Special Award

Silvano Giraldin, Le Gavroche, London

Urbane, charming and discreet are all words that sum up the 2000 winner of the Special Award, Silvano Giraldin, director of Le Gavroche, London.

But to win the Special Award, judged by the heads of department at Caterer & Hotelkeeper, you need to be far more than just a nice person. What Giraldin has in addition to the above qualities is enormous passion and commitment for the service sector - an area of the industry that has been pushed into the shadows in recent years with the media spotlight highlighting the supremacy of the chef. He, perhaps more than anyone working front of house, has ensured and shown through example that a harmonious, professionally run restaurant will benefit both staff and customers alike.

For almost 30 years now Giraldin's name and presence has become as synonymous with the Le Gavroche restaurant as has the name and existence of a Roux in its kitchens (initially Michel and Albert, then just Albert, and more recently Michel Jnr). His devotion to the restaurant - where he has worked since his arrival in England in 1970 from his native Padua, in Italy, via a working stint in France - has been rewarded by the Roux family with a position on the board.

"Silvano is admired both by our customers, his peers and his staff," says Albert Roux. "Our customers can rely upon him to remember them, their names, their circumstances, tastes and peccadilloes; his peers know him for his impeccable knowledge of his craft and his enviable style; whilst his staff soon become aware that they are in the thrall of a senior who can give them invaluable training and onward contacts to further their careers."

Equal footing

As for Giraldin, there is nowhere else he would rather work - "Le Gavroche is one of the few restaurants that sincerely respects waiters on an equal footing with its chefs," he says - his career has had a far-reaching impact that goes way beyond the restaurant to which he has helped bring eminence.

In an effort to raise the profile of the service side of the industry, he founded (with Richard Edmonds) the Academy of Culinary Arts' Les Arts de la Table in 1985, and with Jean-Pierre Durantet he was responsible for setting up the academy's first Master of Culinary Arts award for service candidates. Over the years he has worked tirelessly to promote closer ties between front of house and kitchen; and has steered, through his encouragement and tutelage, many young waiters into management positions at some of the most eminent restaurants in the country, including the Waterside Inn and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.

Giraldin is passionate about encouraging young people to consider front of house as a career and to this end devotes much of his spare time to judging competitions, which he hopes will raise the profile of the sector. He is presently a judge of the Young Chef Young Waiter competition, the Academy of Culinary Arts' Annual Awards of Excellence, and the Ruinart competition for sommeliers. He is also chairman of the service panel for the Master of Culinary Arts 2000.

Ironically, Giraldin's major bugbear - that the media, including Caterer, have long ignored restaurant service - will be rectified to some extent by his own success in the 2000 Catey Special Award.

Judges

Heads of department, Caterer & Hotelkeeper

(with nominations from all Cateys judging panels)