Episode 3 Inside Claridge's

'Claridge's Hotel in the heart of London's Mayfair provides

'a five star service for the rich, where nothing is too much trouble.'

Can you clean the chairs with your damp cloth?

Can you make sure you do the legs, look?

We nag. Do a lot of nagging.

I'm sorry. We have to do it.

'For the first time, the hotel has allowed cameras inside,

'and we've spent a year filming upstairs

'and downstairs, following the staff and the guests they serve, some

'wealthy enough to treat the hotel as a second home.'

Just in case weather's bad in London, he'll use one of those hats.

But we have to wait to him to decide which one.

But they will all stay in boxes.

And what's it like, saying "yes" to people all the time?

Horrible!

HE LAUGHS

It's fun! You've got to keep saying "yes". That's a positive "yes".

'It's the summer of 2012,

'and the hotel is facing a worldwide invasion.'

There's a little bit of uncertainty, which we don't like in this business.

'Dignitaries and heads of state are checking in for the Olympics.

'And Thomas Kochs, the General Manager, is planning

'a revolutionary Nordic dining experience, costing £195 a head.

'The menu is going to cause quite a stir...'

There's lots of charcoal in there and lots of hay and grass!

'..With a few live ants!'

How do you eat an ant, cos it's live when it goes on your tongue?

You just chew and... God, yeah! Let's not put that in!

We can take them off and then...

'The hotel has over 36,000 guests a year, and some stay so often,

'they have their clothes and furniture stored between visits.'

Quickly!

I think we should take this first.

-And I'll follow behind with the clothes rail, Joel.

-Yeah, sure.

'One such guest is Cuban-born multi-millionaire Pepe Fanjul.

'He's been staying at the hotel for over 62 years,

'since he was a small boy.'

How many suits have you got there, Stephen?

Most of them are the shooting attire that he's taken with him before.

And then sometimes, he'll leave things behind.

So you've got mainly jackets, trousers,

and then there's the clothes that he left behind,

which we had to get ready for him to be pressed and cleaned.

And they'll go back in his room.

Four blankets, two sheets and two eiderdowns.

Four feather pillows and two foam pillows.

Is this unusual, to have four blankets and two eiderdowns?

No. It's what a guest has asked for, so nothing's unusual.

'So we take photos. You know, when he comes back,'

everything is set up exactly how he wants it to be.

'It's home from home, so it has to be correct.'

You have an incredibly smart uniform.

Everyone says I look like a snooker player!

HE LAUGHS

And why does a house porter look so smart?

'Because we're seen by everyone and we're everywhere.'

And it makes you feel nice, if you dress smartly, as well.

You don't want to be wearing a T-shirt or something.

So it's a bit nicer to wear a shirt and a waistcoat and a bowtie.

'Mr Fanjul has notched up over 300 nights in the hotel

'in the last ten years.

'He likes to stay in a Linley Suite,

'which can cost up to £3,500 a night.'

He's an incredibly loyal guest at the hotel.

He's been coming to us for many, many years,

knows many of our staff members extremely well.

He bought us an ice cream machine for our staff cafeteria,

which was very kind of him.

'It's gone down extremely well within the hotel.'

So during winter and summer,

we have a permanent supply of ice cream, thank you to Mr Fanjul!

He's a very elegant gentleman, very tall, distinguished, fair hair.

He's wonderful. He's coming to the hotel longer than I am.

And he usually has the same suite all the time when he comes.

When did he last stay?

He was here last week for one night, and then he's left,

gone back to Scotland. He'll be back again.

-For how long?

-For one night.

It's as much work for one night as it is for a week.

'Yes. It's the same whether he be here for one night,

'two nights, a week or three weeks.'

Everything has to be prepped,

and it will always be prepped exactly the same.

-Mr Fanjul, welcome back.

-Thank you very much. Thank you.

-Good to see you again. How are you?

-Mr Fanjul, Michael.

-How are you?

-Hi there.

-Thank you very much.

-Nice to welcome you back!

How are you? Everything well?

'Mr Fanjul is a sugar magnate whose family owns

'companies around the world, including Tate and Lyle.'

-Have a lovely stay.

-Thank you very much.

'Much rather come to Claridge's

'than have the headache of running another place and everything else.

'While Claridge's continues to be good

'and the service continues to be like home, I'd rather stay at Claridge's.

'They do everything for me, instead of having to worry about staff

'and everything else. And the staff here are like family.'

Welcome back, sir. Nice to see you.

-How's everything? I'm very well, thank you.

-Have a lovely stay.

-Thank you very much.

-We'll see you a little bit later.

-We'll see you in a few minutes.

-Thank you so much, Mr Fanjul.

-Have a good trip, Sir.

-Thank you very much.

Now, what do you like about this room when you look around?

Just I know where everything is!

HE LAUGHS

That's half the battle.

He's very organised and he likes to know where everything is kept.

'I think that you may find hotels that are grander,

'like the Ritz in Paris, maybe.'

Or the Ritz in Madrid that has that wonderful outside area to have lunch,

which is beautiful.

