Hotels Fly The Coop To Exotic Meat

BIRD FLU: Hotels fly the coop to exotic meat

Take advantage of the scare to educate your jaded palate

BANGKOK: Since the bird-flu outbreak many Bangkok hotels have been scrambling to change their menus, replacing chicken with numerous other dishes including turkey imported from the US, crocodile meat and bio-organic food.

Menam Riverside Hotel began offering a bio-organic menu, including bakery items, a few weeks ago.

Its food-and-beverage director, Kachorn Taksapagorn, said that the hotel was aiming to differentiate itself and had chosen the bio-organic route because few other hotel restaurants had taken it.

“The timing is good, and there are more than 10,000 people [in Bangkok] who already consume this kind of product,” Kachorn said.

“The hotel will officially launch the whole package in March,” he added.

At the Pathumwan Princess Hotel the menu has been expanded to include imported turkey.

“We want to give our customers another choice,” said its food-and-beverage manager, Chainarong Tonkanya. The turkey is imported from the US, he said.

The hotel has posted notices in all of its restaurants assuring customers that there will be no Thai poultry products on the menu until the outbreak is over.

Novotel Siam Square has promoted new dishes such as crocodile-meat pizza and expanded its selection of seafood dishes. The menu has received a great response from the customers, hotel executives say.

Century Park Hotel, however, has not had to transform its menu as there were not many poultry dishes on it, said its assistant marketing-communication manager, Piyanuch Sridarnop. Its focus has been Italian food.

Other hotels, such as the Marriott and Dusit Thani, have removed chicken from their buffets. The Sukhothai no longer serves chicken to guests and has eliminated it from its staff cafeteria as well, it said.

The Plaza Athenee and Royal Orchid Sheraton, however, continue to serve poultry dishes when requested but ensure that the meat is cooked properly, executives at the hotels said.

--The Nation 2004-02-23