The ultimate ingredient for success
Feadship's A la carte galleys
The article on chefs in our latest edition of PILOT gave a tasty insight into the world of these professionals as they cook up a storm around the world for owners and their guests. The accompanying images gave a glimpse of their working environments, but not everyone realises the amazing amount of preparation that goes into most galleys on a Feadship.
These floating kitchens are more than just a place to prepare haute cuisine – they are a reflection of the lifestyle and preferences of the yacht’s owner. After all, gourmet foods and fine wines are a key part of life onboard many Feadships and special culinary facilities are often required to suit particular palates. Many chefs are intrinsically involved in the design and layout of this vital part of the vessel.
Take the galley on ROCK.IT, for example, which is an unprecedented size for a 60-metre yacht and reflected the owner’s personal enjoyment of cooking and his friendship with TV celebrity chefs. His personal chef devoted a considerable amount of time working for the owner onshore in order to gauge the type of cooking he enjoys and wishes to serve to his guests. And the owner cooked for his chef, too, in order to ensure a genuine symbiosis of flavours.
Here is a small selection of other galleys that explain why Michelin-star chefs are pleased to cook on the ocean waves.
The galley on the 44-metre Moon Sand has a large cooking area that comprises six hobs, two catering ovens and a steam oven to facilitate the production of Asian cuisine. Its design has been created to allow the chef to easily cater for a cocktail party for one hundred people.
Lady Britt’s galley showcases a recurring theme on many Feadships – the desire to cater for every conceivable request, ranging from steam ovens for the health-conscious to deep fat fryers for the hungry. This impressive space was designed with dedicated positions for the chef plus a specific food preparation area separate from the interior team.
Another Feadship ‘Lady’ highlights the importance of galley logistics so that the chef and crew can work their magic without disturbing their guests. On the 2010 Feadship Lady Christine, a carefully thought-through layout with two zones between the galley and dining room (serving area and dishwasher room) ensure that the sights and sounds of the bustling galley never intrude on the diners. The galley itself is a fully professional kitchen, with convection ovens, steam ovens, a range of microwaves and a desk so the chef can compose menus in an area flooded with natural light.
In a similar vein of bespoke galley thinking, the 2008 Predator contains separate cold and hot kitchens and a dedicated cleaning area. A door in the hull opens up to bring provisions directly onboard into the galley or to be taken down to the tank deck below where giant freezers and refrigerators reside. As always, behind every good chef is a great deal of organisation!
Some owners actually like to be involved in the cooking themselves, and the 2003 Feadship Andiamo is perhaps the ultimate example. The full-beam galley amidships on the main deck is a comfortable yet practical community area where the chef prepares world class specialties for guests, or all onboard gather to prepare meals and share the long-haul cruising experience. "Coming from a food background, I enjoy preparing international cuisine," explained the owner at the time of Andiamo’s launch. "I love shopping in local farmer’s markets, preparing exotic recipes with newly discovered ingredients, and enjoying the results with my friends and family.”
It is clear then that the size of a galley will reflect a specific requirement. Let us conclude our galley tour in 1995 with the 49-metre White Rabbit. The repeat client owner requested Asian-style dining for up to 24 guests and the answer was to incorporate a galley that ran the whole beam of the yacht on the bridge deck, providing access to the adjacent sky lounge and dining room below.
It is fascinating to note that a new Feadship currently under construction contains a new way of addressing the desire for Asian-style gastronomy that was simply not possible two decades ago in terms of technology or safety. We’ll serve up more on this particular project as soon as we are able!
The original article on Feadship chefs was featured in issue 19 of PILOT.