'But I think what Claridge's is the people that come here, always.

'They treat them as family, whether it's the hall porter,

'whether it's the manager, whether it's the elevator man.'

They all know you by name, you know them by name.

"For Excellence We Strive."

It's like the Butler Department!

And while people go and come at upper levels, let's say,

the people that work at the hotel every day,

they pretty much all stay the same.

We had it repaired recently because one of the wheels fell off.

I think it was overloaded, and we actually got this for him

to save us storing things in boxes.

So this was from the hotel to Mr Fanjul from Claridge's.

We normally go out for dinner, but if not,

if we're tired and we want to have dinner here, they bring,

you know, a table and you have dinner up here.

And I love that.

I have a TV night, watching TV in my pyjamas, which is very nice!

'Mr Fanjul might be here for a quiet night in, but with the Olympics

'opening in three days' time, the hotel is preparing for an influx

'of world leaders and their extensive entourages.'

Variety of different things that we're putting in for all

the staff members.

So we've got drinking bottles, energy drink.

We've got a sort of fun book, all about the Olympics

and the spirit of the Olympics. We've got a travel card holder.

We've got lots of transport information,

so people know how to get around London.

Have you got lots of people arriving today?

Yes. There's a few VIPs who's arrived today.

-Do you know which countries they're from?

-Different countries.

Thank you very much.

'They need doing every 15, 20 minutes. Even when I do them this morning,'

there'll be someone coming in as soon as you do it,

'and they'll just touch the glass where you've just done it.'

So, yeah. They do need a clean quite regularly, really.

Do you ever feel, "Oi! That was clean till you put your fingers..."

Every morning! Said, "I've just done that!"

'August is usually a quiet time of the year,

'but with 30 nations in the hotel,

'the Olympics is seriously big business.

'The senior management team is inspecting every room to

'ensure that not even a cushion is out of place.

'Top suites for the visiting delegations can cost up

'to £5,000 a night.'

'Algeria, Angola, Argentina,'

Armenia, Bulgaria, Brazil, Canada,

China, Gabon, Hong Kong, Italy, Indonesia,

'Jamaica,

'Kazakhstan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi,'

Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova,

'Morocco, Netherlands,'

New Zealand, Oman, Qatar, Rwanda, Spain, Thailand and Tunisia.

'Yeah. It's 30 countries, so...

'You know, I think there's been a few moments'

where we thought, "Wow! We're taking on probably quite a lot here."

'It's 6:40am, and the husband of the President of Malawi

'is due any moment.

'But there's a problem.

'A Rolls-Royce suddenly stalls outside the entrance.'

Try to get the driver out. Is the driver there?

'Despite their best efforts, the hotel staff can't restart it,

'and the diplomatic car arrives somewhat awkwardly.'

Welcome to Claridge's.

'First Gentleman Richard Banda has booked into the hotel

'for 11 nights, along with the rest of his 15-strong entourage.'

John, who did you just take up in the lift?

-Mr President.

-What was he like?

He was very nice person, very nice person. He's been here before.

He knows the place, he likes to stay with us.

'7:30, and it's the turn of the President of Gabon.'

It's a highly unusual week. It's a very exciting week.

'President Bongo has booked into a top suite for 12 nights,

'and his delegation have taken a further eight rooms.'

Will you have five or six kings and queens in the lobby, though?

You potentially could have a number of heads of state waiting at one time.

It's very swiftly done, and they have

their own personal security too.

We don't want to leave anything to chance.

But does this mean you can't be spontaneous in Claridge's?

No, I mean, spontaneity is lovely,

but it all needs to be thought out.

You know, there's ramifications for everything that you do,

good and bad, so no, you just need to be really well prepared.

-Fried egg, sunny side up, white toast, coffee and two croissants.

-OK.

We have one at 7:15am, two at 8 o'clock, one at 11:am,

one at 10:15am and we sent one already at 6:45am.

They're just the pre-orders. We have 30 rooms so most of our guests

will have breakfast, so we're quite busy this morning.

We're all creatures of habit. Usually people have the same breakfast.

If it's English breakfast today, it's the same tomorrow. They don't vary much.

The Japanese breakfast, have you seen it? Its very colourful.

Salmon, pickle, poached eggs, miso soup, it's all very, very nice.

This is a separate order for the omelette, but we also have an order

of chicken burger and French fries for breakfast.

-Does that happen often?

-Every now and then.

But yes, we do anything, any time for our guests. Yes.

As if the kitchen didn't have enough to do with breakfast for the Olympic delegations...

Friday's delivery...

..there's a new ingredient to contend with.

A parcel was brought down to me on Friday morning, a sort of long,

brown parcel which I opened,

and then there was another sort of foil container inside it.

A little bit like a sort of Chinese takeaway box.

And then all these ants started to fall out of it.

'This single ant is the first in a series of bizarre foods,

'quite unlike anything kitchen staff have seen before.'

This poor little guy was the only one that was left, so he made it.

He's rather special, actually.

This is Orlando.

Only because I think in A Bug's Life, there was an ant called Orlando,

so I suddenly decided that he would be called Orlando.

