A Grand Hotel - Grand Food to go - or is take away a no-no?

We loved the Excelsior Grand Hotel in Valletta, Malta. It has great views and great food.

Just so you know I tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, I'll tell you the minus points, as politely as I can.

What's it not got?
Hard to get food to take away.

In my experience you will have to order breakfast and dinner in the bedroom if you want to eat the minimum and save the leftovers for later, or graze (eat small amounts every two hours instead of every four).

In the evening I had to leave behind my crumble from the buffet. I was saving it until last. My family threw a fit at the amount I was eating, or proposing to eat.

I conceded that I would have it wrapped up and have it for a midnight snack, or later, then share it. However this was not to be. It was only with rest difficulty that we got the leftover meat to go.

We had trouble persuading them that we were staying in the hotel, that we had ordered our main course from the a la carte menu and were therefore entitled to save the leftover meats - which they eventually allowed us to wrap in silver foil.

I know lots of buffets make a fuss. But every restaurant and every hotel in the USA offers to wrap up food to go.

As for the argument 'but we don't know what you will do with it', neither do all the pizza parlours, hamburger joints, Costa Coffee Bars, Marks and Spencers and Waitrose food to go sections, salad bars in Morrisons.

If they want you to take less food, make the potions smaller, spoon size, instead of huge slices nobody could finish. Let everybody try one of each. They will come back. Next time they will take only the item they liked.

I once asked a hotelier in Spain how they made a profit on buffets. He said that if people are staying for a week, the first day they pile their plates high with everything, next day take what they want, by the end of the trip are bored and over-fed and eat minimal amounts. The big eaters are balanced by the girls who eat only a lettuce leaf. What you lose on the food, you gain on not paying waiting staff.

Do they want you to be complaining for days and years afterward? Or praising their food, re-living it, sharing it, sending others to try it.

The Hilton's Super Wrap-up Service
My anniversary dinner at the Souffle restaurant in the Hilton in London years ago served a huge steak, too much to eat, plus large desserts. Not only were they willing and able to wrap up our food, they did so with style. The chef turned the silver foil into a bird, with a swan neck, head and twisted beak, and elongated forked tail, so that we felt not like criminals, but honoured guests with a prize.

Leftovers wrapped up by grand hotels. Charging high prices. Wanting repeat business from customers. And goodwill and good reviews. It can be done on Malta, too. The Kempinsky hotel on Gozo gladly gave us a container for our leftovers.

I still dream of the dessert I never ate at the Excelsior Grand Hotel.

For the Phoenicia Hotel in Valletta see my next post.