Royalty passing
Former Claridge's general manager Ron Jones and his wife, Eve, spend five months of the year travelling the globe as guest speakers. Before Christmas they embarked on a trip to the other side of the world. This is part four of their story.
SYDNEY. News reaches us of the death of an old friend on 22 January in Dallas. Stanley Marcus was chairman emeritus of Neiman Marcus, the department store empire, and the nearest thing Texas had to royalty. "Mr Stanley" was 97, and active in civic and business affairs right up to his death, after a short illness.
We met in inauspicious circumstances at Claridge's a few weeks after I took over as general manager in 1984. He asked to see me at the end of his stay, and presented me with a hand-written letter, seven pages long, setting out in detail a list of the hotel's shortcomings. I read it carefully, agreed with every word, and asked for another chance to show what we could do. "Give me a little time to take things in hand," I said. "Stay with us on your next visit and you have my word that everything you mention will be put right."
Uncrossing my fingers, I shook his hand. He did return and he did find things more to his liking. I even persuaded him that he didn't have to carry his own lightbulbs in his suitcase. Stanley Marcus stayed in the best hotels in the world, and he took his own lightbulbs to all of them, complaining that there was never enough light to read by.
If you can't beat 'em Are there no lengths to which the Aussies won't go to ensure they get it right? We return again and again to Kingsley's, an outstanding restaurant in the spectacular Wooloomooloo Finger Wharf redevelopment. Couldn't be more appropriate, because that was where "my" battleship, King George V, docked on our return from the Pacific in 1945. Then, Wooloomooloo was run-down; today, it's the smartest address in Sydney.
Kingsley's steaks are world-class. The 80 wines on the list, most between Aus$25 (£9.21) and Aus$45 (£16.58), tempt you to return to taste a few more. The secret? Owner Kingsley Smith practically raises his own cattle - and his own wine. At 31, he has two fashionable restaurants, one in Central Business District, flourishing these past nine years, and the second coming on-stream just in time for the Olympics. Between them, they seat 400, with an average spend of Aus$70 (£25.80).
Brought up in his parents' guesthouse, Kingsley inherited a passion for good food, good wine, hard work and risk taking. Years spent working as a waiter didn't deter him from opening his own steakhouse at the age of 22. "I financed it myself, and my family signed some guarantees," he said. "Everybody warned me against it - East-meets-West cuisine was pretty firmly established by that time, and they reckoned steakhouses were old-fashioned."
He became so involved in selecting all his beef on the hoof that he now works closely with the Australian equivalent of the Meat & Livestock Commission. Meanwhile, Kingsley's father acquired a 20-hectare vineyard of 32-year-old Sémillon vines in the Hunter Valley and, with nearby smallholders supplying other varieties, now produces Kingsley's own-label wines.
Kingsley Smith is a young man in no hurry. He's looking at new premises in Bondi with terrific potential, but hasn't yet come to an agreement on terms. First on the list, though, is a "steak shop" where home cooks will be able to buy beef of the same quality as is sold in the restaurants.
Training tomorrow's hoteliers
We were curious about an imposing edifice, dramatically floodlit by night, on a hill overlooking glorious Manly Bay. Turns out to be the International College of Tourism and Hotel Management (ICTHM)- though in a previous life it was a Catholic seminary. It opened as a private college five years ago, after a Aus$17m (£6m)renovation by owner Touraust.
Today, the ICTHM is affiliated to Macquarie University and has sister colleges in Switzerland and in Connecticut, USA. More than 500 students take a two-year diploma in hospitality management, or a three-year bachelor's degree in business, hospitality and tourism. Another 35 middle and senior managers study for a master's degree in management, hospitality and tourism.
First-year students pay just under Aus$24,000 (£8,845)for two terms' tuition and accommodation. During the other two terms they receive wages on industry placement. Year two, living out, tuition fees are Aus$17,430 (£6,424). As many as 60% of the students are from outside Australia, from Asia, North and South America and Europe, and 90% of them study for the bachelor's degree.
The college is run "like a five-star hotel" by students under the supervision of lecturers. Students are the "guests" in double and single study bedrooms. Staff are encouraged to do their business entertaining in one of the two restaurants run by F&B students and to host special events in the Great Hall, which can seat 260 for dinner.
