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Taste good, look good

By Esther Williams
"You cannot be a good chef if you are not artistic! The dish that you create should have the right colours, look balanced and be presented in the proper chinaware for the food to look good," says the Mount Lavinia Hotel's new Kitchen Director, Ralf Vogt, an accomplished artiste in that genre.

The German chef, whose last stint was at Colombo Hilton, brings with him expertise and experience that he has gained from serving at various high-end hotels in the Hilton group, in Germany, Japan, Maldives, India, Sri Lanka and South Korea and the Intercontinental Group for over 24 years.

Chef Ralph has a special cooking style that appeals to the five senses. "Food should look cooked, taste good, smell good…and so on," he says. With an immense database of over 50,000 recipes, he is known in town - his speciality being international cooking with a local flavour.

Chef Ralf has been delegated to supervise openings or re-branding in many hotels in the Hilton group-Maldives, Bangalore, Jaic Hilton, etc. "Openings in any hotel are important occasions," Chef Ralf explains: New chefs need to be trained and supervised, trade tests need to be done, preparation and presentation needs to be supervised in addition to the new menus and recipes that need to be implemented.”

In the month that he has been at the Mount Lavinia Hotel, he has been involved in kitchen management and restructuring of the whole kitchen. Being Kitchen Director, he explains involves preparation, marketing, leadership, training, although the cooking part is still there.

"Kitchen Technology does not stop in the kitchen," Chef Ralf adds and hence he determines the presentation of the welcoming drink, the fruit baskets in each room that would contain specialized fruits to show tourists what Sri Lankan fruits are.

He spoke of the importance of authentic taste. "Whatever I prepare, be it the Thai beef salad or the Vietnamese Spring Roll, it should be authentic."

The native German Kitchen Master has a depth of knowledge of both European and Asian cuisines. "I can cook anything - Asian, Thai, Vietnamese and continental, including German food from my country of origin."

Diners at the hotel will be able to sample his fare in the theme buffets, which he says are an experience in itself. The exotic buffets lined up would feature Sri Lankan Night, courtesy the in-house Sri Lankan Chef (Mondays), Vegetarian night (Tuesdays), 'Silk Road' that would comprise of Asian specialities, an area where Chef Ralf would make strong contributions (Wednesdays), Arabic (Thursdays), Barbeque (Fridays), Italian (Saturdays) and Chef's specialities (Sundays).

He also intends to upgrade the beach experience and provide specialized items in the A la Carte menu. The dessert table is another aspect that he is working on. "Desserts should have something frozen, something crispy and something hot."

Chef Ralf sincerely hopes that the hotel would someday become like Singapore's world famous Raffles Hotel, a colonial style hotel with a name synonymous with sophistication and elegance.

At the Mount Lavinia Hotel School, Chef Ralf gives lessons on hygiene and new trends in cooking.

Further, at the hotel he intends to implement HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point), a system that was developed internationally to provide a uniform programme to assure safer meat and poultry products. Chef Ralf’s expertise will also be extended to Club Bentota, BMICH, banquets, conferences, outside catering operations and other new projects the hotel may have in the future.

Chef Ralph qualified as a Kitchen Master in Germany soon after which he served as a young chef in a fine dining restaurant, the best in the NW countryside of Germany (Aachen), close to the Dutch border.

He then went on to the military service and was in charge of the Officers' Mess. From there he joined the Inter-Continental Hotel Group and served at Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Washington and Chicago.

Having been in Sri Lanka for six years, Ralf Vogt likes rice and curry and the island's culture. With many good friends and his family here, it feels like home. Giving Asian second names to both his children - Alexander Kenichi (10) and Maximilian Lanka (5) endorses the fact.


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