My First Week of Work in England

I haven't posted much on here recently because I've been really busy working at my new job.  It's actually a lot cooler than I thought it would be.  The restaurant is in a brand new hotel, and they are trying to go for a cool, sexy, glamorous sort of vibe.  They're hoping to get all sorts of fancy people and we might even have paparazzi out front ready to take photos of all the famous celebs as they walk out the door.  I'm not sure if thats more of a fantasy or is actually likely to happen but we'll see.  I guess the owner is friends with some of the football (soccer) teams out here so we'll probably see some footballers, of course I wouldn't know any of them... unless it was Beckham but he's American now isn't he?

This week has been intense training.  The first couple days were a bit boring as they made us do all sorts of icebreakers, which I've never been a fan of, and they talked a lot about company policies, health and safety, communication, etc etc.

However, as the week progressed we've been doing training on lots of different drinks.  First off, we did vodka tasting.  We tasted about five different types of vodka - which sounded fun, but swirling vodka around my mouth at 9 am isn't really the way I prefer to start my day.  I was generally perplexed as people described the flavor of different vodkas, saying they tasted of vanilla, or citrus.  I felt like they all tasted and smelled like variations of nail polish remover in fancy bottles.  And seriously who swishes straight vodka around their mouth to enjoy the taste?  I'm a fan of knocking 'em back - quick and dirty style.  However, I did learn that my favorite vodka we tasted was Belvedere.  We did similar tastings with rum, bourbon, and whiskey.

In the afternoon, we had a tea expert come in and teach us all about teas.  I really enjoyed this part.  The restaurant apparently has one of the best tea lists in London, and they're serving the tea in the cutest little tea pots ever.  They're completely clear glass, and they're only big enough for one cup of tea.  There is a strainer in the spout so loose leaf teas float around the pot and looks really pretty.  One of the teas even blossoms into a flower when you add the hot water - how cool is that?  They taught me all about the different types and flavors of tea.

The following day we went to this coffee academy type of place to learn about coffee.  This Italian, Dolce and Gabana wearing woman who is a world expert on coffee taught us how to make the perfect cup on one of those fancy schmancy machines.

After that they sent us to a brewery.  We got really lost on the way, but when we managed to find it we got a lesson on beer and they gave us a tour of the factory.  It was really neat to see the brewery, even though I'm not a huge fan of beer.  After the tour we did a beer tasting, and I felt like they definitely converted me on the beer front.  The majority of beers I've consumed have come from kegs at college parties, so this may have a lot to do with my dislike of beers.  I learned a lot about the brewing process here and I really liked their raspberry beer.  We also tasted a chocolate beer, that I thought I would love, but surprisingly I really didn't like at all.  After the beer tasting, they gave us a coupon to go to a local pub and drink for free. So that was a fun night out.

On Saturday we went over service, which is mostly common knowledge, and in the afternoon we had a wine tasting.  I've done a wine tasting with my friend, Sarah, when she came to visit us in London, at Vinopolis, which was a lot of fun, but I didn't feel like I learned anything there.  This wine tasting was extensive and our teacher was great.  We tasted about 30 wines and are expected to be able to pair them with foods and describe them.  Since it was a Saturday night they told us to swallow, instead of being proper and spitting.  Needless to say by the end of it we were all pretty happily drunk.

Now I just have to memorize all of this information.  There's a lot to learn but its interesting at least.  We'll be opening in a week so I need to look like I know what I'm talking about by then.  Overall, I think that this will be a fun place to work for awhile and I'm excited for the opening.  I wish I could put up pictures of everything, but I didn't really want my employer to know about my blog, so I didn't take any.  That's also the reason I haven't included more detailed information about the companies I visited for training or the name of the restaurant.  I was really impressed by a lot of them so if you're interested let me know and I'll tell you secretly!