New Chef Vows to Offer Better Menu
By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
Irwin Graf has been appointed as the new executive chef at the Grand Hilton Seoul, and it was the third time for the Swiss chef to work at a local hotel.
He says he is happy to come back here and has taken notice of the many changes that have been made since he left Seoul.
``There have been big changes every time (I got here). The hotel industry has been well established. There are big and good hotels now. When I first came here, there were not many,'' he said during an interview with The Korea Times.
Graf came here after serving as executive chef at the Sofitel Jin Jang Oriental Pudong in Shanghai, China.
His relationship with Korea began when he worked at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in the late 1970s. He later came to Seoul again to work at the Sheraton Walkerhill Hotel.
In terms of staff and food products, there have been big improvements, which is attributed to the competition between good restaurants, the 58-year-old chef said.
``There are a lot of restaurants that serve good quality meals. It's a challenge for all of us in the hotel to offer attractive and tasteful dishes to our guests and make them come back,'' he said.
He seemed quite shy during the interview but he is quite passionate and proud of what he has been doing.
After the appointment on Aug. 10, he has been busy getting used to the new hotel and staff members.
He plans to make some menu adjustments at the hotel's restaurants using his 40-year experience in various hotels in different countries.
Having traveled to nine countries in the past including England, Italy, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Hong Kong, he aims to attract diners with a wide variety of tastes.
``It's all based on classic cuisine. However, we're using more products from other regions in different styles of cooking. It's all influenced by other cuisines. I don't like the concept of fusion but we are trying to incorporate dishes or flavors from other countries into our menus,'' he said.
The hotel is famous for its venues for international conference and conventions, and international guests that stay in them. It can simply mean that the chef needs to be able to present various items to satisfy all the different tastes.
``If there is a special need, we will do something for that. For example people from Muslim countries do not eat pork. There should be menus for vegetarians and so on,'' he said.
His expertise will be first tested in various upcoming promotional events.
The hotel will hold a Hungarian food festival from Sept. 7 and Oktoberfest, traditional German beer festival in October.