The ambience in Belle Vue is just perfect for a wholesome breakfast or a romantic candle lit dinner The Belle Vue is managed and control by one restaurant manager who work on the same shift and supervising 3 head waiters which in turn have to control 12 waiters who work for the Belle Vue. The same thing applies for the three shifts of the restaurant as it is the biggest and main restaurant of the hotel.
However this magnificent restaurant also has some drawbacks which make it low in productivity. First of all is the management style. As mentioned above, the restaurant is managed by only one restaurant manager, which is not enough regarding the size and seating capacity. Very often, the Bellevue is so busy that it cannot be managed properly by only 1 manager and there is much more pressure on the staffs, which leads to poor service provided to its customers. And from staff interviews, it has been noted that 1 manager is not able to handle customer queries.
Breakfast
07:30 – 10:30 hrs
Buffet with an extensive selection of hot and cold dishes, home-made bread, tropical fruits, cereals and pastries.
Lunch
12:30 – 15:30 hr
Dinner
18:30 – 22:00 hrs
A variety of Mauritian dishes such as Chicken Kalya, Mauritian Curried Beef, Fish rougailles, and other delicious dishes are served for lunch and dinner.
Chicken Kalya
Chicken Kalya is prepared in a bowl with Cinnamon cardamon, cloves, yogurt, cumin, turmeric, (or the contents of the spice pack if using), chilies, ginger, garlic, fresh coriander, mint and salt. Then the pieces of chicken are added to it and marinated for at least 1 hour and then the whole is cooked over a low heat for 45 minutes or until the chicken is well cooked, stirring from time to time.
Mauritian Curried Beef
Again this curry s prepared with the exotic Mauritian spices like garlic, coriander leaves, ginger, bay leaves, chilli powder, masala and turmeric. After 60 minutes stirring from time to time and adding water as necessary the mixture turns to a thickish sauce after fifty minutes of cooking. Finally the curry is served with boiled rice and satini.
Satini
Satini is the Creole word for Chutney. Curries are very popular in Mauritius and, as in India, the meal wouldn't be complete without one or two chutneys to accompany them, although in Mauritius, Satini have taken on a wider role, being served as a dip or appetiser as well as an accompaniment to various main dishes
There are 5 different buffets per week and 2 times a table d’hote menu.
The menu consists of the following choices:
- A buffet of freshly prepared salads
- Different soups
- Main courses
- Desserts
The following buffets alternate weekly:
- Gourmet
- Spanish
- Chinese
- Indian
La Maree – Beach Restaurant
The open - air thatched roof restaurant, overlooking the sparkling ocean offers a wide range of Carribean cuisines. The intimate and romantic, candle-lit La Maree restaurant, which overlooks the lagoon, serves exquisite, Caribbean cuisine, inspired by the freshness of the local produce, delicately seasoned and spiced. It is considered, by the cognoscenti, to be simply the best restaurant on the island....
La Maree beach restaurant of the Maritim Hotel lies on a 265 square meter white sandy beach, just a stone throw away from the warm lagoon. It accommodates 40 covers and its specialties are seafood and other grills served in a rustic atmosphere. The restaurant operates on a daily basis for lunch from 12:00 to 15:30 hrs, with a ‘plat du jour’ and as well as a selection from the grill. Also open 6 evenings per week from 19:00 to 22:00 hrs. There are 4 waiters working on the 12:00 to 15:30 hrs shift who are under the supervision of 1 headwaiter. The restaurant is controlled by one restaurant manager who also work on the shift basis. The restaurant manager makes the rotas of all the waiters and deals with any problems that may arise within the restaurant and inspires the guests with creative ideas for party decorations, invitations, themes, drinks La Maree has two Caribbean chefs who specializes in Caribbean foods.
The menus available in the La Maree restaurant are as follows:
Jerk lamb
Jerk Lamb is prepared with unpeeled garlic, guava jelly or redcurrant, white wine vinegar, freshly chopped parsley and fresh cilantro (coriander). Salt and jerk seasoning is rubbed in the lamb thoroughly and the lamb is marinated and kept in the fridge overnight. Then Roasted for 45 minutes (medium or rare) or about 15 minutes more for well done lamb. Allow the lamb to rest for 10 minutes before carving. Slice the lamb and glaze with the warm sauce (prepared with the unpeeled garlic, jelly and coriander)
King prawn in red Sauce
This is a typical Caribbean dish prepared with Large Onion, finely chopped, tin chopped tomatoes, garlic cloves crushed, finely grated ginger, tomato paste, thyme, freshly chopped parsley and hard boiled eggs. .the prawns are stirred in a saucepan and then onions are added until they turn soft and transparent. Garlic, ginger and tomato paste, are then added and let simmer for 1-2 minutes. Then the chopped tomatoes, thyme and parsley are well mixed and left to simmer over a low heat for 10 minutes, stirring from time to time. Finally the prawns are added and allowed to simmer for a further 5 minutes before it is ready to be served. The sliced boiled eggs act a garnish when the prawn dish is served to customers.
Grilled seafood. (Fish, lobster and prawns)
As the restaurant is located on the beach, one of its specialties is the grill seafood, which includes fish grills, prawn and lobster grills. The ingredients used to grill the seafood in a Caribbean style are: mashed potatoes, butter, lemon juice, olive oil and crushed garlic. The grill is pre heated and the fish or prawns are marinated with the ingredients mentioned above and the coated with the potato flakes. They are then wrapped in aluminum foils and placed on the grill for about 8 to 10 minutes. Most of the food preparations in the La Maree restaurants are done in front of the customers where the customers can watch how their foods are being prepared and watch the rare skills and talents of the chefs. On special demands of the customers, the grills are served on the beach accompanied by drinks and snacks. The beach service is available from 09:00 to 18:00 hours.
