Friday 11 May 2012

The winner!

Alan with his winning card. Congratulations!!!
Friday night is always a great night at Oceans Resort Hotel, it is our TGIF night and a chance for us to turn the juke box up, play some pool, eat some food and share a drink.  For some it is the end of the working week and others the start of the real reason we have the working week.

Tonight was of course no exception to the rule, the only difference is we were making the draw for the BBQ to one lucky person.  8pm came around and the bell was rung, which was a lot louder than I anticipated and the juke box turned down.  With the assistance of Hazel we made the draw.  Now there were a lot of cards in there with many guests having drunk their Export Gold, had their card stamped and put into the box.

Craig and James working their magic
It was Alan that won!  YAY.  Alan use to live in an apartment at Oceans Resort Hotel and for a long time was my neighbour.  Then he did what is only natural in Tutukaka brought a boat and moved to the water.  Not to far away from our front door:)  We are very lucky to have locals like Alan and we know it, so to be able to say his name as the winner for the BBQ was a true joy.

Congratulations from the whole team Alan!

Wednesday 9 May 2012

Eating in Sweden

So this week Oceans is taking our customers to Sweden, tasting the delights without the airfare, how neat is that!  Again our Chef's did their magic, and it was Craig Estick at the helm tonight.  So again I did my job, as any good manager would, I ordered my dish:)  Well I mean really you do have know your product to sell your product surely we all know that. 

Salmon Entree.  It didn't last long at all
This week there are two dishes from the country of Sweden.  First the entree of Salmon.  I think Craigs exact words to me were, "Did you actually taste that?"  I will admit it was gone pretty fast and it was fantastic!!  The answer was "OMG did I taste that!"

Swedish Meatball dish, oh the shame:)
Then second was the meatballs.  Now being a Mother of two I will have to say that I am pretty good at making spaghetti and meatballs, lets face it, kids love it and it is easy to make and there are no groans and arguments of how much they have to eat before they are able to excuse themselves from the table.  Now being the connoisseur that I am with this dish, I wasn't prepared to give an inch when it comes to the taste, (I have pride in my own work you know).  I can now say thank goodness my children didn't taste Craig's Meatballs!  If that is what they are meant to taste like then I have failed my children's paletts, if that isn't what they are meant to taste like then I would like to start the petition that they should.  Served with Potato and Creamy mustard sauce again there was little time to spend looking at the dish.

Yip we pull it off!  Pfft not even close!  But we are having fun:)
So working the floor and welcoming the guests that came to play and dine was myself and Brent.  Brent has been with Oceans now for about 3 months and is awesome, makes a great cup of coffee and is a valued member of our small team.  Needless to say we rocked the night and made sure we looked the part, the difference is we made the night look good.  I know many will argue that point:)  Our problem is when we googled (thank goodness for google!)  "What is Sweden famous for?" we were listed with many many links to porn sites.  Now keeping in mind that we are family restaurant that simply wasn't going to do, so Bianca (Our Event Manager) came up with the wigs as our tribute to the top 20 links and that was as much of a tribute as they were going to get!  Apart from that it was ABBA playing and some soft candle light instead of electric lighting.  (NEVER under estimate what soft candle light does for your skin!  I felt young again:))

Tomorrow night is the last of Sweden and then we are packing down and preparing to arrive in Italy.  I think (since Brent had to wear a girls wig tonight) ALL staff will have to wear moustaches.  If you agree feel free to email me anytime with your vote.  Also have a look through our game board for a dinner that will suit your taste buds, or do what many are doing and turning up for all of them on either a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday night.  Remember to collect your game cards and save them up to play a game of chance and go in the draw for the Tutukaka Chest at the end.

Thursday 3 May 2012

Eating in Japan

Life is good at Oceans Resort Hotel, yummy!
Well Oceans Restaurant and Bar has landed for the final night in Japan.  Well our round the world at Oceans meal game has finished for Japan.  The real hard part of being a General Manager with such a wonderful Restaurant is that you have to taste the food.  It is just one of those parts of the job that has to be done, regardless.

So with a sigh (oh please note the sarcasm I am dripping on my sentences here) I ordered from James our Japanese dish.  Marx, one of our newest staff members then brought to my office what I can only say was a delight of the senses.
Smoked Salmon Sushi, Vegetable Sushi, pickled ginger, wasabi (shaped as a leaf) soy sauce, Chicken teriyaki and Beef teriyaki served with chilli aioli.  Prawn Tempura, Scallop tempura and broccoli tempura served with a crisp vegetable salad.  Tuna Sashimi with an avocado and wasbi mousse AND miso soup!  WOW.

James our Chef preparing for the taste-buds
I didn't get my playing card like the rest of our customers as it will be a bit unfair when it comes to going in the draw for the cash win and playing the game of chance.  I think I can live with that.

So as we close our restaurant for the evening and our customers get back in their cars and head home, or for the lucky ones take an elevator ride to their rooms we will say farewell to Japan.  We will however start to get ready for our next port of call which is Sweden, landing Monday evening the 7th May.

So you may have missed out on coming to Japan with us, there were of course many of you that didn't miss out and actually came twice.  However we are in Sweden next week and I look forward to handing out even more game cards.  I will start preparing myself for that job of tasting the food. 

Can I also add that as of tomorrow we have our new Menu starting.  We are cooling down here in Tutukaka, (not as much as the rest of country), so our menu will start reflecting that.  You can check out the new menu here, as of tomorrow, being Friday 4th May.  I suppose I better start getting ready to taste that too, oh the things you do, the things you do.  Might have to start doing a few more runs out to the lighthouse and back, but it will be soooooo worth it:)