-He's very shy, actually.

-So how many ants were sent to you?

-200.

Ants are the heart of a radical idea

to transform the empty ballroom into a pop-up restaurant.

It will cost £195 a head, plus wine.

Claridge's being such a meaningful hotel in the city,

we thought about, how can we contribute

to making London even more fascinating

and even more exciting to all these people who come and visit our city?

Thomas has set his sights on luring a Copenhagen-based restaurant to the hotel.

Voted number one in the world for three years running,

Noma is famed for its Nordic cuisine and avant-garde ingredients,

a far cry from the usual Claridge's fair.

You sit down, I think they put an empty plate in front of you.

And then they move the flower arrangements and go,

"There you go. There's your first course."

So this whole discovery of the experience

is what they're very much about.

I think we should absolutely not call it a pop-up restaurant.

-It's not...

-It's an experience.

-Exactly, it's a dining experience.

We can maybe... Do we want to add to that?

Is it a gastronomic dining experience

or is it just a dining experience?

What can people expect to eat?

Whatever's on the menu, the ingredients are wild,

weather dependent and often foraged on the day.

At the most basic level, is this going to be Norwegian food?

I think from our conversations, probably not.

We need to have some kind of guidance, I think.

I'm not convinced we have to tell people

what they're actually going to be eating.

I'm just confused, because if you read everything, all the time,

look, this is what they're seeing.

This is Time magazine, this is the visuals.

Every picture of him is scavenging in the Norwegian fjords,

or in Denmark's waters, how does that translate to Mayfair?

Hi, Matt. How are you?

'Matt Orlando, head chef at Noma, has just arrived.

'He's here to find out whether the Claridge's kitchen can cope with the new menu.'

How are you?

-So you're just doing one portion?

-Yeah. Of this measure.

Do you want a smaller cup, like a demitasse?

No, I think this is good because we need to be able to pile like 21 grams of raspberries.

-Oh, right.

-Not really crushed but kind of torn a little bit.

And then a little bit of juniper oil,

and then the herbs is kind of over the top.

This dish is a play on tea and scones.

It's raspberries with tea,

and then served with a scone on the side with caviar and clotted cream.

It's that kind of exploration of finding flavours

that you associate with somewhere else but actually they've been in your backyard this whole time.

For me, that's the most exciting part about the ants,

making people realise that these flavours are all around us.

You just need to actually step out of the realm of a vegetable

or a fruit or an herb, and actually look into something else, like ants.

-I'm bringing nine kilos of sol with us.

-OK.

Sole as in fish or...?

-No, sol, the red seaweed from Iceland, sol.

-Right.

-To make the stocks, to make powders and stuff like that.

-OK.

And how prepared are you at this stage?

Not as prepared as we probably feel that we should be.

We have two things that are really outstanding in the menu.

Outstanding questions that we don't really know very much about.

Purely because of the change of ingredients.

Originally we had the chestnut dish and we cannot get the chestnuts

so now that's become an oyster dish. And although we know a little bit

about the dish itself, we don't know exactly what they want,

exactly what's going to go in it. And about three weeks ago,

Matt said we need, I think it was 12 kilos of raspberries

and 15 litres of vinegar. "Put it in a bucket and I'll tell you what you need".

'It's not just the food that's a challenge, it's the Noma style.

'Minimal, monochrome and Nordic,

'it won't sit easily in the Art Deco ballroom.'

This is how we'd be sitting.

If there's a four, it won't be divided like that.

It's almost a very, very positive obsession

with getting it perfectly right,

and by really almost over-focusing on the detail right now.

The secret in hotels and in gastronomy is in the preparation.

If you are prepared and if you have anticipated what could happen,

the outcome is normally a very, very positive one.

-You've got longer legs than me...

-'It's not what we do every day.

-'It's very, very new for us.'

-I'm fine on that one.

But you see, the question is, are you fine for 10 minutes

or are you fine for three hours?

'Even at just under £200 a head, plus wine,

'the restaurant needs to seat 176 people to make a decent profit.

'But Thomas is worried about compromising elbow room.'

Can we afford to add five centimetres to the table widths?

There isn't that sense of space and generosity and luxury.

-That's the end of your next table.

-That's my next table.

-Which is fine.

-Where, where?

-Where my finger is. There's the centre line, Thomas.

I know, but it's like how it would look, really.

-You're not that close, are you?

-No, but Eugene, honestly, make the banquettes a little bigger

because it's different if you sit on the same banquette with someone

who you don't know or you have two chairs next to each other.

This is sharing a piece of furniture

so you need a little bit more privacy, I think.

There is that fine line between having 110 covers

and having that privacy and having enough covers to make it work.

-I'm being convinced now.

-No, but the reality is the brief was 170.

Correct, and that perfectly...

You're kind of creating a piece of theatre, aren't you?

We are, we are, we are. It's a 10 day show, really.

And I think that's really important.

Everything we can do to make these 10 days even more special, we will.

And it's a set for 10 days. And I think that adds to the uniqueness

because you either experience it during those 10 days,

but it will be over after that.

