Of course, Art Deco is always in style, but it feels as though it is having a particular moment amongst some of Melbournes newest venues, along with sweeping staircases. I have swept up or down at least three staircases in the last month alone. I love a good sweeping staircase and I think it is exactly for that art deco glamour reason. Dolly at Le Meridien has a sweeping spiral staircase that transports you from the lobby downstairs and to another world, a world of glitz and glamour recalling the glory days of the Palace Theatre, built in 1912 and home to live theatre, cinema, live music, and a night club until 2020. Le Meridien now stands in its place, and it is beautiful with its 235 rooms, Intermission cafe, Dolly, an 18-metre heated pool on the fifth floor with views of the city and its own poolside bar. Dolly is named for the dolly zoom camera technique, pioneered in Hitchcock's 1958 film, Vertigo, and the restaurant is creating its own sense of tracking shot, with a nod to the past through the lens of modern creativity. I was lucky enough to be invited to Dolly to try the signature menu of oysters, cured salmon roulade, beef Wellington with chestnut potato mousseline and bomb Alaska. I loved it all but particularly enjoyed my opening cocktail, Vanity, made with Gin, Rin-Quin-Quin a la peche, orange bitters, Campari, and violette, and the theatre of the bomb Alaska flambeed at the table. Christian Graebner is the man behind the menu, and I couldn't wait to meet him. Christian, himself, mightnt be happy with that description because he is all about his team and he spoke so highly of the work they do together, noting that he is continually impressed by what his sous chef, Max achieves. Originally from Germany, Christian loves food and cooking, a passion he discovered at 14 years old, and which led him to kitchens in hotels around Europe and Australia. He describes his dishes with genuine delight and the dining room as an escape to the glamour and glitz of the good old days. From the early days of his cooking journey, what Christian loved the most was the way food brought friends and family together to enjoy each other's company. He has never looked back. Listen to the podcast here.
Hello Christian. It is so lovely to meet you. It is so beautiful in here and we had such a delicious dinner on Friday, so thank you for that. We ate from the Signature Menu, so I'm really interested to about that but I want to hear about everything. The theme here is the glory years and glamour and Art Deco. Is that what you based your menu around?
Correct. We are trying to bring back all the glitz and glamour of the good old days. Dollys setting is a little bit of an escape room to go back to a time where it was a little bit more bliss. We spent a little bit more money, we enjoyed ourselves, we went out and went big. That was the connection we wanted to bring back, enjoying classic dishes and a more elevated service in a setting where you can enjoy yourself over several hours and even pair it up with going to the theatre, it's a perfect setting to dress up.
So where do you start when you're planning the menu?
I think first of all, it depends on the setting of the restaurant itself. When I start planning a menu, I look at the space. For me it's the architectural service sequence, the intimacy, seeing how the tables are organized, what size groups we could expect and accommodate. Then looking as well at the clientele we want to attract. What could a menu look like that catered for the space? So this particular space is important. If this was a restaurant full of sunlight, the menu would be would completely different. Here we are more focused on the dinner operation than the lunch trade. We are not targeting lunch. So we can be a little bit bolder, a little bit stronger in our flavour profiles and go up bit heavier.
Could you give me some examples of that? The Beef Wellington was certainly very flavoursome and impressive. What other dishes are you creating that are bold?
We have other beautiful dishes as well, a lamb crepinette. It is basically a pork crepinette, filled with lemons, pistachio, garlic, mustard seeds and so on, then wrapped around lamb loin. It is more like a sausage casing, the old way of doing sausages. I'm not saying it's sausage and mash, but obviously it goes down the track of bringing humble, bold flavour pairings that can match very well with a strong wine setting. Apart from that, obviously we have the chestnut potato mousseline on the menu as well as the Bomb Alaska. So there are a couple of dishes that round an entire night out.
And the Bomb Alaska is an entertaining dessert as well because everything happens at the table with the flambeeing. It's beautiful. I don't think I've ever actually had Bomb Alaska before, to be honest. It's an iconic dessert. Then having it brought to the table and then lit, that was beautiful. In terms of wine, because wine is important here as well at Dolly, do you have a say in the wine matching?
