There is an appealing intimacy to the Restaurant Gallery that makes you want to stay beyond your meal to contemplate the sampling of local art displayed on its eastern wall, a reflection, the facility’s Manager says, of a desire to nourish both the body and the creative imagination.
The food reflects a broad a range of local cuisine, its attractive display toying with your appetite as well as your taste buds.
Manager John Reman is a third-generation member of a Guyanese family bearing one of the more familiar names in business – the Bettencourts.
In November last year, the family launched the Restaurant Gallery, its fourth, in the premises housing the Opus Hotel on Croal Street. It is the most recent manifestation of a tradition of more than half a century of food service pioneered by Reman’s maternal grandmother, Elaine Bettencourt.
Now in her eighties, she remains active in what, Reman says, is a genuine rags to riches story.
A Bartician, the mother of fourteen children and a one-time abattoir employee, Bettencourt, by sheer force of will, has been able to weld a team of family members into the leadership of a multi-million-dollar food service industry which Reman says is growing steadily. She is, Reman says, a profound example and source of inspiration to the entire family.
Reman himself worked as public servant with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a few months before he came to terms with his calling. He is, he says, at home in business.
The division of labour has assigned him the portfolio of deputy to his brother Rodell who is the company’s CEO.
Providing food for four restaurants is a major logistical exercise. Considerations of food safety and organisational tidiness have meant that the preparation of food has been centralised. Cooking apart, the establishment includes a butchery to manage the meats. The company employs about sixty persons.
Reman says the Restaurant Gallery reflects the family’s commitment to contributing to the raising of food service standards in Guyana. Applicants for jobs as Kitchen Attendants are considered for employment on the basis of, among other things, having attended the Carnegie School of Home Economics. Reman says the entity is an uncompromising adherent of the highest health and food safety standards, patterning its operations after the New York State Sanitation Code.
Since its opening, the Restaurant Gallery has diversified its services to include private dinners and a modest facility that hosts limited seminars. The Restaurant Gallery also offers a Take-Home-Chef service.
Sundays too are demanding days for the Restaurant Gallery team. The restaurant’s $1,500 Sunday Breakfast is among its prized offerings. The focus of the breakfast service, Reman says, is on offering guests a taste of Guyanese flavours.
Reman’s preoccupation with branding the Restaurant Gallery means that he is focused on honing the facility into a unique service. He regards the anticipated influx of visitors for Guyana’s 50th independence anniversary celebrations as an opportunity to offer visitors a unique service.
