Appetisers

The Next Chapter

When acclaimed chef Daniel Humm announced that his Michelin-starred restaurant Eleven Madison Park would reopen as a 100% plant-based restaurant, his New York clientele couldn’t help but wonder how the chef would transform the venue’s historically lavish menu – known for its butter-poached lobster tails and lavender-honey glazed duck – into a vegan-friendly one.

Posting a message on the restaurant’s website describing the current food system as “simply not sustainable” and explaining that the tasting menu would use “vegetables from the earth and the sea, as well as fruits, legumes, fungi, grains and so much more”, Humm entered unchartered territory, becoming one of only two three-star restaurants in the world to entirely eliminate meat, seafood and dairy from its menus. However, with a 15,000-strong waiting list it is clear that the acclaimed chef’s radical new food philosophy has put the matter of plant-based eating back on the agenda. Created with the help of chef de cuisine Dominique Roy and culinary director Mike Pyers, the menu focuses on a wide variety of ingredients including clay-baked beetroot and kochia seeds and is the epitome of culinary reinvention. New dishes range from sunflower bread with a side of non-animal butter, cucumber tartare with melon, avocado cream and smoked daikon to fried peppers with Swiss chard and blueberry with elderflower.

Eschewing animal products was always going to be a risk for a restaurant revered for its meat dishes, but with the sustainability of the planet’s food system weighing heavily on his mind, Humm’s break with tradition could inspire real change in the luxury dining sector.

House of Bubbles

Opening the doors of its famed Épernay site for the first time, Perrier-Jouët unveils Belle Epoque Society, a series of exclusive champagne experiences.

One of France’s most exclusive champagne houses, Perrier-Jouët, is giving visitors the opportunity to explore its UNESCO World Heritage property for the first time, with the opening of Belle Epoque Society, a series of champagne-focused experiences at its historic home on avenue du Champagne in Épernay.

As part of Maison Perrier-Jouët’s ongoing commitment to support and diversify the tourism potential of the region, Belle Epoque Society encompasses three unique offerings from the 210-year-old champagne house, including the creation of a champagne bar, the opening of Maison Belle Epoque and the revival of the brand’s boutique.

The new Cellier Belle Epoque is an elegant champagne bar set within the property’s historic courtyard. The lush space respects the champagne producer’s longstanding affinity with nature and is an ideal spot for visitors to explore the historical and cultural heritage of the house, to taste celebrated cuvees and discover champagne and food pairings created by Cellar Master Sèverine Frerson and the house’s new Head Chef Sebastien Morellon.

Perhaps most exciting for visitors is the chance to experience Maison Belle Epoque for the first time. Formerly the home of Perrier-Jouët’s founding family, the 18th century mansion features the largest collection of French Art Nouveau on the continent, consolidating Perrier’s close ties with the artistic movement. Welcoming visitors on to its extensive terrace overlooking perfectly manicured gardens, the summertime opening encompasses a range of gastronomic offers including al fresco cuisine prepared by Morellon and his team.

Last but not least, the Perrier-Jouët Boutique is reopening its doors with a new offer of unique vintages, including Belle Epoque 2013, alongside personalisation services and a new portfolio of products including books, stationery and honey from beehives installed in the house vineyard in order to preserve biodiversity.

Waste Not, Want Not

Sustainable eating is being taken to the next level at The Alpina Gstaad in Switzerland, where Executive Chef Martin Göschel is proving that fine dining can also be good for the planet.

Across The Alpina Gstaad’s three restaurants – Michelin-starred Sommet, Megu and Swiss Stübli – the five-star hotel’s Executive Chef Martin Göschel is leading a brigade committed to reducing food waste and miles, whilst also celebrating seasonal ingredients and supporting local producers.

Göschel has transformed the kitchens into cling-film free spaces, replacing vacuum devices with reusable boxes and introducing compostable alternatives to plastic packaging. The chef has also added a zero-waste pizza with the base made from leftover bread to the menu. “The team produces flour from old bread and uses it to make Casarecce pasta and pizza dough,” explains Göschel. “As well as being zero-waste, the ratio of sourdough bread flour produces a particularly flavoursome dough.”

