Divers

🍴 Renowned chefs express deep sorrow for the loss of Michel Guérard, who passed away and has been widely recognized as an avant-garde leader in French gastronomy. Guérard, at the age of 25, was the first to earn the title of "Best Craftsman of France" and pioneered the culinary concept of "cuisine minceur" (slim cooking). His innovative plating techniques in restaurants and his influence on modern cooking have left an indelible mark on the culinary world. Chefs like Yannick Alléno, Mauro Colagreco, and Eric Frechon lament his passing, honoring his guidance and legacy, while others like David Sinapian and Marc Veyrat remember him as a monument in gastronomy and a mentor to many.

🖤 Chef Romain Meder, Fréderic Biousse, and Guillaume Foucher announce the closing of Michelin-starred restaurant Les Chemins on September 29. Located at Domaine de Primard in Guainville (28), Les Chemins has provided a unique plant-based culinary experience for two years. The domain will keep its bistro, now named Martin. At 46, Meder plans to open his own restaurant in Paris in early 2025 and continues partnership with Alain Ducasse at Sapid, in Paris's 10th arrondissement, where plant-based dishes are featured.

🏨 Starhotels, an Italian private high-end and luxury hotel company, opens a new global sales office in the UK as part of its international expansion strategy. This UK office will support business development in the UK and Northern Europe, enhancing coordination for Starhotels' growing portfolios and strengthening international market influence. The expansion includes recent representative appointments in the Middle East and India, adding to the US, Latin America, Russia, and CIS presence. Romano Campione leads the new UK and Northern Europe sales office, leveraging his extensive hospitality experience to drive growth and client base expansion.

🍝 Recipe for 4: 200g Benedetto Cavalieri spaghettoni, 10 size 3 oysters, 2 garlic cloves, 1 liveche bunch, 1 lemon, 100ml white wine, 50g sumac powder, 100g grape seed oil, 100g olive oil, 10g Espelette pepper, 1 bird’s eye chili, 20g sriracha, 1 knob of butter. Prepare oyster broth with shells, garlic, liveche stems, chili, and white wine; cook for 1 hour and strain. For oyster cream, use a pacojet or blend until smooth. Cook spaghettoni for 15 minutes, finish in broth with butter, zest, sriracha, and oyster cream. Serve with liveche oil, sumac, and oyster ice cream.

🏕 KSL Capital Partners invests $21 million for a complete renovation of W Maldives, with a reopening planned for late 2024. The company has resumed investment plans for the Sheraton Maldives to maintain its status as a leading family resort. The investment projects at Sheraton Maldives were previously suspended earlier this year. KSL acquired W Maldives and Sheraton Maldives in June 2022 and has investments in six major hotels in the Maldives.

💰 Console SecretBox offers a tailored online gift box solution for the 4-star hotel La Robéyère, located in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. The platform includes a personalized online store, a variety of gift boxes and vouchers, a secure customer journey, shared payment options, simplified management, and an eco-responsible commitment. Enhance the customer experience with Console SecretBox's commission-free #greentech solution.

🌎 Chinese internet celebrity "Instructor Zhang" posted a video on Douyin on August 13 criticizing Evergreen Laurel Hotel in Paris for refusing to hang the five-star flag. Evergreen Laurel Hotel in Levallois apologized after removing a Chinese flag from its lobby. The incident occurred when the hotel displayed flags of all nations participating in the Olympics, excluding the Chinese flag. The general manager of the hotel, Sen Yuan SU from Taiwan, allegedly ordered the flag's removal, leading to a call for a boycott of Evergreen hotels among Chinese netizens. The issue sparked significant discussion on Chinese social media.

????️ Key facts extracted from the article: - The visual aspect of gastronomy has become predominant, sometimes at the expense of taste. - Social media heavily influences the importance of a dish's appearance. - Chefs have become artists creating visually appealing dishes. - Aesthetic in culinary terms refers to making a dish visually attractive, a practice dating back to medieval banquets. - The "Rouget laqué façon Mondrian" is a creation by Chef Michel Troisgros inspired by art. - The trend of "ugly fruits and vegetables" challenges traditional aesthetic criteria, highlighting taste and reducing food waste. - The term "harmony" in flavors means combining tastes for a balanced sensation, including the umami taste, discovered by Kikunae Ikeda in the early 20th century. - Multisensory beauty in gastronomy includes textures and temperatures, with molecular cuisine exploiting these dimensions. - Seasonal, fresh, and local ingredients capture the essence of nature, with seasonality contributing to the "aesthesis" - a combination of aesthetics and ethics. - Culinary heritage reflects a culture's history and traditions, such as French cuisine, which UNESCO recognized in 2010. - Cuisine is an expression of cultural and personal identity and involves social rituals like family Sunday meals in France. - The evolution of aesthetic criteria in cuisine shows a contrast between home cooking, which prioritizes taste and shared pleasure, and gastronomic cuisine, which emphasizes presentation. -

🏖 Located on the island of Sainte-Marie off the northeast coast of Madagascar, Voaara is the only luxury hotel in the area. It will initially launch with 8 bungalows and a 3-bedroom villa, with plans to expand to 45 rooms. The project involves collaboration between Philippe Kjellgren and architect Luis F Mira, featuring local materials, reclaimed wood, and infinity pools. Inspired by luxury hotels like The Brando, Six Senses, Laucala, Uxua Casa, and Parador La Huella.

🌡 Megaseism alert (magnitude 7.1) caused thousands of hotel cancellations in high-risk zones during peak tourist season in Japan. The alert spans 800 km from Shizuoka, west of Tokyo, to Kyushu's southern tip. Nichinan city in Miyazaki Prefecture, famed for its beaches and Edo-period cityscape, is the hardest hit by the Thursday earthquake's impact on tourism.