There is no extra day, we won't do it again next year.

It's for the Olympics, 10 days, that's it.

'It's a week before the opening and the brains behind Noma,

'Rene Redzepi, is in the kitchen,

'micromanaging the staff's every move.'

What was it like when Claridge's first approached you?

First initial thought was no.

Because, well, because it's 10 days,

and how on earth are we going to leave our restaurant for 10 days?

I was very sceptical at first about it

because it's something we've never done.

For me, we're in our safe zone, up in Denmark, 35 for lunch,

45 for dinner. It's safe.

'This is the first time Rene has adapted his food philosophy

'to British ingredients, and in such huge quantities.'

This makes potato peeling seem like a luxury.

LAUGHTER It does, no?

So in here, you see all this soil?

Obviously we don't want to serve that.

'190 celeriacs from Lincolnshire

'will take 10 chefs three hours to clean each day.'

It took us years, really, to consider this the lead guitarist of a dish.

'35,000 sorrel leaves have been hand-picked in Surrey.'

Again, the yield, we only get 40% yield out of this.

'And 2,000 necks of lamb have arrived from the Romney marshes.'

What was the first ingredient you fell in love with?

Most likely chicken.

My relationship with chicken started in Macedonia,

and it was very special occasions.

My uncle, he would chop off the head and then he would release the chicken

and the blood would squirt out of its neck

and it would, of course, run everywhere.

And we thought that was so fun.

'Good morning, Claridge's, how may I help you?

'Good morning, Claridge's, how may I help you?'

Normally we get between 10,500 to 12,000 calls

coming into the hotel per month.

The day that Noma reservations opened, we had 4,258 calls that day.

They're very excited about eating Rene Redzepi's cuisine

and, you know, I can understand that.

You know, it's the world's best restaurant. One moment.

Good morning, this is Timothy.

Yes, of course. Let me connect you.

The calls were coming in from everywhere.

I believe close to 10,000 people who pre-registered.

So if you think that each of those people wanted a table too,

it may have been more, there's 20,000 pre-registrations

for 3,400 place settings, so there will be some disappointed people,

but I don't know, I guess Noma is like our Lady Gaga.

It goes very quickly.

Noma has never fed more than 45 people at one sitting.

But in a few days' time, they will need to seat four times that number,

twice a day.

We haven't tried that many covers before.

So it's going to be a challenge. There's no question.

I'm not going to lie

and say that everything is going to be perfect and smooth.

We don't expect that. We expect it to be very difficult initially.

If you open a restaurant, most people would say, give us a year.

Then we found our voice. Here, we have 10 days,

so it is a challenge.

It's the day before the Olympics begin.

The torch is travelling through central London.

The temperatures are soaring. And hotel staff are feeling the heat.

It's very hot, very tacky, but you learn to live and learn

and grow with it.

-Do you think it's still important to wear the uniform?

-Of course.

You can't short change anything. Never will do. We never will.

Even if we sweat and faint outside, we'll still wear it.

I'm dreading when that sun gets round here, Jesus.

I'm going to be up here. I'm going to be up there!

-Who is about to arrive?

-Prince Andrew. Prince Andrew, yeah.

He comes periodically, because he likes the hotel, obviously,

it's a nice hotel.

-We welcome him and he is very, very nice.

-Is it hats off again?

No, I tip my hat to him, yeah. He never gives us a chance,

he usually just runs straight in.

Very quick, seriously.

'Right now it almost feels as if we are running three different operations.

So there's one hotel for our dignitaries and Olympic guests,

then there's one hotel for our normal guests, which is still very busy, and then there is Noma.

So it's all happening at the same time.

Not an everyday occurrence but it happens quite a lot.

And it's wonderful. We've just seen the Attorney-General of New Zealand,

the Prime Minister of Jamaica and there's lots more to come.

It's now gone up to seven protected heads of state,

presidents, prime ministers. I got to use the famous line yesterday.

Someone called up and said, "We're coming to see the President".

And I was, "Which one?"

It's an old line which is used in Claridge's' history.

'It feels like Claridge's is the centre of the world.

'All the delegations arriving, all the different nations.

Everybody had a smile on their face.

'I think one of the great things about Claridge's is that buzz in the lobby. It's quite musical in a way.

However, when more people are added to that dynamic,

it just can get a little too much.

50, 60 people in the lobby really changes the ambience of the hotel.

We like things to be very much in order as well.

The lobby is set up in a certain way because we feel that's the best way the lobby looks,

so where that sofa is and those chairs are and the table are,

you know, it's very important. Someone has designed that space.

When it's altered, the lobby begins not to look as good as it could.

So if you go past someone and they've got a Starbucks

and a muffin on their lap, does that make you wince?

Slightly, slightly, but then it should,

because you know, it affects what the lobby looks like.

You have the odd person perhaps putting their foot on to a table,

which we tend to try and limit, but we understand that business

needs to continue and people need to use the lobby.

It is the meeting place of a hotel. So we just need to manage that.

It's two days before Noma opens and there are problems raising the bespoke chandelier.

