Catch of the day
Behind the scenes of The Grand Hotel with Executive Chef Alan White
As the iconic Brighton hotel continues with its £5 million refurbishment, find out what goes on behind the scenes at The Grand from key members of its staff.
Alan White, Executive Chef, says: “My job role is to design all the menus for the whole of the hotel, including the restaurant, room service and bar menus, so it’s very creative. I also choose what food to purchase and train the relevant staff. I also put together the breakfast menu which is now being used across all De Vere hotels.
I trained in Paris as a classical chef and have worked my way up from Sous Chef to Head Chef in various five-star hotels. I even did the food for first class British Airways passengers and for a private airline company, cooking for Robbie Williams and the Sultan of Brunei. I have two AA Rosettes, which I am really proud of.
When I came to The Grand in 2005 I updated the hotel menu and brought it into the 21st century. I’m also adamant that we use all fresh, local ingredients; our butcher is in Lewes and our cheese is from Sussex.
We’ve got a great kitchen team of 25 here at The Grand. I like to tease the new recruits sometimes by asking them to list ‘leg of salmon’
as our catch of the day.
My team and I cannot wait for the new seafood restaurant to open early next year. It’s going to look unrecognisable from how it is now, with a huge centrepiece ice bar which is going to be a crustacea bar as well as showing off our catch of the day. All of the fish will be sourced from within a four-mile radius of the hotel and will have been caught that morning. The restaurant will have a market feel and people can completely customise their dish – they can not only choose which fish they would like but we are going to have scales at the bar to weigh out custom portions. Our very knowledgeable chefs will be on hand to offer advice on how the fish is ideally cooked and what accompanies it best, but the choice is ultimately up to the customer.
If that sounds a bit daunting, then we are also going to have a traditional menu, which will feature some of my favourite dishes: fish pie, the best ever fish finger sandwich and a Monkfish tikka.
Don’t fancy fish? We’ll have a nice bit of locally sourced beef or lamb for you along with some fantastic vegetarian options.”
Next time we will be speaking to Andi Hirons, Deputy General Manager, for her take on the refurbishment.
The Grand, 97–99 King’s Road,
Brighton, BN1 2FW, 0871 222 4684,
www.devere-hotels.co.uk/thegrand
