the rib room

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Later, as ye innkeeper shot some of his guests to the summit of London’s newest hotel at 500 feet a minute, he explained that it would be wrong to describe The Carlton Tower as an American hotel. In London today your hotel had to be an international one if it was to survive. But, he added, the Carlton was traditional as well as international. Trying hard to find some tradition, we went behind the scenes where a dishwasher was slowly ploughing its way through the dishes of 3,000 meals. A buzzer sounded in ye innkeeper’s breast pocket. He pulled out a miniature radio transmitted and explained that every executive was centrally connected in this way. but the proof of the Yorkshire pudding was in the eating. During the galloping inflation of the 1970s, the hotel put up its prices rather than compromise on quality or portion size. Diners recognised that they had to pay for the best. as the Catering Times reported in 1977, ‘the policy has meant a 45 per cent increase in prices over the past two years but so far there has been little customer resistance.’ Right: In 2006, four men who had been enjoying the hospitality of the hotel bars were seen manhandling the Rib Room’s beloved bull statue into the back of a white Phantom Rolls- Royce. The police traced the number plate to Yorkshire, but became reluctant to enter the owner’s house when a woman appeared at the door with a Bengal tiger on a lead. However, the sculpture soon found made its return to the hotel – having been mysteriously left outside the back entrance. 72 73
Kings of the Kitchen For twenty-seven years, Donato russo has devoted most of his waking hours to perfecting the art of cooking roast beef, while Simon Young (above), the Carlton tower’s executive chef, is the pillar on whose shoulders the hotel’s whole food and beverage operation rests. altogether, the hotel’s banqueting, pastry, room service, rib room and the Chinoiserie kitchens employ a total of forty-five chefs. ‘twenty five years ago, when I started as a commis chef at a hotel around the corner, I used to walk past the Carlton tower and dreamt of working there,’ remembers Simon. ‘Now I write every menu in the hotel.’ his day starts at 6.30am, when he walks through every kitchen opening fridges and checking ingredients. at 9am comes ‘morning prayers’, when he delivers his report on the findings and discusses the day’s business. From the comfort food of room service to dazzling canapés in the ball room or asian-style tapas in the Gilt bar, he will provide whatever guests want, in an operation that continues around the clock. 74 75
Page 1: Chapter eIGht the rIb room When the
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Page 7 and 8: Left: Sundamoorthy Veerappan enjoys
Page 10 and 11: the art of conviviality the rib roo

the rib room

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