Elsewhere, damaged, or overripe fruits are being processed into chutneys and used as fillings for homemade viennoiserie and danish pastries. Göschel also ensures that not a vegetable goes to waste, transforming the outer leaves of salads, loose herbs or stems into pesto and base sauces. Other initiatives from the hotel’s F&B team include its own-brand gin infused with fresh citrus and liquorice and homemade iced tea flavoured with wild herbs.

“I motivate my team to have as little waste as possible. In the food area, but especially in the material packaging,” says Göschel. “This sort of thinking started in the kitchen with my grandmother, she could make anything out of what we had available and it was always tasty. I have many young team members and I’m committed to helping the next generation take care of our environment.”

Gearing up for the summer season, the team has also created a new vegan degustation menu, working with Swiss-based companies that are offering protein alternatives. Concludes Göschel: “We are eager to experiment with these new products and continue delivering dishes that have meaning – both to our planet and our body.”

© Kevin Mak

Mills Fabrica – a new innovation and incubator space supporting fashion and food start-ups – has landed in London with the aim of fostering a more sustainable future.

Sustainability has become something of a buzzword over the last few years, especially within travel and hospitality circles, as operators look for new ways to reduce, reuse and recycle. Following suit, many of the world’s hotels have made a concerted effort to ban single-use plastic, repurpose food waste and source local and seasonal produce.

Such practices are hugely important to the future of our planet, but investment is both expensive and time intensive. Enter Mills Fabrica – a new London-based innovation platform and incubator space dedicated to supporting earlystage fashion and food start-ups fostering a more sustainable future.

Officially launched in Hong Kong in 2018, The

Mills is a revitalisation project spearheaded by the Nan Fung Group, who transformed one of their properties – an old textile factory – into a heritage and innovation centre. Its second outpost, a three-storey Victorian warehouse situated in London’s King’s Cross, opened in July and marks the latest chapter in founder Vanessa Cheung’s endeavour to build a global community of innovators and entrepreneurs.

Committed to championing companies and individuals who are using tech and innovation to help develop a curricular economy through sustainable innovations, Mills Fabrica’s crossborder tech incubation programme will offer a platform of industry partners, investors and leading research centres, an extended 12-month incubation period, access to tech-lab spaces and opportunities for expansion into new markets.

“Building upon the blueprint that the team in Hong Kong has created, our focus here in the UK will be to further explore the ag-tech side of things, looking at both the fashion and food industries,” explains Christian Layolle, Head of the UK site and former Global Head of Business Development at The Business of Fashion. “There’s a lot of areas that are synergistic between the two and we’ll be looking at innovation, supply chain deficiencies and circular business models.”

Further areas for focus will include future foods, such as novel ingredients with better nutrition and carbon impact; supply chain innovations like crop and animal health or precision agriculture; and circular solutions addressing food waste. Inaugural members joining the UK hub include Colorifix, a company developing a dyeing process to help the textile industry reduce its environmental impact; Modern Synthesis, a biomaterial start-up connecting the dots

Green Revolution

between biology, materials science and design to craft biomaterials; and Provenance, a platform empowering brands to make the sourcing and impact behind their products transparent and traceable by using blockchain technologies.

“Another company on our radar is a Cambridge-based business using fish waste to produce alternative leathers that can then be sold to the fashion industry,” says Layolle. “That’s a really interesting combination of using what we already have and what would otherwise would directly go in landfill or be dumped into the oceans and reusing it for other applications.”

Mills Fabrica will also be home to a co-working space, immersive retail outlet and café. “We’re looking at smartly managing the food waste that comes out of the coffee shop and growing our own crops through vertical farming,” explains Layolle. “I’m excited to see what the rest of our start-ups come up with, we’re going to have a lot of coffee grinds so maybe they’ll even invent a new type of bio-fuel or exfoliating skincare.”