TERRA - THE MAGIC PLACE, Sarentino, Italy
GASTRONOMY IS FUNDAMENTAL TO THE HISTORY OF RELAIS & CHÂTEAUX, which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year. It was there at the very beginning, with the fledgling Association uniting not just singular hotels but great restaurants too. Relais & Châteaux chefs across the globe interpret this in their own unique way, celebrating local ingredients and perpetuating the food cultures that surround them. From Japan to The Netherlands, New Zealand and Ecuador, we offer a glimpse into the kitchens of a collection of culinary artists and gastronomic visionaries.
Quebec in a nutshell
LA TANIÈRE³, Quebec, Canada
Not a single ingredient that enters the kitchens of restaurant Tanière3 in Quebec is imported. Instead, Chef François-Emmanuel Nicol, a natural science enthusiast, and biologist Fabien Girard, work tirelessly to showcase some of the lesser-known ingredients of Quebec. The result is a menu of meticulously sourced ingredients firmly rooted in the region, including foods gathered by the kitchen team from the forest (conifer pollen, smoked fir bark, northern prickly-ash) and the treasures of local farms (bergamot, locally reared wagyu beef, deer from St-Elzéar). To enjoy this cuisine in the vaulted cellars of the Leber and Charest buildings, which date from 1686 and were historically warehouses for traders of fur and other luxury products, is to sink your teeth into Quebec itself.
“With our process, we have the privilege of taming never-before-seen wild ingredients. It's this sense of discovery that I want to pass on to our guests.”
Inspired by the deep
WHAREKAUHAU COUNTRY ESTATE, Featherston, New Zealand
In a verdant setting overlooking Palliser Bay, at the southern tip of New Zealand’s North Island, stands the Wharekauhau Country Estate, a haven of peace and a terrain of creative expression for Chef Norka Mella-Munoz. Originally from Chile, with a love for the seaside, the chef has taken to her adopted home so profoundly that it has become a daily source of culinary inspiration. She describes her food philosophy as “chiwi,” since it combines her origins with local Kiwi traditions. Seafood is integral to her approach, and she is almost militant about sustainable, responsible consumption, collaborating exclusively with divers who use harpoons to fish only the quantities ordered. On dry land, Chef Mella-Munoz’s international team finds innovative ways to use ingredients grown on the 2,965-acre/1,200-hectare estate, where the harvest includes vegetables grown in permaculture and fruit from the orchard as well as cress and wasabi–this abundance of foods makes for a joyful and rewarding menu.
“Our cuisine is a modern representation of where we all come from, combined with the abundance of this land. From the farm to the sea to the forest, it’s all in our backyard, and that’s what makes Wharekauhau unique.”
At the heart of Galician mythology
PEPE VIEIRA — RESTAURANT & HOTEL, Poio, Spain
Mingling surf and turf on mountain slopes overlooking the Pontevedra estuary, Pepe Vieira—not only the name of the property, but also its chef’s nickname—is the proud recipient of two Michelin stars. Here, Chef Xosé T. Cannas conceives creative, almost surrealist culinary interpretations, often inspired by local Galician mythology (and researched in collaboration with an anthropologist), while his ‘zero-mile’ approach to sourcing ingredients earned him a Michelin Green Star in 2022. One example of this methodology is a signature dish constructed around the humble onion, a vegetable renowned for bringing tears to the eyes. Bearing the name Las Plañideras de Cangas, it pays tribute to the legendary mourners of the neighboring village of Cangas. Many of his ingredients are endemic to the region, with much grown in the restaurant’s own kitchen garden or sourced from the small, family-owned farms close by that are so characteristic of Galicia. The chef calls them “linear” since they are grown along the coast between the land and sea, which encapsulates the cultural legacy of the people here.
“I am merely the intermediary between an extraordinary natural reality and the plate.”
The art of gathering mountain flavors
TERRA — THE MAGIC PLACE, Sarentino, Italy
Running barefoot through the fields and playing among pinecones in the woods: evocative memories like these continue to shape the particular style of hospitality practiced by brother-and-sister team Heinrich and Gisela Schneider, both children of these mountains. Perched atop the peak of Tyrol, with breathtaking view over the Dolomites, this stunning property is their life’s work. Their parents built this family business in 1975, and today Heinrich and Gisela serve guests from all over the world, sharing the joys of living on a mountain peak. While Gisela indulges her passion for wine, Heinrich expresses the culinary arts with skills passed down by their mother, drawing inspiration from this remarkable natural setting where he played as a child. His cuisine gives pride of place to foraged wild plants, herbs, mushrooms and berries, which he combines with crops from small-scale local farms. His devotion was awarded with a first Michelin star in 2008, with a second following in 2017, and then a Michelin Green Star in 2023, in recognition of the establishment’s eminently sustainable approach.
“Long before the cuisine of Northern Europe influenced haute cuisine, I was interested in the herbs growing around the house. For me, picking herbs isn't just a job, it's also a necessity and an inspiration for my cooking at Terra. I love surprising our guests with new taste experiences.”
A painter in the kitchen
RESTAURANT DA VINCI, Maasbracht, Netherlands
In this restaurant overlooking the Maas, Margo Reuten–the only woman in charge of a Michelin star-rated restaurant in The Netherlands–is the captain of her own ship. Its name is Da Vinci, in honor of the ultimate renaissance man, whom she admires for his myriad varied interests, talents and innovations–a curiosity for life she considers essential in the kitchen. Her culinary creations are prepared with ingredients from her local region, including meat from the ranch founded by her father in Maasbracht, with dishes imbued with French influences and sprinkled with flowers. A self-taught painter, she also brings her artistic flair to the decor of this former maritime museum, whose walls are filled with her own colorful works. No detail is overlooked and even the sea is represented, in the form of mint-green tablecloths layered with blue ones.
“My goal is to grow every day in my creative process. I work toward this by offering the same quality to everyone every day, and then fine-tuning it repeatedly. My inspiration comes from all kinds of things around me.”
French gastronomy, Japanese excellence
OTOWA RESTAURANT, Utsunomiya, Japan
Kazunori Otowa was part of the first generation of international chefs who came to France in the 1970s, like a rite of passage, to learn the country’s fabled culinary arts. He was also the first Japanese cook to work alongside Alain Chapel before joining the brigade of Michel Guérard, among others. Ten years later, Chef Otowa returned to his home city, Utsunomiya, north of Tokyo. He opened a first restaurant in 1981 and, more recently, has put the finishing touches on a gastronomic project that he initiated in 2007. Despite being dubbed the “patriarch of French gastronomy” by the Japanese media, he does not prepare exclusively French cuisine. His techniques may be French, but the ingredients are Japanese. Abalone pie, cooked in a traditional dashi stock, is a perfect example of this fusion of cultures–it’s among the restaurant’s most popular dishes. The Otowa family–nearly all the executive positions are occupied by members of the chef’s family–is intent on maintaining close connections with the land, its farmers and its traditions.
“I have always been a chef, but now that I have my children and team by my side, I’m more of a conductor creating a great harmony through cuisine inspired by Tochigi’s seasonal ingredients, and warm service to make our guests feel ‘at home away from home’.”
A chef without borders
CANLIS, Seattle, Washington, United States
Canlis, a family institution in Seattle overlooking Lake Union, welcomed a new face into its kitchens in 2021: that of Chef Aisha Ibrahim, the first woman to hold the position of executive chef in the history of the establishment. Born in the Philippines, she is among a new generation of chefs who embrace a liberated view of cuisine and a more humane approach to management. Her cookery reflects her personal history: multicultural and without borders. Heavily influenced by Japan and the Philippines, she brings a breath of fresh air to Pacific Northwest cuisine. She serves rice with every meal, in observation of Filipino customs, but, less conventionally, she features her mother’s recipes within her gastronomic menu–all part of a proudly playful approach to fine dining. She is fervently anti-waste and an advocate for authentic, sustainable ingredients from the land and the sea, cultivated and harvested in respect of nature and its cycles.
