Because when you where your face will from, that will bring everybody down. So don't worry, be happy. Well, don't worry if you happen to be in Bermuda today, it is a bombing seventy five degrees mild winds of about seven miles an hour. Well being in Bermuda thanks very much to Elbow Beach, Bermuda, an ocean front enclave of
classic style and contemporary of luxury. Our next guest, well, I have to just say, Kathleen, I would never in a million years have thought that I would be broadcasting about twenty yards from a clear blue piece of water. It's turquoise, and I have to say I love being on the beach and this is some of the most turquoise clear water I have ever swimming in my entire life. Now, have you ever had the experience where you go someplace on a holiday and you think, boy, wouldn't it be
great to stay year and open a business. Wouldn't it be great to just open a restaurant or start cooking and hopefully people will come and well, you know, as a matter of fact, um, going down to the beach always makes me hungry, and it's it's nice then to be at the place that not only has a beautiful beach, but not to eat. I was giving you that. I was giving you the baton so that you could introduce our next guest, Surge Botelly, who has been here in
Bermuda for, as it describes him, forty plus years. He is the executive chef here at Elbow Beach, Bermuda, and Surge, thank you very much for having us. Thank you very much for having me here on your radio show. Well, how did you tell us your story about how does you come to be here? We actually I came by plane, Okay, I had some friends, I guess someone say asked you that before I stayed. I was born in Switzerland. That's where I came from, and some friends came to work,
and then the following years we came here. And actually today me certy is my anniversary of arriving to Bermuda in nineteen nine at six twenty. So you have many years experience in the restaurant industry and and certainly here in Bermuda. Tell us more about the restaurant group that you're part of, and of course there's why Mickey's there's Cafe Leto. You have a variety of restaurants here on the result. Yes, we do have three restaurants. We have Mickey's with I called that a little bit of an
Italian bistro. We have Caffe Leado was a little bit more upscale, silver plated dinners, and then we have a fun part with Sea Breeze where we serve top us and sushi. So what do you have to do to compete on an island like this? There's lots you know, that's one of things people do when they come to place. Everybody wants deed, what do you? What do you? What's your challenge in the industry? Traveling around? See what's coming? What's we got all the all the new items coming
on the market. What's the vegetable of the yale last year? What's kale? I think this year it's cauliflower? What they say, Well, it's keeping up with the website and see what's coming up all the time. Can we just go back to your career just a little bit, because being in an island nation, everything has to really be brought in more or less right about okay, So you've had to create a vision of and a version of food and culinary
excellence that kind of mindset. Yes, I mean we need also to say thank you to the wholesale because they follow the trend. So they're bringing food that we request and we can get food in Bermuda and I can call today at twelve noon and have my food coming from New York or the Boston area by two more afternoon at two o'clock. Uh, And that helps a lot.
That helps a lot when you go to visit New York's used to visit certain restaurants and you see what they're doing and you follow up with the whole saleer to get that. So what course one of the advantages. You also have lots of great fish listening just to around this island. And of course that's something that is is wherever you are getting very very fresh Christian How much pressure can it be some of the some of the fresh catch you have here in Bermuda sometimes, I
mean we get fish in six hours locally. I mean you were asking me yesterday about wawhoo, that's one kind of fish is running now we got to now running. We got redhind running or fantastic, fantastic fish. Doing business on an island is also a challenge because you have a seasonal. We do have a seasonal we have now starting the summer season until roughly label day and then we work a lot with our corporate clientcy on the island,
with the insurance business and so on. And the locals you know, and these people, I mean that community travels a lot, so they're expecting to find the same that they find in New York, London, nord Zwick, right, and that keeper Tonal tolls to continue doing what we want to do. What about Bermuda is in the midst of a big push to to expand the tourism industry. We really bring more people in faculty to be speaking later in the show to the head of the tourism authority
here in Bermuda. Changing taste, changing generations. How do you respond to that? As a chef? What I see a lot coming up. It's actually the fusion between different countries coming now before we have the Italians. Now we're mixing Italian food with maybe Oriental food and so on. And that's due to the people who are traveling to the island.
We need to to give them what they want. Put to that and just last point, I know that you've cooked for a lot of celebrities, right, you're a lot of Hollywood stars, and so can you give us some detail maybe? Yes. The biggest thing I did was for Royal and as the Queen of England did for President Bush Junior Senior Colonel Powell, Princess Alexandra kissing jow and so on, and uh, what do you make for them? I cannot tell you know it was for the queen
was some fish, some bermuda rock is. Uh. It was very interesting because they came six months in advance and we knew a lot of things in advance, what they want, what they didn't want, some little twick so also for my for my money's sakes or things like that. Do you get nervous when you have to cook for a queen? I used to, But yes, you get nervous. You you get a little bit nervous. But you need to treat
everybody as superstar. You know. Well it looks like you've got got your You're just a man to do it, I hope. So, Sarah, thank you so much for joining. Thanks you really appreciated well, so far, so good. I think we're gonna come back next month another show please series Hotel Executive Chef Elbow Beach, Bermuda talking to us about how you keep it up, how you keep it going in the restaurant industry in Bermudia. A lot more coming up on Kathleen Hayes. Pimpots were taking stock on Blobrig Radio