The Reflexions
Plaza Athenee opened in 2000 and originally Reflexions was a Californian restaurant. When Starwood took over the management of the hotel four years ago it re-branded to be Plaza Athenee Bangkok, A Royal Meridien Hotel and the new management re-assessed their restaurant concepts.
"We wanted to make it a new restaurant", explained Patrick Schaub, Hotel Manager, Plaza Athenee Bangkok, "and saw the demand for modern French. This also links in with the Le Meridien concept and origins; it is important for us to be confident with who we are in order to set our core values and build on them. Having identified the new direction we wanted, we needed to find a chef with an established reputation, the right personality plus the discipline to get things in place. The highly talented Chef Martin Fiest, with previous experience of working in Bangkok was the perfect choice".
They used a succession of promotional activities to drive guests to the restaurant; to differentiate who they were from other restaurants and organize events that were more than good, they had to be great. This assists in improving service, to stimulate the chefs and most importantly make money.
"I used the Blue Ocean strategy to build the brand through working on the three strategies", he says. Wine tastings are chic and we consistently organize them every month which started as a free event, then it became a networking opportunity and is currently a charity event raising money for the Lotus Flower Foundation. Wine dinners are cultured, adding value to our guests plus the opportunity to try a wide selection of wines. The third is discovery and the wine boutique gives the opportunity for those who know something about wines as well as those who want to discover more about them. With Take Fin we have strong partners who share our goals and vision. It really is not difficult to organize a good wine dinner but rather just a matter of being organized".
A significant development for Reflexions was bringing a two star Michelin Chef Gerald Passedat (who has since gained his third), the only one in the South of France. After this event Patrick felt the restaurant had reached a good level and now wanted to move up to great.
"Success in hospitality is about retaining loyal customers", he adds, "to achieve this I needed to bring in a manager who could appreciate and understand the core values of Reflexions and I found him in Thomas Paradell". The timing was just perfect as Chef Martin was ready to move up to the next level so simultaneously Chef Thibault Chiumenti joined Thomas as chef for Reflexions.
The Black and White labels are a unique concept created for the hotel as their red and white wines of the month. Serving them in an opaque black glass, the guest only gets to discover what the wine is by tasting it.
This led to their The Table concept, a unique and innovative dining concept. A four course meal with the choice of three wines, one of each has been paired to an item on the a la carte menu. The guest orders the wines and their food is matched to their wine selection to discover which works best. Discovery is one of the core values of dining at Reflexions and has made it a consistent award winning restaurant.
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