The Double Act
One of the best things about staying in a luxury hotel is experiencing the in-house restaurant, of which there may be several. It's part of the overall experience and the test of one of the key elements of a fine hotel, to indulge in the excellent food, wine and service all under the one roof. Then follows the satisfying pleasure of heading back to your suite to relax for a rest, nap or long night of sleep.
Recently I have noticed an increasing overlap that lessens the hotel dining experience considerably. For many, myself not included, breakfast is considered the essential meal at a fine hotel. For many, this is the marker of a hotel’s success. Awakening from slumber and enjoying the service and fine spread of breakfast staples and local treats, most often as a bulging buffet offering. Shudder. This is loved by guests even more, as breakfast is usually included in your selected room package. For most, it’s an expectation.
It's when the restaurant does a double act as both a breakfast and dinner venue that it becomes muddled and almost always proves unsuccessful. This is particularly apparent when the space for the included breakfast also acts as the fine dining dinner space, often with a heralded chef at the helm.
Firstly, to cater for the amount of guests that descend upon breakfast, the restaurant space is often sizeable. If there is a buffet option, a central table is common. When the same space is used for the dinner service, that is when things can go awry. The room needs to transform. It needs to take on a different mood. The room for breakfast rarely naturally morphs into the room for dinner.
I've seen this in many recent circumstances. Without attention to detail to make the surroundings differ, the dining options in the hotel become same same, and the impact, no matter how good the service and the food, is lessened.
I recently noticed this at a lovely luxe 5-star accommodation in Northern Europe (which shall remain anonymous). To enter a lovely space with plush furnishings and comfortable surrounds for breakfast that first day, there is an element of surprise as you take it all in. Such a posh room for breakfast! Well, the hotel restaurant in question doubled as a fancy dinner venue with a Chefs Menu of several courses, at a very high cost for the food and even more for the wine pairing.
When you dine at that top level, surroundings and atmosphere are pivotal to your experience. I would go as far to say that this is part of the deal. It is the experience you buy into. I was most surprised when I dined that evening in question, that the room was exactly the same as it was for breakfast. Tables set the same, the lighting at the same, fully lit level. I found it disconcerting. Making my way through the menu that night, I felt that everything was lacking. It just wasn't special. Service and atmosphere are essential and you shouldn’t feel like you’ve done it before at a different time of the day.
It isn't difficult to make a beautiful room atmospheric from daytime to evening. It doesn't even have to be dramatic. Subtle differences often suffice. Lighting is the obvious way, dimmers, candles, mood lamps all work. Different tableware is essential. Place settings also, a change of tablecloth colour, perhaps a floral display at entry. Fine dining is a sense of occasion.
It's cheating, really, if you keep the room exactly the same for the hotel breakfast as well as the fine dining dinner experience. No matter how different or grand the food is at dinner, it will not be special if your surroundings don’t match.
As mentioned before, the majority of hotel guests opt in for the breakfast due to it being included in their booked rate and the thought that it's the most important meal of the day. Most enjoy that descent from slumber to pigging out at the breakfast buffet, prior to their day of exploration. To enter the same space in the evening, set and lit the same way, and be promised a fine chef's set dinner as an occasion, there can only be disappointment.
If I have breakfast included in my package, sure, I will take up the offer. If it's a buffet, I'll go as early as possible, long before the 9:00am hordes arrive, and I will make my stay swift. Coffee, some fruit, and perhaps an omelette. Then like Speedy Gonzales, I am out of there.
If breakfast is a la carte, as many of the best five star hotels offer, then I will linger longer, knowing I won't be bumped and jostled by a sea of family members of all ages wielding plates full to the brim with overstuffed food of every description which should never be seen on the one plate.
When evening falls, and it's time to experience a fine chefs take on local, seasonal cuisine, you want to enter a low lit room that has a cozy vibe or an air of sophistication. If you walk in and are faced with the same set up and atmosphere of the morning, there really is nothing that can make the experience special. I'll say it again, atmosphere is everything.
Service needs to be knowledgeable and professional, with an explanation of the chef’s philosophy and of the cuisine. If you have the same servers that you had at breakfast, in the same uniforms, it just doesn't gel for me.
If breakfast is an option for the masses, café style, and dinner is fine dining, the room and the atmosphere must differ in presentation and mood. Keep it the same and the two offerings are like chalk and cheese.
Think twice when you next see this double act concept in place. Take a look at how breakfast works, and how dinner works. The best hotels will make these very different experiences. The ones that don't, well it's just lazy. If that is the case, choose only one. Don't rush in without checking it out first. If you do, you really are being short changed.