HOOKED SEAFOOD LEBANESE RESTAURANT SPECIALITY
The opening of a seafood Lebanese concept. Hooked is a Lebanese seafood restaurant with an outdoor seating area by the Arabian golf sea. This restaurant plays a key part in making Zaya Nurai the dreamlike, serenely perfect location that it is. It is distinguished by chef Marc revisited Mediterranean dishes that promises to surprise clients’ palette and bringing back forgotten traditional flavors with a refined touch.
HOOKED KITCHEN LAYOUT
The existing outlet kitchen required renovation, without doubt, to achieve smooth operation and enhancing the menu. Starting with the kitchen sections segregation. Firstly creating a long corridor layout, which has a workspace large enough for one cook on every section. In this kitchen floor plan, the work stations face each other on parallel walls, creating the hot section and the cold section on the same line.
KITCHEN SECTIONS
The hot section included the mashwa station, meaning the grill section for the Lebanese famous skewers, the grilled fish dishes, and specialties. The Cold section for the making of all the cold known mezze. Then we added a new preparation area dived into two sections, the fish area, and a vegetable sanitizing area. Lastly, a chiller storage room since Lebanese food requires lots of vegetables.
LIVE SECTIONS
As for the front of the house, Marc wanted to add interaction between the chefs and the guests. Therefore, a live pita bread section is placed which creates a delicious aroma of freshly baked bread around the restaurant. A fish display and lobster tank are added. There is nothing more interesting than watching the chef make fresh bread and choosing your own fish.
Chefs don’t make magic! Equipment quality is important as any other segment in the restaurant. The supplier wants to upsell, so they push to sell their equipment even if not needed. It is important to meet various suppliers to get what is best for the culinary department and for the adequate price of course!
CHOOSING THE CORRECT PRODUCT
In this video, Marc and the team will choose the right seafood product for the menu. Lots of suppliers are in the market but not all of them have the highest quality. It is very tricky to create the correct vendor list taking into consideration the quality and maintaining the cost at the same time.
It takes quite some time and requires great knowledge to explore the market product and pick the correct items. A detailed product list is vital for a restaurant. The vendor list should never be modified or changed without chef approval. Only the chef who has created the menu can find an alternative in case the supplier has stopped the product.
HOOKED CRAFTED DISHES
The opening of a seafood Lebanese concept menu. After studying the market carefully with precise research and market study. Marc has reinterpreted all the Lebanese dish very wisely. It is not easy to make those dishes, there is a thin line between enhancing the dishes for a better presentation and adding new flavors with an outstanding taste.
The menu has a large variety of mezze focused. Starting with a section of Hummus, nation favorites. Therefore, adding a new Seafood hummus to the market took some time to revisit, while keeping the hummus flavors as it is, but adding a selection of freshly caught seafood combined with a Levantine paste topped with Japanese red chili filament. The menu is more likely about seafood dishes. There lots of interesting revisited dishes as you can see in the pictures below. The menu is properly categorized so the guest can easily find what is he looking for.
In my opinion, there are classic dishes that have to be on the menu no matter what, I called them the Lebanese necessities such as the tabouleh, Baba ghanoush, and others. Guest can choose their own fish from our daily caught seafood display with their favorite cooking method…
OUR CULINARY AMBASSADORS
The most descriptive of menus still require clarification from time to time. Your staff should be familiar with the menu. The staff should not only explain the dish details but also provide suggestions and answer the guest’s questions with ease.
Prepping your staff with this knowledge may seem like a daunting task, but it can actually lend itself to some fun and easy memorization games during training. For example, the more experienced employees can quiz others on key items and their respective ingredients.
Challenge your new employees to take time memorizing and reading on their own. In the event of a customer question, they cannot answer, ensure that they know who to ask in order to get an answer. I personally believe, waiters should work in the kitchen for a few weeks which will help them be more familiar with the menu. Never forget that the front of the house staff is our food ambassadors!
LIVE TRAINING SESSION AND TASTING BEFORE THE OPENING
Live training session and tasting are vital before the opening. This is the part when all the team work together and understand more the procedure and challenges that they could occur during the opening. Marc will evaluate the staff on this day to ensure that all the staff comprehends properly the plating and operational standards. One month intensive training is required so all the kitchen staff is on track. The most important aspect of the opening is to organize and prepare everything ahead of time.
IN CONCLUSION
The opening of a seafood Lebanese concept is not an easy job, the recruitment process takes lots of focus and effort. Choosing the right kitchen team for every specialization is tricky. Selecting the plates and stencil always have to match with the concept and play a big role in making the dishes refined and well presented. Not forgetting seeking the proper chef tools as well. As you can see there is much research, market study and effort have to be done before the opening to achieve a well establishes restaurant… You want to explore more opening concept click on the link.