It's supposed to be Copenhagen from the sky, so, looking up,

you see the light pattern of the city, basically.

It's actually about 350 kilos, but then there's the chains

and the structure. This is the old 1931 lightwell for the hotel,

so above it is a glass block and concrete ceiling.

The structure had to be drilled right up to the top,

so it's another two metres above.

Did you ever think it would be this big a job when you started?

In my mind I know exactly what's involved,

but you don't want to think about it at the beginning of a project

because it gives you 100 reasons not to do it.

Everything that's exceptional involves a lot of work.

It's like that in life. Special things need special effort.

This is not something you would expect to see at Claridge's!

We have this for the hay plates that will be underneath the lamb necks,

and it will, really, when they start to walk into the room,

we're going to fluff them up before the lamb necks go on.

When they start to walk in the room, it's just going to fill with hay.

I don't know, don't quote me, but we were contemplating putting like bowls of it

and when the main course arrives, maybe light it on fire,

but we're trying to work around, we have to maybe shut the fire alarms off in the building or something!

2 o'clock. We're going to pretend that it's Saturday at 12 o'clock,

at 2 o'clock today. Team one, you guys are going to welcome them

as you will for the reception here, and then seated for dinner.

The other teams are going to be the guests. Not the food runners.

With one day to the opening,

the staff of 70 waiters are faced with a whole new way of working.

Next to that we have black ants with lemongrass flavour.

Enjoy.

Remember, it's not like a banquet, OK?

When you come, straight down, into the position and back.

Everything one between two, nice easy reach.

Scones, description. Let's go, Orlando.

-Welcome, ladies and gentlemen.

-Quick, snappy.

-Raspberry tea.

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-Two sentences.

Two sentences, OK. Raspberry tea with some afternoon tea,

um, with some, um, afternoon tea.

Scones with a bit of...

They do like we do in Claridge's a lot, which is very engaging,

and we'll ask you about why you're here, but for this,

it needs to be quick, quick, quick, snappy, snappy, snappy.

So what's the line they should say about the ants?

"These are black ants from Denmark."

They're alive, you know.

Matt is boiling dead animals for sauce.

That always sounds so delicious.

I tried boiling live animals, but they're a bit bitter.

No, we're making lamb sauce.

We make it in batches, as it is no more than 3,000 covers, so...

I've made 60 litres of sauce over the last two days,

and it's required 700 kilos of bones.

We're kind of losing track of days, not really counting,

because of course it's just imminent.

The hotel's incredibly busy as well. We're full.

We've just picked up little picnic for 30 people that want to take a picnic out somewhere,

they're going to make use of the lovely weather.

As well as a couple of meetings upstairs, a cocktail party for 100 this evening.

Does it interest you that, for example,

the president of Malawi arrived today,

-the President of Jamaica's arriving at 4 o'clock?

-No.

-I mean...

-Prince Andrew came for lunch today.

-Who's he?

The Queen's son.

'The restaurant is designed and the staff are getting their heads around the service.

'There's one thing left to do.

'Someone needs to try the nine course menu.'

We can move it quite quickly now. Can we let Pastry know?

Hello.

-How would people eat this, Martin?

-Well, you're going to pick it up.

But you need a side plate, because the soil's going to drop out.

It will be radish, carrot and or turnip. Everything is between two.

-OK, and how many ants are in the pot approximately?

-Four.

-So you have to...?

-There's eight ants,

-so you have to fight and make sure that everyone gets... Or you just eat them all.

-Right.

OK.

It's moving.

CHUCKLING

It's so...

It's so I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!, isn't it?

-Shall we try it?

-Is that Orlando?

-Yeah.

-Is Orlando the name of the ant?

That's Orlando, yeah. No, you cannot eat that one. No.

It's not allowed.

What is this?

Oh, and it really holds together.

You drink the tea and then you eat the raspberries.

I need to wash this down. I need a glass of water.

It's fun.

I'm just, I'm just thinking I'm a little bit worried.

If it's too quick, it's also going to be over very quickly

because at Noma, it's 26 courses.

-Here, it's what, 6, 7?

-9.

-9, exactly.

The service can feel on it and snappy and things are happening,

I just think for us we need to,

it has to last at least two hours per table.

-I think it will, I think it will, totally.

-It absolutely will.

-It's a big day today, no? Friday, 27th July.

-Its Olympic day!

Yeah, so here we are. We've been waiting for it.

It feels like a long time.

It's for the New Zealand delegation.

Breakfast for two. 8 o'clock sharp.

Do you agree that the hotel feels incredible and it feels different?

Tonight is the opening ceremony so we have a lot of departures and co-ordination.

There will be a lot of pressure on the hotel and on London.

-Which countries are you looking at?

-Armenia, New Zealand, Qatar...

and Bongo, President Bongo.

-He's quite nice.

-What's President Bongo like?

Very nice. He arrived yesterday morning, bright and early. Very sweet man.

Push, push.

Wouldn't come from me if there wasn't a little, little word of caution.

Noma opens today, of course,

we have our first training service before tomorrow's big service.

I've never seen so many chefs in the kitchens.

