Head Chef Vitz provides New Menu Blitz

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 13, Issue 599, 15 August 1995, Page 9 (Supplement)

Head Chef Vitz provides New Menu Blitz

The Grand Chateau's head chef, Andreas Vitz, has written new menus for every aspect of the hotel's food service, including the Ruapehu Room, the new Pihanga Cafe, Fergusson's Cafe and room service. Andreas says he will be demanding a consistently high level of quality for the food in the Ruapehu Room, which he describes as 'fine dining', as well as a higher level of presentation. "In the Pihanga Cafe, which is our new facility, we will be catering for families," he says. "We'll have a good quality product at a reasonable price, nicely presented and quickly prepared." The menu in the Pihanga Cafe will be cafe style, with dishes such as whitebait & kumara fritters with lemon & lime salsa, chicken breast stuffed with pesto, giant raviolli with sundried tomatoes. A new menu will also be prepared for Trails Bar so people

can enjoy a light lunch with their drinks. In the Ruapehu Room, the emphasis will remain on fine dining, with three or four courses being offered and meals served with the original hotel silver. "The standard in the Ruapehu Room will be extremely high," Andreas says. "The presentation will be excellent as well. We are making classical dishes. Everything is served fresh, and the service will compliment the atmosphere." Andreas says that people in the cities are used to lighter lunches and dinners, but at The Grand Chateau a classical standard is expected because of the style of the hotel. Some of the mains recommended are the Fillet of Beef 'Hikurangi', as succulent a steak as any you will ever see, the Venison Medallions'Kaimanawa', again superb, and the New Zealand Salmon, which has to be tried to be believed.

Andreas says working at The Grand Chateau is a great challenge, and he is enjoying lifting the already high standard of the hotel's food. Coming from Cologne in Germany he is relishing the beauty of New Zealand and its environment, as well as the quality of New Zealand ingredients. "When I left Europe, people said to me 'Why? You can't do anything there,'" he says. "But I've been very pleased and surprised at the quality of the products here in New Zealand. I have never seen such good produce anywhere in the world." "I think New Zealander's should be proud of the range of products they have available. Every hour I have a supplier call around with something new, which is just amazing." He is looking forward to a busy winter season, and fine tuning the marvellous menus he has created, as well as seeing how the new Pihanga Cafe runs.