• Franchised Restaurants in Hotels?

The recently renovated Orchard Parade Hotel in Singapore has commenced a new concept by leasing prime retail spaces at the Lobby area to well known food franchises such as Modesto’s, Black Angus and Starbucks. There are accesses for hotel guests from within the hotel, and the restaurants have great outdoor signages and outdoor terrace seatings to entice the passersby along the affronting Orchard Road. The Oriental hotel in Singapore on the other hand brought on board the upscale Morton’s of Chicago to replace its fine dining Californian restaurant, Liana’s.

• What’s New on F&B

THE MEZZA-9, Hyatt’s new creative concept has opened at the mezzanine floor of the Grand Hyatt Singapore, bringing together the flavours of popular Asian cuisines within an upmarket foodcourt type setting, with lots of show cooking (designed by CKP), within a very unique and innovative interior concept done by Super Potato of Japan.

• Addiction to Induction

The following discoveries have been made on cooking processes:-
Induction - 90% heat transfer to food
Electricity - 48% heat transfer to food
Gas - 40% heat transfer to food

Induction creates a magnetic field that causes iron molecules in a sauce pan to generate heat rapidly, transferring heat directly to food with minimum heat loss. The accelerated cooking process enables foods like pasta and sauces to be quickly produced in smaller serving batches, resulting in increased quality.

The best type of pan suited to induction cooking needs to be made of iron which generates the heat, with layers of stainless steel and aluminium. A further advantage; there is no radiant heat from the cook top saving on fuel cost and increasing the chef’s well being.

• Why Filter Cooking Oil?

• Unfiltered oil reduces food quality, as more oil is absorbed, resulting in a less crisp, greasy product. Additionally, these products don’t hold for long under warming lamps.
• Flavour transfer occurs when more products are fried in the same fryer.
• Most importantly, filtering increases the life span of the oil by 50% – 100%.
  
  Cooking oil filter units are come either built-in for high capacity fryer batteries, or sold as accessories by most leading fryer manufacturers.

• Quotable Quotes

• Robert Riley, Managing Director of Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group quotes;
• When hotels pay attention to F&B, room occupancy roars.
• Andreas Stalder, Vice President of F&B for Hyatt International quotes;
• To ensure quality on hot buffets in cafes, replenish chaffers with portions made in smaller batches that are quickly eaten within 15 minutes.

• New Product Preview

Colour-coded cutting boards

The Switchboards Colour Identification Series helps ensure safer food preparation by reducing the potential for cross-contamination. Each colour-coded cutting board (available in 6 different colours) in the series is designated for a specific food category. These boards are made of a replaceable HDPE surface that fits snugly to a permanent skid-free base. The surface is designed to be replaced monthly, so that the user is always working on an unmarred, sanitary cutting surface. One year’s supply replacement surfaces is priced about same as a traditional cutting board. For information, contact: Landmark Products Corp., 26351 Curtiss Wright Parkway, Suite C, Richmond Heights, OH 44143, USA.

• Current Projects

Creative Kitchen Planners International (CKP) has been engaged to work on the kitchen designs for the following hotel projects;

• Holiday Inn Jelebu, Malaysia
• Hyatt Regency Chongqing, China