There's 65 chefs just in there today.

You know, continue as we have this week.

Be happy but be humble.

You know, keep on focusing, it's not over.

Two guys with a little team are working on...

The snacks are cut in half

and then another guy's on the tartar with a team,

and then the oyster team, and they're beavering away -

like ants, you might say but...

-Everyone is smiling, though?

-Yes.

Not so much in the morning, a bit sleepy still,

but I'm sure as the day goes on you'll see their better side.

-And are you looking forward to the Olympics?

-Can't wait.

Yes, perfect.

Thank you, bye.

What's the status of the rooms?

OK, can you meet me there?

The hotel is full to bursting.

Anne, deputy head of housekeeping,

is called upstairs for some last-minute adjustments.

SHE EXHALES

I decided to walk.

OK, so, what are you two doing?

-We're spotting.

-Spotting?

-VIP checking.

Yeah, OK.

We have an arrival time of 6.30 so what exactly are you going to do?

Just going to wash down, make sure there's no black marks,

ceilings, walls, skirting boards. Touch up, if needed.

Here, look, we've got a little problem here already.

-It's all cracked.

-Oh, you're good, Anne.

-I know.

-Ain't she good?

See, sometimes you can just rub them out.

And can we do anything with this?

There's a bit in here. We're going to be in here today, now.

-OK, but I think we need to have a time...

-We'll be out of here by two.

-That's a football.

-OK.

-Somebody's kicked a football on the ceiling.

How do you know that mark is a football?

-Well, if you look on the ceiling, above your head, now.

-Yeah.

You'll see, like, a round, sort of, mark.

So, we've got a football on the ceiling

and a football on the wall, there.

-Maybe there's a footballer staying in here, is there?

-Sorry?

Maybe there's a footballer staying in here?

Are you just putting in...?

First I've seen a football mark on the ceiling

but I'm sure it will wash off.

It's just a bit late in the day to be finding things like that.

Yesterday, Rene and Martin, and Matt weren't happy with the lamb stock

so they had to cook all that stock again,

and, basically, everywhere in the kitchen

they were cooking lamb stock.

And, of course, a lot of time pressure,

and all the lard, we think, was going into the drains.

And because it was so much, and unusually - it was very unusual.

-Unusual, yeah.

-And then the whole basement was flooded.

Can we just tidy up the pillows a wee bit? And just tidy up the ends?

Cos they just don't... Look, this is not straight.

-Who's coming into this room?

-It's coming from Kazakhstan.

Shall we have a look in the bathroom? Just make sure everything is there.

I wonder if we should put any extra hangers in the wardrobe because they're here for a long time?

Don't make any single bed up with blankets, use the new duvets.

-Very good, OK.

-Good, excellent.

-That's pretty.

-Great, eh?

Well, it doesn't make the food taste better!

HE LAUGHS

-I mean, we're used to creating high energy with 45 people.

-Yeah.

-That's four times our restaurant.

-There's 180 people in this place.

BOOM!

-This room has probably never seen that much action.

-THEY LAUGH

The highlight of Noma's menu, the Danish ants, must be really fresh.

All attempts to send them in the post and keep them alive have failed

so only one option remains

and today they are being hand-delivered

by a Danish ant forager.

-How many have you collected to bring to London?

-16,000.

Hand-picked... No, mouth-sucked, one by one,

so I'm a little bit sore right now...

How long did that take you?

A couple of days.

You can't suck them when they put out the acid. It's so hard.

You cough and it will be like having your first cigarette ever. Once...

It's been hard work. It's been hard work.

I'm not used to getting that many.

This is really a lot

and some of them live in places which are quite hard to get to, so, yeah.

Tell us what they actually taste of.

I would say that it's in between an orangey taste

and a little bit of lemon grass, ginger. It's a very exotic taste.

It is a taste that is quite hard to find anywhere else

in our part of the world.

So, you just grab one and...

-What, you just take one?

-Just take, yeah.

Put it in your mouth.

You need to squeeze it between your front teeth. That's very important.

It can bite you. It's not painful, it's just, erm...

It can run!

Some people like that.

Mm, delicious(!)

So, I ate an ant!

120 of the hotel's staff are invited to a final dress rehearsal.

They'll sample the nine course menu

but won't be able to eat the precious ants.

-Oh!

-THEY LAUGH

This is nice. Is not horrible, it's very nice.

It's just an unusual taste.

But...I mean, I grow vegetables but I never eat them with the stalk.

Maybe I should!

I think you can just use your fingers, look.

Mm!

-Can I get seven oysters away?

-Yes, you can.

So, you, take two oysters, two oysters.

Position five - you've got to serve them in league.

OK, good. Good.

We had a rack of lamb that was served on some sort of hay or grass

and I'm sure that's probably what they grazed on.

And it was cooked to perfection.

As with all lamb, it had what I really love about lamb dishes -

no wool!

This is unique. Utterly, completely unique.

In its concept, in its presentation.

-Could you eat it every day?

-No.

You could not. But then it wouldn't be special.

Superb!

You've got the fish and the samphire went down. It's delicious.

