More Trendsetting Ways To Whet Appetites

By Karyn Strauss, Senior Editor -- HOTELS Magazine, 1/1/2007

Always looking to innovate and expand their appeal, hotel chefs are coming up with creative twists to the expected fare as a way to generate memorable experiences and encourage repeat visits.

Organic Ambience

Upping the ante on going organic is trendsetting idea winning over the growing number of health and environmentally conscious guests. At The Boulders Resort & Golden Door Spa in Carefree, Arizona, for example, what initially began as an idea to create an on-site organic garden has grown into an expansive, 5,280 ac. garden experience complete with water features, a mesquite-burning fireplace and two levels of al fresco, garden dining. According to Managing Director Michael Hoffman, the reason for the garden simply was to showcase the quality of the ingredients used at the resort. "The garden is an opportunity to show how organic produce can be cultivated in a desert environment, and how it impacts not only taste but also our chefs' creativity as they draw inspiration from the abundance of product in our own backyard."

Believing that guests, too, would like to learn more about cultivating such produce, the resort has introduced educational program with its master gardener who conducts tours of the garden while chefs offer organic cooking demonstrations and interactive cooking classes.

Similarly, Six Senses' Soneva Fushi in the Maldives North Baa Atoll, also introduced garden dining this year-this time in a treetop restaurant set 13 ft. (4 m) above the resort's organic garden. Guests enter the all organic restaurant through the jungle, where plantings such as papaya, mango, fig, passion fruit, banana and lime are becoming established, interspersed with vegetable patches and herb and spice plots. A stairway then leads them up a suspended rope ladder and plank bridge, across which they enter the 2,000-sq. ft. (300-sq. m) timber restaurant.

Some Like It Raw View, the open-air restaurant at the new Azul Blue Hotel & Spa in Tulum, Mexico, is winning over guests with this customized ceviche program. Hotel guests choose from fresh seafood caught a few miles offshore each morning, and personalize their ceviche with a variety of local vegetables, tropical fruits, herbs and chilies. The made-to-order ceviche is prepared tableside, prompting interaction between guests and "Cevicheros," the resort's expert ceviche chefs. And because the Azul Blue room rate (from US$720 to US$1300 per night, per couple) is "gourmet inclusive," the idea is that guests will be more inclined to experiment with new flavors and entrees.

While the experience itself is unique, the resort also offers complimentary gourmet cooking classes with the Cevicheros to learn how to bring the experience home.

Cocktail Hour Interest in "mixology" classes has led the The Capital Hotel, London, to introduce a "cocktail masterclass" program for its guests. The program targets small, high-end groups with a two and a half hour class/demonstration with the hotel's Bar Manager Cesar da Silva. Guests mix and sample a range of classic cocktails, from bellinis to caiparinhas, dine on canapés by Eric Chavot, the hotel's two Michelin star chef, and take home a complete bar set with all the tools and accoutrements one would need to re-create the experience at home. The hotel is marketing the program to small, executive meetings as a fun "icebreaker" as well as to the bachelor party set that may be seeking an alternative to the routine. Cost is £15 per person.