I was allowed to have a couple of my wish list. I was allowed to supply a couple of thoughts to certain choices. But ultimately Patrick Walsh was in charge of curating the entire list. I picked a couple of European wines, which I wanted to see, based on the area where I'm from. Obviously because I had created the menu in advance, then we started pairing them, I gave my recommendation of wines to the dishes. So we actually get better pairings.
And there is that cinematic theme I guess as well with the name of the restaurant and where it is in the Old Palace theatre. Is that something you took into consideration when you were preparing food?
Absolutely. I think when we discovered, or started unravelling the layers of the live entertainment this venue stands for, still today, people are coming through the door and the first thing they say is, ah it's the old metro. The old nightclub where I spent my youth. It is a very, very common comment from so many patrons we have here. They really like to come back to sit in the space again. And then from the theatrical aspect, obviously the Bomb Alaska was clearly just for that purpose. We knew it was going to be a dimmed environment, it's going to be dark, fire is always theatre, and a beautiful eye catcher as well.
How long before opening a place like this are you here? When do you arrive?
I think every place is different, obviously. I started officially at the end of November and the official launch date of the hotel was the 16th of March. But between actually getting the kitchen and getting the restaurant open, we only had two weeks. So it was a very, very tight turnaround for us to even get ready, prepare, train the team, and be ready for the launch. It was a challenging time, but a rewarding time.
Yes. How many staff have you got on your team?
The overall team size is 12 chefs. But they are spread over a seven day roster. From breakfast and dinner.
And you oversee room service too?
We do room service, the cafe upstairs Intermission, the restaurant, breakfast operation and banquet catering, then we have the level five pool deck.
It is so beautiful up there. Our waiter took us up just to show us on Friday, and it was quite magical at night with all the lights of the city around the blue glowing pool. It's such a beautiful place. I'm interested to hear a little bit more about you and where it all began for you. Obviously you're from Germany. What part of Germany are you from?
From the northern part of Bavaria. Close to the city of Bamberg. I think that's most relatable for most people. Let's say I'm from the countryside, a small town of 5,000 people. I quickly realized that the small town is too small for me. My family was well travelled. I always travelled when I was younger. I was very fortunate to travel Europe extensively when I was younger as a kid. And passion for hospitality started very early on when I was allowed to cook for my family at home. We cooked for each other. My mum was great cook. It was always this humble moment when family came together, and we enjoyed each other's time.
I think that taught me quite early that this is a very great moment in life when people are enjoying each other's company and having a laugh and sharing time with each other. And I think that kind grew on me very on early on and started directly with my apprenticeship at the age of 17. And from there I never looked back. So it's now been 18 years.
And where did you study? Obviously a larger city?
I travelled to the city of Bamberg, and I did my apprenticeship in a four star hotel operation which was catering between multiple restaurants, multiple function rooms, and again, a seven days a week operation. The operation went from 50 people, a la carte to 1,500 people banquets. Banquet operations, plated events, buffets. It was a broad band of experience. It was just not focusing on one little single cuisine type. It was the entire spectrum of catering. From there I ventured on. I actually had a stint in the army as well, a couple of months in the army in compulsory service. I moved to Switzerland, did the season in Switzerland and fine dining. I returned to Germany, then started joining the Marriott world, back then it wasStarwood hotels and through them I got to travel. I came across to Australia in 2010. And then from there I went to the Sheraton on the Park in Sydney, the Westin, or now Fullerton inSydney, back to Sheraton Park. Then to the Sheraton on the Gold Coast Coast. Then from the Sheraton Gold Coast, I came down to Melbourne. I started off at the Hilton, it was my first executive chef role to Hilton in South Wharf. Then I got transferred to the Pan Pacific and then to Marvel Stadium.
What is it about hotels that's so appealing rather than a standalone restaurant?
Hotels are appealing because it's a diverse range of catering. It's not singling out one service period in which to be excellent. You need to be excellent 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The challenge is just a lot more immense. And I enjoy challenges, I think!
When it comes to inspiration, I think walking down the street and just looking into the restaurants, looking outside and at their menus and seeing what sells. Food trends come and go, and it is really hard to grab them and say, Okay, this is currently what it is and its like that maybe for six months, but you have to reinvent yourself constantly so it can’t stop. And that’s the beautiful thing about food because it keeps you charged, it keeps you on your toes and keeps you running and looking for new things. You never stop learning. ~ Christian Graebner, Dolly at Le Meridien
So, in the kitchen at the height of everything, are you on an adrenaline high or are you feeling stressed or what happens to you in that buzz of service?