Why don't you come and join us?!

The wine is good as well!

'It's like I keep on saying, "You're doing good, you're doing bad,'

"come on, pick it up, pick it up, "let's go, let's go, let's go!"

And that's what I think service should be like,

instead of being too formal.

Would you like to work in Noma?

Oh, yes. Oh, my God! Oh, my God, of course, yes!

I would love to work there.

'Timing wise, on a few tables in the beginning,

'it didn't start quickly enough.

'I think it's really something that you want to happen'

in two hours to two and a half hours,

so that was, in fact, my main concern

and you need to imagine that today 120, tomorrow 170.

It's lunch and dinner.

Because I think if you ask the team right now if they are tired

they will probably very politely say, "No, I'm OK,"

but what they really mean is, like, "Yes, I'm very tired,"

and tomorrow, after lunch, we're re-setting the restaurant,

they have dinner and then it's the briefing for dinner service,

and then we do dinner.

And we do that for ten days!

And are you going to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics tonight? Or go to bed early?

I'm going to be here, in the underbelly,

sweating at Claridge's, preparing for tomorrow.

'This was simple, tomorrow is the real one.'

30 Olympic delegations leave for the opening ceremony.

And the next day Noma opens to the public for the first time.

More people are eating ants than anyone expected

and many of the ants are dying off...

..five days in they run out.

So, I have a case full of ants,

which I have just picked up from Copenhagen airport.

-Cos what's your job normally?

-Deputy HR director.

So, it's more of the people

but I have 10,000 little things to look after here, now.

-Do you know the entire success of tonight's dinner is in your hands!

-HE LAUGHS

Quite conscious that I haven't killed them on the way!

So, erm, I'm pleased that they are all still alive!

-Your ants have arrived!

-YES!

-Yes!

Yes! Woo!

They're all dead!

No, they're alive! THEY ALL LAUGH

-Did you eat one?

-Yeah, of course. You got to do it, right?

-I can still feel it crawling up the, er...

-HE LAUGHS

-'Delicious.

-And how many times do you eat live ants?'

Have you ever eaten a live ant?

The live ant that I had clung to my tongue, actually,

for about five minutes.

Where is the salad dressing?

By the time the restaurant closed,

3,500 foodies, undaunted by the £200 price tag,

have dined on 36 kilos of truffles,

10,000 rose petals and 27,000 ants.

So how was it when Noma finished and the Olympics finished?

Was there, like, a calm?

No, it was a little, I think it was a little bit depressing, personally.

I missed it all.

Well, I didn't miss it all, what I mean is I missed the buzz

and I missed... Yeah. I missed all that but...

Did you like the Olympics?

-I loved the Olympics.

-Did you watch a lot?

-I did. I watched a lot.

-And when it all finished?

-It was sad. Mm-hm.

-It was, wasn't it?

-Mm.

-(Yes.)

What are you going to watch on the television now?

'Good morning, Claridge's, how may I help you?'

Of course, let me connect you with the Foyer and Reading Room.

-'Thank you.'

-You're welcome.

I've heard you have a very regular caller?

Oh, yes, the captain.

We're not sure what he was the captain of

but he was definitely the captain of calling Claridge's.

You'd say, "Good evening, Claridge's, how may I help you?",

And he would say, "It's the captain, can I speak to the duty manager?"

Ha-ha, and, of course, you would put the call through to the duty manager,

the duty manager would probably pick up the telephone call

and find out it was the captain,

and just puts the handset down, and continue doing his work

because he would just go on, and on, and on.

And then hit every once in a while go, "Oh, OK,"

and so that's how that would work.

With the Olympics over it's back to the usual array of birthdays,

bar mitzvahs and weddings.

Weddings are a big part of Claridge's' business

and the hotel charges anything from £1,000 for an intimate affair

to £150,000 for a lavish celebration.

Weekend is bride time. Every weekend we usually have a bride.

At least one, if not two or three, staying in the hotel.

-All ages?

-All ages!

All right.

Bill Nay is a highflyer in finance.

How are you doing?

-How are you?

-Good to see you.

-Hello!

-Hello!

He's flown his fiancee Laura the 4,000 miles from Atlanta

just so that they can have their wedding reception at the hotel.

Bill first brought Laura to Claridge's when she was just 21.

'I've always been drawn to, kind of, all things British.'

Harris Tweed's and, you know, all that knit ties and the,

and the British brogues.

I don't know, I like, I like British sensibilities too, right?

There's a sense of...

Looking prim and proper, and a sense of occasion that, this is,

this is the place to go, this is the epicentre of all that,

and the birthplace, in a lot of ways, of all that.

-Nice to see you back again.

-My lucky number.

The States has become casual to a fault, in a lot of ways, in my mind.

I mean, you can't go to a restaurant now in, in the States,

if you're in a suit, which I usually wear, sometimes, for dinner.

You look out of place.

Laura, you're on the fourth floor

-and, Bill, you're on the first floor.

-OK.

-OK.

So, I'll take you in and show you.

I'm just a girl from a small town in the States, nobody special.

'When I come to London it's a whole new life for me.

