Ever wondered where to find the best food in Marina Bay Sands? Or how leftover food is treated at the end of the day? Find out more in our InC-terview with MBS' Executive Chef Christopher Christie!
[Photo Credit: Marina Bay Sands]
Q: You have a wonderful and talented culinary team at the Marina Bay Sands, and we believe you are always actively trying to recruit the best in the business to join you. Are there any special qualifications or considerations when hiring people to join your team?
Christie: Attitude is what I look for most. We can teach people to cook and become good chefs but first they must possess the right attitude to be part of the team.
Q: How often does your culinary team come up with new menus to give your customers variety, and keep them satisfied?
Christie: With our size, we are constantly developing new menus in one area or another. Right now we are working on our banquet menus as we want to expand on our offerings in the Sands Expo and Convention Center.
Q: We learnt that nearly 3 tonnes of food are prepared each day just to feed MBS' team members... we are curious as to how leftover food are treated each day.
Christie: We have our production quantities down to a science as we don’t want to waste food, especially given the volumes we do. We try to cook with the anticipation of running out of one item and then replacing it with another. History has given us a good indication of quantities for each item of food.
[Photo Credit: Marina Bay Sands]
Q: Does MBS have a signature dish that cannot be found elsewhere in the world?
Christie: Evolution keeps us churning out new dishes all the time; we don’t stick to one single item. I have been told our laksa is excellent as well as our rum-raisin ice cream in Rise Restaurant. SweetSpot is packed with a great collection of home baked breads and pastries, which all sell very well and we have received numerous wonderful comments from our guests.
Q. How do you motivate your culinary team on a daily basis?
Christie: By being positive, praising their good work and continuing to guide, train and inspire them.
Q: Was there a particular day that gave you a fright because something went wrong in the kitchen?
Christie: The day when the gas was accidently shut off during our first big lunch in the Team Member Dining Room with 1,200 people expected. It was a nerve-racking one hour until the gas was finally restored, phew! We made it, but just barely.
Q: Singapore has a very vibrant culinary scene. What is your favourite hawker food? Is there a particular place that you visit often to dine in?
Christie: I love chicken rice, cheese-prata, satays and carrot cake in hawker centers. My favorite place to dine is on my patio at home with my custom-made barbeque, and a great glass of wine!
[Christopher Christie & Executive Producer of MBS 24/7 Chris Humphrey]
[Photo Credit: The Biography Channel]
Q: What would you like your last meal to be?
Christie: For me, it’s more important who I would be dining with on that last meal, not what we’re eating…..My preferred companion for this last meal will be my daughter.
[More about Executive Chef Christopher Christie]
As the Executive Chef of Marina Bay Sands, Christopher Christie oversees the entire 400-strong culinary team at the integrated resort. A founding team member, the Canadian-born chef is responsible for making sure the 43 individual kitchens - many of which run 24/7 - work like clockwork, delivering an average of 15,000 meals per day. When he's not running his kitchen empire, Chef Christie enjoys fiction-based writing and has recently published a culinary themed novel titled The Broken Path.
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Catch Christopher Christie in an all-new 8-episode programme called Marina Bay Sands 24/7, premiering on The Biography Channel (StarHub TV Channel 404) on May 31, Thursdays at 9:30PM.
More on Marina Bay Sands 24/7 in our MBS Blog Series: