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Posts Tagged ‘experiences’

Sky-High Dining

Friday, October 30th, 2009

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Starting off in Belgium, Dinner In The Sky, which offers fine dining 50 metres above the ground, is gathering a global reputation. These elevated experiences have taken place in such eclectic locations such as the cathedral of Notre Dame in Amiens and during a fireworks display in the centre of Helsinki. For GBP 8000 for an eight hour hire it certainly isn’t a cheap experience, but nevertheless one that will not be forgotten. The reputation of this bizarre idea is being further enhanced by the involvement of world renowned chefs, including Pierre Gagnaire, who has taken to the skies to produce his Michelin-starred food in conditions that even the hardiest chef would find challenging. Up to twenty-two guests can fit around the suspended table which comes complete with waiters, chefs- who prepare the food in front of you during the flight- and there is even the option of having a second platform for extra entertainment if you need some distraction from the terrifying drop beneath.

www.dinnerinthesky.com

A legendary hotel is reborn

Friday, October 30th, 2009

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A couple of days ago, I went to the London relaunch of La Mamounia, Marrakech at the Charlotte Street Hotel where over copious amounts of Taittinger Rose, famed French interior designer Jacques Garcia (Costes Hotel) who has been overseeing the hotel’s refurbishment, told us about his work which after 3 years has been completed to much fanfare.

This legendary hotel which can count numerous luminaries amongst its guests including Winston Churchill has undergone a complete facelift. Garcia said he was guided by his passion for the east during the hotel’s reconstruction and so he placed key importance on artisanal work when it came to the interior architecture

Avenue Bab Jdid, Marrakech, Morocco

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See Venice and die, go to the Met and live

Friday, October 30th, 2009

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Cuisine in Venice tends towards the predictable; hideously expensive, formal and often somewhat prosaic. Therefore, it comes as a pleasure to head somewhere as ambitious and successful as the Met restaurant, where the chef, Corrado Fasolato, has used his El Bulli training to great effect.

Dishes play on traditional ideas of Italian cuisine with wit and intelligence, whether it involves using cuttlefish strips in spaghetti to create carbonara, or serving up beef cheek with horseradish ice cream. Fasolato’s cooking is never heavy with self-importance or pomposity, but instead ensures that a variety of tastes and sensations jostle with one another for effect. The service is charming and polite, ever-ready to suggest a variety of options, such as pairing dessert with some excellent rum, rather than the omnipresent vin de santo, and mention must be made of the spectacular room, which elegantly combines Renaissance portraiture with modern comforts. One of only two Michelin-starred restaurants in the city, its acclaim amongst gastronomes in the know can only increase.

Riva degli Schiavoni, Venice 30122, Italy. www.hotelmetropole.com

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