The Caribbean Gray Kunz is creating three restaurants at the 125 room Molasses Reef, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve opening in late 2008 on West Caicos in the Turks & Caicos. (A departure in size and scope, Molasses Reef marks the launch of a new R-C brand featuring one-of-a-kind boutique resorts in exotic "hideaway" destinations.) A signature 114 seat restaurant will have a plantation-style design, indoor and outdoor dining, a wine room with tasting table, large display kitchen, chef's table, and wraparound terraces. Kunz says the menu will blend Asian and Western ingredients with local products. Two other dining options will be a casual grill and a poolside restaurant.
London Agnar Sverrisson (former head chef at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons) teamed up with Xavier Rousset (who, at age 23, became the U.K.'s youngest Master Sommelier) to open Texture in Westminster in September. A number of former Le Manoir staffers have joined them. The restaurant has a 60 seat dining room and a 30 seat Champagne bar; the food is modern European. At lunchtime, all dishes are £8.50 (U.S.$17). In the evening, diners may choose from à la carte or tasting menus such as a five-course fish menu paired with five Champagnes.
Portugal Emmanuel Soares is exec chef and f&b manager at the new five-star Aquapura, which opened in the Douro Valley in late July. This is the Lisbon-based company's first hotel, and founder/CEO Diogo Vaz Guedes says more are planned. Aquapura, set around a 19th century manor house, has 50 rooms and suites, 21 villas, and a 22,000-square-foot spa offering treatments based on Swiss chocolate, grape seeds, olives, and cherries. The resort also has three restaurants, a wine-tasting room, and two bars. In the signature 40 seat restaurant, AlmaLusa, Soares, a veteran of two- and three-star French kitchens, offers tasting menus of molecular and global dishes. The next Aquapura will open in Bahia, Brazil, in June 2008.
Spain In Barcelona, Mexiterranée opened in October at the 124 room hotel Rafaelhoteles Casanova, which just completed a U.S. $1 million upgrade. Catalan exec chef Jaume Brichs worked previously at Koldo Royo, a Michelin one-star in Palma de Mallorca and the Hotel Arts, a Ritz-Carlton, in Barcelona. Working with him to execute the Mexican/Catalan/Mediterranean menu is Mexican chef Eric Anguizano, formerly of the Ikal del Mar on the Riviera Maya (Mexico). The restaurant has an on-site "choreographer" who changes the atmosphere nightly, via lighting, fragrance, and music.
The Middle East The beachfront Four Seasons Hotel Alexandria has opened in San Stefano, Egypt, the company's fourth hotel in Egypt and ninth in the Middle East. The 118 room hotel was built on the site of the historic San Stefano Hotel and is part of the city's new Grand Plaza complex. Exec chef Eric Deblonde, a 30 year Four Seasons vet, came from the Four Seasons Hotel Amman (Jordan). F&B director Mohamed El Banna was working just previously at the Four Seasons Resort Sharm El Sheikh.
Jerry Bastiaan has been named exec chef at the Capital Club in the Dubai International Financial Centre, a private business and entertaining venue which should open before the end of the year. He comes from the five-star Grand Hotel Karel V (Utrecht, Holland), where he earned a Michelin star.
Jean-Paul Naquin has left the Burj al Arab in Dubai to be director of culinary operations at the Safisa Istanbul & Istanbul Palace in Antalya, Turkey, which will open in the second quarter of 2008. Naquin's replacement is Luigi Gerosa, from the Jumeirah Emirates Towers (Dubai).
Asia The 38 story Crown Macau opened its first 60 rooms in June and is on target to meet its goal of 216 rooms, which includes all of its villas and suites, by year's end. Virtually all gaming facilities and five of six restaurants are open as well. The director of kitchens is chef Kristoffer Luczak, formerly of Raffles (Singapore). The gm of f&b, Marc Brugger, joined Crown Macau in 2006 from the Four Seasons Hotel Dublin. The U.S.$512 million Crown Macau project is owned by Melco PBL Entertainment, a developer of casino and entertainment resorts. This is the company's first hotel; their next Macau development, City of Dreams, opens phase one in late 2008.
Australia Nobu Matsuhisa tapped chef Scott Hallsworth and gm Ben Jager, both from Nobu London (Old Park Lane) to run Nobu Melbourne, which opened in August. (Hallsworth was replaced in London by Mark Edwards; Jager's old job went to Stephen Guicheteau.) Located in the Crown entertainment complex (Crown Towers and Crown Promenade hotels, 40 restaurants and bars, Australia's largest conference and banquet facilities, a 24 hour casino, entertainment venues, and a retail arcade), this is the first Nobu in Australia and the 19th worldwide. Crown is home to chef Neil Perry's Rockpool Bar & Grill, opened in December 2006. Maurice Terzini's Roman-style trattoria Giuseppe and Guillaume Brahimi's French bistro, tentatively called Bistro Guillaume, are set to open this month and in March 2008, respectively.
Send your international restaurant and hotel f&b news to Julie Mautner at WhiskNews@aol.com
