6 minute read
From Restaurateur to Hotelier
from Supper - Issue 18
Words: Emilee Tombs
Haute cuisine’s leading lights are coming out from behind the stoves to launch sophisticated hotels in which the F&B offering is very much star of the show.
Top chefs have long gravitated towards luxury and boutique hotels, but an increasing number are now going a step further by launching their own properties – redefining the traditional experience and attracting an international clientele by putting high-quality gastronomy, sustainability and provenance at the heart of their offering.
“Hotel restaurants used to be very formal and predictable with international menus that were meant to satisfy everyone, but were ultimately not enjoyable for the guests,” says Lara Gilmore, co-owner of Casa Maria Luigia, a 12-bedroom country-house hotel close to Modena that she runs with chef-husband Massimo Bottura. Bottura, of course, is the man behind nearby Osteria Francescana, which holds three Michelin stars and was crowned World’s Best Restaurant in 2016 and 2018. “Lately, that perception has been changing, and hotel restaurants can now have their own personality. People choose them to have a special dining experience, not only a hospitality one.”
At Casa Maria Luigia, which Bottura and Gilmore purchased in 2017, guests have an opportunity to savour an experience akin to Osteria Francescana, without the months-long waiting list. Its nine-course tasting menu is priced at €450 per person, and replicates signature dishes from the original restaurant, including Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano, The Crunchy Part of the Lasagne and Oops! I Dropped the Lemon Tart. In this more intimate setting, guests can watch their meal being prepared in the open family-style kitchen, and enjoy it from one of three communal tables, much like eating at the home of an old friend. Once dinner is over, they can then retire happily to their room for the night.
“We were not thinking about opening a hotel,” says Gilmore. “It just happened. At first, we were looking for a house in the country to plant a garden and have a weekend destination for family and friends, but as we began renovations in the summer of 2017, we realised that we really wanted to share that beauty with guests who visit Modena from all over the world. We wanted them to live a true Emilian experience and discover the landscape, flavours and feeling of the area. We’re always searching for inspirations and ideas to turn into new projects – Casa Maria Luigia is the expansion of our approach to hospitality.”
A lot of consideration has been put into the look and feel of the guest house, which sits on several acres of land in the Emilia-Romagna countryside, and is surrounded by olive trees and a large kitchen garden. Colourful vintage wallpaper by Gucci lines the bathrooms, and on the walls hang contemporary, iconoclastic artworks from the couple’s own collection, such as Black Flag by David Lungar. The in-room welcome offering meanwhile, features a glass of local Lambrusco and chunks of aged Parmesan cheese.
At a time when travellers and restaurateurs are increasingly thinking about provenance, sustainability and the farm- or sea-to-table approach to dining, it makes sense that restaurateurs are considering their own footprint and legacy. What Bottura and Gilmore have created in Modena is much like the concept of a nose-to-tail meal, in that guests will sleep, eat and experience everything in one place.
Bottura isn’t alone in this pursuit. Top chef Andreas Caminada – best known for his triple-Michelin-starred Schloss Schauenstein in Fürstenau, Switzerland – opened his second restaurant-cum-guest house, the ten-room Casa Caminada, in a converted stable building directly opposite the castle in October 2018. Like Bottura and Gilmore, his aim seems to be to offer an all-inclusive experience when it comes to feeding guests. “What we harvest, preserve or dry in the castle garden fills our pantry for months,” boasts the Casa Caminada website, where in winter a well-stocked cellar forms the basis of the restaurant’s menu. “Potatoes and apples, which grow particularly well in the Domleschg area, are stored in our pantry. We pay tribute to the cheese trade with a cheese cellar and honour the art of butchery with own salsiz department.”
There is also an organic bakery onsite, in which the “wood oven contains the expertise of 300 years of craftsmanship”, says Caminada, who employed a seventh-generation oven builder from the German Rhineland to create it. Thanks to the bakery, the smell of fresh bread rises up to the highest floor of the inn early in the morning. “An irresistible wake-up call for breakfast,” promises the chef, who is pleased that the bakery has also proven popular with the local village. In addition, the site is home to a culinary exploration centre below the restaurant, where he invites chefs and culinary enthusiasts from all over the world to debate and share knowledge about Bündner food culture.
Casa Caminada’s culinary exploration centre brings chefs and enthusiasts together to debate and share knowledge about Bündner food culture
Another noteworthy project is the one being fronted by Brazilian chef Alex Atala, whose gargantuan 35-floor D.O.M. Hotel is slated for opening in São Paulo’s scenic Jardins neighbourhood next year. Taking its name from his celebrated fine-dining temple, which has two Michelin stars, the hotel will be home to several restaurants. “The intention is to offer an idea of ‘necessary luxury,’” says Atala. “A concept that combines luxury and comfort. Brazilianness will prevail in the architecture of the building.”
For Atala, it seems that D.O.M. Hotel is also about creating a legacy. A huge advocate for eating more sustainably, Atala often serves less popular cuts of meat to his customers, cuts that may otherwise go to waste in Brazil; in the same vein, he plates up ingredients that are found in abundance in the Amazon but have fallen out of favour across the country, and organises food conferences exploring key issues surrounding the industry he loves. With D.O.M. Hotel, he aims to go further again.
“The future of food is asking people not to buy, eat or serve products that don’t meet their ethical beliefs,” Atala was once quoted as saying. “If we don’t buy products that aren’t produced in a healthy way or a way that is correct for the planet, if we don’t consume those products and say ‘no’ when they are offered to us, then we will create a new demand and the market will adjust to it.”
D.O.M. Hotel is committed to following sustainable practices, sourcing its ingredients directly from the Amazon in Brazil
Another exciting development currently in the works is being overseen by the Roca brothers, of triple-Michelin-starred restaurant El Celler de Can Roca, who are planning to open a bean-to-bar chocolate factory and hotel in Girona. The project is the brainchild of Jordi Roca, a pastry chef by trade, who has been travelling across Central and South America alongside former mentor Damian Allsop in order to better understand the chocolate industry.
In terms of the overall vision, it is envisaged that the ground floor will feature a chocolate workshop where visitors can taste the various cocoa beans in the form of hot and cold drinks. There will also be a shop, with all packaging made from recycled cacao fibres, and above this a 15-room boutique hotel.
What is abundantly clear, is that chefs around the world are adopting radically different approaches in order to achieve a common goal – to develop hotels where the F&B offering can really shine. While Bottura and Gilmore plan to use produce from their own kitchen garden, Caminada is working seasonally and preserving what is found naturally around his property, and Atala and the Roca brothers are trying to change the very way their guests think about food. It may seem from a distance like just another way to get customers through the door, but look in more detail and it quickly becomes apparent that by doing things on a much smaller scale, these enterprising pioneers are actually trying to change the game entirely.
