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HOME-GROWN CHEFS BRING THREE ROSETTES TO ALDERLEY EDGE
The Alderley Edge Hotel's prestige restaurant has joined the country's top 10 per cent to be awarded a coveted three AA rosettes.
And 'The Alderley Restaurant' in Cheshire is the only new three-rosette eatery between Birmingham and Edinburgh in the latest round of newly announced top food accolades.
It places head chef Chris Holland's team alongside famous London restaurants like Marco Pierre White's 'L'Escargot', Michele Roux's 'Le Gavroche', and 'Gordon Ramsay at Claridges'.
The AA's hotel services group area manager, Giovanna Grossi, praised Chris's "innovative touches along with his creative use of flavours - resulting in top notch cuisine."
The restaurant was also commended for its 'imaginative menus' and use of local produce.
The move from two to three rosettes is, said Chris, "a tremendous reward for a lot of hard work. I'm lucky to have a committed team of people who have all contributed to creating food that just doesn’t exist elsewhere.
"Our main aim has always been to provide our customers with the most exciting food we can achieve but to be acknowledged by the hard-to-please AA judges really is the icing on a very nice cake."
For the Alderley Edge Hotel's general manager, Ahmet Kurcer, the rosettes are recognition for his policy of encouraging 'home-grown' staff. Chris Holland is a Greater Manchester-born chef and his team are drawn from the surrounding area.
"It's not unusual for restaurants to grow their own ingredients – and we grow our own herbs in the gardens behind the hotel – but we also 'grow' our own staff," he says. "We give them opportunities, nurture their professional growth and now we can harvest the fruits of their talent.
"Chris has been with us for 12 years and was appointed head chef four years ago. In that time he has become an outstanding chef who has raised the bar for fine food menus. His signature dishes take traditional British classics and give them an often extravagant twist that uses textures and releases flavours to improve the original."
AA rosettes are awarded twice a year in recognition of "exceptional standards of cuisine". Three rosettes, says the AA, "takes a restaurant into the big league. Expectations of the kitchen are high, exact technique, flair and imagination must come through in every dish, and balance and depth of flavour are all-important."
Giovanna Grossi added: "Restaurants serving food of a three-rosette standard are worthy of recognition from well beyond their local area."
Head chef Chris Holland (front, right) and general manager Ahmet Kurcer toast the three AA rosettes with the Alderley Restaurant team.
Restaurant of the Year
When the Alderley Restaurant won the coveted Cheshire Life Restaurant of the Year award, the reputation that head chef Chris Holland's team was earning - for ongoing innovation and the consistent excellence of outstanding ingredients - went from strength to strength. "I am delighted that their hard work is recognised as much by expert judges as it is by our customers", said General Manager, Ahmet Kurcer.
One Enchanted Evening...
A review courtesy of Jane Woods, Saturday 1st August 2009
Click Here to download the review as a PDF document.
New heights for Alderley Edge Hotel
Table '8' is two feet higher than it used to be.
And the spectacular panoramic view over the east Cheshire plain is now turning it into the most requested restaurant seat in town.
Customers at the Alderley Restaurant – part of the newly refurbished Alderley Edge Hotel – are specifically requesting it since the hotel's £200,000 improvement enhanced the 80-cover restaurant and adjoining lounge bar area.
'Enhanced' – not 'changed'. Because Ahmet Kurcer has a theory about 'change'
"It happens all the time," says the general manager of the Alderley Edge Hotel. "People need it ... but they don't necessarily like it. And it works best of all when they hardly notice it."
A wall and two fireplaces have been removed, part of the restaurant floor lifted by two feet, and a subtly modernised décor, with new furnishings and a specially commissioned collection of local photography, has transformed the atmosphere. But many customers are not conscious of any great change.
"And that's fine," says Mr Kurcer, "because improvement is not always the same as change. Many people don't like change so the trick is to alter things while making sure people still feel comfortable ... or even moreso.
"We deliberately briefed the designer to achieve a very gentle merger of classically traditional and stylishly modern because that's what makes us unique. Some customers do a 'double take' because they notice things are different but to others it looks as though it's always been this way.
"And I'm happy with that … because their comfort is our priority."
The new-look for the 157 year-old former cotton merchant's house took four weeks to complete and restaurant regulars moved into the hotel's function room until everything was ready.
The restaurant's newly levelled floor is the most noticeable improvement - replacing the split-level that used to separate customers into two areas and left those at the lower tables peering over a window ledge to enjoy the view over the Cheshire countryside.
That's why Table '8' - with its prime elevated window - is now becoming the first to be reserved as customers book up to sample the 'sous vide' gourmet specialities in head chef Chris Holland's newly launched 'modern English' menu.
The new level floor also gives more flexibility for larger parties, of up to 25 people, to be seated at the same table if they wish.
"Many people, however, whether lunching or dining, often don't chose hotel restaurants," says Mr Kurcer. "But this is no standard hotel restaurant. The atmosphere we have now created feels like a standalone eating area, with a special identity, where customers can enjoy gourmet food at realistic prices."
Meanwhile, service in the lounge bar is now extended through the day, from 10am, Monday to Saturday, for people who want morning coffee and afternoon snacks, light meals and traditional classic dishes from lunchtime to evening.
"The bar lounge is a social hub for any hotel and getting it right is important," adds Mr Kurcer. "Here, people can sit and talk, over a meal or drink, in the comfort of quality surroundings at any time of day.
"And quality is what we insist on … every aspect of that service has to be strike absolutely the right chord."
In Cheshire Review - February 2009
Click Here to download the review as a PDF document.
Waterfront
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Quintessential Review - February 2009
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