Whisk Around the World
Julie Mautner
Posted: November 10, 2006
Asia Per Aquum Resorts opened The Fortress on Koggala Beach in Galle, Sri Lanka, last month. Exec chef and f&b manager at the 49 room property is Hunter Reynolds, an Australian who came most recently from the Thalassa Hotel & Spa (Cyprus). Per Aquum also manages Dhoni Mighili and Huvafen Fushi, both in the Maldives. Future openings include Desert Palm (Dubai) at the end of the year, followed by Vie (Seychelles) in 2008.
Joachim Textor is exec chef at the 500 room Regent Beijing, scheduled to open this month, with restaurants that include an all-day dining spot, an upscale bar and grill, a stylish Italian, and a contemporary Chinese concept. Textor was most recently at The Westin Chosun Seoul, following eight years at the Meritus Mandarin Singapore. F&B Dominique Bonnel comes from the St. Regis Hotel Beijing.
Le Méridien Bora Bora has named Jean-Christophe Basseau new exec chef. Basseau was previously exec chef at Legends Hotel on Mauritius. He replaces Patrice Jaumon, who moved to Le Méridien Marrakech (Morocco), and has been replaced by Fabio De Poli, previously exec chef at the Sainte Anne Resort in the Seychelles.
Guenael Le Berre is exec chef at the Osaka Hilton (Japan). He was previously exec chef at the Willard InterContinental in Washington, D.C., and at the Elysium Beach Resort on Cyprus before that.
The Middle East Starwood will open the 200 room Sheraton Aleppo in Syria next month, with three restaurants and an English pub. Exec chef Michael Roehr was most recently exec chef of the Corinthia Nevskij Palace Hotel in St. Petersburg, Russia. F&B director Claus Treu comes from the Sheraton Oran Hotel and Towers in Oran, Algeria. GM Francois Waller was previously at Sheraton Amman Al Nabil Hotel and Towers in Amman, Jordan.
Rolf Wieser is new exec chef at The Hilton Kuwait, coming from the Hilton Katameya Golf & Tennis Resort (Cairo) to replace Alan Smith, who went to the Hilton Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).
Denmark This month, London-based Conran Restaurants will open Custom House, a complex of bars, restaurants, and shops, in Copenhagen. This is the first Conran project in Denmark and involved the refurbishment of a 13,000-square-foot former customs office building opposite Copenhagen's new Opera House. Overseeing foodservice is exec chef Robert Nilsson, former exec chef of Kattegat Gastronomi & Logi in Torekov, Sweden, co-owned with his brother Rikard. At Japanese Ebisu, head chef is Jens Rabaek. Stefano Leonie is chef of the informal Italian Bacino. The Bar and Grill is a modern European brasserie with Scandinavian touches, and The Custom House Deli sells sushi, pasta dishes, fresh produce, homemade bread and pastries, charcuterie, and packaged foods.
London In partnership with Gordon Ramsay Holdings, chef Bjorn van der Horst has opened La Noisette, a 65 seat French fine dining restaurant, on Sloane Street in Knightsbridge. The sommelier is Fabrice Hequest, and the gm is Pascal Signe. Previously, van der Horst was head chef at Picholine in New York City and also worked at Gaia in Greenwich, Connecticut, before moving to London to reopen The Greenhouse in Mayfair, which he left earlier this year.
India-based Old World Hospitality (also responsible for Chor Bizarre restaurant in Mayfair and 11 restaurants in New Delhi) opened the 110 seat Pan-Asian Tamarai in Covent Garden last month, with Manish Mehrotra as exec chef. Tamarai also has a juice bar oasis, open at lunch and dinner, offering fresh salads and dim sum. Fish and chops! For the first time, meat and fish vendors have been given a green light by the House of Lords to sell their products at the New Covent Garden Market in Vauxhall. In the past, only cheese, produce, "gourmet" items, plants, and flowers were allowed.
The Caribbean Il Mulino (New York City) has opened a 100 seat outpost at The Ritz-Carlton San Juan Hotel (Puerto Rico), bringing the total number of Il Mulino restaurants to six. Owners Gino and Fernando Masci are partners in the new venture.
Dean Butler is the new chef de cuisine at L'Acajou, the signature restaurant at 112 room Sandy Lane (Barbados). A U.K. native, he comes most recently from the Burj Al Arab in Dubai to replace Neil Haydock, who went to Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Cornwall (in the U.K.). Sandy Lane's exec chef is Marcel Driessen.
Rafael Vásquez is new exec chef at the 50 room Casa Colonial Beach & Spa (Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic). He was previously f&b director and resident manager at the Hotel Villa del Sol in Ixtapa, Mexico, and, prior to that, oversaw all restaurant operations at The Victorian House in the Dominican Republic.