'I feel like my life completely changes and I'm a princess.'

-Oh, my God!

-My God! SHE SQUEALS

Are you kidding? HE LAUGHS

Oh, my!

-This is so pretty.

-Look at that. SHE GASPS

-Oh, my God!

-It's so..!

It's like a bowling alley in the bathroom.

-Oh, really? Do you think?

-Look at this.

It's like, like...

Oh, I love it! Beautiful.

You could have all your bridesmaids in here, right? Like a sleepover!

-So, you're happy to be here?

-Oh, my gosh.

-Thrilled!

I've never been more excited to be in one single place in my life.

I think it really will click in when I wake up tomorrow morning

-and I'm like, "Where am I?"

-Claridge's!

Yeah, yeah, I'll be like, "Oh, my God!"

Yeah. THEY LAUGH

Franco will be the wine waiter for the wedding day.

He's 70 and has been working at the hotel for the last 29 years.

Yes, I'm very unhappy if you're not working. That's the way.

I'm pensioner but I prefer working. I prefer to do something.

I don't like being home to watch television or to stay to watch...

I don't do it like that.

-My wife did look after me well.

-And how long have you been married?

We've been married for about...36 years, 37 years...

..but I'm still happy anyway!

-Have you met the bride yet?

-No, I haven't met the bride yet.

This will be the first moment.

You're rather fond of brides, though, aren't you?

-Oh, I love brides!

-HE CHUCKLES

They're always very quiet and very, and very excited on the big day.

That's very nice.

'Some brides can be very nervous, some can be very difficult,'

especially if we have to steam their dresses and things.

That's when they get a little bit...

sort of hyper and, "Ah, don't do anything with my dress," you know.

We did have one celebrity bride that was here

and she had two wedding dresses, and she couldn't decide.

So, there was Stephen, the butler and myself,

and she said, "Which one do you think I should use?"

So, we said, "That one," and she wore it!

And what have the brides and the bridesmaids ordered?

Chicken sandwich, a little salad and some fruit kebabs.

Hello, Lisa!

-Hi.

-Are these for me?

-Yeah. Just be careful that they don't...

50 of Bill and Laura's friends and family

have flown in from the US to join in the celebrations.

'There's a lot of people that will be attending the wedding that

'have either never been to Europe or have never been here.

'I want them to feel what I felt that first time.

'That sense of, "Wow, I've arrived, I'm at a place that, you know,

'just is very special,"'

and I want to impart that feeling on them.

-And has Bill showed you another world?

-Definitely.

He's always said that his biggest enjoyment is opening my eyes

to other things out there.

'Whether it's, you know,

'eating leeks for the first time or coming to Claridge's

'and being pampered, or, there are things that I've tried with him

'that I probably never would have been able to try elsewhere.'

Oh! Hee-hee-hee! They brought macaroons!

Oh!

Mm!

-So, you never thought about getting married in Atlanta?

-Oh, God, no!

-Good luck!

-Thank you so much.

We're going to need it! THEY ALL LAUGH

Here we go!

All right.

Whilst some people get married in Claridge's,

Bill and Laura have chosen the traditional route

and will tie the knot in church.

This has to go in there!

OK, you're in.

Bye, Claridge's. See you soon!

Claridge's isn't just a hotel and when I say, "just a hotel,"

I mean it in a sense of go to reception, get a key,

go into your room, sleep and check out again.

'Dreams are being fulfilled in this hotel, sometimes.

'And this is where that comes to life.

'This hotel, suddenly, that means so much more than just sleeping.'

It's a stage, isn't it? It's a theatre.

You know, we're behind the scenes yet you go into the lobby

and it's beautiful, it's glamorous, it's timeless.

-The wow factor.

-And has the wow factor worn off for you at all?

No, not at all! No.

Mm-mm.

No.

Yay!

SHE LAUGHS

We did it!

-Now if I could get out of...

-Are you all right, ma'am?

-Can I take your...?

-Thank you. Please.

-Thank you so much.

-A pleasure. You're looking... Oh!

Thank you so much.

Hey, congratulations! SHE SQUEALS

-THEY ALL LAUGH

-First one to say it!

THEY ALL LAUGH

'It's so exciting!'

Franco has been at the hotel so long there is no-one he hasn't served.

-'What was it like serving the Queen?

-It was all right.'

I'd be happy to serve the Queen.

I served the Queen like I serve anyone.

'For me, no make a difference. Everybody be equal, the same.'

'Ladies and gentlemen, would you please welcome Mr and Mrs Lay?'

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# Call me irresponsible

# Call me unreliable... #

'People always wanted to celebrate.

'People always wanted to get together in a beautiful environment

'and connect, and talk, and live, and create memories.'

People these days have everything and every year you can buy more and more,

if you have the money to buy it...

'..but what you can't really buy is memories or a memory

'and experiences, and that's why they come.'

I really think people these days, they are curating their lives.

They are collecting various select elements in their life

and that's what they want to experience,

and that's what they want to take away.

And that is how they choose their hotels.

CHEERING FROM WEDDING RECEPTION

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd