Lunch on weekdays with Les Jardins’ team
Do you remember Les Jardins of the Hôtel du Centre that we presented a few months ago and their naturally zen ambience? The calm is however only in appearance or, at least, kept for those who will find themselves quietly seating at a table on the side of the room. Now, discover the other face of a restaurant bursting with energy!
Chef Patrick at the controls
Your captain on board is Patrick Xozame, Chef cook and – let us recall it – master saucier. Orchestrating all the work of setting up in the kitchen, he is the one who heads and gives the pace from the beginning to the end of the service.
Docking time is 7.30 am. The morning starts at once... not with a steaming coffee but with the immediate cooking of the today’s special: countdown launched for the suggestion of the Chef whose recipe for stew changes daily. Setting up of the skewers and making sauces will then follow for our grill specialist.
Of course, the Chef’s day will not end directly at the end of service. Once the kitchen has been cleared, cleaned, polished and tidied up, a few logistical tasks are required: short debriefing with the team, necessary stock level checks for the next day, preparation of the new menu and orders to anticipate from suppliers for the following week.
Departure time is about 4.00 pm... providing everything is complete!
The Business Center on deck
In close association with Les Jardins, the Business Center is also on the front line to ensure the good coordination of all the groups of people it welcomes. Because you are more than just customers,, but on a very tight schedule, allowing you to be quickly settled and served in the restaurant is part of the art of receiving!
The orders of each one will be recorded the same morning with William the Supervisor, and then forwarded to the kitchen without any delay. We do not waste a minute already taking care of you long before you get to the table... proof of this are the fragrances that will certainly reach you in the meeting room from 10.30 am.
Karl to manoeuvre
Skilled Chef de partie, Karl Petaguet is the right-hand man of Chef Patrick, the latter leaving him his role in his absence by entrusting him with the controls of the kitchen without hesitation.
Having already worked hand in hand in La Pergola, the first restaurant of the Hôtel du Centre, the two men know each other to the point of understanding one another without saying a word. The ambience at the stoves is one of collusion and complicity: optimal organisation, exceptional timing, mutual trust... Quiet and constant atmosphere in other words, where you will never see a pan fly! Would the zen attitude of the buddha outside have something to do with it...?
Specialist of "à la carte" cold dishes, Karl is the one preparing every day your starters, salads, tartars, but also your pastries and other homemade desserts.
Reinforcement on the terrace
Maria and Éléonore today, Justine and Gladysse tomorrow, two female duos harmoniously echoing the charm and serenity of the place.
Their ritual begins around 8.30 am, it is the same every morning: general tidiness, cleaning of the floors, dusting of the furniture. Next, garden tools for landscape attention: cutting, pruning, stripping, watering, not to mention the maintenance of the gigantic and emblematic fountain with the features of buddha.
It is almost 10.00 am, the setting up is not waiting any longer: preparation and setting of the tables, storage of the dishes, writing of the menu on the board, supply of drinks, and last little "touch-up smile"!
Greeting of the very first customers around 11.00 am and taking orders... the vouchers will soon follow each other at the serving hatch.
"Hullo, I’m announcing. For table 8: 4 plates. With one straight double Skewer of the day + one straight Octopus, then one Chef’s pie + 2 Salad formulas including one Octopus, one Brie, then one Chef’s pie, one dessert of the day."
And it is tirelessly that the cadence will be held by the two women until the very beginning of the afternoon, when the time arrives for them to shut the doors and close the cash register, before giving back to Les Jardins their absolute silence... in any case, until the next morning.
