LOTTE SIGNIEL HOTEL

LOTTE SIGNIEL HOTEL

Project : Lotte Signiel Hotel
Category : Hotel 
Where : Lotte World Tower – Seoul – Korea
Line : System 850, System 700 & System 900
Partner : Daeryung

Signiel Seoul is the benchmark in the world of the luxury hotel business in Korea and is managed by Lotte Hotels & Resorts, the largest hotel group in the country with a history of over half a century in the industry.
As exclusive brand of Lotte Hotels & Resorts, Signiel Seoul offers a totally special and memorable hotel experience to high-end clients from all over the world.

The interiors have an exclusive design, able to combine styles from the East and West and provide a breathtaking panoramic view of the city from all angles. The 235 rooms of the hotel are distributed in fact between the 87th and 101st floors of Lotte World Tower, the 123-storey skyscraper with a record height of 555 metres. The highest building in absolute terms in Korea from which you can admire the entire city of Seoul.

Opened in April 2017, Lotte World Tower is the fifth highest skyscraper in the world. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, as well as the luxury Hotel Signiel Seoul the skyline also houses offices, shops, an observatory, facilities for entertainment and accommodation for those working there.

Inside the hotel, there is a wide and sophisticated culinary range on offer at STAY, the elegant and modern award-winning restaurant which delights its guests with French dishes, and BICENO, a restaurant with one Michelin star serving typical Korean cuisine.

The requirement

  • The Hotel needed a kitchen for the STAY restaurant on the same level as the restaurant and the expectations of Yannick Alleno, the chef with 3 Michelin stars at its helm.
  • The kitchen had to be of the open type and also used for preparing the rich buffet breakfast for the hotel. For this reason a solution had to be identified which guaranteed quality, flexibility, performance and also a pleasing appearance.
  • STAY is located on the 81st floor of the hotel. There were therefore quite a few critical factors to handle in order to move the equipment chosen.
  • Moreover the height of the ceilings – just 2.20 m approximately – forced the choice of equipment with reduced height.
  • The equipment had to be strictly electric as the use of gas is forbidden by law in skyscrapers.


The solution

  • For such an important project Signiel Seoul chose the reliability of Ambach kitchens in the three lines System 850, System 900 and System 700.
  • All the items of equipment were custom made to the client’s needs and developed ad hoc, taking account of the height restraints of the ceiling. Although, as required, all the appliances supplied are electric, they were designed to facilitate to a maximum their use by staff accustomed to using gas.
  • The location of the restaurant on the 81st floor and the limited space in the lift meant the range had to be divided into four parts with later assembly and welding in situ by Ambach technical staff.
  • The times for revising and adapting all the layouts, for production, despatch and installation were extremely tight. The staff in each kitchen were chosen just 4 months before opening of the restaurant. Therefore the design layouts were revised and adapted to the needs of the work team in a very short space of time.
  • Not just quality and performance. The kitchens developed by Ambach for STAY are also very attractive in that open kitchens, both for use by the restaurant and the buffet breakfast of the hotel.
  • All the kitchens of the restaurant are by Ambach, with the exception of the one reserved for staff.
  • Great satisfaction at the end of both chef and staff. Ambach kitchens were found to be extremely easy to use and to clean, as well as pleasing to the eye and perfectly in line with the elegance of the hotel.

VILLA D’ESTE

VILLA D’ESTE

Project : Villa d’Este
Category : Luxury 5-star hotel
Where : Cernobbio – Italy
Line : System 850 + IQ 900
Partner : Grandimpianti Ali

In an enchanting setting on the banks of Lake Como stands the majestic Villa d’Este recently named as best luxury 5-star hotel in the world. With almost a century and half of history behind it, Villa d’Este has been constantly modernised so as to stay in step with the times and always meet its guests’ demands in the best possible way.
“It’s the attention to detail, service style and the constant pursuit of perfection, which draws our customers back year after year”, said the general manager Danilo Zucchetti. “Although retaining its identity and its values over the years, Villa d’Este has always been capable of evolving while remaining the undisputed ambassador of an elegant lifestyle all over the world”, he added.

The dining options with which Villa d’Este delights its guests are numerous and diversified. They range from the elegant Veranda restaurant, serving Italian haute cuisine against the bewitching backdrop of Lake Como, to the Grill, a stylish yet informal restaurant offering regional dishes accompanied by a selection of the best Italian wines. Finally the Platano, an exclusive bistro with international cuisine and seating capacity for just 25.

The requirement

  • After many years of use, Villa d’Este had decided to remodel the kitchens, focusing solely on top-quality equipment.
  • The requests of Michele Zambanini, executive chef of international fame, were very specific. The various cooking zones had to be reorganised completely in order to optimise the work flow of his team numbering as many as 46 staff members. The new kitchens therefore had to ensure the maximum efficiency in order to speed up preparation of the dishes, without jeopardising their quality and at the same time, allow work in a healthy environment free from fumes or smells.
  • The work had to be completed in just three month during the period of closure of the hotel. Not easy to pull off for a kitchen which covers a surface area of as many as 750 sq. m and in which approximately 62,000 meals a year are prepared.


The solution

  • To manage such a complex project Villa d’Este chose Grandimpianti, Ali Group’s specialised in turnkey projects for the restaurant world.
  • Grandimpianti in turn did not hesitate in proposing Ambach System 850, the cooking line which adapts to every space and need, perfect for the customisations requested by Zambanini and the very high quality standards set by Villa d’Este.
  • Working alongside Grandimpianti, Ambach designed a solution tailored to the needs of the Chef. Composed of five blocks each with a single hygienic top of which one as long as 5.20 m, with different cooking areas for the various preparations.
  • The staff at Villa d’Este also focused extensively on the design and finishes of the cooking ranges, all in anthracite black with Ambach Exclusive Range finishes.
  • To reduce cooking times and energy consumption all the kitchens were fitted with
    high-power induction hobs with remote-controlled generators.
  • Some Ambach IQ multipurpose machines were also installed. A concentrate of technologies which ensures perfect cooking results even for high production levels, without affecting energy efficiency.
  • The work was carried out jointly with Alex Gelfi, the architect of Villa d’Este who supervised the project. “The great challenge was to carry out the entire project in just three months, including work on masonry and systems. Everything had to be planned right down to the smallest detail. Some Ambach ranges were really heavy and moving them was not easy: two kitchens weighed about 2 tonnes!”, claimed Alessandro D’Andrade, sales director with Grandimpianti.
  • Zambanini’s expectations were fully met. The new kitchen is innovative, efficient and created ad hoc according to needs. “We now have three separate cooking zones: one for guests of the hotel, one for banqueting and one for the sundeck area (terrace with swimming pool) alongside room service. Grandimpianti has interpreted and satisfied in full our requests and was seen to be an outstanding partner in executing the project we had in mind”, concluded Zambanini.
  • According to Zucchetti too the results are excellent thanks to constant interaction between all parties involved in the project. “We were very demanding in terms of times and requests for customisation, yet both of these aspects were accomplished superlatively”.