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The Palace Hotel in Adliya is staging a Surf & Turf Festival until the end of October in its popular Polo Lounge restaurant.
It features a live cooking station allowing diners to watch intently as their choices of meat or fish are grilled to perfection right before their eyes.
The theme night co-ordinator, Executive Chef Royce Bertram Mathews, believes the tasty combination is an ideal compliment to the big screen football action on display at the venue.
With 24 years of culinary experience, Chef Royce has been managing the hotel's kitchen team for the past year as well as creating a new menu for the lounge and hotel room service.
He said: "We have been creating a series of monthly themes at the Polo Lounge and they have been very successful. We have some great ideas for the coming months including an Asian theme offering Malaysian, Indian and Sri Lankan delicacies. Watch this space!"
Chef Royce, 50 from Adliya, boasts extensive culinary experience having worked with renowned names throughout the hospitality industry. His career has taken him around the globe to places such as Egypt, UAE, Muscat, the Caribbean, Yemen, Germany, India and Singapore.
Chef Royce started his career in his native Sri Lanka after completing a three year diploma in hotel management.
During the internship, the programme included training in various departments within a facility. He said: "When I was scheduled for kitchen training I quickly realised this was the life for me.
"As a child I always liked watching my mother, sisters and aunts in the kitchen and, in a way, I think they inspired me."
Chef Royce now also offers consultations on fusion food for boutique hotels whenever he returns to Sri Lanka as part of his membership of the nation's Chefs' Guild, which comes under the Sri Lankan Tourism Authority.
Over the years, Chef Royce has been archiving all his recipes and hopes to someday develop it into a cook book, which will feature authentic Sri Lankan dishes alongside the many international delicacies he has mastered over the years.
He said: "I even have some traditional Sri Lankan recipes which I have not even used yet!"
Today he shares one of his favourite grilled seafood recipes with GulfWeekly readers.
Traditional seafood mix grill
Ingredients:
Fillet fish 100gm
Lemon juice 30ml
Salt/pepper 4gm
Seafood seasoning oil 40gm
Shrimps 80gm
Calamari slice 80gm
Unsalted butter 30gm
Fresh lemon juice 30ml
Salt 10gm
Fresh flat-leafed parsley 15gm
Method:
Wash the cooked Calamari and shrimps and dry them well. Season with lemon, salt, pepper and pass through flour. Shake off the surplus and brush with seasoning oil. Place on hot grill bars, brushing occasionally with oil. Turn the shrimps and fish carefully grilling them on both sides, but do not overcook. Serve with lemon quarters and suitable sauce.
Butter sauce with lemon:
Cut butter into pieces and melt it in a small, heavy skillet over moderately low heat. Simmer until golden brown with a nutty aroma for five minutes. Remove skillet from heat and immediately add lemon juice, salt, parsley and pepper to taste swirling skillet to incorporate (butter will foam). Serve sauce immediately.
