AdelaideNow: Top chef Cheong Liew retires, Hilton Granges Restaurent to close.

[neddy]

http://www.thegrangerestaurant.com.au/cheong-liew-team

Cheong Liew

'Cuisine is alive - ever-searching, ever-learning' Cheong Liew
Celebrating 12 years of gastronomic success, the relationship between The Grange (named after the world-famous Penfolds Grange wine) and resident chef Cheong Liew has elevated Hilton food to the highest level and Cheong to celebrity status worldwide.

Malaysian-born Cheong has been at the helm of The Grange since 1995 and is well recognised as the Father of fusion cuisine. Mixing French techniques and Asian flair with the very best South Australian ingredients, he was one of the first to define his innovative style as “East meets West”.

The American magazine Food & Wine named Cheong one of the “world’s ten hottest chefs alive”!

The Grange menu concept, Migration of Ideas, celebrates the pleasures of Australia’s “clean and green” seasonal ingredients and the philosophy that food is eating your way to health.


About Cheong Liew

Neddys Restaurant, Adelaide 1975 - 1988

Regency Hotel School 1988 - 1995

The Grange, Hilton Adelaide 1995 -

Cheong Liew was acknowledged in the Queens Birthday List in June 1999. He was awarded an OAM - Medal of the Order of Australia - in recognition for “service to the food and restaurant industry through involvement in developing and influencing the style of contemporary Australian cuisine”.

This honour recognises a talent long known in Australia - Cheong Liew, the Malaysian-born Chinese whose fusion of Asian culture, Australian ingredients and classical French technique has made his name synonymous with cookery world-wide.

“My cuisine is about understanding and appreciating cuisines of different countries and then cooking from the heart,” Cheong explains.

In 2005, Cheong was invited to showcase his cooking style at Restaurant Ikarus, the prestigious restaurant at Hangar 7 in Salzburg, Austria. Since 2002, Cheong has been invited to be a guest chef at the prestigious annual Cherry Blossom Gourmet Festival at the Australian Embassy in Tokyo, Japan.

Cheong is also Consultant Chef to Senses Restaurant at Hilton Kuala Lumpur.

 

[scroobal]

A few months, a food critic from Sydney wrote an article about the disappointing quality of food and service and noted that he Cheong Liew spent his time drinking alcohol with his friends in the restaurant instead of looking after the quality of the food coming out of the kitchen.

In reply, Hilton responded by saying that 4 key kitchen staff were on leave. The immediate reply from media was why then was Cheong Liew not in the kitchen instead of spending time chatting away. Then people started claiming that they found the food suspect. 3 months later Hilton announced that it was closing Grange for good and Cheong Liew was gone.

I have been to the Grange and tasted his food. Its fusion which is always suspect because you can't compare it with other outlets. He claims its asian fusion and its bloody expensive. I tried the degustation menu to sample broadly and the good part was the wine.

By the way, you will lucky to spot an asian in the restaurant, clearly indicative that asians who will spend a fortune on food had their doubts.

 

[scroobal]

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25835200-5006301,00.html

PETRA STARKE, DAVID NANKERVIS
July 26, 2009 12:30am
SOUTH Australia's most celebrated chef, Cheong Liew, and his internationally acclaimed restaurant The Grange have been savaged in a national review.

On the eve of Liew receiving a major culinary award his restaurant, at the Hilton, has been labelled "overrated" and worthy of just one star by a leading eastern states food critic.

Liew, 60, has been named one of the "hottest" chefs alive, received an Order of Australia award for his culinary influence and tomorrow night is set to receive a major food industry award.

But his food and even his attire has been condemned by The Australian's food writer John Lethlean, who described the restaurant as having "all the specialness of a doctor's waiting room from an American soap".

Read the review: John Lethlean's verdict

Tell us what you think - scroll down to leave a comment

His review in The Weekend Australian Magazine singled Liew out for wearing " black leather and jeans, not chef's whites" and for drinking in the hotel's lounge with friends before heading into the kitchen.

