Voila! makes magic in Bangkok
On the 3rd floor of Sofitel Bangkok Sukhumvit a newly refurbished show kitchen at Voila! helps a bold and beautiful buffet stand out with a crowd-pleasing performance.
The city that never sleeps
In a city known for its parties you can’t afford to do things by halves. The Voila! restaurant at the Sofitel Bangkok Sukhumvit unashamedly looks to deliver indulgent pleasure to guests and diners alike.
Voila! is known for its memorable breakfast buffet – it’s acclaimed as one of Asia’s best. ‘Too much’ is quite possibly ‘just enough’ here.
Diners find the detox smoothie station is the perfect place to start. From there the dining journey is one of variety and decadence. With eight live cooking stations offering freshly prepared crepes, a la minute free range eggs topped with tom yam hollandaise, a noodle counter and some of the best butter croissants in Asia, guests are spoilt for choice.
So too do the amazing lunch and dinner seafood buffets deliver the goods, the platters overflowing with the catch of the day and a great selection of prime cuts enticing many a guest.
The sweet sweet memory
As the meal winds down there is the enticing homemade ice creams, delicious pastries and a magnificent cheese room featuring a range of European artisan wares.
The food provides a memorable, delectable and interactive experience. However, any Bangkok restaurant looking to attract and retain patronage knows that the menu is only half the allure for diners. They must also serve up a healthy portion of style too.
Living up the expectation
“The previous equipment simply wasn’t up to scratch,” says Brent Cleland, Moffat’s Export Sales Manager for Asia. “It was low-spec, unreliable and, truthfully, the kitchen looked drab.”
The brief required the existing kitchen be removed, upgrades completed for fire protection, drains and a new hood system all be completed within a tight (but manageable) time frame.
“The equipment had to be heavy duty, reliable and, as it was an open kitchen, provide visually impressive looks,” says Brent.
In the “hood”
“Working with Gary and Eve from Central Hospitality Bangkok, who won the supply and install contract, Moffat provided drawings and a render early in the project. These clearly illustrated not only the layout and dimensions but also the aesthetics of the Waldorf Bold equipment and how these worked alongside the wall feature and hood system.”
“There were a number of changes required,” Brent says. “But, with the team working well together, we were able to quickly sell-in the desired result and get to work making it a reality.”
For projects with a fast turnaround it helps to have a good idea of what’s going where before anything is delivered on site. Then, when the covers are pulled back and the final kitchen revealed, it’s simply a matter of declaring, “Voila! – everything is in place and performing well”.
In the kitchen
In an open kitchen you need equipment to primarily do two things – look good and work right, with an emphasis on the latter. In the newly refurbished kitchen at Voila! the Waldorf Bold range certainly looks the part, and a big emphasis is placed on the art and entertainment of culinary craft. But, it’s the everyday functionality and raw power of the technology that really makes the difference.
With five new benchtop units, a pasta cooker, chargrill, gas fryer and gas range the Bold equipment provides a much stronger performance capability.
A good fit
“The Executive Chef Mark and Sous Chef Nico are very happy with the outcome of all the work,” says Moffat’s Brent Cleland. “The new equipment fits nicely with the restaurant décor and delivers greater capacity. And, the entire operation of the kitchen flows much better.”
