Rhythm and food

If there's one thing that really annoys Robert Kisby it's that, despite serving what he considers to be among the best food in Manchester, his efforts are not recognised by restaurant guidebooks. This is because the Charles Hallé restaurant, the main 40-seat fine-dining establishment in the city's Bridgewater Concert Hall, is open only on the 260 evenings a year when concerts are being held, and is therefore not considered a public restaurant.

"You'll see foie gras and truffles on our menu as often as in any other fine-dining restaurant in Manchester," protests Kisby, who took on the role of executive chef at the newly built concert hall in 1996, after seven years at the Midland Crowne Plaza across the road, where he reached the position of senior sous chef.

And while the classical concerts are the key draw at the venue, Kisby insists the food is no second fiddle. In addition to the main restaurant, there is an 80-seat café and a banqueting suite seating 150. "Food isn't a necessary extra, but a focal point of the whole Bridgewater Hall experience," he insists. "Bars and catering account for 28% of the revenue. We are going to do £625,000 in turnover this year and you don't achieve that by delivering a substandard product. If I used frozen food, we wouldn't have a business."

The main market on which Kisby and his nine-strong brigade concentrate is among pre- and post-concert diners - although, being situated in the heart of Manchester with a huge choice of places to eat at any time of the day or night (including Chinatown just around the corner), it's no easy task for an in-house catering operation.

However, in addition to serving quality food, Kisby has the advantage of being able to ensure that diners don't miss the show. "They could eat elsewhere," he explains, "but then there's the thought of having to park again, whether the meal will finish in time to make the start of the concert, and that by the time the concert has finished some restaurants are winding down. We want to make it so there is no reason to want to eat anywhere else."

There are, therefore, two distinct service periods at the restaurant, both geared around concerts which typically start at 7.30pm and end at 9.30pm. Diners start arriving from 6pm and need to be fed and seated by the start of the show. To manage this surge of main courses between 6.30pm and 7pm, Kisby cooks off a selection of main-course items in advance and holds them in a Hold-a-Mat oven from Continental Chef Supplies, which keeps food hot without continuing the cooking process. Vegetables are precooked, chilled and regenerated in a combi-steamer for service. When customers leave for the concert, preparation begins for the post-concert customers.

With almost all tables prebooked and very few walk-ins, Kisby is able to manage tight cost and waste control while offering competitively priced menus - £14.50 for a two-course dinner, £17.95 for three - which achieve 68% gross profit. Having complete freedom with the menu, Kisby tends to change it every couple of days, which means that he is in a position to take advantage of whatever good deals his suppliers can offer. "They know what is bang-on for quality and is suddenly cheap that day, probably because there is too much of it on the market," he says. "It doesn't matter if it is fish, meat or vegetables. If you can react quickly with your menu, you can benefit."

Such last-minute buying might see normally expensive fish such as brill appear on the four-choice menu as a poached fillet with étuvée leeks and a saffron sauce, or an Oriental-crusted fillet of hake on noodles with a vegetable cream.

Menus are generally composed a day in advance, with dishes picked from a recipe base of about 600. While there is a modern feel, with red onion tartlets, butternut squash rösti and scented jellies, there are some restaurant classics regularly featured, particularly in the saucing, with chicken Crécy, pork with a hongroise sauce and beef Dijonaise. This in part goes back to the training in classic French cookery which Kisby got at the Manchester Midland under the legendary Gilbert Lefevre. "They may not be fashionable," says Kisby, "but they still eat as well as ever - and they sell."

While there is an obvious financial plus to impulse-buying of ingredients, Kisby emphasises an additional benefit. "It's very good for staff," he says. "They are working all the time, thinking, learning, doing different things. There's a routine here as in any kitchen, but to keep changing the menu is a way to train and keep staff."

In fact, his staff turnover is a source of pride for Kisby. "I've lost 10 people in four years, and half of them left for personal reasons rather than going for another job," he says. "I run a disciplined kitchen, but what I offer is the time and space to learn to love this industry. That's what is missing from high-pressure kitchens. You have to teach young people a passion for food. If you do that, they don't worry about the hours we work."

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 14-20 September 2000