Marina Sands Restaurants

Friends would know that I've been applying for the few celebrity chef restaurants coming up in the Marina Bay Sands - namely for Daniel Boulud, Guy Savoy, Santi Santamaria.

And the TODAY newspaper has been running ads for walk-in interviews a few times since. The first time I walked in, they said they were looking for positions for the in-house food outlets, such as the Noodle Bar, etc, but I asked for and finally had an interview with the sous chef of in-room dining, a local guy, who said they were only collecting CVs at this stage. The restaurants are expected to be open in June/July this year, and maybe in April the selection team of the celebrity chefs will pick from the folder of CVs and call the candidates. I was told to, and I did, drop my CVs by email to his exec chef, another local guy, with attachments. Follow up emails with the exec chef confirms the above.

However, TODAY this morning, ran the same ad again!! Maybe they were fishing for more CVs, but honestly... this is at least the 3rd time I saw it, I'm sure they've a stack of CVs by now.

On another note, Daniel Boulud ran an ad for walk-in in end Oct last year. I was then in Paris, so I dropped an email to their HR manager with the email add provided, explaining that I could be back in SG as early as Jan for an interview. No replies, even after 2 chaser mails. Last I heard from chatting with the staff at Absinthe yesterday, Daniel has already filled up all their kitchens with students from the at-sunrice academy, and they've even completed 1 month's training in NYC. Now, why couldn't they have the courtesy to reply to tell me 'thanks for your interest, but the positions have been filled...'. (Bloody NYkers?) And when I wrote in my coverletter to Sands about one of the restaurant I'm interested in is Daniel Boulud, they could (if they've initiative) say, well, you can take Boulud out of the picture and concentrate on the other 2.

Next on Guy Savoy, a fellow schoolmate of mine from LCB BKK, a Malaysian Chinese guy, has been employed for the Sky Bar (one of their in-house outlets) of Marina Sands recently. However, he requested to be transfered to the Guy Savoy restaurant, and apparently his chef agreed! I don't know how complicated the process could be (apparently the restaurants are owned by the celebrity chef themselves, though housed in the same casino), or if the chef was serious in agreeing, but I'm just surprised. Secondly, this chef who agreed, is the exec chef to whom I sent in my CV for Guy Savoy as well.

In any case, I'm going this noon to check up what's happening at the recruitment centre of Sands.

Lastly, I want to add a note on all this talk about celebrity chefs, I'm not a groupie trying to chase after these famous chefs, or to gain a bit of fame myself, far from it, I'm one person who wouldn't want fame, (cos' I believe it affects your private life negatively in the end), I just believe what these chefs have been doing, and their formula for success is working, and I want to learn more what makes these restaurants tick.