Friday

a transfer

I have been recently transferred to the Ayala Tower Executive lounge in the heart of the Makati Commecial Business District. Located on the 25th floor, the 120 seater restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, catering to the businessmen, executives and employees residing in the building.
The menu is the same with most of Makati Skyline outlets, but they have been tweaked to cater the people weith money, particularly the VIPs of the 34th and 35th floor...the Ayala Family. I haven't met any of them, but I have met the go-to person when it comes to their food preferences.
The restaurant has a commanding view of the west side of Makati, with Manila bay poking out in the horizon. The sunsets are great. Decor is minimalist, all subdued in beige and white, with little affectations...the upside to this is the location of the picture windows, encompassing three of the four walls.
The kitchen is divided in two, a small line kitchen for a la carte items, and a production kitchen, which handles all functions and the lunch buffet. The kitchen is relatively well lit and ventilated, with all equipments in stainless steel industry standard.
The a la carte kitchen is equipped with a four top, grills, and a salamander. A kitchen I am familiar with. What I don't get is the production kitchen. they all have those high powered "burners", the kind you find in chinese restaurants where the only equipment you use on it is a wok. And its apparently an accepted standard in other restaurants, as well as country clubs. The disaadvantage to this arrangement that you can heat, cook with only one wok per burner at a time. Not very productive, especially the kind of heat this beast spits out.
Next Monday I am to propose ten new items to the a la carte menu. Miss Charrie, the operations manager, was convinced that the restaurant should be viable and not depend on functions for revenue if the floor was occupied 80% on average each day. I agree with her. Functions are a given, especially if our clientele can't avoid the meetings, the seminars, the meetups at a convenient location. They just need an upgrade to the menu. I hope I could do it.

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