere Hotel, Jordons Seafood Restaurant, The Watershed Hotel, and the luxe Blue Diamond Charters (the latter being a stylish, 62-foot cruiser, available for exclusive charters including breakfast, lunch and dinner cruises).
Last year, Fountain was named the AHA National Chef of the Year for his former role as head chef at Darling Harbour’s Watershed Hotel (now, he manages no less than seven venues for J&J O’Brien).
It’s all a long way from his start in the trade, training at TAFE NSW’s Sydney Institute East Sydney College and undertaking an apprenticeship with Black Knight Catering.
Fountain has been the group executive chef at J&J O’Brien for more than a year now and has also previously worked for the ANA Hotel Sydney and The Grace Hotel.
BISTRO spoke to him about his passion for food.
Please tell us about yourself.
I am a very hard, dedicated worker, enjoy many sporting activities, love my wine – which is why I love cooking! – and, I have to say, I love to entertain, at home or at work. I have been in the business for over 22 years.
You’re managing a few different venues. What are the challenges you have to face doing this job?
Actually, I manage seven properties, but I’m just acting on six. Time – I wish I had more time everyday! I need another day to get the work done. Every day is a new challenge – just to make sure each kitchen runs smoothly and to have the right staff is the hardest part. But, overall, each venue is so different; it’s the thrill to get them right. The adrenalin rush and the thrill of making the business run right is what keeps me going.
What dishes, in your opinion, are a ‘must’ on the pub menu, and why?
People love comfort food. That’s why it’s called comfort food – it makes the customer happy to eat it. Every venue is different, so it’s hard to keep up with trends and with people’s likes, loves, hates and dislikes. I hate serving some comfort food, but if it makes people happy, then that’s what we do!
How does the bar/pub menu differ from regular restaurant?
Well, I would have to differ on that question. I am trying hard to make pub food as good as restaurant food, but all my fellow chefs – no matter where they work – are always trying to excel to make their style of food better than the next. That’s how the trends are created.
You are looking after The Watershed Hotel in waterfront Darling Harbour and the Marlborough Hotel in artsy Newtown – very different venues in terms of location and clientele. How does this manifest on the menu?
You have to create a menu with what the customer wants and how it interacts within the area. The Watershed is very tourist-driven, while the Marlborough attracts a very local or young trade.
In your opinion, what are the common mistakes chefs make when designing a menu?
They don’t research their clientele or ask questions. Some chefs think they know it all. Myself? I am always learning and will never say I am the best chef – no one is. All chefs are good at certain things.
How often do you review the dishes on the menu?
Every day. You have to do it or you fall behind and risk the chance of losing customers.
What is the process of putting a new dish on the menu?
Talking to the whole kitchen brigade – I involve the whole team: managers, chefs, apprentices and kitchen hands. Someone will have an idea to make something better. Then, we rough draft, cost it, practice the dish until we are satisfied, and then serve it to the customer.
How do you keep food consistent across five different kitchens?
It is very hard and is a consistent nightmare but, at the end of the day, it gets done. It’s like a revolving door – each day brings a new problem to solve.
What was the last decision or change you made, where you said to yourself “well done, Daniel”?
My intuition in my kitchens is to make a family attitude amongst my team and also to make them feel wanted – they work better. Better staff morale is important. So, I would say that if my staff is happy with what they do, I am happy, and then, that keeps the boss happy.
How do you keep your skills current?
Research, talk to customers, and talk to my staff, because a lot of them are from (diverse) back grounds.
Most memorable meal last year, and why?
I was on a trip away and I love to fish. I caught a lovely bream that was about 1.2kg, so I cleaned it up and pan-fried it with some white wine, herbs and seasoning. The meat was so delicate, sweet and tasty… Oh, bugger it! Any food I eat is good ‘cause most of the time I cook it! (Yes, it’s true – a chef that cooks at home. I love it!)

BISTRO, May 2010

The highest proportion being in the middle to older age bracket (peaking at 65 to 74 years for men and 55 to 64 years for women). For children, there was a significant increase in those considered obese – from 5.2 per cent in 1995 to 7.8 per cent in 2007/8. Obesity among boys, particularly, had doubled.
With such startling statistics, it’s no wonder that many Australians have felt encouraged to review their own dining habits. Eating healthier foods – rather than strict dieting – seems to be the trend for people wanting to battle the bulge.
Interestingly, the younger generation is a leading force in this trend. A recent survey showed that Gen-Y diners would more likely eat lunch at a restaurant on weekdays if there was a wider choice of healthy menu options available.
All this, of course, is having some impact on restaurants, with chefs listening to customers and tweaking their menus to suit. More than would have been the case even three years ago, there is now often a variety of salads and grilled options on pub bistro menus.
BISTRO spoke to Nathan Thompson, the head chef at Zedbar in NSW’s Albury, about serving up nutritious – and tasty – fare. (The venue won ‘Best Bar Presentation and Service – Country’ at the national AHA Awards for Excellence last year.)
Keeping it simple
Thompson, who has been in the industry for nine years, says, firstly, it’s important to have pub food staples on the menu. “As long as you have Parmis and steaks, you can’t go wrong. Simple as they are, people want to come to a pub for food that they understand and recognise – not to have to bring an encyclopedia just to read the menu!”
At the same time though, Zedbar also has a wide range of healthy dishes, including six salads (comprising protein-rich items like chicken, beef, lamb and cheese, meaning these can also work as lighter-style mains), as well as grilled and vegetarian options.
Zedbar’s salads have great value as they incorporate different types of lettuces, plus yummy and vitamins and nutrient-rich avocadoes, sun-dried tomatoes, capsicum and eggplant.
Many of the dishes on the varied menu also come with creative dressings to add zest, like Japanese dipping mayonnaise, orange and cumin vinaigrette, lime and capsicum dressing, and chardonnay cream sauce.