"My first visit is almost certainly my last," he wrote.

Last night Liew would not respond to the critique but a chorus of food experts, chefs and Liew's own family jumped to the Adelaide food icon's defence.

Art Gallery Restaurant chef and long-time friend Cath Kerry said Liew would be devastated by the review.

"He'll be about to slash his wrists, he takes these things very seriously," she said yesterday.

"He'd be terribly upset, and I'm upset on his behalf."

A family insider told the Sunday Mail: "We think the reviewer came in on a night where four key people were missing.

"The reviewer is entitled to his opinion. These things happen, you've got to take the good with the bad."

Liew's brother, Adelaide furniture designer Khai Liew, said the review was disappointing.

"Obviously Cheong is still very much at the forefront, and in tune with what's happening internationally," he said. "This is the first bad review that I've heard of."

Khai Liew said he was surprised at the criticism, but admitted Cheong did not spend as much time in The Grange's kitchen as he used to. "He's more of a consultant chef and spends more time travelling internationally," he said. "You can't please everyone. I think he'll be okay about it but he won't be very happy about it."

Matt Moran, TV identity and chef and owner of legendary Sydney restaurant Aria, said Liew was one of Australia's best chefs.

"I've known Cheong for a while, he's a lovely guy, he's been around for a long time and is definitely well regarded as a great chef," he said.

"There's so many aspects that can go wrong in a restaurant - was it Cheong's food, was it the head chef's food, who knows?

"You should take any sort of criticism and turn it around and better it. You should never take a critic's words in vain, you should always look at what can be done."

Restaurant and Catering SA president and owner of top city restaurant Auge, Terry Soukoulis, said he was "very surprised" by the review. "It's so ironic that he's going to win a top award on Monday, and this sort of review has been written about him," Mr Soukoulis said.

"I know Cheong very well and I just can't imagine how someone could write something bad about him. It's beyond me how anyone could write a bad review."

In 2002, The Weekend Australian Magazine lauded Liew's signature seafood dish "The Four Dances of the Sea" as "our greatest national dish", saying "it should be eaten at least once by every Australian, including prime ministers".

But in yesterday's review, Lethlean described the dish as "merely four seafood elements on a plate with no connection" and "not the epiphany I'd hoped for - nowhere near".

Lethlean also described the grilled crocodile tail as "really chewy", its accompanying truffle mash "gluey", a serve of goat's milk cheese as "leathery", and a friand "dry and firm".

The Hilton refused to comment on the review, saying it was a matter of "personal opinion", but said The Grange restaurant was now closed for kitchen renovations until August 7.

Liew is set to head to Malaysia next month on a food tour with Phil Hoffman Travel.

The Hilton confirmed Liew would be back in the Grange kitchen after the tour.

 

[scroobal]

Notice the legendary Tai Chi despite the fact that his daughter is part of the kitchen staff and that he handpicked the staff and he is in the restaurant when it is open. I give hin credit though for conning the Aussies for decades..

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...grange-chef-cheong-liew/story-0-1225755355718


I'm just a consultant, says The Grange chef Cheong Liew Pia Akerman July 28, 2009 12:00AM Increase Text SizeDecrease Text SizePrintEmail Share

ADELAIDE chef Cheong Liew has laid the blame for a scathing review of his restaurant squarely at the feet of the city's Hilton Hotel, declaring he is merely the "consultant chef", designing the menu and spearheading the advertising.
As he prepared to accept a lifetime achievement award from his peers, Liew broke his silence to tell The Australian he had not read the weekend review but it was up to the management of the hotel, which hosts The Grange Restaurant, to maintain standards.

"If a person is not happy about the restaurant, it's up to you to talk to the Hilton, it's nothing to do with me," he said.

