A life more Orrery
I wake up at 8.30am and, after a glass of orange juice with my girlfriend, I cycle the 30 minutes from where I live near London's Tower Bridge to Orrery in Marylebone.
I'm there by 9.30am, when the restaurant starts slowly waking up. It is busy with supplies arriving - meat, vegetables, fruit and fish. With all the contrasting aromas, you feel as if you're at a country market.
Manager Patrick Fischnaller briefs me about coming events such as wine tastings or special VIP parties and gives me feedback on the previous day. Then I check my mail and go to the bar to scan the whisky and digestif bottles to see if they need refilling. I also bump into the rest of the team - it can take as long as 15 minutes to cross the restaurant because you end up chatting with everyone. We're a young, small team and it seems that there's always something to laugh about.
Because it is such a small team, everyone helps each other out, so it's not unusual to see a sommelier carrying a tray or a barman putting a plate on the table. That's why Orrery is so special.
In fact, the morning at Orrery is very enjoyable and relaxed, and it's a good time to exchange ideas with colleagues. At 11am we have the staff meal, which can be a risotto, an English breakfast or a big, varied salad. My favourite is the risotto.
Just before the bar opens at 11.30am I have a quick briefing with my two bar staff.
Lunchtime varies each day and levels of business in the restaurant and bar do not necessarily mirror each other. In the bar, I serve a mix of "ladies who lunch" and business people. Many will eat from the bar menu, which has items such as smoked salmon and caviare, a salad gourmand or smoked mozzarella on a bed of beetroot.
By 3.30pm, the last of the lunchtime diners and drinkers has gone and I go to my other job downstairs in the office with Patrick. I help him out on cost control and accounts, which involves checking and updating prices of wines and spirits on the computer's database. We have more than 500 wine references. All this helps with the sales aspect of my job and allows me to learn more about the drinks we stock. It's also essential background for running a business, which I'd like to do one day.
Every six months we change the bar's drinks list, while every seven days I put on a special cocktail of the week. My favourite is one I created, called the Florida Trip because I invented it just before going on holiday to Florida. It's a mix of peach cream, pink grapefruit and Champagne, arranged in three stripes like a B52. It's delicious and is our best seller.
If it's a double shift and we're not too busy, I try to take a quick break in the late afternoon. Then I'll go outside for a change of scenery and get a drink and read the paper.
By 5pm I'm back and, after checking the cigars in my two humidors, it's time to organise our roof terrace. That means putting out the plants, candles, cutlery and snacks of olives and almonds, and rigging up a small bar with ice-bucket and computer system. One guest recently called our terrace "London's secret pearl". Working up there is a pleasure.
The best part of the job is chatting to the customers, exchanging ideas and having a laugh. The bar is very small and so, therefore, intimate. I get to improve my English and meet all sorts of people. It's also great to know which drinks will suit people. For instance, when anyone asks for rum, I'll pick a type from Martinique that I know to be superb. My family is from there originally and I've seen it being produced.
After a double shift, I'll leave some time after midnight. The most difficult aspect can be the long hours when I have to do a double shift. But I've only really been in the catering business for less than two years, so I'm still learning and, anyway, I'm still young.
