Kitchen Ballet
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No part of being a chef feels more unique to me than the kitchen ballet. Other jobs may have something like it, but to me it’s one of the most gratifying parts of my job. The kitchen ballet is the timing of service when the entire restaurant is in full swing and the whole crew are in telepathic communication with each other and you reach for something and your sous chef already has it ready for you and you put an order out into the waiting hands of your server and the second you need glasses your dishwasher is just taking them out of the machine. For me, it’s one of the most beautiful parts of working in a restaurant. This video, shot over an entire day’s service at Amber in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Hong Kong, is the closest I’ve seen someone come to capturing the kitchen ballet on film.
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(courtesy of Cha Xiu Bao)
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