CHEF.
Chef is the foundation of the restaurant. IDW Esperanza Resort is proud of its kitchen manager Mickey Bhoite whose experience speaks for itself. One of the most outstanding stages in his career was the opening of the restaurant Le Cirque which is established in the Leela Palace, an Indian hotel which has been awarded the best three times. Mickey has also managed the kitchen of a prestigious Bellagio restaurant in Las Vegas.
Mr. Bhoite is a world class chef with professional experience all over the world: starting with Japan and finishing with Australia, US, the Carribean and Europe (Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, etc.). Since 2014, Lithuania has become his second home.
Actually, Mickey’s kickoff in the culinary area was absolutely accidental. In his childhood he dreamt of becoming a veterinarian, however, his life circumstances determined his decision to wait for a year and enter the institute of F. Martini Hospitality Management temporarily where he started studying culinary. He thought it was for one year only but he remained in the kitchen until today. As he puts it, it was love at first sight.
Still, he did not forget his other love – love to animals – he realised this love by creating a safari at his home in Italy. He has different poisonous snakes, Pygmy Marmosets, speaking parrots, etc. Before, he had a lion and a tiger. As long as Mickey works in Lithuania, his animals are taken care of by his family.
Thanks to his extensive experience in different places of the world, Mickey is fluent in 6 languages and can keep a conversation in a few more on professional issues. One more passion he has is motorcycles. He has travelled a number of countries on a motorbike and has even reached Nepal and Tibet.
KITCHEN.
IDW Esperanza Resort restaurants have a team of 21 cooks. All of them are Lithuanian, except for Mickey. The head of the kitchen set up a team he is proud of. Everyone have their functions, and the last touch before a dish leaves the kitchen is given by Mickey. It is him who decides whether a dish is impeccable and can be served. For this reason, Mickey often spends seven days a week in a restaurant of his own free will and returns to his family and the world of animals in Italy solely once a month.
A LA CARTE.
All three IDW Esperanza Resort restaurants offer quite a different range of food experiences, however, they are all of premium quality. Premium in this case means that fish or seafood are caught in the wild, and not taken from artificial water bodies. The meat of cattle comes from farms where cattle are fed organic fodder and the like.
Certainly, restaurants of this level, as much as possible, try to prepare everything locally: starting with sauces and finishing with bread, butter and croissants.
LA ESPERANZA.
It is the most luxurious restaurant of all the three in this complex, and maybe in the entire Lithuania. Products of this restaurant arrive from all over the world. They are all of the highest quality. Most of the products used in the kitchen of IDW Esperanza Resort are received from suppliers that work with the best Michelin-starred restaurants. For instance, kobe beef comes from Japan, umami oysters – from the Netherlands, fresh scallops – from the USA, lobsters – from France, etc. Dairy products, berries and mushrooms are purchased from local suppliers. Vegetables and greenery reach the kitchen from own organic kitchen-garden of IDW Esperanza Resort.
La Esperanza offers Mediterranean cuisine dishes with a creative presentation. You can find more art on a plate than in other two restaurants of the complex. The main menu changes in the restaurant every 8 months.
KITCHEN-GARDEN.
Most of vegetables, greenery and berries during the warm season come from the kitchen-garden which is nearby IDW Esperanza Resort. While walking around the territory of IDW Esperanza Resort one can notice that kitchen employees pick berries, vegetables and carry the aromatic organic products to the kitchen.
WINE CARD.
IDW Esperanza Resort has a world class wine cellar where exclusive wines from France, Italy, Austria, Spain, Israel, Chile, California and many other countries can be found. There are more than 700 vintage wines in the cellar.
There is a wine expert in the restaurant La Esperanza who can give advice on which wine to choose to match a dish. The restaurant can offer different types of cognac. IDW Esperanza Resort organises both wine and cognac tasting events. They can take place along with a dinner or separately at a separate request.
TASTING DINNER.
In cold season La Esperanza restaurant organises thematic evenings with music and food twice a month. To create a menu for such dinners chef Mickey uses the music which sounds during a tasting dinner as his inspiration. For example, if there is an evening of the Argentinian tango, the dinner is prepared on the subject of Argentina, and the beverage to match the food will be wine. Sometimes food is matched with beer or champagne. So food is inspired by the music of the evening and stories of musicians.
La Esperanza restaurant also has a permanent tasting dinner menu which can be enjoyed all over the year. Subject to the number courses served during the dinner, it can take a couple of hours. Such dinner of 9 courses composed by Mickey Bhoite can cost EUR 120 per person, a dinner of 6 courses – EUR 100, a dinner of 4 courses – EUR 80.
INTERESTING.
IDW Esperanza Resort, which is located not far from Trakai, overtook more than 118, 000 European hotels and was the only one in the Eastern Europe to be included in the European TOP 25, i.e. a list of the best hotels. This list is annually compiled by the biggest travel portal in the world Trip Advisor.
