Center Of Attention
Show kitchens and action stations bring F&B equipment out front.
By Monica Rogers, Contributing Editor & Derek Gale, Senior Associate Editor -- Hotels, 5/1/2008
More hotel restaurants are bringing the kitchen to the forefront these days, whether placing an open kitchen in the center of the dining room or via action stations spread around the dining area. Doing this requires carefully thinking through the kitchen equipment, and recognizing that aesthetics may play nearly as
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| A dim sum station is one of several action stations within Anise restaurant to feature specialized, visually appealing kitchen equipment. The open kitchen, world-market-style concept at the InterContinental Dubai Festival City is able to produce authentic ethnic cuisine thanks to such specialized equipment. |
Anise, a world market-style restaurant at the InterContinental Dubai Festival City, features several live-action cooking stations dedicated to various types of cuisines, bringing all types of kitchen equipment into the front of the house for guests to experience firsthand. Diners watch as the restaurant’s chefs grill, roast, steam, boil, bake and fry various dishes.
To deliver an authentic product, proper equipment is essential, which is why the restaurant has seven ovens (including dedicated pizza ovens and a dedicated Arabic bread oven).
“The different styles of ovens now are being more recognized and appreciated by both chefs and the dining public,” says Executive Chef Geoff Haviland. “I think a trend that will develop much further is the emergence of the main cooking oven into the dining room, where the chefs are the showmen and the oven is the main stage prop. The visual appeal of an open pizza oven with the flames visible in the background is a very effective marketing tool.”
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| An Arabic bread oven is one of seven ovens at Anise restaurant. |
Of course, aesthetically pleasing ovens that look as good as they cook do not come cheap, but “hotel management and owners acknowledge the need for diversity of authentic cuisines offered in their outlets,” Haviland says, “and as such, the budgets for operational equipment have increased.”
Mediterranean Medley
Deseo, another multifaceted restaurant, this one with a Mediterranean menu and located at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Perthshire, Scotland, incorporates a series of cooking stations and a variety of equipment in its food hall (a space formerly housing the children’s playroom and the hotel pool) to give guests myriad options throughout the day.
In the morning, oversized walnut display cabinets that line the room are dressed for breakfast with baskets for breads and baked goods, and the wood oven area provides hot breakfast service. The dinner-only chef’s theater station even becomes a smoothie bar.
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| Deseo, a market-style Mediterranean concept at the Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland, features a wood-burning pizza oven as part of its open kitchen overlooking the main seating area. |
At lunch, all areas of the room spring to life. There is the emporium, with a butchery, fishmonger and deli/patisserie station. Here, guests select meat, seafood and sandwich ingredients which are then prepared to order on charcoal grills and ovens, planchas and induction ranges built into the walnut cabinetry.
Steps away at a busy, open kitchen overlooking the main seating area, a wood-burning pizza oven and cooking suite turns out pizzas and pasta dishes. And on the room’s upper terrace, a buffet-style antipasto table lets guests select little tasting dishes.
At dinner, the chef’s theater adds to the action. With a dedicated chef and seats for eight guests, the marble-topped, black-lacquered wood and stainless steel island also includes a cast-iron cooking range.
Because so much is going on in the space, Deseo’s staff uses handheld point-of-sale terminals to simplify and speed up the order taking process. Although guests may order directly from the chefs at each station, most choose to walk the emporium, decide on their selections, and return to their tables to order from the server. Using the handhelds, servers call orders in to a centrally located chef expeditor, who then communicates to all sections via radio microphone earpiece.
Aromatic Exhibition
Domaso Trattoria Moderna, in the Hotel Palomar Arlington, brings “the best design features of the Old World into the 20th century,” says designer Jacqueline Kish of the San Francisco-based Puccini Group, who shaped the castle-themed interior. Part of the 20th-century feel of the restaurant comes from the two exhibition kitchens, designed by San Francisco-based equipment consultant George Federeghi.
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| Deseo’s dinner-only chef’s theater station is multifunctional, becoming a smoothie bar at breakfast. |
Aware that the restaurant would function all day, Kish put a display bakery right up front so that the lunch crowd could not only see the bread being baked, but also smell the fresh-baked loaves. At night, the bakery functions as a private dining room. To accomplish this, the equipment (including a specialty deck oven for bread baking), which was intentionally placed around the perimeter, is shined and cleaned at the end of every shift, and the large, marble slab table in the center of the room—used for bakery preparations during the day—becomes an elegant dining table in the evening.
In addition, “We added decorative elements to the bakery that you would not traditionally see,” Kish notes. Examples include handcrafted tile on the walls and a chandelier. Plus, glass doors close the bakery off from the restaurant foyer, and an access door connects the bakery area directly to the kitchen.
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| A display bakery up front at Domaso Trattoria Moderna in the Hotel Palomar Arlington, Virginia, allows guests to see and smell freshbaked loaves of bread. The placement of equipment in the space allows it to turn into a private dining room in the evenings. |
The main kitchen also is on display in the dining room, “serving as a great culinary focal point for the guests,” Kish says. “They can see and smell their meals being prepared. It’s a real conversation piece for groups, and the counter, in front, is a comfortable alternative for single guests [who want] to sit and be entertained.”
To produce Executive Chef Massimo Fedozzi’s modern interpretations of his native, Northern Italian cuisine, the kitchen relies mostly on the sauté station, powered by a 12-burner range, along with a European pasta cooker. To add to the visual element, however, Federeghi positioned salad and dessert prep front and center.
Direct comments to: derek.gale@reedbusiness.com
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