Promising luxurious dining with a Caribbean-influenced Chinese cuisine that makes up an à la carte menu of dishes from around the world, hotelier Robert Badal will on Thursday open the 15,000-square foot Fusion Restaurant to complement his recently launched US$100m Pegasus Suites and Corporate Office.
Badal is confident that the customer service and dining experience at the upscale restaurant will be second to none in the region as he invested heavily in the training of the staff who will serve the establishment which comfortably seats 250 guests.
On the financial side, he said that it cost him about US$2m in furnishings, appliances and equipment to set up the restaurant.
“What we’re bringing to the market is Caribbean-influenced Chinese cuisine, but you will also be able to get things like pasta, fish, steak….hence the name of the restaurant – Fusion. There is that combination of spices from all over the world from the East, the West, the North and South,” he told the Sunday Stabroek yesterday following a tour of the facility.
Explaining that local chefs will also benefit from overseas training and special visits from world- renowned culinary artists, Badal said that his restaurant will stand out.
“The focus of this restaurant will be one that sees every three months us bringing a celebrity chef so that Guyanese can really have access to high end cuisine from all over the world. With a space like this, we want to give our people who haven’t travelled, and those that have travelled an experience they will always remember…,” he contended.
Badal said that while the menu options will be vast, it will not be very expensive since the costs are comparable to the Pegasus’ current restaurant and other dining facilities in the country.
A healthy dining out experience is what awaits patrons of the Fusion Restaurant as its owner noted that special cooking techniques will see less greasy foods being served. “What we bring to this market is new technologies. We don’t use a lot of oil. So in as much as we have a Caribbean flavour and a Chinese orientation in our kitchen…our food will be so healthy, with a combination of vegetables, all locally grown organic vegetables.
Healthy cooking doesn’t have to compromise on taste, he assured.
“You know that kind of experience and the flavour with the combination the fusion of the spices. I think, you can look forward to a very rich and the rare, very rich experience that you will want to come back all the time. We won’t take an hour to cook a chicken you know. With technologies these days, you can cook it as effectively and it takes less time, it consumes less energy…,” he added.
The current hotel restaurant will be kept for persons who enjoy eating there or sitting at the Pegasus poolside to dine.
“They will do their own thing. Yeah, of course [it will be kept]. We have as large a kitchen over there, you know, even bigger. During the Christmas season we handle over 1200 people in a night and a lot of corporate functions. We have the fine dining at Eldorado there that is Italian although you can have a Jamaican escovitch fish. We have the poolside and its American Grill, we have the Aromas Cafe, all those are being supplied from that very large kitchen that we have there,” he said.
What money can’t buy, he believes, is the experience of the ambience at the Fusion Restaurant. “It’s spacious, it’s elevated. There is a wide view of the Atlantic Ocean and the city as you dine. We have a double glazed glass from floor to ceiling that gives you a magnified view of the outside. It is a really close integration of the outside with the inside. So you’re not boxed in concrete and can see what’s happening outside,” he noted.
There are also three private dining rooms that can be reserved.
According to Badal, that the restaurant is integrated into the Pegasus franchise buildings at Kingston, also adds to the experience.
“We have one-bedroom executive suites ranging from 700 to 1100 square feet elegantly furnished. We have high end first world corporate offices. All the big companies are here. So it’s a whole integration of everything; a new kind of hospitality; kind of business-oriented hospitality we have created around this new development, and it’s linked harmoniously with the original Pegasus. That iconic tower with the famous Pegasus poolside, our wine bar, our rooftop Aura, our Eldorado Fine Dining and Italian experience restaurant. So it’s a whole integrated dining and hospitality experience that everyone can experience from us,” he said.
The restaurant will be opened from Wednesday to Sunday from 11 am to midnight. However, food orders will close at 10 pm. And while there is a walk-in and dine option, Badal is advising that persons make reservations. Those reservations can be made either by WhatsApping the restaurant’s 663-7205 number or downloading and using the ‘Open Table’ app, on their cellphones. He prefers the latter way as the online restaurant management app delivers remarkable hospitality and optimizes operations.