This Beach restaurant could offer even better service, but due to unpredictable weather, sometimes the beach service cannot be offered to the customers this is because the grills can be made only when the weather is favorable. When the service cannot be offered to the customers, the restaurant has to offer free in-house drinks and meals to its customers to compensate for the inconvenience and arrange for another date. Moreover, as this restaurant is located on the beach, it needs maintenance more often than the other restaurants. Due to salt water and extreme heat from the sea, the roof which is made up of straw has to be changed and all the wooden frame work of the restaurant also has to be replaced by new ones every two years. This refurbishment is quite expensive compared to the maintenance of the Belle Vue and the Mon Desir as the straw and the woods are costly. This is a disadvantage as enough funds must be allocated for this restaurant maintenance.
The Mon Desir Restaurant
In 1995, with the help of German investors, the restaurant was completely renovated and is now considered to be one of the most luxurious restaurants in Mauritius. The restaurant interior has been faithfully restored to the former grandeur of a late nineteen-century grand hotel dinning room, with a contemporary twist. Burnished gold hues feature strongly in the spectacular drapes and the sumptuously paneled walls, while shimmering crystal chandeliers cast an imposing eye over the entire room. Fresh flowers, arranged in Lalique, frosted, crystal vases, adorn every table adding to the light and airy feel of the space. The 180 sqm Mon Désir Restaurant is open from Monday to Saturday, evenings 19.00 - 23.00 hrs. Mon Désir seats 80 guests. An à la Carte restaurant par excellence, here you are invited to try international delicacies especially European foods in the sumptuous intimacy of this air- conditioned venue. The 2 chefs and 3 sous chefs are very good at European foods as they gathered their skills internationally, in a famous hotel school in France. (Chateau de Mon Plaisir) There is 1 restaurant manager and 4 waiters only who works in this restaurant with no supervisor as it is quite small in size but all the waiters are well experienced and they provide an exclusive service to their customers.
The problem with the Mon Desir is that it is a very Luxurious restaurant, and they have very skilled and experienced staffs, but these workers salaries are higher than the staffs of the other restaurants. As mentioned above, the chefs of the Mon Desir are internationally qualified and trained and also the waiters are very experienced and skillful. Therefore these scarce staffs have to be well paid and motivated, so that they can be retained by the hotel or else, recruiting and training new staffs can be costly.
Ala Cart Menu
Starters
Cured salmon and honey-mustard sauce with toast
(unchanged recipe since 1966)
Escargots and garlic sauce with tomato chutney,
green peas and mint
Veal capriccio, saltimbocca”
Duck liver terrine “foie gras” and port wine syrup
with epice brioche and smoked duck
Seared scallops in red beet crust and coriander red beet sauce
with herb brioche and avocado
Langoustine "mille feuille" and beurre blanc
with tomato and courgette,-
Soups
Potato and smoked haddock soup with creamed leek,
smoked haddock and poached egg
Soup of the day
The Mon Desir main courses
Seafood
Light salted cod and confit of cod and cardamom sauce
with garlic, capsicum and olives
Grilled halibut “Bourguignon”
with rösti potato and Jerusalem artichoke flan,-
Fried arctic char and lemongrass aïoli
with salmon roes and snow peas,-
Meat courses
Loin of lamb and lamb stock reduction
with goat cheese croquettes, Jerusalem artichokes,
lamb pastrami and puy lentils,-
Tenderloin of beef and Foyot sauce
with onion stew, wild mushrooms and pommes Pont Neuf
Fillet of pork and rosemary sauce
with crispy pork belly, chanterelles and potato tower
Breast of duck and Arabica fig sauce
with sweet potatoes, shallot and fig and fowl terrine
Desserts
Desserts
Pineapple flambé with Rum Baba and coconut ice cream
Hazelnut cake with milk chocolate cream, coffee ice cream and Tia Maria Sabayon
Selection of “Valrhona” chocolate desserts
Selection of cheeses with port wine syrup and “toast melba” Liquorices root crème brulée with wild strawberry ice cream
Coffee and petit fours
Conclusion
All the restaurants of the Maritim Hotel are doing very good, but they just have to improve on some areas where they are doing poorly. For example, the Belle vue, which is the biggest and most busy restaurant, has to employ another manager who can work along with the current manager. This would reduce the work load and pressure on the staffs and therefore staffs can will be more efficient and offer better service to the customers. As for the La Maree Beach restaurant, not much can be done about the unpredictable weather, but for the maintenance of the restaurant, the hotel must use the best quality of material so that they last longer or even changed the roof completely and use the palapa roof which is more durable and long lasting. And finally, for the Mon Desir Restaurant, if the staffs are well motivated and lead by a good leader, then the hotel will not have to worry about staff retention.
Despite some of the problems, the restaurants at the Maritim hotel offer you the opportunity of appreciating all the flavours of the 4 continents and the bar of which you can taste the tropical cocktails. Every evening a live band or musical group and of course the well known Mauritian sega provide entertainment. There are countless ways of enjoying yourself here. And after sundown, let yourself be enchanted by the rhythm of the Mauritian Sega dance
Bibliography
To bring this project up to this level, I made many reference works and researches from the following:
- Maritim Hotel magazines (imported from Mauritius) by Vikash Basgeet, Indian Ocean printing, 2004.
- Email from: [email protected]
-
Maritim Website http://www.mauritius.com/maritim/
