Beverly Hills celebrates “fifty years young”

Umhlanga’s Beverly Hills presents superb cuisine.

Umhlanga’s Beverly Hills elegantly glides into its second half-century. Retracing her 50-year culinary legacy has uncovered amazing and interesting stories.

“We always described the hotel as a Hollywood screen siren like Katherine Hepburn,” says Gerhard van Staden, executive head chef for five years from 2002-2007. “Glamorous, timeless but always up to date, foxy and sharp, with a good sense of humour. To me, that especially applies to the food.”

As a tribute to her 50th birthday celebration , a four-course ‘Then & Now‘ menu has been introduced with intriguing surprises on the plate and on the palate. This menu was devised by executive chef Tony Kocke, who won a Michelin star at his restaurant Ma Cuisine in London. Guests can enjoy this menu at R625 per person, making reservations through the hotel with 24 hours’ notice.

“My concept in preparing this menu included returning to the early days to reinterpret old favourites like Avocado Ritz as if they’d been devised today,” Tony explains. “I’ve been cooking for 35 years myself so I learned many of these 60s classics while training.”

For this special menu, Tony researched which dishes from the 60s’ repertoire were most popular at the Beverly Hills.  The Then & Now concept menu features a 60s classic in its original, full-bodied form alongside a modern, lighter deconstruction – which can, ironically, mean more processes to achieve cleaner flavours on the palate.

“The classic Crayfish Thermidor has one good heavy sauce and then you put it under the grill,” says Tony. “I looked at bringing in mustard jelly and parmesan foam, for example. I have used a mushroom gel instead of the duxelles with Beef Wellington. These elements aren’t used often in Durban.”

This kind of menu is quintessentially Beverly Hills, believes Billy Gallagher, doyen of SA chefs and former Food & Beverage Director at Southern Sun.  “The hotel’s luxurious approach has been talked about since the day it opened,” he says. “Today you still expect and receive the best.”  The poolside Sunday seafood buffet is Billy’s lasting memory of his first-ever visit to the hotel which has “an unbelievable place in my heart,” he says.

“There was an incredible array of crayfish, prawns, langoustine and many other fish, set off by beautiful butter sculptures and other decorations,” he recalls. “That seafood buffet was so famous people would even fly down from Johannesburg for the day to enjoy it.”  Having opened many restaurants during his 40 years with the group, Billy recalls the great names to grace the Beverly Hills.  “The Copacabana was upmarket with a cabaret club feel and international stars performed,” he says. “Traditional crêpes Suzettes was served and duck à l’orange was carved at the table.”

By the mid-70s, it was time to tweak the venue towards a more modern dine-and-dance concept.  Renamed Villa dei Cesari, it featured an Italian band, lots of Italian style and “a wonderful antipasti table,” says Billy.

Competing with the 80s onslaught of gambling and cabaret at Sun City and the Wild Coast meant re-emphasising the Beverly Hills’ core values of laidback chic.  “We gave the formal dining room a softer, gentler look, introducing a more relaxed breakfast buffet and opening up the terrace for food service,” says Billy.

Allowing business and leisure guests to relax as and where they wished, breakfast was served around the pool by the 90s. Glistening metal cloches disguising food until the last moment started to disappear, bringing new emphasis on artistic presentation and overall lighter style of dishes, says Billy.   But old favourites have a way of staying in our hearts, says Paul Hartmann, a Beverly Hills chef for three years at the turn of the 1990s and now co-director of Cape Town’s SA Chefs’ Academy.   “It was because we were renowned for our curries and seafood that guests came to the Cabin Restaurant, now elements café bar,” he says.

For further information contact  annie@angelfishpr.co.za