Saadiyat Rotana Resort

SAADIYAT ROTANA RESORT

Project : Saadiyat Rotana Resort 
Category : Hotel 
Where : Abu Dhabi – United Arab Emirates
Line : System 700, System 850, Chef 850
Partner : MCTS

Saadiyat Rotana Resort & Villas, which opened in April 2018, is one of Abu Dhabi’s most exclusive destinations.
With seven different F&B offerings, it can meet demand in every way.
Starting with Si Ristorante Italiano & Bar, which serves genuine Italian dishes in a casual yet elegant setting, then Hamilton’s Gastropub with its British and American-inspired cooking, Turtle Bay Bar & Grill with a grilled meat and fish menu, continuing with Sama Lobby Lounge for tea and coffee breaks and sweets, Pool Bar for aperitifs and snacks, Nasma Beachfront Bar for sushi and cocktails and finally the international restaurant Sim Sim, winner of the FACT Dining Award of Abu Dhabi thanks to its famous brunches.

The brief

  • As early as 2013, five years prior to opening, the consultancy MCTS was chosen to take part in the invitation to tender for development of the concept and design of all areas of Saadiyat Rotana.
  • The design stage lasted two years and, as well as the kitchens, involved the entire building with seven dining areas, three areas for banquets and events, a ballroom and a spectacular outside space used for events.
  • A main kitchen and an open one equipped with a series of workstations had to be planned for each area.


The solution

  • For such a wide-ranging project, Elenco, traditional food service partner of Saadiyat Rotana, immediately thought of Ambach with a view to made-to-measure kitchens with single hygiene tops for the open area and rugged and high-performance modular systems for back of house.
  • High-tech modular islands from the Ambach System 850 and Chef 850 lines were supplied for the kitchens, apart from the Pool Bar kitchen for which the more compact System 700 line was chosen.
  • “Arranging the equipment in a kitchen is essential to the success of a restaurant. If a mistake is made, you’re forced to work much more”, claimed Thijs van Rhoon, executive chef of the resort. The chef declared himself to be very pleased with the high quality and resistance of the equipment installed inside Si Ristorante Italiano & Bar.
  • This kitchen in the Italian restaurant was in fact the greatest challenge in this project. “In the Middle East there is a series of cultural and legal implications for the eating of pork, an aspect which necessarily has to be taken into account when separating the open kitchen from the one behind. This led to a series of discussions with local authorities and the work team to demonstrate the separation between handling of the product and the workflow”, commented Michael Chabowski, general manager of MCTS.
  • One of the key elements in the success of this project, according to Chabowski, was the ability of the team to work immediately in close contact in a spirit of utmost cooperation.
  • Ghassan Chbeir, Ambach sales director for the Middle East, declared himself to be in full agreement as regards the strength of the teamwork. “When one of the main businesses in the region, Rotana, a world leader consultancy such as MCTS and one of the best distributors of kitchens in the Middle East such as Elenco manage to work together effectively, there are no doubts as to the end result, which is absolutely extraordinary”, commented Chbeir.

FIVE PALM JUMEIRAH

FIVE PALM JUMEIRAH

Project : Five Palm Jumeirah
Category : Hotel 
Where : Dubai – United Arab Emirates
Line : System 850 & System 700 & System 900
Partner : (CCE), Commercial Catering Equipment LLC
Consultant : Michael Chabowski MCTS Dubai

Opened just under a year ago in March 2017, the Five Palm Jumeirah hotel in Dubai soon became an iconic location in the city thanks to a combination of its unique design inspired by ancient Roman amphitheatres, its vast and luxurious wellness centre covering 1,675 square metres and its wide range of exclusive restaurants serving international cuisine. The hotel’s diverse culinary offer includes authentic Italian dishes at Quattro Passi, founded and led by chef Antonio Mellino, contemporary Chinese dishes at Maiden Shanghai and the lively BLVD On One brasserie.

The requirement

  • Five needed a horizontal cooking specialist able to meet the needs of all the hotel’s restaurants and their different menus.
  • When it came to front of house, the islands had to combine design and technology, as well as being able to serve a high number of covers every day.
  • The islands had to be made to measure with parts developed around the architectural restrictions of the spaces available, including a load-bearing column.
  • Because of the wide variety of menus available in the various restaurants, it also needed to be possible for special pieces of cooking equipment to be inserted into the islands.


The solution

  • When the time came to choose the equipment, Commercial Catering Equipment LLC and consultant Michael Chabowski of MCTS Dubai had no doubts about proposing Ambach solutions.
  • A combination of three cooking lines was chosen: the System 900 series for the preparation, storage and single cooking operations area), the System 700 line for preparation in the poolside bar and System 850 for all other areas.
  • Ambach supplied practically its entire product range for the Five project, from pasta cookers to induction hobs, multifunctional bratt pans to charcoal grills, griddles to fryers, salamanders and boiling kettles, just to mention a few.
  • As requested, in order to meet the needs of widely differing kitchens Ambach integrated some special pieces of equipment into the islands, including high-powered gas woks, a Tandoori oven and a Robata grill. “Ambach is definitely a step ahead of the competition. Our capacity for perfectly integrating any special equipment into our kitchens is a huge advantage for the client. It means they have maximum flexibility and can observe local culinary traditions and include them in the best possible way in the menu”, said Ghassan Chbeir, Ambach sales director for the Middle East.
  • “The way in which our equipment is made can be compared, in some respects, to Lego blocks. With us, clients can give free rein to their creativity and build their kitchens according to their specific needs. For Five we covered both the back and front of house kitchens. This is a great advantage for the end user in that, by using a single brand for all horizontal cooking equipment, it can reduce the number of spare parts in stock and greatly lower service costs”, Chbeir went on to say.
  • Hassan Bou Hamzy, GM of CCE Dubai, credited the success of the project, which received excellent feedback from the hotel, to the teamwork of all involved.
  • FIVE is not the first project that has seen joint work by Ambach and CCE, now longstanding partners. “As well as offering a high-quality product we always had excellent after-sales support from Ambach and this was also one of the reasons why the company is still my first choice for kitchens”, Hamzy concluded.