Honest Hour: It all Boils Down to Respect
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July 25, 2024Routine, precision, approval–life has its demands; and the life of a Chef is no stranger to that meticulous strive for excellence.
In this honest rendition of Chefdom; Andrew Vella discusses the taboo topics that negatively surround professional kitchen life. But before we scrape the bottom of this age-old-pot; understanding the culture of restaurants and their purpose in society is vital.
What is the purpose of a restaurant? Via dictionary definition: a place of business where food and beverages can be bought by patrons. Essentially correct, right? More holistically, a restaurant is a place of entertainment in the form of an eatery and the patron’s reaction to the experience within that space. From a gourmet or gourmand point of view; visiting a restaurant has experiential value that climaxes with artistic fulfilment. Chefs are artists, right?
Well… not all Chefs are artists, and the more I speak to our local culinary masters, the more I cement this ideology. Some are business focused, others experience driven, some dedicated to the food itself, and a handful–artists. Devoted to the artform of curating a menu dictated by the season’s produce; manipulating texture, contrast, depth, variety and of course flavour to create a final masterpiece, plated with intention. In my opinion, Chef Andrew Vella is an artist belonging to the culinary realm.
When everything has a reason and a purpose; you manage to create harmony. Chef Andrew’s ingredients communicate with each other in a dish–the artistry in finding balance is where the magic lies. But creativity, passion, mastery and all the positives aside, perhaps the true artistry in running a restaurant and kitchen is managing the setbacks–both personal and professional.
Enter the starving artist, an eradicated state of modern life in terms of the ability to thrive; but perhaps a festering ego-booster for today’s authentic artists. We use the term ‘starving’ so loosely; and in this case while starving from a nutrition perspective is not factual, starving from respect is another case entirely.
Malta and Gozo’s restaurant industry is, modestly speaking, rather successful. We hunt down the newest restaurant with eager eyes hoping to be wowed by the Islands’ next ‘it’ Chef. This happens globally, across every niche in the entertainment industry–granted. But has the respect for this artform of entertainment increased? Andrew Vella speaks openly about the ins and outs of keeping Rebekah’s afloat and successful.
“The thing is, every restaurant of a certain level needs to keep the creativity, innovation, accuracy and sensory ability at 100% constantly.” he starts. “The industry does well, that’s for sure but when you literally are your job; the realities behind the excellence we portray to our clients are still part of a Chef Patron’s everyday life.”
Chef Andrew Vella
We delved deeper and deeper into this; bringing up important notes of business, restaurant, kitchen, employee and other costs compared with final profit–trimming the fat to feed the soul.
“Can we say that being a Chef is a vocation? It’s a labour of passion and fascination; and there’s always the good and bad to weigh out in a job. But there are always ways to make things better.”
Andrew’s serious Chef days started at The Arches, Mellieha in 2015. This is where the routine, precision, approval and everyday demands; personal and professional; started churning. And while the dedication grew by the day, the dependency on numbing the inner artist with alcohol, also grew by the day.
“Here’s a cliché for you, so many people think that kitchen life is a gateway to bad habits; we’re all aggressive, loud characters with some sort of dependency. But my story is different–the call of the kitchen saved my life.”
Andrew continues to share his journey towards sobriety, “I knew I had a problem when I felt compromised to perform in service. How could I do my job if I don’t have control? I decided to take back that control and poured myself into Pastry.”
Pastry requires a new level of precision that not every Chef can get attuned to. I don’t think getting Pastry right only depends on a Chef’s ability in the kitchen; focus, clarity and symmetry play such an integral part. You need to surrender to Pastry.
“All the Pastry at Rebekah’s is done in-house. And it really brings me a lot of pride; it’s a token for me, a daily reminder that you need to tune in to the right frequencies to keep the mind organised. Pastry did that for me.
My kitchen is a quiet, meticulous area where Rebekah’s brigade work as a team to deliver a thought-out menu, service and experience with consistency in clear focus. We plan our service to the T, every service, to make sure that every guest gets an accurate experience. But unfortunately, this is a two-way street.”
