Latino beats

“Myself, my assistant manager Andrea, and the head chef are Latinos, so we bring that authenticity to the restaurant. I am from Brazil and have an extensive background in the Argentinean food and beverage industry, having worked at Hilton Buenos Aires for four years, followed by Hilton Sao Paolo for a further four,” explains Wadim Alvarez, restaurant manager, Pachanga.

“Then, more than six years ago, Hilton’s vice-president of food and beverage for the Middle East and Asia Pacific had a vision to develop a new concept with thematic gastronomy, so that is why we are here,” says Alvarez.

That vision was translated into Pachanga, serving specialities from Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. Sourcing true tastes of South America, Alvarez says Pachanga has reaped the rewards of having ingredients like salmon and chillies from Mexico, king crab from the Antártica Chilena Province, goat’s cheese from Argentina, and a focus on Chilean wines.

Fuelling a succession of similar openings across Dubai since its inception, the outlet is now gearing up for a major revamp of its menu format, as well as investing in staff and diner education.

“I plan to introduce explanations on the menu regarding the preparation of each dish and where it comes from, so guests can understand how the food is produced,” Alvarez says.

When it comes to the food offering, diners are offered traditional Mexican guacamole and Churrasco, a Brazilian barbeque where the meat is carved at the table. American Angus beef is also offered due to Municipality bans on Argentinean and Scottish meat. Yet its focus remains on offering premium products.

Argentinean-born chef David Contreras, Pachanga’s head chef, says he attempts to capture the diversity of Latino cuisine on offer, from grilled lobster tail wrapped with cashew nut potatoes and baby asparagus – typical of Northeast Brazil – to Mexican Caribbean seafood specialities.

“This is ethnic cuisine, but we are not cooking for those people as 40% of diners are British expatriates, so we need to achieve a balance by sharing the experience in a non-aggressive way. For example, Saviche is a dish of Peruvian origin made using marinated raw fish. We mix that with cooked shrimps and octopus, so it is all slightly different,” chef David explains.

Working with suppliers including Fresh Express and Classic Fine Foods, chef David says although it is important to update the menu, he is deterred from changing the menu too often or drastically, as meeting regular guests’ expectations and overcoming barriers when sourcing food is imperative to operations.

“We struggle throughout the year to source fresh ingredients, so to counter this we use preserved or processed ingredients, or bring in products from Asia that parallel those in subtropical areas of South America, like mangoes and papayas,” chef David comments.

Meanwhile, Alvarez has taken the initiative to develop crossover skills among the front and back of house brigades, as he believes it will be a sure fire way to drive the restaurant forward. Starting this month, members of the floor and kitchen teams will switch over for three hours of service per shift, a move prompted to develop staff skills and knowledge.

But evolving duties is also pivotal to on-the-job training for the back of house team, so each chef spends two months in each department, such as the hot kitchen, the grill area, and the dessert section.

Back to the front of house, providing live entertainment has proved to be an excellent selling point for the restaurant, particularly the tango lessons on Wednesdays. Samba night at the outlet has also triggered a significant leap in turnover, as well as enticing increasing numbers of South American diners.

“This is a really good product for us, and the business we have achieved through this offering is equivalent of having an extra day at the weekend,” Alvarez enthuses.

The swift moves are not just confined to the dance floor, as chef David aims to serve up starters approximately 10 minutes after ordering, and main courses after 20 minutes.

Yet it has not all been plain sailing. Alvarez believes that communicating with suppliers is becoming an increasingly difficult process, hampered particularly by problems with continuity of wines in the market.

“I’m forced to look at the wine list three or four times a week as some are no longer available or someone has bought the entire container. Sometimes the vintage has changed as well, and we are not informed. These problems arise on a daily basis,” Alvarez says.

Offering wines from across the globe, including Argentinean, Chilean, Brazilian, French, and South African, together with premium selections including Cheval des Andes Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec, the two bartenders are also trained in matching cigars with rum in Cubar, which offers a selection of speciality cocktails, aperitifs, rums and ports.

Matching the food on the menu with a different wine for each dish, Alvarez confides that up selling is strongly encouraged among his team members, which is imperative when cost prices for South American products continue to rise in the market.

Both chef David and Alvarez concede, that although they face staggering food cost percentages for certain dishes – with others levelling out the cost to make it 31% – the ability to offer diners exclusive and exotic products really pays dividends.