Chef Francis first wanted
to become a musician in his childhood, mostly because almost everyone in his
family played an instrument or sang, he used to play the keyboards in his
school years, but his mother used to cook, so Francis while helping her, began
to realize that this was his true passion and that it was actually a very good
area for him to develop in.
He does not like to call
being a Chef a job, or his profession,
he thinks of it more as his passion into which he puts his heart and
soul. it is very different for him, starting from breakfast to dinner, and as an
Executive Sous Chef, his main job is to control the production levels, maintain
the quality and standards and procuring the different ingredients and items required.
His favorite dishes
include the Fried Foie Gras available from Fenesse the French Restaurant of
Jumeirah, but he has a dish he regards as his personal favorite, the Fried
Hilsa which is a type of fish cooked with mustard oil. The dish is quite
memorable for Francis, as he learned the recipes and ingredients from his
grandmother who used it in her cooking.
Chef Francis explained
that the recipe behind the Fried Hilsa dish is very simple. A combination of
Mustard oil, Sea Salt, sugar and turmeric with the Hilsa Fish are the main
ingredients in the dish. It contains strong flavors of mustard oil and the fish
has a very unique flavor as well, making the personal favorite of Chef Francis.
Chef Francis is also the
man behind the introduction of the concept of Friturier to Jumeirah
Vittaveli. He explained that is a French word and it signifies an important
position in the kitchen hierarchy the Fry Cook. His aim is to serve delicious
bar fare made by the Friturier to all the guests in the hotel who lounge at the
bar or the sundeck in the evening as a value added service.
Two of the restaurants at
Jumeirah Vittaveli under Chef Francis winning awards at the World Luxury
Restaurant Awards was described as a very happy moment by Chef Francis who also
stated that both restaurants, Indian Swarna and French Fenesse, fully deserved the
awards. He feels that both restaurants are doing very well, especially Swarna that
only opened in September 2015.
The standards and quality
levels of the restaurants are kept as high as possible. The French restaurant Fenesse
comes with two concepts, classic and traditional dishes as well as innovative
and modern dishes. Meanwhile, the Indian restaurant of Swarna, also comes
with two concepts. In Swarna the first concept is a journey through India
with ten different courses consisting of small dishes from different parts of
India. The second concept is Thali which is a sanskrit word for plate. In
Thali, many different dishes originating from all around India are presented on
one elaborate Thali plate.
Chef Francis gained a lot
of experiences by working for hotels such as The Oberoi, ITC Hotels, Accor
Hotels, and even Starwood Hotels. He also gained a lot from his travels
overseas to countries such as UAE and Singapore. They had a significant impact
on his career and skills and helped him become a better chef. As a chef,
Francis firmly believes that traveling and experiencing different cuisines is very
important and explains that the more you travel the more knowledge, styles, and
cuisines you learn.
He also described that
the main difficulties in his work right now are procuring ingredients. Other
than that he doesnt face much that he and his team cannot handle.
He believes that his team
is always eager to learn and is very helpful, strong and creative. Most of his
team have been here in Jumeirah for a long time and know the resort in and out.
They understand him very well and without his team Chef Francis clarified that
it is impossible to do what they do so well. Chef Francis also stated that most
Maldivians are very skilled and creative in the kitchen which helps them become
successful in the industry.
When asked how he
differentiates himself from other chefs, Chef Francis explained that different
chefs have different styles, and the biggest difference between him and other
chefs is that he does not think of it as a job, and that he cooks from his heart
showing true passion and love for what he does.
He clarified that there
are two styles in cooking, home style and hotel. He tries to focus more on the traditional and home cooked style of dishes
and present something that gives his customers a sense of home keeping things light,
tasty and simple.
Speaking about Jumeirah
Vittaveli, he stated that there is an excellent management in position, who are
very flexible. Chef Francis has the freedom to create new dishes from any
ingredient as it is more of a service based company. He thanked the management
for providing everything he asks for to provide the high quality service and
products. He also said that Jumeirah mostly focuses on quality and not cost,
making it perfect for chefs.
Chef Francis feels that
the Maldives is amazing, having travelled a lot to places like Dubai and
Singapore, where all the ingredients are easily available, but what is
spectacular about the Maldives is that fish are caught straight from the sea
and cooked fresh with all the ingredients for a superb meal also available at
the same time. It cannot get any fresher than that and thats what he likes
about the Maldives the most, apart from the natural beauty of course.
Chef Francis believes
that the Maldives is well on its way to becoming famous as a culinary
destination. He explained that many top level chefs are here working in the
Maldives with almost all the best chefs in the world visiting the country.
Furthermore, all the ingredients are available in the Maldives even if they do
not grow here and things such as fish are the gold standard in freshness.
He believes that the
Maldives can still improve with ideas such as the introduction of new colleges
and culinary schools in the Maldives and focusing on training young chefs properly.
As of now, the Maldives has only a few colleges or schools for the industry
such as the Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Studies.
Chef Francis says that
the sky is the limit speaking about the future. The resort already has plans
for a new Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant, and the new menus for each year keep
evolving and getting better as a result of experimenting by Chef Francis and
his team.
He made it clear that
throughout his career he has had ups and downs. As a chefs job is very
different from others, it was quite hard for him at first. Chef Francis worked
under different people with different characteristics in his career. Chef
Francis likes to think of himself as someone who never runs behind his career.
He enjoys himself and what he does and always tries to maintain the same
quality.
Chef Francis believes
that honesty is very important in his line of work. Honesty and hard work are
the two main secrets for success in this field. It is better not to think about
the time and challenges of the career, but pour your heart and soul into what
you do, fill it with passion and it wont be nearly as hard as you imagined then.
That is what speaking in the language of food
is.
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