I think because I was lucky enough to get trained in extremely harsh operations, extremely busy operations. We are talking about 25 million, 30 million in the operations, a certain resilience has been developed over the years. The stress is predictable, so I have a very clear mind about what's coming my way and therefore can prepare myself and can prepare a team as well for what's to come. And therefore actually the stress levels are surprisingly low, and getting lower with the years, I guess, as we grow.
Thats part of leadership too, isn't it? Taking care of the wellbeing of your staff as well and making sure that they feel confident to enter service without worrying about making mistakes.
Correct. Especially in the industry ever since Covid as well. It's changed dramatically. The last couple of years for the way I was treated when I was younger in the ranks, to nowadays how we treat our team members is totally opposite. I think there have been many big books written about the change in hospitality. But it's definitely visible day to day. I think it's great for a team obviously. I do not want them to experience what I had to go through.
No, that's right. I actually just went to a talk on Monday night called Mo Hospo run by the Movember people in conjunction with hospitality people. There was a panel of six men. It was mainly men's mental health in hospitality, but it did tend to embrace anyone in hospitality and their mental health. Historically it is an industry where, as you say, it's been stressful and people have dealt with stress in various ways, whether that's, the shouting way or the drinking too much, all those kinds of things. Its good to see that there's a way forward and that not all teams are still in that rut.
Yes. Striking the balance is hard. It's difficult, and it's not always achievable. But at least the efforts, the average is taking daily has been, you get the reward from the teammates and they, if you know that you're treating them differently, then they've been treated maybe in previous places.
And it's about modelling too, isn't it? And I guess it's about context. When you're in a context like this where I would imagine you have very good support systems in place where everyone knows the role they're playing and what to do in these situations, I think that must help as well.
Absolutely. But again, it's a challenge for my sous chef as well to establish those systems and make sure the team is well looked after.
Absolutely. And do you think about food all the time?
I love it. Yes. I need to find a balance obviously as well doing something which is healthy for me and doing my sports and everything. But, no, I love food. I have a passion for food. I couldn't live without it. I love cooking at home, I cook for my partner every day. It's just a joy as well looking after her and sharing my passion. I never have a dull moment in my life when it comes to this.
When you are looking for inspiration, obviously you've got a vast repertoire of places you've worked and food you've cooked before, but do you like to look at cookbooks or do you look online more nowadays? What's your inspiration?
In terms of inspiration, I would not say that I have one chef I'm following. Again, currently with our style of food, we're actually going exactly polar opposite. We're going backwards instead moving forward. While we are still seasonal and obviously local, the style of food is paring back and going years and years back, even before the time I was in the kitchen. So, when it comes to inspiration, I think walking down the street and just looking into the restaurants, looking outside and at their menus and seeing what sells. Food trends come and go, and it is really hard to grab them and say, Okay, this is currently what it is and its like that maybe for six months, but you have to reinvent yourself constantly so it can't stop. And that's the beautiful thing about food because it keeps you charged, it keeps you on your toes and keeps you running and looking for new things. You never stop learning. So again, in terms of inspiration, I love cookbooks. I love putting my head in them. I like watching a good show. I have no problems with that either. But especially walking down the road and just looking at what other restaurants are doing.
Can you still be surprised by food, by a dish or a flavour?
I can. I am sometimes surprised by capabilities of my team members and chefs. I'm extremely proud of my sous chef Max, who is standing with me in the kitchen. He keeps surprising me everyday over and over again. Just the ease and how he produces food, how he looks at food, how he touches it, he keeps surprising me with what he comes up with. So just seeing other people's creativity and obviously sharing creativity with each other.
And just to finish off, what would be your advice be to a young person or I suppose anyone who was thinking about becoming a chef?
Not to worry about the immediate situation you are facing. Try to see where you want to be in a few years time. Dont take for granted that the people in front of you have reached that level through a natural path. It requires a lot of dedication and work. It's not an easy industry, but it can be a very rewarding industry if you are willing to put in the hard yards. Don't worry about the immediate moment you're standing in, look where you want to be in five years, 10 years time and work towards that.
20 Bourke Street, Melbourne