Why it’s important
Thompson says having healthy fare on the menu reflects customer desires. “These days, people are a lot more aware of food and want to know more about it. They are becoming more health-focused, and so, the food that we do is aimed at enticing those people.”
The chef says the popularity of healthy items tends to change with the seasons, such as salads being favoured in summer. “We try to go with the seasons with our menus, so that it gives our customers something new to look forward to and also to ‘mix it up’ in the kitchen, so that the chefs don’t get stuck in a repetitive rut,” Thompson enthuses.

Healthy on the pocket
BISTRO had one burning question to put to Thompson – does having a wide choice of healthy options on the menu cost any extra in the kitchen?
Fortunately, Thompson shook his head. “No, it doesn’t. You actually save money. By using fresh, healthy ingredients, we save money on pre-done items. It is better for our customers as they appreciate things like home-made sauces. And, it also saves on prep-time (with fresh meals made quickly and grilling an easy method), which means more time to ‘prep’ for other things – or cleaning the kitchen!”
So, as you can see, providing healthy options really does make sense – for a venue’s budget, in attracting diverse clientele, and contributing to overall health in society. And, as Thompson has shown, thinking healthy is not just about throwing a bunch of leaves on the side of a plate, like an afterthought. Customers are yearning for nutritious dishes, which are tasty and show flair. So, why not deliver?

BISTRO, May 2010

The classic pub fare of a patty, sandwiched between two buns, has never looked so good, with the burger undergoing a modern twist.

The humble burger is a staple of Aussie pub fare. It has a diverse appeal, with variations now ranging from the traditional hamburger style to bacon, fish, chicken and even tofu burgers.
Although it’s generally an inexpensive item on the menu, the staple can also do up-market, with top eateries like Rockpool Bar and Grill dishing up Wagyu burgers.
We asked chefs from two pubs – known for their tasty burgers – to provide their take on the quintessential pub food.

Wide appeal
Sean Donovan is a co-owner and Head Chef of The Station Hotel in Footscray, Melbourne. Having worked in some of the best kitchens around, including the Michelin-starred La Tante Claire in London and Georges Blanc in France, he knows a thing or two about how to sate people’s appetites.
Donovan says classic staples, like burgers, help venues cater to a broad demographic – his heartland, Footscray, particularly, attracts a diverse clientele, traditionally being an industrial area, with a migrant population, and now, having young professionals and families pouring in.
“Most of our customers represent the newer community of the inner West and seek a relaxed, more accessible, affordable place to dine, without compromising on the quality of produce or cooking technique,” Donovan says.
The hotel’s menu is modern European in style, with a heavy focus on steak, oysters and premium seafood. Then there’s the popular Station burger. “The burger is the most inexpensive main course on the menu, yet all the components are made in-house,” Donovan enthuses. “It is a classic combination of beef, bacon, fried egg, red pepper and mustard seed relish, and aioli, garnished with a little salad, hand-cut chips and fried, beer-battered onion rings.”
Donovan makes the brioche and sesame seed bun himself and seasons the beef mince with Dijon mustard, tomato sauce, cooked onions, garlic and a blend of herbs, including parsley, tarragon and rosemary. Yum!
The chef says mains dishes at pubs, like the Station burger, should be able to satisfy a patron’s appetite in one course. And, Donovan advises, “make sure the quality of produce and cooking technique is the best it can be”.
Going local
Adam Hodge is the Head Chef at The Bellum Hotel – a traditional country pub, surrounded by lush farmland in South Australia’s Limestone Coast region.
The clientele is largely farmers from surrounding towns, like Mount Gambier and Port MacDonnell. And, Hodge says: “They get a thrill when they see their produce on our menu and that’s one of the reasons (behind the hotel’s) success in the past year.”
Not that the farming clientele is afraid of straying from the traditional. “Although our lamb burger is seen as quite conventional, we still incorporate items not usually seen on a pub burger, such as goat cheese aioli, pancetta and caramelised onion. It is something a little different,” Hodge says. Indeed.
Award-winning taste
The modern tweaking of the pub staple has obviously worked well for the hotel, with it winning the AHA SA’s ‘best pub burger’ gong last year.
On the concept behind the burger, Hodge says: “I wanted to use something local and, with the (hotel) owner’s family having an adjacent sheep and cattle farm, lamb was the obvious choice.”
Hodge says the local lamb is just fantastic. “We have prime farming land all around our hotel and you can taste the difference. I went for (burger) flavours that naturally go together and, as I’m a fan of Mediterranean cooking, it was easy to find ingredients that blend together.”
In designing such fare, Hodge says: “I learned that there needs to be three or four main components, but they must come together as a whole.” Burger-licious, really.

BISTRO, May 2010