“The Contemporary American cuisine at Canlis is an evolving work that reflects the current season in the Pacific Northwest. It weaves together influences from cooking experiences that have greatly impacted my career, and reflections of my personal story of growing up a Filipino American.”
An extraordinary ‘gardener-fisherman’
LA MARINE, Noirmoutier-en-l’île, France
Alexandre and Céline Couillon have cast anchor at the tip of the island of Noirmoutier, where the land ends and the ocean begins. From the windows of their restaurant La Marine, guests can admire the fishing boats that supply the chef with fresh catch daily. The chef, whom the media has nicknamed the “magician of the sea,” earned a third Michelin star in 2023–a well-deserved reward for his masterful work in seafood, which expresses his profound respect for the ocean’s resources. He is one of the first French cooks to practice the Japanese art of ikejime, a painless dispatching technique that enables fish to remain exceptionally tender. While he is best known for his seafood, Chef Couillon’s cookery has a plant-based focus, too. Since 2016, he has been walking in his grandfather’s footsteps as what the locals call a marin-patate, meaning that he not only fishes but also cultivates a kitchen garden. In the field next to his restaurant, the chef and his team grow more than 80 percent of the vegetables that he serves. These unfailingly sustainable practices earned him a Michelin Green Star in 2023.
“My cuisine is all about the living in the moment, directly sourced from our vegetable garden and the ocean.”
Indian diversity on a plate
MASQUE, Bombay, India
Masque is the first restaurant in India to serve a tasting menu. Behind the concept is Varun Totlani, an Indian-born chef who studied in the United States before returning to his homeland to explore his full potential. His ingredient-centered approach celebrates the diversity of India’s varied culinary traditions. To best express these, the chef and his team travel throughout India, seeking out little-known techniques and ingredients. This unfailing curiosity, which drives his creativity, allows Chef Totlani to combine gastronomic awareness with regional discoveries. In a clever combination of tradition and modernity, he reinterprets classic dishes and gives pride of place to marinades and ferments, two techniques central to Indian cuisine. In particular, he prepares a new version of a fermented drink from the central north of India called kanji. Traditionally made using carrots, mustard seed and spices, his version features unexpected ingredients such as starfish and calamari.
"At its heart, Masque is a celebration of India: its food, culture and diversity–the very things that enable a place like ours to exist."
Culture, updated
CASA GANGOTENA, Quito, Ecuador
Located in the historical center of Quito, within the former private mansion of one of the city’s most illustrious families, Casa Gangotena serves a new, contemporary vision of Ecuadorian cuisine. At his restaurant, José Tamayo–chef here since 2021–seeks to “respect ingredients and traditions while elevating them in a fresh way.” For example, the Galápagos brujo dish is the result of months of trials and testing to achieve a crispy texture for the skin of this fish, which hails from the island archipelago. The dish’s coffee and cacao honey sauce speaks of the chef’s mission to reduce food waste, as the grinds come from used coffee. The bar cultivates the same sense of wonder and novelty in the form of cocktails presented in singular vessels shaped by local ceramicist Claudia Anhalzer. The Fiesta menu takes diners on a sensorial journey, comprising six reinterpretations of traditional Andean festivals. A bold way to enter–and take in–the spirit of Ecuador.
“The concept behind our restaurant is called Cocina Mestiza. Our cuisine is an homage to the ingredients that grow, thrive and flourish across our biodiverse and bountiful country, home to dramatic mountain ranges, lush Amazon rainforests, rich Pacific waters, and the inspiring Galápagos Islands. With respect, knowledge and culinary verve, we exalt the ingredients, flavors and textures of our origins, transforming them into a dining experience that is both contemporary and avant-garde: a story of our mixed mestizo heritage and a celebration of our Ecuadorian identity.”
