Pressure cooking

In the past months, the food and beverage outlets of the Hilton Malta have finished in the top three of 75 Hilton hotels around the world ranked monthly for dozens of criteria.

"We are third at the moment, but in the past months we were first many times," executive chef Joseph Vella said. "It means we keep trying harder!"

Mr Vella, who has held the position for almost five years, comes from a family of bakers in Qormi and for much of his childhood it was a foregone conclusion that he would follow in the footsteps of his ancestors.

That was 28 years ago and things did not quite work out as planned.

"It is a shame as only one of our family is still in the bakery business. But my brother became a chef and he encouraged me... Well, I never looked back."

He went to the Polytechnic and then to various hotels, doing stints at world-famous restaurants and gradually working his way up the career ladder. He thinks it is an exciting time to be a hotel chef.

"The Maltese used to frown on hotel food, but they have really come around now," he said. "Now they actually prefer hotel restaurants as they know the quality and service are going to be high and consistent. This is because we can - and must - invest constantly in training."

The Hilton will only take chefs coming out of the Institute of Tourism Studies, who continue with intense in-house training and regular performance assessments. They are also sent on international placements as often as feasible. "They come back really fired up with enthusiasm!" Mr Vella said.

The Hilton also runs a number of staff recognition schemes.

"We cannot ever make a mistake. Apart from the importance of satisfying each and every one of our guests and patrons, we have very strict internal standards to meet, as well as the external judgments of the mystery guest programme." Mr Vella thinks that award schemes and competitions, like the Definitively Good Guide and Malta Kulinarja, are an important way of keeping outlets on their toes - and not just because Hilton wins again and again.

"Every restaurant at the Hilton won an award in the Definitively Good Guide this year. And 24 of our chefs won 63 medals and six trophies in the recent Malta Kulinarja competition."

His brigade of 60 chefs must cope with up to 10 restaurants serving 10 different menus at different times of day, as well as room service, conference and events, and private functions.

"It is tiring to even think about it," he said.

The solution is being prepared, being hands-on and working long hours. His idea of a holiday is visiting a cured meat factory in Italy or a truffle area, or a plant that marinates and preserves vegetables.

"This is where you get inspiration for new menus. However, I work with my chefs and we try every dish out, refining it until it is perfect.

I am quite happy to get feedback and suggestions from them. It is important for them to have the pride of knowing that they can take the credit for a dish."

New menus are drawn up regularly for each restaurant in turn. Once the recipe is set, the costings are done and photos are taken of the presentation - a vital element - which are laminated and pinned up on the walls around the pristine kitchen.

"I then call in all the waiters and food and beverage managers and get them to taste all the dishes so that they understand what they are serving."

Mr Vella's voice is calm and measured. It is hard to equate him with the volatile chefs we see on television.

"Oh, with experience you learn how to cope with the stress and pressure and I am much better now than I was when I was younger - but believe me, I can boil over when something goes wrong! Luckily, with a well trained staff, the responsibility is shared and less goes wrong," he laughed.