Monday Mornings..........

Hello All,

Well lets jump back to Friday we had the launch of AirTel East Africa, 1200 for dinner, was only a buffet though so not so bad...................
Friday morning we are looking good, Sous Chefs have been well briefed all week, the prep has mostly been done, just the finishing needed, to be then told the guests would eat 2 hours earlier!!!!

So i rattle a few of the troops, cuss and swear to myself a bit then get down to it!!!

We will be ready!!!!! oh yes we will,

So service time approaches i final brief all the banquet team and the buffet runners, time for final checks, my plan is i stay in the kitchen with the Banquet Sous Chef a lovely fella called Edwin, and the rest of the banqueting crew.

Guests are split into 2 areas that link onto each other, In the main room i have my Exec Sous Chef Robert.
In the garden area i have my Restaurant Junior Sous Chef Ephraim, each of them has 2 buffet lines serving around 300 guests each line and 2 runners to fetch and collect the food/top up as needed,

Both the Sous's have walkie-talkies ( a first for me in a kitchen and i gotta say a litttle strange)  and in the kitchen itself we have one walkie talkie, idea being as soon as something starts to run low they call us and we have it ready by the time iots needed and out there for the guests who will be lining up like mad.

So we start slowly, it picks up and we run, no we walk a little quicker sending chicken,topping up, saucing the fish, sending more salads, gettting people to jump on the pastry to help them top up, then..............

Wallop!!!!     

We are done and 1193 people are fed and very very happy.

This brings to a close a function which for me started on the Monday and was looked at each day as we got closer and more ready to serve.

I can honestly say i have done canape parties for 100 and sweated more, had more stress and ran round more than we did that night,  but the team is relieved and happy, for many of my boys and girls this is a first, in their past employment in Kenyas 5 star hotels, 300's yes, 500's yes and the odd 900 pax function but no-one has done over a 1000 and done it well, so i tell them look guys i didnt want to say anything or make you all nervous but i have never done a function bigger than 600 either!!!!!!!

Sunday was all about the day off, slept well and got to spend the whole day with my girls which was a bonus, we went out for the day Kasia met her 1st Giraffe (that she knew about this time) and was close up enough to feed them, well she didnt i did for her, then off  lunch in the garden of Talisman restaurant, a few cheeky cold ones and back home via the dude selling pirate DVD's at the side of the road so we got Sherlock Holmes and another one i cant remember 2 for 500 shillings, or about 3 quid to you and i!!!

Cheaper then blockbuster.

A busy week not sure yet what it will bring function for 550 at the weekend, lunch is busy all week and the house is full so dinner in the restaurant should be busy too!!

Our fine dining restaurant plans are coming to a close as is the gym and spa so busy days ahead.............

Have a Good Un...

Kevin

You know you are in Africa when............

Hey!!

Not much to report on we are very very busy prepping for a dinner tommorow for 1200 people we are doing the launch for Airtel who are one of the wordls biggest telecommunication operators. They bought Zain Africa for 10.7 Billion Dollars!!!

Last month i cooked for Prince William and his at-the time-girlfriend-now-fiancee Kate, very very nice people, really polite.  He shook my hand and said thanks for the excellent food Chef as he left, he could have given me the scoop and  told me he got engaged whilst he was in Africa as i could have made a few quid telling the Press before he announced it!!  But no a guest is a guest. The British High Commision sent us a letter thanking us and that HRH was very happy with his time here.That went up on the kitchen notice board and made the team proud.

Now for the bit i was actually on here to write about, you may or may not know but my hotel here borders the National Game Park. I am told Nairobi is the only city with a game park inside its boundaries, and we are lucky enough to be one of the only hotels in Afica bordering a game park so it is not suprising to see during lunch service from the glass frontage in the distance Giraffe, Zebra, Antelopes and once or twice a lost Hippo or a Lion.

Yesterday two of my boys were leaving work when a snake, only a baby, reared up at them as they almost kicked it, they got a rock and sadly killed the little blighter only to then find out it was a Black Mamba!!!!!

Now David Attenborough i am not but they can kill you with one bite cant they?? i know i certainly tip toed out of work to my car when i left in the dark late last night.

OK its 12.15pm here better go and check the various kitchens for service and see how the prep is coming along for tommorow.

Be Good,

Kevin

Please Check Out http://thymeandplaice.blogspot.com/ for a review on Alinea thats attracting great attention, Steve was there shortly before the 3 star Michelin award and its great reading!!!

Setting Up!!

Hey there fellow Chefs, Cooks and Epicures. I first thought to write about my time as Executive Chef of a 5 star Hotel in Nairobi Kenya and and my visits around the country and beyond. To the famous Masaai Mara, Lake Nakuru, Mombasa and after flying right next to Mt Kilimanjaro all the way to the island of spice, Zanzibar.I could just never work out how to keep an electronic diary!!!!!!

So in between the work and watching my little daughter grow up (she was born in Kenya much to peoples suprise!! )  I try to eat as well as can be and greatly savour the time i can get back to the UK and hook up with fellow Chef, Blogger and my Best Friend Steve.You can follow him @chefbennett01 and his great blog http://thymeandplaice.blogspot.com/.  When we then go off on culinary adventures the last one was the Ledbury where Steve had manged to become friends with Brett after Chefs Eat Out with The Caterer and we had a really really great meal.I  cannot now wait until January when we will meet up for Kasia my Daughter's first birthday and her christening, we have drawn up a list of places we want to go Bar Bouloud,Hix Oyster and Sat Bains to name but a few. So bear with me whilst i learn the ins and outs of setting up and running a blog, as i go through life here in Kenya i hope you will join me,

By the way the background pic is by me it was at the Masaai Mara looks like someone beat me to lunch!!!!!

All the Best,

Kevin