Saint Tropez Restaurant Français

Restaurant
Français

Page No 2

In London, during his college studies and afterwards until 1991. Hussein worked and trained in several high-class London hotels, his career taking him to renowned establishments like Royal Gardens, the Russell, the Waldorf, the Strand Palace, the Athenaeum, and culminating in the London Park Lane Hilton, where he was Măitre D’ at the Windows on the World Restaurant. Here under Hussein Haci-Mehmet’s meticulous professional care, there came to dine famous people from all walks of life, Pavarotti, Charlton Heston, Kevin Keegan, Bobby Charlton, Gary Lineker, Dennis Thatcher, Jim Brown, “The Incredible Hulk, the stars of Dallas, Arab Sheikhs and a host of other people from the spheres of entertainment and international business and politics.

Nowadays, at Saint Tropez Restaurant Français in North Cyprus, Hussein caters similarly for the local business people, politicians and dignitaries of North Cyprus. In addition his guests often include singers, actors and other media stars from Turkey, and from further afield in Europe and the United States of America.

However, when he returned to settle in his homeland on 28 December 1990, with his wife, Dilek, and his two daughters Pınar and Bahar, there was no such place as the Saint Tropez Restaurant Français. It was an ambition. It was a dream, - and there was great deal to be done before the ambition was to be achieved and the dream to become reality.

In November 1991, Hussein purchased what was then and infamously neglected and run-down establishment. Nevertheless, he could see clearly the potential of the excellent location and the basic layout of the buildings. He embarked on the challenging process of total renovation, radically changing and improving all the fixtures and fittings, establishing a fine wine cellar, substantially raising the quality of toilets, modernising and transforming the kitchen to achieve his particularly high standards of hygiene and effectiveness. With the application of much hard work, flair and vision the Saint Tropez Restaurant Français began to evolve and the dream became tangible.

The restaurant opened on 15 May 1992. Initially, the restaurant accommodated seven tables and thirty chairs while Hussein personally cooked, served at tables, and trained his wife, family and staff. Nowadays, the stylish, air-conditioned restaurant can cater comfortably for about fifty to sixty customers. And these days it is Hussein’s charming wife, Dilek, who controls and manages the kitchen, as well as the kitchen staff – all of whom are female. Husseın’s daughter, Pınar, started helping her father from the age of eleven, and was joined later by her younger sister, Bahar. Now Pınar has completed her university studies, having graduated in Tourism and Hotel Management, and she assists her father in the daily management and smooth running of the restaurant. Bahar studies Information Systems Management at university and helps her family in the restaurant in her spare time.