The fact of the matter is that in life we all have choices, and every choice has its consequences. Choosing to address a problem is the only way to make change–and that can be said for the professional’s approach to the industry as well as the patron’s approach to restaurant culture.
Andrew here begins to reveal his inner artist and the angst that comes along with the creative’s mind, body and soul. “At the end of the day, it all boils down to respect.”
Let’s focus on this analogy; you’re booked for the theatre–show starts at 20:00. What time would you arrive? How is it that we show up early for a performance, so as not to interrupt the artists, but find it acceptable to arrive at 20:30, if at all, to a restaurant?
“Can we say that being a Chef is a vocation? It’s a labour of passion and fascination; and there’s always the good and bad to weigh out in a job. But there are always ways to make things better.”
Andrew’s serious Chef days started at The Arches, Mellieha in 2015. This is where the routine, precision, approval and everyday demands; personal and professional; started churning. And while the dedication grew by the day, the dependency on numbing the inner artist with alcohol, also grew by the day.
“Here’s a cliché for you, so many people think that kitchen life is a gateway to bad habits; we’re all aggressive, loud characters with some sort of dependency. But my story is different–the call of the kitchen saved my life.”
Andrew continues to share his journey towards sobriety, “I knew I had a problem when I felt compromised to perform in service. How could I do my job if I don’t have control? I decided to take back that control and poured myself into Pastry.”
Pastry requires a new level of precision that not every Chef can get attuned to. I don’t think getting Pastry right only depends on a Chef’s ability in the kitchen; focus, clarity and symmetry play such an integral part. You need to surrender to Pastry.
“All the Pastry at Rebekah’s is done in-house. And it really brings me a lot of pride; it’s a token for me, a daily reminder that you need to tune in to the right frequencies to keep the mind organised. Pastry did that for me.
My kitchen is a quiet, meticulous area where Rebekah’s brigade work as a team to deliver a thought-out menu, service and experience with consistency in clear focus. We plan our service to the T, every service, to make sure that every guest gets an accurate experience. But unfortunately, this is a two-way street.”
The fact of the matter is that in life we all have choices, and every choice has its consequences. Choosing to address a problem is the only way to make change–and that can be said for the professional’s approach to the industry as well as the patron’s approach to restaurant culture.
Andrew here begins to reveal his inner artist and the angst that comes along with the creative’s mind, body and soul. “At the end of the day, it all boils down to respect.”
Let’s focus on this analogy; you’re booked for the theatre–show starts at 20:00. What time would you arrive? How is it that we show up early for a performance, so as not to interrupt the artists, but find it acceptable to arrive at 20:30, if at all, to a restaurant?
“When our patrons show up late, our running order gets disrupted. And it’s not because we don’t want to work later than we were planned to; that’s the industry, it’s about being prepared, ready and able, as a kitchen, to serve food at its peak. Compromising a dish is not in our practice.”
But in order not to compromise quality in the kitchen, patrons will need to compromise on waiting time between courses, Front of House will need to entertain patrons; perhaps even compensate those guests who were victim to other’s tardiness. It’s a cycle, but the good news is that it can be avoided.
“The best way to solve this problem is to stick to bookings and show up on time. But letting the restaurant know that you’re either running late, unable to make your reservation or decreasing your party count–will save any kitchen from panic and disturbances to other patrons.”
From an industry point of view, the solution would be to enforce booking fees to mitigate the number of no-shows; but how would this work locally? While some are putting this into practice, other restaurateurs are sceptical. You could even argue that creating a booking fee puts people on the spot to commitment; forfeiting their deposit should their intentions change. So to reiterate, it all boils down to respect.
HORECA Magazine is dedicated to shining a light on the success in the industry, but it is also our duty to highlight the pain points in the sector. If you are an industry professional with a few honest remarks, get in touch with our Editor–your story might be our next feature on Honest Hour.
Click here to see Horeca Issue 16 online