"I'm purely a consultant. I'm there to train them to do the dishes and I'm training them to develop the culture."

The Hilton has long promoted Liew as the face of The Grange, plastering his image beside the line "Who's cooking your dinner tonight?" in its promotional material.

Liew admitted yesterday he did not regularly step behind the stove these days, but defended the kitchen staff, saying some of them had been with him 10 years. "I personally chose the staff myself ... one of them is my daughter," he said.

"Staff come and go. Sometimes they are up high and sometimes they are low, so that's how the restaurant goes."

In the review in The Weekend Australian Magazine, John Lethlean, The Australian's food editor, gave The Grange one star.

There has been an overwhelming public response to the review, with many of those who have recently dined at The Grange agreeing with his assessment.

The Hilton said only that it did not share Lethlean's view of The Grange's current standards.

It declined to comment further last night.

Accepting his award from peak hospitality body Restaurant and Catering SA last night, Liew said he wanted to thank "the generation of Adelaideans who have steadfastly supported me and supported my cuisine".

"We have been operating The Grange that way ever since I started 14 years ago -- it has always been the same," he said.

Lethlean said in his review that the Hilton was "solely responsible for expectations that are not being met" at the restaurant.

"If Mr Liew is not hands-on overseeing the restaurant's output at each service, they need someone who can maintain the standards established by Liew during the formative years of The Grange when its reputation was established," he wrote.

Sally Neville, chief executive of Restaurant and Catering SA, said the group wanted to recognise the 30-plus years Liew had given to the South Australian restaurant scene. "I think he was probably before his time in that when he did come in the 1970s, there was no understanding of cross-culture," she said.

"There was the occasional Chinese restaurant in the street, but there wasn't anyone bringing the skills of Asia and blending them with the traditional classical skills of Europe.

"He's managed to meld those two cultures and create a cuisine style around the marriage of those two."

Others recognised with the lifetime achievement award in its six-year history include Primo Caon, owner of Adelaide's Chesser Cellar, and Peter Jarmer, of the since-closed Jarmers. Liew will travel with other state winners to Canberra for a dinner with federal MPs later this year

 

[neddy]

Unfortunately, food critics are notorious for breaking a number of chefs in Australia, esp Sydney.

Let's face it, it is hard to earn good money as a chef, you need the food critics to make the difference on patronage.

 

[scroobal]

Nothing to do with food citics, just look at his tai chi comments. He paid to look after the restaurant and not the hotels beds or the gardens. No class, no standard.


After tasting the food, I knew that he was a fraud conning aussies who have no idea what asian food is like and have not travelled outside. This happened in Adelaide. I doubt it would have occurred in Perth, Sydney, Mel or even Darwin.

Unfortunately, food critics are notorious for breaking a number of chefs in Australia, esp Sydney.

Let's face it, it is hard to earn good money as a chef, you need the food critics to make the difference on patronage.

 

[neddy]

Nothing to do with food citics, just look at his tai chi comments. He paid to look after the restaurant and not the hotels beds or the gardens. No class, no standard.


After tasting the food, I knew that he was a fraud conning aussies who have no idea what asian food is like and have not travelled outside. This happened in Adelaide. I doubt it would have occurred in Perth, Sydney, Mel or even Darwin.

I see what you mean. In Adelaide, he just has to be smarter than the average chef to make it big.

Anyway, Hilton Adelaide has quite slow and poor service. It is just well located in Vic Sq, with foodie streets and a Genelog tram terminal.

But I am surprised that Adelaide has a asian-style goldsmith shop. Cannot find in Perth .... hahaha

 

[po2wq]

looks like he's selling his name oni ... he's no longer hands on ... dishes r not prepared by him anymore ... so dey shud b different now ...


juz like sum in sg oways c lightning brand as a gd brand ... abt 66% wil buy it irrespectif of wat ... but ze lightning brand now is much different fr ze lightning brand of o as iz handled by different ppl ...